ABM
Account-Based Marketing
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy that focuses marketing and sales resources on a defined set of target accounts, treating each account as a market of one. Instead of casting a wide net, ABM concentrates effort on accounts most likely to become high-value customers.
ABM is either a strategic shift or a buzzword slapped on the same old demand gen. The difference? Whether sales and marketing actually agree on which accounts matter and coordinate their efforts.
Real ABM means: shared target account list (not marketing's wish list), coordinated plays across channels and reps, account-level metrics (not just leads), and the patience to measure pipeline and revenue over 6-12 months instead of MQLs this week.
The RevOps angle: ABM requires infrastructure most companies don't have. Account-to-contact mapping in your CRM. Engagement scoring at the account level. Attribution that credits influence across buying committees. If your data foundation is broken, ABM becomes "expensive ads to companies that might be good fits."
Define ItOther Definitions
“Account-based marketing is a strategic approach that coordinates personalized marketing and sales efforts to open doors and deepen engagement at specific accounts.”
“Account-based marketing (ABM) is a business marketing strategy that concentrates resources on a set of target accounts within a market. It uses personalized campaigns designed to engage each account, basing the marketing message on the specific attributes and needs of the account.”
“Account-based marketing is a go-to-market strategy that coordinates personalized marketing and sales efforts to land and expand target accounts.”
ABM concentrates B2B marketing on specific high-value target accounts rather than broad lead generation. ITSMA, who coined the term, emphasizes sales-marketing coordination. Gartner highlights personalization based on account attributes. Demandbase adds the land-and-expand motion.
ABM tiers typically include: (1) Strategic/1:1 ABM — highly personalized for 10-50 top-tier accounts; (2) ABM Lite/1:Few — customized for industry or segment clusters of 50-500 accounts; (3) Programmatic ABM/1:Many — scaled personalization for 500+ accounts using technology.
Key ABM components: target account selection, account research and intelligence, personalized content and messaging, coordinated multi-channel plays, account engagement scoring, and pipeline/revenue attribution.
MistakesCommon Mistakes
Running ABM without sales buy-in or a shared target account list
Measuring ABM success by MQLs instead of account engagement and pipeline
Treating ABM as an advertising channel instead of a cross-functional strategy
No account-level data infrastructure (contacts mapped to accounts, engagement scoring)
Expecting ABM results in weeks when enterprise deals take months
ABM without infrastructure is just expensive ads.
We build the account-level data foundation — engagement scoring, attribution, CRM mapping — that makes ABM actually work.
Experience across
