Account-based marketing ABM strategy focuses on pursuing high-value accounts instead of casting a wide net and praying for MQLs or SQLs your sales team calls “not warmed up enough” anyway. It is especially sensible in B2B, where ACVs are high.
In this guide, with a real case study, you will learn how to design a B2B account-based marketing ABM strategy that actually works, plus where ZenABM fits.
Is an Account-Based Marketing ABM Strategy Right for Your B2B?
Assuming that if it is B2B, it must need ABM can be fatal for your budget. Check these first.
- Deal sizes justify it. ABM is resource-intensive, so it fits high-value accounts. Focus on where potential ACV more than covers time and spend. “Remember your cost of acquisition… do not waste ABM efforts on a 10k sale already coming through inbound,” advises Tim Deluca Smith, a CMO.
- You have a clear Ideal Customer Profile. ABM works when you know which companies get the most value from your product. If TAM is broad or PMF is moving, go light until you reach post PMF scale.
- Inbound is not enough. SEO and broad inbound can plateau or pull low-fit leads. ABM lets you go after best fit accounts while demand gen provides air cover. Eighty seven percent of companies see the best results when they mix ABM with traditional marketing.
- Sales and marketing need alignment. ABM is the easiest way to break silos and co-own the pipeline.
You do not need a huge budget to start. Sometimes paid media and SEO spend overwhelm and still return diminishing ROI. With a focused account-based marketing ABM strategy, you can cut those costs. For example, Folloze saw a 43 percent YoY pipeline increase while cutting paid media spend by 52 percent after doubling down on ABM.
Foundations of a B2B ABM Strategy: ICP, Segmentation, Team Setup
Ideal Customer Profile definition
ABM success equals laser-focused targeting
An ICP is the profile of an account most likely to become a high-value, successful customer. It goes beyond firmographics and includes firm size, industry, tech stack, geography, buying triggers, and pain signals.
- Start with your best customers. Analyze your top 5 to 10 accounts by revenue or tenure and find the shared traits.
- Identify negative factors. List disqualifiers such as incompatible stack or recent heavy layoffs.
- Map the buying committee. You sell to a group. Define champion, decision maker, influencers, and blockers.
- Use intent and engagement. Third-party intent and your first-party engagement signals help refine the ICP. You can also gauge intent by running intent-specific ads and tracking campaign-level engagement with ZenABM.
In ABM, the list is the strategy. Meticulous ICP research improves the list and the entire GTM.
Real example. How Userpilot built the TAL for a pilot account-based marketing ABM strategy
They reused a cold outbound list, filtered loss accounts by firmographics, removed new customers, then enriched for a target stack using Clay and BuiltWith.
Account segmentation and ACV tiers
Not all targets are equal. Segment your TAL into tiers so effort matches value.
| Tier | Description | Approach | Typical ACV contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Highest value accounts or strategic logos. Deep research and highly personalized pursuit plans. | 1 to 1 ABM | Greater than 10 to 15 percent of segment revenue each |
| Tier 2 | Great fits that are not enterprise. Personalized by industry or use case. Often called ABM Lite. | 1 to few or 1 to cluster | About 4 to 10 percent of segment revenue each |
| Tier 3 | Lower value or emerging accounts. Scaled programs with minimal personalization. Graduate upward on intent. | 1 to many | Below threshold for heavy ABM investment |
Pro tip. Review tier rules quarterly and move accounts based on engagement.
Aligning team and stakeholders
- Form a core ABM team. Start with one marketer and one SDR. Add roles as scope grows.
- Secure executive buy in. Lock budgets and goals with leadership.
- Shared goals and KPIs. MQAs, pipeline created, win rate. Review weekly.
- Define roles per stage. Marketing runs awareness, sales takes over on clear engagement.
- Train and brief. Kick off with ICP, TAL, messaging, and workflows.
End to End Account-Based Marketing ABM Strategy: From Planning to Execution
Set goals, budget, and KPIs
- Net new revenue
- Pipeline acceleration
- Account expansion
- Brand awareness in target segments
Budget for tools and ad spend. Use the free ABM Budget Calculator.
Select target accounts and build lists
Quality over quantity
Prioritize high intent, high fit accounts. Use internal and external signals.
Data sources
- Intent and engagement. ZenABM, Leadfeeder, Clearbit, 6sense, Demandbase.
- Marketing engagement. Events, repeat content consumption.
- Referrals. Networks and partner intel.
- Past pipeline. Near misses and expansion opportunities.
Account research
Tier the list and create dossiers for Tier 1 and Tier 2. Iterate weekly. Double down on responsive accounts and stop spend on dormant ones.
Craft personalized value propositions and content
- Map pains to your solution. Write value props for each account or segment.
- Lead with education. Teach before you pitch.
- Account specific touches. Custom demo spaces, light audits, executive videos for Tier 1.
- Use SMEs and thought leaders. People trust experts and peers.
- Multi channel content mix. Plan formats and channels by stage.
Pro tip. ZenABM intent tagging writes the campaign themes an account engaged with into CRM company properties, so BDRs tailor outreach precisely.
Execute campaigns. Channels, timeline, structure
Choose channels wisely
Go where your buyers pay attention. LinkedIn works well for one to many and one to few.
One to many, one to few, one to one
Start broad to surface interest, then graduate engaged accounts to deeper plays and BDR outreach.
Stage wise orchestration
Define ABM stages and align content accordingly. Track stages with company-level impression and engagement data.
ZenABM also writes key engagement into HubSpot company properties and can auto-assign a BDR when an account hits the Interested stage.
Timeline and cadence
Run quarterly sprints. Many enterprise cycles need multiple sprints, but a sprint cadence helps with planning and learning. Use a simple PM board to manage assets and launches. Here is an ABM template you can copy.
A campaign structure that scales
If persona-first segmentation stalls delivery, pivot to intent-first campaign groups with single asset campaigns nested beneath. This keeps audiences above the 300-member minimum and aggregates engagement for reliable analytics.
Measuring B2B ABM Success. Metrics, Pipeline Impact, Reporting
Let’s talk about measurement now:
Focus on engagement and pipeline
Source
- Percent of target accounts engaged
- Meetings per engaged account
- Pipeline and revenue from target accounts
Account progress through stages
Measure movement from Identified to Aware to Interested to Consideration to Selecting. Fix stage drop offs fast.
Pipeline and ROI attribution
ABM should lead to revenue. For Userpilot, a single quarter of spend generated a significant pipeline lift. Since LinkedIn clicks are limited, view-through attribution is essential for ABM.
LinkedIn CTR is low which makes view based attribution essential.
How to attribute ABM ROI
Sync LinkedIn engagement with your CRM using ZenABM. Pull account level metrics via the LinkedIn API and push them into company fields. Map engaged companies to deals to show revenue influence clearly.
ABM campaign metrics dashboard in ZenABM
Learn and iterate
Identify which content and campaigns drove real results and double down. Get sales feedback on what advanced conversations and closed deals.
End note
Hope this account-based marketing ABM strategy guide helps. You can contact the content team at ZenABM or Emilia Korczynska for more on the Userpilot strategy that drove more than 900k dollars in pipeline from about 52k in spend.
