What is ABM (account-based marketing)
Also known as: account-based marketing, key account marketing
ABM, short for account-based marketing, is the B2B strategy in which marketing and sales jointly choose a group of high value companies and treat each one as a market of its own, with messages, content and actions made for it. The term was coined in 2003 by Bev Burgess at ITSMA, the Information Technology Services Marketing Association.
A hospital software company picks 40 hospitals that fit its ideal customer profile. For each one, it maps who decides: leadership, IT, clinical staff and purchasing.
Instead of advertising to the whole sector, it runs LinkedIn ads only those companies see, sends each hospital a study with data from its region and invites decision makers to a technical breakfast. In six months, it opens conversations with half the list, and those opportunities are worth far more on average than the ones from open ads.
ABM and lead generation marketing
| Lead generation | ABM | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A broad audience | A closed list of accounts |
| Message | By segment | By account, sometimes by person |
| Main metric | Lead volume | Engagement, opportunities and revenue per account |
| Teams | Marketing delivers, sales receives | Marketing and sales plan together |
The tiers of ABM
- One to one: a few strategic accounts, each with its own plan.
- One to few: groups of similar accounts, such as hospitals of the same size, with shared actions.
- One to many: larger lists, with technology driven personalization, such as ads targeted by company.
How to get started
- Define the ideal customer profile from current customer data.
- Build the account list by combining fit with signs of interest.
- Map who decides and who influences inside each account.
- Write messages that speak to each account's context.
- Choose channels: LinkedIn, email, events, direct mail, tailored content.
- Agree with sales on who does what and when.
How to measure it
- Coverage: how many decision makers in each account you already reach.
- Engagement per account: visits, replies, event attendance.
- Meetings and opportunities opened in listed accounts.
- Revenue and average contract size.
- Sales cycle length.
When ABM does not pay off
ABM takes work per account, and that effort only pays off when each contract is worth a lot. In markets with thousands of small, low ticket customers, volume lead generation is usually more efficient. Many companies combine both: ABM for large accounts, volume marketing for the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is ABM?
Account-based marketing: marketing and sales choose high value companies and treat each as a market of its own, with tailored messages and actions.
Who coined the term ABM?
According to Wikipedia, it was coined in 2003 by Bev Burgess at ITSMA, the Information Technology Services Marketing Association.
What is the difference between ABM and inbound?
Inbound attracts a broad audience with content and qualifies whoever arrives. ABM starts from a closed list of chosen accounts and goes after them with personalized actions.
Does ABM work for small businesses?
It does when the business sells to a few high value accounts, even if it is small. It does not pay off with low tickets and fragmented markets.
How do you measure ABM results?
Per account: decision maker coverage, engagement, meetings, opportunities, revenue and cycle length, not lead volume.
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Rodrigo Fávaro
Founder of ROO3, a marketing and technology agency in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. Builds AI products running in production (Tobia, gerar.app, Pense Mercado) and maintains the AI Benchmark, a public ranking of AI models.
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