How to ABM(Account-based marketing)

1. How To ABM

Account-based marketing (ABM) is identifying good-fit, high-value accounts (not individuals) and targeting them with customized messages that speak to their specific needs.

A well crafted ABM Strategy is

Objective

Targeted

Personalized

3 Parts of an ABM Strategy

Identity

Use Signals to IDENTIFY accounts that align with ICP.

Interact

Serve personalized INTERACTIONS based on data.

Grow

GROW relationships using a nurture motion.

At its core, ABM is all about strategic alignment of marketing resources, assets and relationships - a degree of alignment which is critical to any business in today’s B2B ecosystem. Despite varying in degrees and scales, all kinds of businesses can derive and create value from understanding and implementing a well-drafted ABM Strategy. Here’s why it’s important to you, if you’re in that space:

Enhancing Customer Satisfaction and Retention
Greater Sales and Marketing Alignment
Account Expansion
Increased ROI/ ROMI
Improved Conversion Rates

Let’s walk you through ‘How to ABM’

2. Discovery - Requirement gathering

First, understand how your company utilizes strategic account lists in its marketing and sales strategies. The prompts and questions below are a great starting point:

List Creation: Is there a current list of strategic target accounts (sales or marketing)?

Note: If YES, great (let’s answer the rest of the questions)! If NO, let us help you out. We speak to your key revenue team members in targeted sessions to map out your status quo, pain points, challenges- laying out clear problem statements and deciding on realistic goals or proceed to the next step for a historical audit to determine list creation.

Compilation Process: How was the account list created?

Ownership: Who manages the account list?

ICP Match and Alignment: Who ensures alignment with the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)?

Segmentation Criteria: Is the list segmented based on Industry, Business, Size or Geography?

List Inclusion: Are there companies not showing intent that should be included? How can engagement be enhanced?

Update Frequency: How often is the account list refreshed?

Updating Responsibility: Who is responsible for updating the account list?

Utilization by Other Programs: Are other programs using this account list?

Engagement Strategy:What is the cadence and messaging strategy for engaging with these accounts?

Sales-Marketing Alignment: Is there alignment between sales and marketing leaders regarding the account list?

Success Metrics: How does the business evaluate success, and what are priority metrics?

Next, it’s time to get into the data. Perform a revenue analysis by industry/vertical to understand the industry's influence on business revenue. This data will allow you to compare the historical performance of current strategic accounts lists/prioritization.

Note: We help you complete this process easily by reviewing your current CRM setup and analyzing your lifecycle journey processes within your CRM. This is parallel to scrutinizing the integration and synergy between your sales and marketing activities. After the analyses, we closely examine the current state of automation with your CRM while examining how you utilize your CRM to derive actionable insights and drive decisions.

Here is a list of instructions that you should follow while reporting:

Pull a 6-12 month opportunity (Open / Closed) report based on deal volume and sales-cycle length. Include:

All closed won/lost opportunities
Stage of each opportunity
Revenue generated
Win rate

Sum the revenue by industry and identify the top 5 industries in revenue contribution.

Expert Suggestion: To compare trends, perform the same analysis for inbound marketing and all sources.

3. Account Mapping

Account mapping involves selecting and organizing the accounts targeted within an ABM program.

Once accounts have been selected and mapped, the sales and marketing team can build their engagement strategy and ensure both sides maximize their alignment.

Account Mapping solves the following purposes in the overall ABM Strategy

IDENTIFY key stakeholders and decision makers

RESEARCH on key accounts and align content strategy

ENGAGE and learn to improve your outreach strategy

We transform your data into actionable insights through advanced CRM integration, analytics, and enhanced data quality and hygiene. By thoroughly auditing your CRM, we identify your ICPs so as to segregate high-value accounts.
We help you deliver seamless onboarding experiences for those high-value accounts, mapping customer journeys within your CRM to ensure delight.
We elevate your customer support and retention through strategic service practices, engagements, and analytics to meet customer needs and foster loyalty.
We help you drive revenue growth, identifying and executing targeted upsell and cross-sell opportunities and leveraging analytics to maximize lifetime value.

List Creation Fundamentals

To make the process simpler, let us lay out 5 Easy Steps to create an ABM-Specific Account List:

Start with Building your ICP
Segment your TAM based on firmographic attributes
Score these accounts based on fit
Layer Intent Signals on the top of this list
Layer Engagement Signals on the top of this list

zoominfo

Apollo

lemlist

clay

Lusha

First, look for target accounts within your existing database. As a data intelligence tool, ZoomInfo can enrich the contacts and companies in your database to help you identify and go after the high-fit leads you already have.

Zoominfo plays an important role in the following parts of the ABM process.

Identifying Good Fit Prospects:

Zoominfo leverages its database to help you find good-fit prospects. It enables you to filter companies based on criteria like:

Industry
Company description
Employee count
Employee growth rate
Location
Technology used

Research: Once you’ve identified target accounts, ZoomInfo helps you research companies. You can use Alerts - a stream of information on target companies you’ve identified. Another feature - Scoops - will pull together any new information that is publicly available about a company

Connect:Because ABM strategies typically go after outbound-sourced leads, the target accounts identified as a good fit for your offering aren’t necessarily interested.
In ZoomInfo, you can pre-select topics to monitor intent data. You should pick things that correlate with trigger events.

Intent data captured by ZoomInfo: Various ZoomInfo features can help you identify intent of your TAM/ICP fit.

Audience Strength helps you identify the individuals at a company who are searching for a particular topic.
Signal Count assists you with the number of intent spikes in that time frame.
Spike is a notification for any time the signal score exceeds 60.
Signal Score is the overall average intensity of searches for that topic.

With its Lists, Sequence features, and Smart Routing, companies can also leverage Apollo.io to craft compelling and goal-driven ABM Campaigns at scale. The following Apollo functions can assist marketing teams of any size in better crafting and executing their ABM strategies.

Integrate: Integrating Apollo with your CRM can reaffirm your data’s reliability. Account-based data is synced every 60-120 minutes, so you can rest assured that your CRM data is 100% up-to-date

Identify:Using the data available in Apollo’s database, you can reevaluate who you are prospecting. You can target accounts by evaluating the data Apollo provided on the functions of businesses and the decision-makers within them - a critical part of the ABM strategy.

Outreach: With Sequences, admins and teammates can institutionalize their best practices for engaging accounts into easy-to-follow guides that automatically add defined tasks to your sales teams’ Apollo dashboard on set schedules.

Note: See what works and what doesn’t! Use A/B test message templates, scripts, and strategies against each other to confirm the best versions of your messaging strategy!

Data Points - and Intent signals and how to capture them

Content Mapping:Content Mapping helps you identify and map out the various intent data points you need before executing your ABM Campaign. The data is distributed over several layers and contains different data points you can capture. Remember, this list is not exhaustive. You can add further data points to reinforce your decision-making.

4. Account Scoring

Account scoring determines which prospects or accounts will likely buy from you. It uses a scoring system based on what your ideal customer looks like. The higher the score, the more likely an account will buy from your business. ABM is a strategy where businesses treat high-value B2B buyers as their own special market. They use personalized marketing campaigns aimed directly at these buyers. Here’s why Account Scoring becomes extremely important

Resource Optimization:

Account scoring gives your sales team the right information regarding each lead. This helps them allocate resources effectively by focusing on accounts with the highest potential return on investment and reduces time wastage on low-value opportunities.

Efficiency:

Sales teams see an immediate improvement in their performance, as the prospects are scored based on their likelihood of conversion.

Customer Retention:

By identifying and nurturing accounts more likely to become long-term customers, you have an increased chance of retaining the accounts and increasing their customer lifetime value.

Data-Driven Decision Making:

Account scoring takes the guesswork out by letting marketing and sales teams make informed decisions regarding prospects.

One to one, one to few, one to many

The foundation of a successful account-based marketing (ABM) campaign comes with having a solid grasp of the overall strategy. ABM is a B2B marketing strategy that targets high-value accounts with tailored content and messaging. There is no “cast a wide net” metaphor here; ABM tools, digital channels, and outreach tactics function so your marketing and sales teams can use their resources in a highly effective, focused manner.

One-to-one account-based marketing is a strategy that delivers bespoke content and messaging directly to individual target accounts, treating each account as a market of one. These strategies lead to better engagement, improved relationships, and company loyalty with prospective customers.

One-to-few account-based marketing is similar in that it focuses on personalizing engagement for a small group of relevant target accounts. The same content personalization strategies as one-to-one marketing are used, but they’re scaled up to target more accounts with similar profiles and industries. One-to-one and one-to-few ABM rely on developing an understanding of your audience and nurturing relationships through relevant, reliable content—not by bombarding them with endless ads and offers.

The following diagram shows how to build an ABM Scoring Model from Scratch; you can change the attributes based on your business model and iterate as the scores develop over time. Make sure to keep your TAL ( Target Account List ) updated since that serves as the foundation for Account Scoring

We take into consideration the following parameters:

Fit
Intent
Engagement

Account Score Formula : FORMULA:
ACCOUNT SCORE = [ FIT X ( INTENT + ENGAGEMENT )* ] - TIME DECAY*: Can give proportional weight to intent and engagement markers based on the business model

Account Scoring Model - In motion

Account Scoring

5. Target Persona segmentation

Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They help you understand your target audience more deeply by considering their goals, challenges, and preferences. Creating buyer personas allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to speak directly to these individuals' needs and pain points.

But why are they important? How are they relevant to you?

In an ABM strategy, buyer personas are crucial in helping you understand your target accounts' specific needs and pain points. By creating detailed buyer personas for each of your target accounts, you can create personalized campaigns that speak directly to the needs of those accounts.

Check out the B2B Buyer Personas Pain Point Analysis Template

Here’s a brief list of B2B Buying Centers in ABM:

Initiators:
Initiators are the ones who see that acquiring a particular product or service is necessary and that it would be great to buy it. They are responsible for specifying the problem and thus initiating the search for possible solutions. Their role is to direct attention to a need and trigger the procurement process.

Influencers:
Influencers offer advice on what specific action is most suitable in any situation. They commonly have technical skills for the job or comprehend the organization's requirements. The influencer can influence other committee members through reasoning based on knowledge and perceived flow of authority.

Deciders:
Deciders or decision-makers are the final power holders who can either approve or reject a particular purchase. They assess the recommendations made by other committee members and even make the final judgment. Often, purchases are led by influential decision-makers who are responsible for successful actions in an organization.

Purchasers (Buyers):
Purchasers refer to the individuals or departments responsible for organizing the physical flow of goods per the transaction procedures. They also involve themselves in activities such as determining the principles of supply and demand, signing and sealing contracts, and guaranteeing the procurement cycle's compliance with organizational standards and funding constraints. They are vital in performing the purchase decision task.

Users:
In a B2B buying committee, end users are the individuals within the purchasing organization who will directly use the product or service being acquired. Their feedback and preferences are crucial as they can provide insights into the practical needs and usability of the product, influencing the final purchasing decision.

Gatekeepers:
Gatekeepers regulate and decide who and when can or should be communicated with and given access to the other buying committee members. They could be any official from administrative staff, a procurement officer, or any person who controls the flow of vendors and the committee

6. Pain Point Analysis - Setting priorities

Identifying themes and pain points to allow for internal revenue teams' prioritization. This provides direction and clarity around solution-oriented content and messaging development.

Here’s a short template to help you learn more about the same-

Job Role and Function

After identifying the top 5 industries/verticals based on revenue as a % of total business revenue, it’s time to dig into the buyer committee. The framework below helps outline key individuals on the buying committee

Messaging and Comms

Messaging and communications become extremely important to reach out effectively to your target accounts. Here’s a list of questions to ask before effectively proceeding to audit current content-

What existing content do we have, and how well does it align with our findings?
What is the production frequency of each content type, and who is responsible for its creation?
Which Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are aligned with our top industries identified in the analysis?
What new content needs to be created, and who will be responsible for its creation?

The end goal is an organized template that consolidates insights into a single view, enabling clear ownership for each required content piece.

Expert Tip: Leverage video assets for varied content forms and efficient repurposing!

Content Theme mapping according to the buying stages

The first step is to map content themes as per the buying stage of the Target Account. It may be any of-

Awareness
Consideration
Decision
Purchase

Content Types and Formats

Next step is to finalize a content type for each stage. You can take cues from here-

Blog Posts: Informative articles for awareness.
Ebooks/White Papers: In-depth
Guides for consideration.
Case Studies: Success stories for decision-making.
Videos/Webinars: Engaging and interactive content.
Email Campaigns: Personalized messages based on persona and tier.

Now that you have completed the Revenue Analysis, Buyer Committee Analysis, and Pain Point Analysis, it's time to design a content strategy related to the insights gathered.

We bring out our A-game and create a blueprint of future stages, utilizing insights gathered from the Discovery and Audit phases. We craft tailored playbooks that help you lay out a proper content strategy. We help you segregate different tiers of your audience and prepare customized content for each tier.

There are two key steps:

Step 1: Establish and identify your messaging tiers. These can commonly be bucketed into the following three:

Category messaging:

Example 1: Strategic Narrative: addressing what is happening in the industry and how it impacts our target audience in ways they may not realize.

Example 2: Industry Trends: highlighting the latest trends and how our solutions align with them.

Product Messaging:

Example 1: Sign-ups and Login: Showing appreciation for signing up for the product. Offering a product tour and a personalized onboarding experience.

Example 2: In-app usage: Based on existing usage, it can prompt users via pop-ups and notifications about unused product features, upgrades, and usage reminders.

Step 2: to surface pain points.

Utilize the following methods to surface pain points effectively:

Discovery call recordings
Interviewing current customers
Interviewing Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) fit non-customers
Gathering feedback from the sales team

Key Recommendations:

Strong Sales Partnership: Regular check-ins with the sales team can streamline pain point feedback.
Interview and Recording Guidelines: For smaller teams, aim for at least 4 interviews per industry.
Analyze around 6 call recordings per industry to identify trends.
Preferably, interview companies of similar size to gain relevant insights.

Frequency:

Conduct pain point analysis quarterly or semi-annually (H1/H2) based on business volume.

7. How to Measure Success -

Success in ABM relies heavily on a robust account list creation process. After completing the revenue analysis in steps 1-5, aligning on goals is crucial. Every company has distinct goals and objectives, making clarity essential for program success. This questionnaire helps to align various objectives and goals for the template.

Objective of this analysis:

Influence and expedite Account List progression through the funnel and drive revenue with an all-bound approach to reach TAM effectively. Increased ACV/shortened sales cycle and improved win rates.

Note: Additional Performance KPIs:

Evaluate performance 3-6 months before establishing “benchmark” KPIs and monitoring performance to goal. The recommendation is to segment by industry/vertical depending on ICP alignment.

- CVR% (by ACV/Industry), Win-Rates, Sales-Cycle Lengths.

ABM Dashboard Outline - Create
ABM Dashboard Metrics Template

8. ABM in Hubspot - How to Implement

01. Activate your ABM tools

Setting up ABM in HubSpot is simple, but there are a few things to note before getting started:

Only Super Admins plus users with Account access permission can activate ABM tools in HubSpot.
You'll need to add at least one company before enabling ABM, though you can remove it afterward.
Once activated, you cannot deactivate ABM tools.

Now, it’s time we jump into the process of enabling ABM in HubSpot:

In your HubSpot portal, navigate to Contacts > Target Accounts.
Click Get Started.

That's all it takes! Your HubSpot ABM tools are activated.

Look at the key ABM properties you'll want to use within HubSpot.

02. Update your ABM information

Create and ABM Properties in Hubspot, Update the Properties via Workflows

Let’s discuss a few Key ABM Properties in HubSpot:

The data populated in the following default ABM properties will be leveraged across your HubSpot portal to power account-based experiences:

Contact Properties

Buying Role

Identifies the role a contact plays during the sales process. Roles include Decision Maker, Budget Holder, Influencer, Champion, Blocker, and End User. Contacts can have multiple roles and share roles with other contacts. Plus, you can add custom roles but cannot delete the defaults.

Company Properties

Target Account

Indicates if a company is part of your ABM strategy or not. Unlike Buying Role, this is a single option property—True or False. When set to True, the company appears in your Target Accounts home for tailored campaigns.

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Tier

Categorizes how well each company matches your ideal customer criteria into one of three tiers:

Tier 1: Excellent fit, primary focus
Tier 2: Good fit, secondary focus
Tier 3: Qualifies but low priority

You can customize these tiers to align with your business strategy.

03. Target specific accounts

Create contact and company lists

Use HubSpot’s AI recommendations:

Go to Prospects > Recommendation.
Click Choose As Target Account for preferred leads.

This method leverages your existing customer base and HubSpot's AI to identify promising opportunities.

Step 1: Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Start by determining your ideal customer profile (ICP). Then, tier your accounts using the Ideal Customer Profile Tier property. Here’s how you do it:
Assign your target accounts to Tier 1, 2, or 3 based on how closely they match your ICP.
Segment your database by these tiers.
Weed out accounts that don't meet your ICP criteria.

If necessary, work closely with your sales team to analyze your current client base and define the attributes for each tier.

Step 2: Add Target Accounts

You can add Target accounts manually or automatically.

Manual Methods
Import ABM list: Upload a CSV or file containing your target accounts. This method is efficient for bulk addition of accounts identified outside of HubSpot.

Step 3: Create Marketing Campaigns for Target Accounts

To create an ABM campaign in HubSpot, follow these steps:

Navigate to the Campaigns tab and click Create Campaign.
In the pop-up, select Account Based Marketing as the campaign type.
Name your campaign and set start/end dates.
Choose the target accounts to include from your defined list.
Configure tracking parameters, assign a budget, etc., using campaign properties.
Click Create to launch your ABM campaign.

Step 4: Create Audiences and Push to Ad Platforms for Targeting

Once you’ve identified target accounts, HubSpot automatically generates several segmented lists by default.

These lists can be directly pushed to an advertising platform, or alternatively, new lists can be created and then pushed to the advertising platform.

To create new lists in HubSpot:

Go to Contacts > Lists and access the segmentation tool.
Build a new segment by defining criteria like contact properties, engagement history, and lifecycle stage.
Apply filters to hone in on the exact accounts you want to reach.
Preview and save the finalized list with a descriptive name.
You can then leverage HubSpot's integrations with platforms—LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads to push these audiences for ad targeting.

For example, to connect your LinkedIn Ads account:

In HubSpot, go to Settings > Marketing > Ads.
Click Connect Account and select LinkedIn.
Log into your LinkedIn account and grant permissions.
Select the LinkedIn Ads accounts to sync.
Track contacts that interact with your ads, enable Auto-tracking.
Choose which accounts will sync leads back to HubSpot.
Save the integration.

Sequences set-up for ABM in HS

Step 5: Create Sales Email Sequencing

You can leverage HubSpot's workflow automation to set up personalized email sequencing for your target accounts. First, segment your contacts by roles, challenges, interests, or buyer journey stage. This allows you to group similar accounts together.

Then, develop tailored messaging addressing each segment's needs and pain points. Hyper-personalized content is key for ABM.

Next, in HubSpot:

Navigate to Automation > Sequences
Click Create Sequence and select to build from scratch or use an existing template.
Name your sequence based on the target accounts or campaign goal.
Add automated emails by clicking the + icon and choosing Automated Email. Select to continue a thread or start a new one.
Insert manual tasks like calls or LinkedIn messages as reminders for one-to-one follow-up.
Customize the delays between sequence steps to match your sales cycle cadence.

This creates an automated tailored email journey for each target account segment.

As you monitor engagement, continuously refine your sequences to boost relevance.

You can then leverage HubSpot's integrations with platforms—LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads to push these audiences for ad targeting.

For example, to connect your LinkedIn Ads account:

In HubSpot, go to Settings > Marketing > Ads.
Click Connect Account and select LinkedIn.
Log into your LinkedIn account and grant permissions.
Select the LinkedIn Ads accounts to sync.
track contacts that interact with your ads, enable Auto-tracking.
Choose which accounts will sync leads back to HubSpot.
Save the integration.

Notifying your Sales team via notifications

Step 6: Create a Workflow to Notify the Sales Team

Using HubSpot, you can create an automated workflow to alert your sales team whenever a high-value target account engages with your ads or website.

Before creating the workflow:

Ensure Slack integration is enabled in HubSpot for notifications.
Verify website tracking is implemented to detect target account visits.
Connect any ad platforms to track ad interactions.
Use ABM tools to tag and identify targeted accounts.
HubSpot has a library of dashboards and reports based on ABM properties. Using this data, you can analyze your existing ABM efforts, refine your ABM strategy going forward, and find answers to sales and marketing questions.
To create and save the ABM reports dashboard:
In your HubSpot account, navigate to Reporting & Data > Dashboards.
In the upper right, click Create Dashboard. You'll be brought to the dashboard library.
Use the search bar to narrow down your search.
Click the dashboard that suits your business strategy.
Continue setting up your dashboard.

Reporting on ABM Campaigns

To view and access individual ABM reports:

In your HubSpot account:

Navigate to Reporting & Data > Reports.
Click Create Report.
In the left panel, select the Target accounts checkbox from the Data Sources dropdown menu to view all ABM report templates.
Click a report template to see a preview of the report.
Click Save to save the report, Customize to customize the report further or Cancel to return to the list of report templates.

It creates a virtual world where the user is given a tour of a smart building. They see first-hand how Salesforce's CRM software can transform their customer experience. This interactive experience is more than just a sales pitch - it's an immersive journey that shows the user exactly how Salesforce can help them achieve their goals.

And the best part? It works! The Connected Tower experience helped Salesforce close a major deal and win a high-value account. Here are some scenarios where Salesforce can leverage Account-based Marketing to provide personalized digital experiences at scale.

Data-Driven Account Selection and Segmentation

Salesforce would use its extensive data analytics capabilities to identify and segment high-value target accounts. By leveraging tools like Salesforce Einstein, they can analyze data to understand which accounts are most likely to convert and generate significant revenue.

Personalized Content and Messaging

Salesforce could create tailored content and messaging for different segments. This includes personalized landing pages, emails, and content hubs that address each target account's needs and pain points. Using tools like Pardot, Salesforce can automate and personalize email marketing campaigns.

Dynamic Website Personalization

Salesforce might implement dynamic website personalization, where the content displayed on their website changes based on the visitor’s industry, role, or previous interactions with the site. This can be achieved through Salesforce's Experience Cloud, which allows customized digital experiences.

Creating engagement with personalized events - Personify

Numerous generic ads out there feel like they're speaking to no one in particular. However, Personify's targeted ad campaigns feel like they're speaking directly to the user.

How do they do it? Personify's Constituent Management & Engagement platform allows them to create a list of their top accounts and segment their target markets and personas within them. They can personalize their ad campaigns based on the buyer stage, company, and persona.

And the results speak for themselves. Using targeted ads, Personify saw a whopping 39 times increase in engaged website visitors. 39 times! So, if you want to level up your advertising game with targeted ad campaigns, you won't be disappointed.

Here are some specific strategies that Personify deploys to execute ABM at scale:

Interactive Web Experiences
Implementing interactive elements on their website, such as calculators, quizzes, and personalized recommendation engines, can help engage visitors from target accounts. These tools can provide tailored insights and product recommendations based on visitors' needs and interests.

Personalized Event Invitations
For key accounts, Personify can extend personalized invitations to webinars, workshops, and industry events. These events can be tailored to address the specific interests and challenges of the target accounts, providing valuable insights and networking opportunities.

Customer Feedback Loops
Creating feedback loops with target accounts can help Personify continuously refine and improve its ABM strategies. By actively seeking feedback and incorporating it into their approach, they can ensure they meet the evolving needs of their high-value accounts.

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