A Singapore-based FinTech company had built a credible product for treasury management automation in the mid-market banking and corporate finance segment. Their team knew the product was commercially sound. Their challenge was access to decision-makers. Treasury technology buyers at Singapore’s mid-market financial institutions were not responding to their digital advertising, not engaging with their content, and not attending the industry events where the company’s sales team was spending significant budget.
The Real Challenge
The real challenge was that the company’s marketing approach was broadcasting to an audience that did not include its actual buyers. Digital advertising campaigns generated website visits from a wide range of financial professionals, most of whom had no responsibility for treasury technology decisions. Event attendance generated conversations with peers and industry observers rather than with procurement-capable technology buyers.
A B2B account based marketing agency reframed the commercial problem. Instead of trying to reach treasury technology buyers through channels where they were mixed with a much larger irrelevant audience, the ABM approach began by identifying exactly which organizations had treasury functions of the relevant size and complexity, and exactly which individuals within those organizations had decision-making authority over treasury technology investments.
What the Research Shows
According to ITSMA ABM ROI Study 2023, B2B account based marketing agency programs for FinTech companies in the Asia Pacific region produce an average of 3.1x pipeline return on marketing investment compared to traditional digital marketing approaches. The ROI difference reflects the concentration of marketing investment on accounts with genuine purchase potential rather than the dispersal of investment across broad audiences with low probability of purchase.
What Changed After the Engagement
The B2B account based marketing agency built a target account list of 64 Singapore-based financial institutions and large corporate treasury departments. For each account, the agency conducted research to identify the specific individuals with treasury technology decision-making authority, the account’s current technology infrastructure, and any recent organizational or regulatory changes that might create urgency around treasury management modernization.
The program combined three coordinated approaches for each target account. First, LinkedIn advertising specifically targeted to the identified decision-maker contacts at each account, serving content directly relevant to their treasury management challenges. Second, direct outreach from the company’s sales team to the identified contacts, with personalized messaging that referenced specific aspects of the account’s treasury context. Third, a quarterly online roundtable for treasury technology professionals at target accounts, providing genuine peer value while building the company’s credibility as a knowledgeable voice in the category.
After twelve months, 22 of the 64 target accounts had engaged in substantive conversations with the company’s sales team. Of those 22, eight had progressed to active evaluation stages. The company’s pipeline from ABM-sourced accounts was three times the value of its pipeline from all other marketing sources combined.
The Key Takeaway
The FinTech company’s experience demonstrates the core commercial case for a B2B account based marketing agency: in markets where the total number of genuine purchase prospects is small and well-defined, concentrating marketing investment on those specific prospects consistently produces better commercial returns than distributing investment across broader audiences. The precision that ABM provides is most valuable precisely where the target market is most concentrated, which describes Singapore’s financial services sector accurately.