Terms

Account-Based Marketing

Account-based marketing is a focused strategy where marketing and sales resources are concentrated on a specific set of high-value target accounts. Instead of casting a wide net, this approach uses highly personalized campaigns tailored to the unique needs and attributes of each individual account. This method treats each target account as its own market, aiming to build stronger relationships and drive growth.

Key Benefits of Account-Based Marketing

Adopting an account-based marketing strategy offers a multitude of advantages that can significantly impact a company's bottom line. By shifting from a broad-based approach to a targeted one, businesses can achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in their outreach. The primary benefits include:

  • Alignment: Fosters close collaboration between sales and marketing teams for a unified goal.
  • Efficiency: Reduces wasted resources by focusing efforts on high-value accounts most likely to convert.
  • ROI: Delivers a clearer, more measurable return on investment compared to traditional marketing tactics.
  • Speed: Shortens the sales cycle by engaging all key decision-makers within an account simultaneously.

Strategies for Implementing Account-Based Marketing

Implementing a successful account-based marketing strategy requires a structured, multi-step approach. It begins with careful selection and deep research, followed by personalized execution to ensure your efforts are focused and effective.

  • Identify: Pinpoint high-value accounts that align with your ideal customer profile.
  • Research: Deeply understand each target account's pain points, needs, and decision-makers.
  • Personalize: Craft tailored messaging and campaigns that resonate with each account's specific challenges.
  • Engage: Execute multi-channel outreach to connect with key stakeholders across the buying committee.
  • Measure: Track key metrics like account engagement, pipeline velocity, and revenue to gauge success.

Account-Based Marketing vs. Account-Based Selling

While closely related, account-based marketing and selling have distinct focuses and applications.

  • Account-Based Marketing (ABM): This strategy uses personalized campaigns to generate awareness and engagement within a select group of high-value accounts. It's ideal for enterprises with long sales cycles, as it warms up entire buying committees before sales outreach. The main goal is to create qualified opportunities by aligning marketing efforts with specific account needs, which improves ROI and shortens the sales cycle.
  • Account-Based Selling (ABS): This is a sales-led methodology focused on navigating the internal structure of a target account to close a deal. Sales reps build deep relationships with key stakeholders, tailoring their pitch to individual pain points. It's effective for both enterprise and mid-market companies where a highly personalized sales process is crucial for converting opportunities.

Tools and Technologies for Account-Based Marketing

This is how you can effectively implement your ABM tech stack.

  1. Use a CRM and data enrichment tools to build and refine your target account list.
  2. Leverage intent data platforms to identify accounts actively researching your solutions.
  3. Deploy personalization and automation tools to deliver tailored campaigns at scale.
  4. Utilize analytics software to measure engagement, track your pipeline, and prove ROI.

Measuring Success in Account-Based Marketing

Measuring ABM success requires shifting focus from traditional marketing metrics to account-level outcomes. Key performance indicators include sales cycle length, account engagement, and influenced pipeline. Ultimately, success is measured by revenue growth and customer lifetime value, demonstrating a clear return on investment and aligning marketing efforts directly with sales results.

Frequently Asked Questions about Account-Based Marketing

Is ABM only for large enterprises?

Not at all. While popular in enterprises, ABM principles are highly effective for SMBs. By concentrating resources on a few high-potential accounts, smaller companies can compete effectively, shorten sales cycles, and maximize their marketing ROI without a massive budget.

How is ABM different from traditional lead generation?

Traditional marketing casts a wide net for individual leads. ABM flips the model by targeting specific high-value accounts first, then engaging key decision-makers within them. It's a quality-over-quantity approach focused on building deeper relationships and driving revenue.

Does ABM replace all other marketing efforts?

No, ABM complements other strategies. It's most powerful when integrated with broader demand generation. This hybrid approach allows you to run highly targeted campaigns for key accounts while still capturing inbound interest from the wider market.

Other terms

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Buyer Intent

Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.

Buyer Intent

Application Performance Management

Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.

Application Performance Management

ABM Orchestration

ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.

ABM Orchestration

Buying Signal

A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.

Buying Signal

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

Microservices

Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.

Microservices

Net New Business

Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.

Net New Business

Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis means identifying your rivals and assessing their strategies to pinpoint your own business's strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive Analysis

B2B Sales

Learn about B2B sales, including key strategies for B2B success, types of B2B sales models, & B2B vs. B2C sales: understanding the differences.

B2B Sales

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.

Employee Engagement

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

Objection Handling

Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.

Objection Handling

Buying Committee

A buying committee is a group of stakeholders within an organization who are jointly responsible for making major purchasing decisions.

Buying Committee

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that look and feel like native mobile apps, offering features like offline access and push notifications.

Progressive Web Apps

Outbound Lead Generation

Outbound lead generation means proactively reaching out to potential customers who haven't yet expressed interest to introduce them to your brand.

Outbound Lead Generation

Account-Based Marketing Software

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.

Account-Based Marketing Software

Contact Discovery

Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.

Contact Discovery

Smile and Dial

"Smile and dial" is a high-volume sales tactic where reps make numerous cold calls from a list, often with little to no prior research.

Smile and Dial

Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

Buying Criteria

Operational CRM

An Operational CRM is a system that automates and improves customer-facing business processes like sales, marketing, and customer service.

Operational CRM

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has shown interest based on marketing efforts but isn't yet ready for a sales conversation.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

Lead List

A lead list is a curated database of potential customers (leads) with contact information and other key data for sales and marketing outreach.

Lead List

Stress Testing

Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.

Stress Testing

Value Statement

A value statement is a clear, concise declaration of the unique benefits a company provides to its customers, outlining its core purpose.

Value Statement

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Marketing Mix

Account Management

Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.

Account Management

Sales Methodology

A sales methodology is the framework that guides how your sales team approaches the entire sales process, from prospecting to closing deals.

Sales Methodology

Expansion Revenue

Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.

Expansion Revenue

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.

Demand Generation

GPCTBA/C&I

GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.

GPCTBA/C&I

Regression Testing

Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.

Regression Testing

Marketing Attribution Model

A marketing attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.

Marketing Attribution Model

Sales Pipeline

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, from the first contact to the final sale.

Sales Pipeline

Buyer

Learn about buyer, including identifying your ideal buyer, understanding buyer's journey, & evaluating buyer decision processes.

Buyer

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.

Workflow Automation

Sales Intelligence Platform

A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.

Sales Intelligence Platform

Lead Qualification Process

The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.

Lead Qualification Process

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

Closed Lost

Closed Lost is a sales term for a deal that didn't go through. The prospect decided not to buy, or the sales team disqualified them.

Closed Lost

Trigger Marketing

Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.

Trigger Marketing

Simple Object Access Protocol Application Programming Interface

A Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API is a web service that uses XML to exchange structured information between different applications.

Simple Object Access Protocol Application Programming Interface

Channel Partners

Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.

Channel Partners

B2B Data Platform

Learn about B2B data platform, including key benefits of B2B data platforms, choosing the right B2B data platform, challenges in implementing B2B data platforms.

B2B Data Platform

Voice Broadcasting

Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.

Voice Broadcasting

Marketo

Marketo is a marketing automation platform used by B2B marketers to manage lead generation, nurturing, email marketing, and analytics.

Marketo

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Use Case

A use case is a detailed description of how a user interacts with a system to achieve a specific goal, outlining the steps from start to finish.

Use Case

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Buying Intent

Buying intent is the collection of online cues and behaviors that signal a prospect is actively researching and moving toward a purchase decision.

Buying Intent

Buyer Intent Data

Learn about buyer intent data, including sourcing and interpreting buyer intent data, & key metrics in buyer intent analysis.

Buyer Intent Data

Warm Outreach

Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.

Warm Outreach

Commission

A commission is a service charge paid to an agent for a transaction. It's typically a percentage of the sale, rewarding performance directly.

Commission

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

Marketing Automation Platform

A marketing automation platform is software that automates marketing actions. It helps manage tasks like email campaigns and lead nurturing.

Marketing Automation Platform

Account-Based Selling

Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.

Account-Based Selling

Customer Relationship Marketing

Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.

Customer Relationship Marketing

Sales Enablement

Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.

Sales Enablement

SAM

Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.

SAM

Psychographics

Psychographics categorizes people by their attitudes, interests, and lifestyles, revealing the 'why' behind their purchasing decisions.

Psychographics

Personalization in Sales

Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.

Personalization in Sales

Messaging Strategy

A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.

Messaging Strategy

Feature Flags

Feature flags let you remotely control features in your app without new code. This enables safe testing, gradual rollouts, and quick rollbacks.

Feature Flags

Lead Generation Software

Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.

Lead Generation Software

Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

Performance Plan

Product-Led Growth

Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.

Product-Led Growth

CRM Enrichment

CRM enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to make them more complete and accurate.

CRM Enrichment

Sales Territory

A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.

Sales Territory

API

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other and exchange information.

API

Awareness Buying Stage

The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.

Awareness Buying Stage

Event Marketing

Event marketing is a strategy where brands engage directly with target audiences through live events like trade shows, conferences, or webinars.

Event Marketing

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.

Dynamic Pricing

Cross-Selling

Cross-selling is a sales tactic of encouraging customers to purchase products or services that are related to what they're already buying.

Cross-Selling

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.

Affiliate Marketing

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a system of integrated software that businesses use to manage and automate their core day-to-day processes.

Enterprise Resource Planning

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their attributes and actions to determine their sales-readiness.

Lead Scoring

Talk Track

A talk track is a script that guides sales reps during calls. It ensures they cover key points and maintain a consistent message with prospects.

Talk Track

Channel Partner

A channel partner is a company that works with a manufacturer or producer to market and sell their products, software, or services to customers.

Channel Partner

Ideal Customer Profile

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.

Ideal Customer Profile

Dark Funnel

The Dark Funnel describes customer buying activities that are untrackable by companies, such as private chats and word-of-mouth referrals.

Dark Funnel

Customer Acquisition Cost

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost a business spends to gain a new customer. It includes all sales and marketing expenses.

Customer Acquisition Cost

Docker

Docker is a tool that packages applications and their dependencies into isolated environments called containers for easy deployment and scaling.

Docker

Enterprise

An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.

Enterprise

Sales Partnerships

Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.

Sales Partnerships

Persona-Based Marketing

Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.

Persona-Based Marketing

Ramp Up Time

Ramp-up time is the period a new hire takes to get fully up to speed and become a productive member of your go-to-market team.

Ramp Up Time

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

Shipping Solutions

Shipping solutions are services or software that streamline the logistics of getting products to customers, from label printing to final delivery.

Shipping Solutions

Sandboxes

A sandbox is an isolated testing environment where new or untrusted code can be run safely without affecting the host device or network.

Sandboxes

B2C2B

Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.

B2C2B

Sales Prospecting Software

Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.

Sales Prospecting Software

Average Revenue per User

Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.

Average Revenue per User

FAB Technique

The FAB technique is a sales framework connecting product features to advantages and then to the specific benefits for the customer.

FAB Technique

Audience Targeting

Audience targeting is the process of segmenting consumers into specific groups to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages.

Audience Targeting

Cross-Site Scripting

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a web security vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into trusted websites.

Cross-Site Scripting

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a digital strategy where businesses send targeted emails to prospects and customers to build relationships and drive sales.

Email Marketing

Integration Testing

Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.

Integration Testing

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing

Copyright Compliance

Copyright compliance is adhering to laws that protect creative works. It involves legally using content by obtaining permission or licenses.

Copyright Compliance

Business Development Representative

Learn about business development representative, including skills and qualifications for BDRs, & roles and responsibilities of a BDR.

Business Development Representative