Account-Based Marketing: Definition, Examples & Best Practices

When marketing and sales teams prioritize high-value accounts, they can effectively use resources and attain better results, ultimately leading to an improved ROI. With higher ROI and better customer relationships than traditional approaches offer, companies can benefit from improved marketing and sales alignment as well as easier measurability of performance through best practices adoption. To hit your Account-Based Marketing goals over time you will have to invest in tools like CRMs and marketing automation platforms as well as foster collaboration between sales and marketing teams. For instance, implementing an ABM strategy may pose challenges for a B2B manufacturing company in aligning their sales and marketing teams.

• Leverages marketing automation and other account-based marketing tools to streamline steps in the process, such as lead generation automation or email follow-ups.
• Through monitoring KPIs like pipeline value, conversion rates, and more – marketing and sales teams get a better read on just how effective their tactics really are and fine-tune strategies to maximize ROI.
• Sales teams often have valuable information about prospects that can help inform your content strategy.
• That’s why Account-Based Marketing campaigns are an invaluable tool, allowing marketers to deliver tailored content that speaks directly to the needs of each target account.

To get started, let’s cover the framework for account-based marketing. I don’t know about you, but that a shorter cycle is a definite win. The sales cycle is also streamlined by your marketing and sales alignment, as Definition of account based marketing well as the consistent and personalized customer experiences you offer.

The right account based marketing metrics help you understand whether your strategy is successfully engaging target accounts and moving them through the buying journey. GTM Studio helps orchestrate custom workflows, while AI agents in GTM Workspace surface critical account insights by reasoning across CRM, intent, and conversation signals. For most companies, the first step is getting all their data in one place. Data quality is especially critical for ABM because you are targeting specific people at specific accounts. You need accurate contact data to reach the buying committee, firmographic and technographic intelligence for account selection, and intent signals to know which accounts are in-market. Create custom webinars that address specific challenges of a single strategic account.

ABM works largely because of the combined power of marketing and sales hyper-focused on the accounts with the highest potential. While it takes a concerted effort and up-front work to launch an ABM program, success is within reach for every B2B organization. In a pilot of LinkedIn Matched Audience campaigns, marketers saw an average 32% increase in post-click conversion rates and 4.7% drop in post-click cost-per-conversion. Account-based advertising is a relatively inexpensive way to expand your reach within your target accounts. Then through Message Ads, you might directly reach out with a short message from a sales rep with a personalized offer.

Uniting sales and marketing teams to achieve better results

84% of B2B marketers said they believe LinkedIn delivers the best value. In fact, 81% of marketers who used ABM in 2024 reported an increased ROI compared to other forms of marketing. Depending on the size of the company you’re selling to, there may be an entire group of people who all give input on the final buying decision. B2C companies typically focus their marketing efforts on touching a pain point or desire of the end-user, with hopes that the individual will decide to buy. BlueYonder is a supply chain management company that helps businesses optimize their supplier activities. With this feature, my target account lists are up-to-date with the most recent information, helping me and my team craft better messaging and understand when we should reach out to targets.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Though this stage is typically led by sales, marketing should be ready to support. On average, one marketer can typically stay aligned with up to 10 salespeople, and each salesperson can manage up to 10 accounts. As your efforts scale, this marketer could support more salespeople.

For a more conventional, funnel-based approach, a close rate of 10% of top-of-funnel prospects might be acceptable. The next step in the marketing journey is planned and accounted for — end-to-end marketing to specific accounts. This means that there are options for our target accounts to engage across many campaign types throughout the sales and marketing process. What is being described is a coordinated, consistent flow of sales and marketing activities. Our definition describes ‘synchronized, continuous marketing and sales activities.’ Let’s break that down. It’s a coordinated effort across sales and marketing disciplines to achieve a specific business action.

Account Based Marketing KPIs: Measuring success

In ABM, PPC initiatives typically take the form of focused advertising around an event or webinar. PPC and paid social media ads are a common way of reaching out to target accounts on the web. 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. An ABM approach to events can include personalized invitations to key prospects from target accounts, special VIP dinners, personalized gifts and swag for target accounts, as well as personalized follow-up after the event. In account-based marketing, the length of the cycle is shortened as all prospects are nurtured simultaneously. Working together reigns in resources and reduces friction, making it easier to tie marketing’s impact directly to winning high-value accounts.

Want to power your account based marketing plan with the best ABM data on the market? It started with a list of target buyers and the messaging which resonated with each of them. Here are three account based marketing examples from our program. Even though much of this relationship-building will be handled by the sales team at this stage of the funnel, marketing should be prepared to support sales. Your marketing development representatives will know from talking to prospects which lines of attack work better than others. If you want to get new contacts, your next step would be to identify where they’re looking for answers related to your business and ensure your organization is present there.

Start creating your own account based marketing success stories with the help of Cognism – the leader in international sales intelligence. “I think more companies will start hiring ABM-specific people, especially if they’re moving into enterprise.” – Amber Bogie, Director of Global Demand Generation at Reachdesk This tech helps run targeted account selling campaigns that reach your B2B buyers on every marketing channel they use. We don’t just build the microsite, we make sure the right people see it. Do this by creating relevant content that reinforces the message you've been pushing through your account based marketing activities.

It helps define how much space there is to grow. And they make optimization easier over time. These types of account-based marketing tactics help sales teams stay consistent and responsive. Modern account based marketing platforms and account-based marketing software help automate this process.