Account-based marketing

What it means

ABM, or account-based marketing, is a B2B approach in which a company does not address the broad market but selects specific firms it wants to win in advance and prepares tailored content and outreach for each. Marketing and sales work as one team.

Instead of asking how to collect as many contacts as possible, ABM asks how to convince a few dozen target companies. Everyone who influences the purchase is mapped, from the finance director to users, and each gets a different argument based on their buyer persona.

The approach suits expensive services with long sales cycles, where one deal justifies intensive preparation. It is closely linked to key account management, which looks after the clients once won.

How it works in practice

An ABM campaign starts with a list of target companies chosen by size, sector, growth or the technology they use. Their situation is researched, followed by personalised outreach: a case study from their sector, a meeting invitation or ads shown only to that company's staff.

All activities and responses are logged in the CRM so sales can see who at the company showed interest. Lead scoring is calculated for the whole company rather than for individuals.

Success is measured differently from ordinary marketing: not by the number of MQLs but by opened negotiations, deal size and the share of target companies that became clients.

What to watch out for

ABM is demanding in time and content. With a small budget it is easy to pick too many targets and give each only superficial attention, losing the approach's main advantage.

Collecting data about people at target companies must respect the GDPR. A work email and job title are personal data too, and processing them requires a legitimate interest and an easy way to object.