Account-Based Marketing: Definition, Types, and Strategy
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy that focuses marketing and sales on selected organizations, with personalized engagement for those accounts. It is commonly used in business-to-business marketing, as Salesforce’s ABM guide explains.
How ABM differs from lead generation and inbound marketing
ABM starts by identifying the organizations worth pursuing. Broader lead-generation programs collect potential customers for qualification; an account-based program concentrates activity around a chosen account list. The distinction is the starting point and focus of the work, rather than a particular advertising channel. HubSpot’s ABM guide describes this shift toward selected, high-value accounts.
Inbound marketing attracts prospects through useful content and discovery. It can support ABM by bringing relevant people to the business and providing material for account-specific campaigns. HubSpot explains that inbound and ABM can work together; an account list does not require abandoning broader marketing.
The intended benefits are shared sales and marketing priorities, more relevant communication, and a consistent experience across account interactions. These are advantages of the approach described in HubSpot’s benefits framework, rather than a promised increase in revenue.
The three types of account-based marketing
Salesforce distinguishes three ABM models by the scale of personalization:
| Model | Focus | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | An individual priority account | Bespoke research, content, and engagement for that organization. |
| One-to-few | A small group of similar accounts | Shared campaign themes adapted to the group’s common needs. |
| One-to-many | A larger selected account set | Technology-assisted targeting and personalization across accounts with shared characteristics. |
When is ABM useful?
The decision depends on account value and the effort required to pursue it. LinkedIn’s strategy guidance reserves intensive account-specific work for priority opportunities and describes broader account campaigns as a more scalable approach.
Before choosing a model, assess potential account value, existing sales relationships, research capacity, content production, and follow-up capacity. Use that assessment to decide which accounts merit individual work and which can share a campaign. These are resource decisions to make with sales, following LinkedIn’s recommendation to agree on the approach before execution.
How to build an account-based marketing strategy
1. Agree on the objective and responsibilities
Start with an explicit account objective: acquire new customers, expand existing relationships, or retain customers. LinkedIn’s ABM planning framework separates those objectives and places sales and marketing alignment at the beginning of the process.
For the initial program, record the objective, selected accounts, responsible sales and marketing staff, planned activity, and measures of progress. Agree on who researches accounts, prepares content, manages conversations, and reviews results. An acquisition program should track new opportunities; an expansion program should identify additional business within existing customer relationships. Keep the objective visible in account plans and reports so that activity is evaluated against the intended outcome.
2. Select accounts using an ideal customer profile
An ideal customer profile describes the organizations the business is seeking to serve. Build the target list from relevant characteristics of successful customers, then research candidate accounts. LinkedIn’s account-selection guidance recommends examining customer patterns such as industry and company size, alongside needs and purchase context.
Useful account research includes:
- Organizational fit: relevant company characteristics, location, and use case.
- Customer need: the problem the offering can address, supported by research or conversations.
- Purchase context: the account’s relationship with the business and its stage in the customer journey.
- Reach: the channels and content the relevant people use.
Group accounts around meaningful similarities and assign effort accordingly. Keep the selection reason alongside each account. Treat similarities to existing customers as a research starting point; confirm the specific need through the customer research that LinkedIn recommends before content creation.
3. Identify the buying group
An account is an organization; its purchasing decisions involve people. A buying group comprises stakeholders who participate in evaluating and approving a purchase, according to Demandbase’s buying-group guidance.
Map purchasing roles, existing relationships, and information needs. The roles described in Demandbase’s framework include:
- Initiator: raises the problem or starts the search for a solution.
- Champion: advocates for the purchase internally.
- User: evaluates how the offering will affect day-to-day work.
- Technical gatekeeper: reviews technical compatibility, integration, and risk.
- Approver: authorizes the purchase and considers the business case.
Use confirmed account information to establish which roles are involved. Record known contacts, their responsibilities, and gaps in the map. Ask existing contacts about the decision process and review sales information and account activity. Demandbase recommends combining these inputs rather than relying on a single engaged contact to represent the entire purchase.
4. Match content to the account and purchasing role
Personalization should connect the offering to an account’s business priorities and the questions each participant needs answered. Adobe’s ABM content guidance combines account context, stakeholder needs, and buying stage when choosing content.
Prepare material that supports the decision: a business case, relevant customer evidence, product information, implementation guidance, or technical documentation. Choose the material from the needs established during account research. Keep product claims consistent across the different versions.
Content production is a practical constraint. Adobe identifies the cost of creating variations and coordinating campaigns among the challenges of scaling personalization. Its suggested response is modular content: reusable messages, proof points, and other components that can be assembled for different accounts and roles. Reuse verified material where it fits, and reserve new content for information gaps that existing assets cannot answer.
5. Coordinate channels with sales follow-up
Advertising can be one part of account engagement. LinkedIn’s Company Targeting documentation describes matching a company list for advertising and using professional demographics to reach relevant people within those accounts.
Choose channels from account research and connect them to the sales plan. A channel plan should identify the intended audience, content, next action, and responsible owner. LinkedIn’s strategy guide recommends planning how sales will follow up on ABM activity, including campaigns that direct people to a relevant sales representative.
6. Maintain a shared account record
A customer relationship management system (CRM) can connect the target organization with its contacts, activity, and opportunities. HubSpot’s ABM documentation describes company-level target-account and fit-tier fields, contact-level buying roles, and an account overview containing contacts, activities, and deals.
For a working account record, keep the following information accessible:
- Target-account status and selection reason.
- Priority or fit tier and account owner.
- Known contacts and confirmed buying roles.
- Recent marketing activity and sales conversations.
- Open opportunities, current stage, and next action.
The first three categories support account selection and coverage; the last two connect campaign activity to sales progress. Keep contacts associated with the correct company and review the record when responsibilities or account information change. Use the shared view to prepare outreach and review progress together.
How to measure ABM results
Measure the selected accounts across engagement, pipeline development, and revenue. 6sense’s ABM measurement guide separates these categories and includes buying-group participation, opportunity creation, sales-cycle measures, and account revenue.
| Area | What to track |
|---|---|
| Coverage | Reach within target accounts and participation from relevant buying roles. |
| Engagement | Account interactions and activity across the buying group. |
| Pipeline | New opportunities, pipeline value, and movement through sales stages. |
| Revenue | Closed-won revenue and expansion within existing accounts. |
Define the engagement and qualification criteria before reporting results. Show the account list and reporting period alongside the measures, and record list changes so comparisons remain interpretable. Review revenue together with program cost when assessing returns.
Distinguish newly sourced opportunities from existing opportunities with recorded campaign interactions. 6sense discusses both sourced and influenced measurement because buying journeys involve multiple interactions. An engagement measure or attribution label should not be presented as proof that a campaign caused a sale.
How to start
Salesforce recommends beginning with an ABM pilot. Select an account group, agree on its objective with sales, and prepare the research, content, and outreach. Review which messages and channels attracted responses before expanding the program. Use the account record and measurement framework to examine progress from initial engagement through opportunities and eventual revenue.