Introduction

8 steps to build your account-based marketing strategy + recommended tools

A typical sales cycle goes from prospects to connection, to research, to presenting, to closing, and nurturing. When you approach each account like a unique case, you speak straight into their hearts. By personalizing and customizing your content, you become highly relevant to your prospects, increasing your conversion chances. Don't treat ABM as a product of its own, though; it should be complementary to your B2B marketing strategy. This way, you can curate highly personalized content and make unique offers based on each prospect's budget.

Create account-specific landing pages that speak directly to each target company’s challenges and goals. Create a focused list of target accounts that match your ICP criteria. Once you’ve defined your ICP, create a focused list of target accounts that match these criteria. This success stems from the alignment between sales and marketing teams – both departments work together to pursue the same specific accounts, rather than operating in separate silos. Think of it as fishing with a spear rather than a net – you’re going after the exact fish you want, with precision and purpose.

• ABM, by contrast, is an outbound marketing strategy in which a company targets specific businesses it wants to turn into accounts.
• If you have a physical product, let wholesalers know when you plan to release a new product or if you’re reformulating or changing your packaging.
• For example, a CIO may respond to high-level thought leadership about digital transformation strategy, while an IT manager may gravitate toward product specs and demos.
• This formalized earlier practices of key account management and industrial marketing, positioning ABM as a structured framework for aligning sales and marketing around specific accounts.

While enterprises have been early adopters, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) can also use ABM successfully. The future of B2B growth is focused, data-driven, and personalized. When sales and marketing work together, using personalized outreach and the right tech, magic happens—higher conversions, stronger pipelines, and happier customers. A strong nurturing strategy keeps your brand top-of-mind and moves prospects closer to a deal.

Step 7: Measure and optimize

Once visitors reach the website, website personalization technology can be used to create a tailored, account-specific experience for target prospects vs the generic website experience. In ABM, PPC initiatives typically take the form of focused advertising around an event or webinar. Whereas a volume-based marketing approach might use templates and marketing automation, account based marketing involves crafting tailored email messages for each company and individual. Even with the popularity of direct mail, email is still a valuable marketing channel for ABM. In an age where everyone is overloaded with email, direct mail initiatives have once again increasingly become a popular method of reaching prospects within a company. Webinar events and follow-ups can be tailored for specific companies, and unique webinar content can be created with the target audience in mind.

The next account-based account based advertising marketing tactic is to start creating content and campaigns that align with each account's needs, challenges, and preferences. Once you've done your research, you can start creating your strategic marketing plan. You already know who is interested in your product and brand and focus your efforts on converting them.

Rather than starting wide with leads and narrowing down to customers, you start by identifying your best-fit accounts first and then engage them with tailored marketing and sales plays. Two decades later, ABM has evolved from a manual, high-touch discipline into an AI-driven operating model where signals, orchestration, and measurement happen in near real-time. The term "account-based marketing" was coined by Bev Burgess at ITSMA in 2003, formalizing a practice that enterprise sales teams had been running informally for years. Identify gaps in your marketing efforts with specific opportunities to drive more conversions.

Misalignment leads to wasted efforts, missed opportunities, and lower conversion rates. In ABM, sales and marketing need to work as one unit. Your ICP defines the ideal type of company, but now it’s time to pick specific businesses that match those criteria and show buying intent. Your ideal customer profile is a clear outline of the companies most likely to benefit from your product or service. Utilizing this targeted content, Personify launched focused advertising campaigns designed to resonate with each group.

What is account based advertising?

Yes, The Smarketers is a HubSpot Platinum Solutions Partner, providing implementation, management, and optimization services for the HubSpot platform. The Smarketers serves Fortune 1000 and mid-market B2B companies across IT Services, System Integrators, Cybersecurity, Telecom, SaaS, Manufacturing, and Health & Life Sciences. If you want a smooth and successful project, I highly recommend working with The Smarketers. The team was highly professional and organized, providing clear project management, valuable content creation expertise, and technical insights to improve our digital processes. We partnered with The Smarketers to update our website, looking for a fresh, modern, and accessible design. Overall, a very positive experience and we’d be happy to recommend them to others looking for HubSpot workflow support.