Account-Based Marketing: Targeting High-Value Accounts for Business Success

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a powerful tool used by 94% of b2b marketers worldwide. More than 97% of marketers agree that ABM brings a higher investment rate than other marketing strategies. Developing an effective ABM plan is a challenging task. To assist marketing teams, we have compiled a list of ten good account-based marketing tactics and several examples that can guide you in devising the best ABM strategy for your company. So, let’s dive in.

What Is Account-Based Marketing?

Let’s put first things first and begin with the definition of account-based marketing. 

Account-based marketing, or ABM, is a business-to-business marketing strategy focusing on a select target account group. Instead of generic marketing campaigns, ABM tailors its approach to each account’s needs. The goal is to create personalized campaigns that engage each target account and build strong, long-lasting relationships. ABM goes beyond traditional marketing methods to provide a more personal and effective approach to engaging with target accounts.

Top 10 Tips for ABM Advertising

1. Play the Long Game

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is not a quick fix; it’s a strategic approach that emphasizes building meaningful engagement with the right accounts over time. Instead of seeking immediate conversions, ABM prioritizes relationship-building through education, trust, and targeted nurturing.

Start with Education. Provide prospects with content that helps them solve their challenges or meet their goals before introducing your product or service. Examples of educational content:

1. Blog posts: “Top 5 Challenges in Scaling IT Operations.”
2. Webinars: “How to Optimize Workflow for Mid-Sized Teams.”
3. Guides: “The Complete Handbook for Automating Repetitive Tasks.”

Focus on Awareness and Nurturing. In the early stages, avoid aggressively pushing demo requests or sales pitches to unfamiliar accounts. Use targeted ads and emails to introduce your brand, build familiarity, and establish credibility. Example: Run LinkedIn ads that share thought leadership articles rather than product promotions.

Use multiple touchpoints to stay on your prospects’ radar without being intrusive:

4. Retargeting ads.
5. Regular emails with curated resources.
6. Social media interactions (likes, comments, and direct messaging when appropriate).

Aim to provide ongoing value with every interaction.

What to Avoid

• Rushing the Process: Pushing demo requests to accounts that haven’t engaged with your brand often leads to poor response rates and wasted resources.
• One-Size-Fits-All Approach: Sending generic content instead of personalized materials undermines the relationship-building effort.

2. Create a Dossier of Information

Creating a detailed dossier of information is a cornerstone of effective Account-Based Marketing (ABM). This process involves gathering and organizing actionable insights about target accounts, enabling sales and marketing teams to deliver personalized and impactful outreach.

A well-crafted dossier empowers your sales team with a deep understanding of target accounts, ensuring every interaction feels relevant and tailored. It also fosters better collaboration between sales and marketing, aligning both teams toward shared goals of engagement and conversion. Ultimately, it becomes a roadmap for targeted, efficient, and high-impact efforts.

How to Build an Effective Dossier

The process starts with collecting data that sheds light on how a potential account interacts with your brand. For instance:

• Engagement Data: Look at ads they clicked, pages visited, emails opened, or questions asked during live chats. These actions offer clues about their interests and priorities.
• Behavioral Patterns: Organize this data to identify trends. Are they consistently engaging with content related to a specific challenge?
• Demographics and Pain Points: Note their industry, company size, and location, and connect these details to recurring challenges they seem to face.

Add to this foundation by incorporating qualitative insights from sales interactions. Who are the decision-makers? What objections have they raised? What solutions have piqued their interest in conversations?

Once all this information is collected, synthesize it into a concise, actionable profile for the account. Highlight their journey so far, the resources they’ve engaged with, and recommended strategies for moving forward.

Putting the Dossier to Use

A dossier isn’t just a static document—it’s a strategic tool that drives personalized outreach. Sales teams can tailor their pitches by referencing specific ads or content the prospect engaged with, addressing known pain points, and offering targeted solutions. Marketing teams can use the same data to refine campaigns, design account-specific content, and retarget effectively. Even individual messages, like emails or LinkedIn outreach, can be enriched with personalized touches that resonate.

For example, imagine a dossier on “TechCorp,” a SaaS company:

• Engagement Summary: TechCorp clicked ads about scalable IT solutions, visited pricing pages, and downloaded a whitepaper on reducing IT costs.
• Pain Points: They struggle with scalability and have concerns about upfront costs.
• Recommended Actions: Highlight cost-saving features, share a case study about scalability, and schedule a call to discuss budget-friendly options.

Investing time in creating detailed dossiers pays dividends. Accounts receiving tailored outreach based on these insights are far more likely to convert. Plus, personalization builds trust, strengthens relationships, and ensures sales teams spend their time on high-potential leads.

3. Go Deeper with Insights

To create truly impactful Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns, you need to go beyond surface-level data and delve deeper into your audience’s behaviors, interests, and needs. This approach helps you craft highly personalized content and messaging that resonates at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

Segmenting your audience is the foundation of deeper insights. Use data points like behavioral patterns, firmographics, and demographics to divide your audience into meaningful groups.

• Behavioral Data: Track actions like website visits, ad clicks, email opens, or resource downloads.
• Firmographic Data: Consider company attributes like size, industry, revenue, or location.
• Demographics: Focus on job roles, seniority, or departmental priorities.

For instance, frequent viewers of case studies may be close to making a purchasing decision, while new visitors engaging with introductory blogs are likely top-of-funnel leads.

Tools like Google Analytics, LinkedIn Insights, and CRM platforms can help you uncover patterns in your audience’s behavior. Ask questions like:

• What pages are they visiting most?
• Which content types (e.g., blogs, case studies) generate the most engagement?

For example, if a prospect spends time on product comparison pages, they’re likely evaluating options and nearing a decision.

Align Content with the Buyer’s Journey

Once you understand your audience’s behaviors and needs, tailor content to their stage in the buyer journey:

• Top-of-Funnel (Awareness): Create educational content that builds interest. Blogs, videos, and infographics work well here, such as “5 Challenges in Scaling Operations for Mid-Sized Businesses.”
• Middle-of-Funnel (Consideration): Offer resources that address specific pain points or show how your product can help. Think whitepapers, webinars, or demos. For instance, “How Our Solution Saves 20+ Hours Per Week.”
• Bottom-of-Funnel (Decision): Provide content that validates their decision. Case studies, ROI calculators, or testimonials are key. Example: “See How TechCorp Increased ROI by 30% with Our Solution.”

Dynamic campaigns take personalization a step further by adapting content based on user behavior. For example, if a prospect downloads a whitepaper on cost-saving strategies, follow up with an email or ad featuring a related case study. This keeps your messaging relevant and timely.

To keep your campaigns effective, establish feedback loops that allow you to monitor and refine your approach. Regularly analyze metrics to see what’s working and identify gaps:

• Are certain content formats or topics underperforming?
• Are you addressing emerging trends or needs?

This iterative process ensures your strategy evolves alongside your audience, keeping your ABM efforts fresh and impactful.

4. Always Answer the “So What”

Every piece of messaging you create should answer the fundamental question every prospect subconsciously asks: “So what?” It’s not enough to highlight your product’s features—you need to connect them to meaningful outcomes that matter to your audience. By showing how your solution impacts them personally, professionally, and organizationally, your messaging becomes more relevant, impactful, and compelling.

When you address the “So what,” you move beyond generic descriptions of features and focus on what your audience truly cares about: the tangible benefits and results. This approach:

• Makes your messaging more relevant by tying your solution to their goals and challenges.
• Shifts the focus from features to outcomes, demonstrating the real value you offer.
• Builds trust by showing you understand their needs and what’s at stake for them.

How to Answer the “So What”

Start by listing the key features of your product or service. Then, translate those features into direct benefits. For example:

• Feature: Automated workflows.
• Benefit: Save time by automating repetitive tasks.

But don’t stop there. Go deeper by connecting these benefits to broader impacts:

1. Professional Impact: How does this make their work easier or more rewarding?
   Example: “With 20 extra hours per week, your team can focus on strategic innovations instead of routine maintenance.”
2. Business Impact: How does this contribute to organizational goals?
   Example: “Faster project delivery keeps your company ahead of competitors.”
3. Emotional Impact: How does it make them feel?
   Example: “Reduce team burnout by eliminating repetitive tasks.”

To ensure your messaging resonates, test different variations that emphasize specific outcomes. For example, compare responses to “Save time” versus “Drive growth” to see which message generates more engagement.

5. Tailor Messaging by Seniority and Role

People in different roles within an organization naturally have different priorities. A CEO cares about ROI and strategic growth, while a manager focuses on day-to-day efficiency. When your messaging reflects these nuances, it not only grabs attention but also builds trust, showing that you understand their specific concerns.

This is especially important in B2B sales, where buying decisions often involve a mix of decision-makers, influencers, and users. By crafting personalized communication for each, you ensure everyone feels heard and valued—an approach that can turn individual advocates into organizational champions for your solution.

Start by understanding what drives each persona:

• C-Suite Executives are strategic thinkers. They’re focused on high-level outcomes like ROI, scalability, and competitive advantage. Your message should demonstrate how your solution aligns with their big-picture goals. For instance: “Our platform helps companies scale operations faster and cut costs, delivering measurable ROI in under six months.”
• Directors and Department Heads prioritize team performance and efficiency. Show them how your solution can help their departments achieve KPIs. Example: “Automate repetitive tasks to free up 10+ hours per week, allowing your team to focus on strategic initiatives.”
• Managers and Operational Staff value tools that simplify their work. They want ease of use, time savings, and reliability. Speak to their day-to-day realities: “Our tool integrates seamlessly with your current systems, getting your team up and running in just one day.”

Data is your ally in tailoring messages. Track what content your audience interacts with and use these insights to refine your approach.

• If a manager downloads a guide on process efficiency, follow up with a case study highlighting time-saving features.
• If a C-suite executive reads a report on ROI, share a whitepaper with industry benchmarks and success stories.

Tailoring isn’t a one-and-done effort. Test different versions of your messaging for each role and analyze what works best. For example, executives may respond to concise, strategic insights, while managers appreciate practical, instructional content. Use A/B testing to fine-tune your approach and ensure it resonates with every audience segment.

Real-World Example. Imagine you’re marketing an AI-driven sales enablement platform:

• CEO or CRO: “Boost your revenue growth by 30% and reduce onboarding time for new reps by 50%. A scalable solution for long-term success.”
• Director of Sales: “Enable your team to close deals faster and exceed targets with actionable AI insights.”
• Sales Manager: “Save 5+ hours weekly on manual data entry and focus on closing high-value deals.”
• Sales Rep: “Prioritize leads and hit your quota faster with real-time AI insights that simplify your workflow.”

6. Test Your Value Propositions

Testing helps you validate your assumptions and align your messaging with what your audience actually values. It’s not just about crafting a great message—it’s about knowing it will land well with your target personas. Done right, testing improves engagement, ensures your resources are focused on strategies that work, and keeps your campaigns agile and responsive.

Start by deciding what you want to test. For example, you might hypothesize that emphasizing ROI appeals more to executives, while time-saving benefits resonate better with managers. To test this, identify specific elements of your messaging—like headlines, CTAs, or themes—and create variations for comparison.

For instance, if you’re targeting a Director of Sales, you could run two ads:

• One focusing on ROI: “Achieve 3x ROI within six months with our solution.”
• Another emphasizing time savings: “Save 15+ hours a week on admin tasks with our platform.”

Segment your audience based on roles, seniority, or their position in the buying journey. This ensures that each test variation is reaching the right people, giving you clear insights into what works best for each group.

Once your variations are ready, launch your campaigns on platforms like LinkedIn, email, or dedicated landing pages. Monitor performance metrics such as click-through rates, engagement, and conversion rates to determine which message resonates most with each audience segment.

For example, you might find that a time-saving pitch drives 25% more clicks with mid-level managers, while ROI-focused messaging performs better with C-suite executives.

Testing doesn’t stop after one round. Use the data from each experiment to refine your approach and keep testing new variations. This iterative process helps you stay aligned with shifting audience preferences and keeps your campaigns fresh and effective.

7. Fancy Tech Isn’t Mandatory (How to Run ABM Without the Tech Overload)

Starting small helps you focus on what truly matters. It’s cost-effective because you avoid hefty upfront expenses, and it keeps things straightforward, so you’re not bogged down by complex systems. Plus, a lean setup allows you to stay agile, making it easier to tweak and refine your strategy as you go.

Basic tools can go a long way in getting your ABM efforts off the ground. Platforms like LinkedIn Campaign Manager let you target specific job titles, industries, or company sizes and provide engagement insights to track who’s responding. If you’re using a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce, you already have tools to monitor interactions, segment audiences, and assign scores to accounts. Even email platforms like Mailchimp can help you personalize outreach to key personas.

For tracking engagement, a simple spreadsheet or a tool like Trello or Notion can do the trick. Record key data like ads clicked, website visits, and content downloads to build a basic dossier for your target accounts. Free or low-cost analytics platforms like Google Analytics can also help you understand how your campaigns are driving traffic and which pages are grabbing the most attention.

8. Dedicate Time for Ideation

Without proper time for reflection and planning, it’s easy to fall into the trap of reactive decision-making—rushing into campaigns without a clear strategy. Regular brainstorming sessions let you pause, evaluate what’s working, and explore new ideas without the immediate pressure to execute. This approach encourages creativity while keeping your campaigns aligned with data and insights.

Set aside a specific time each week to focus solely on ABM ideation. Choose a slot where interruptions are minimal—maybe an hour on a quiet Friday afternoon—and treat it as a non-negotiable meeting with yourself or your team. Use this time to dive into the performance of your current campaigns. Which accounts are engaging most? Which messaging or channels are delivering results? These insights should guide your discussions and spark new ideas.

Ask questions that challenge your current approach: What’s working well and why? What obstacles are slowing progress? Are there any emerging trends or audience behaviors to consider? From there, brainstorm ways to address challenges or build on successes. Maybe it’s exploring new content themes, testing a different communication channel, or refining messaging for a specific persona.

It’s not enough to brainstorm—you need to document and act on your ideas. Keep a running log of your discussions in a shared space, like Google Docs or Notion, where you can track ideas and prioritize next steps. Assign actionable items, plan small tests, and set clear goals for what you want to achieve before your next ideation session.

For example, during a weekly brainstorming session, your team might notice that certain accounts respond better to case studies than product demos. This insight could lead to a test where you create more tailored case study content for similar accounts. By dedicating time to think and experiment, you continuously refine your ABM strategy and stay ahead of the curve.

9. Use Design Templates

Design templates ensure your campaigns look polished and professional while staying true to your brand. They also reduce the time spent on repetitive design work, making it easier to focus on strategy and messaging. With templates in place, you can quickly tweak visuals and copy to reflect changes in your audience’s needs, the season, or your campaign goals. Importantly, rotating designs and messaging helps combat ad fatigue, ensuring your audience stays engaged.

Start by collaborating with your design team to create a library of branded templates tailored to different campaign types. For example, you might need distinct designs for awareness campaigns, which focus on building brand recognition, versus decision campaigns, which aim to drive conversions like demo requests. Each template should include placeholders for key elements like headlines, CTAs, and imagery, making it easy to swap in new content as needed.

Customization is key to keeping your templates versatile. Adjust headlines, calls to action, and messaging to match the goals of specific campaigns and the needs of different audience personas. For instance, a headline like “Boost Productivity” might resonate during the awareness stage, while “Save Time and Money” works better for decision-stage messaging.

To avoid ad fatigue, regularly refresh your templates with new visuals and updated copy. Address seasonal trends, introduce new pain points, or highlight recent successes uncovered during your campaigns. For example, if your original ad reads “Save 10 hours a week with our automation tool!” you could refresh it with variations like:

• “Streamline Your Workflow Today!”
• “Rated #1 by 500+ Businesses!”
• A holiday-themed design with updated imagery.

User-friendly platforms like Canva or Figma are perfect for working with templates. These tools make it easy for marketers to make quick edits without always needing a designer, enabling faster iterations and more agile campaigns.

10. Leverage Google Ads Creatively

Creative use of Google Ads allows you to meet customers where they are, precisely when they’re searching for solutions. By addressing specific questions or concerns, you position your brand as a helpful resource, building trust while standing out from competitors. The best part? Focusing on niche keywords often means lower costs and higher relevance.

Start by identifying the common questions or objections your prospects have. Sales and support teams are excellent resources for this insight—they know the FAQs and pain points that come up in conversations. For example, a potential search query might be “How does [Product] compare to [Competitor]?” or “Best practices for solving [specific problem].”

Once you have these questions, create content that directly addresses them. This could be in the form of blog posts, detailed guides, or videos. For instance, if you’re a SaaS company, you might develop a guide titled “LMS vs. LXP: Choosing the Right Solution for Your Business.”

Next, target niche, long-tail keywords related to those questions. Instead of bidding on competitive terms like “best LMS software,” focus on specific, less competitive searches such as “LMS vs. LXP comparison.” Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you find affordable, high-intent keywords to bid on.

Run search campaigns that directly match these queries, leading users to your content. Complement this with display ads to retarget users who’ve already engaged with similar topics, keeping your brand top of mind.

Track metrics like click-through rates (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and on-page engagement to see how your campaigns are performing. If certain keywords or content types perform better, adjust your bidding strategy or content focus to optimize results.

Account-Based Marketing Benefits 

As a marketing strategy, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has gained significant popularity in recent years due to its effectiveness in targeting key accounts and building long-term customer relationships. Here are the top six benefits of implementing account-based marketing strategies:

Personalization is a crucial element of ABM as it enables your team to tailor marketing touchpoints directly to key contacts in your target accounts. This approach makes prospects feel valued and understood, allowing you to deliver relevant and valuable content to them. This personalized marketing helps you empathize with your prospects, showcase your understanding of their problems, and provide solutions catering to their needs.

ABM is not just for prospects. It is also helpful for building and nurturing ongoing relationships with your customers. Establishing good relationships with contacts at key accounts builds trust and increases the likelihood that they will view you as an expert in your industry. Personalized marketing through ABM also gives you better insight into your customer’s behavior and needs, helping you build a more profound and lasting relationship.

One of the most significant benefits of ABM is that it aligns your marketing and sales teams. They can work together to develop targeting strategies based on the technologies used by the company and how much they are spending in your industry. This collaboration enables messaging consistency and a shared understanding of why targets were selected and how to engage with them.

ABM can start influencing decision-makers before they even talk to sales for the first time. By involving marketing in the sales funnel, prioritizing resources based on account scoring, and personalizing marketing through ABM, sales cycles can be significantly shortened. 

With specific goals set for each account, ABM makes it much easier to determine whether your initiatives paid off. This results in more straightforward and clearer results than traditional marketing campaigns. After identifying the results of your ABM campaign, you can easily calculate the ROI.

When done correctly, ABM enables a highly targeted marketing approach, leading to many positive ROI effects, including increased conversions, lower customer acquisition costs, faster sales growth, and more. 

Account-Based Marketing Tactics 

When implementing an account-based marketing strategy, there are various tactics that you can utilize to enhance your chances of success. Let’s discuss the most effective account-based marketing tactics that you can implement in your company’s digital marketing strategy.

• First and foremost, it’s important to align your sales and marketing teams. In traditional marketing, the marketing team focuses solely on generating leads, which are then handed off to the sales team to close the deal. However, with ABM, the marketing and sales teams work together throughout the entire process to identify, engage, and convert targeted customers. Therefore, for ABM success, your marketing and sales team must be in total alignment.
• Next, you need to analyze your customer data to identify high-potential targets through various characteristics, such as industry, activity, size, maturity level, and location. ABM is all about establishing a personal relationship with targeted customers, so you need to thoroughly analyze your customer data and data available from other sources to understand what specific customers need and expect. The only way to deliver a personalized experience is if you truly understand your customers.
• Personalization is key in ABM, so you need to tailor your content marketing to match each customer’s ideal profile. Whether you’re using emails, blogs, webinars, eBooks, white papers, or any other medium, you must personalize each customer’s content. Generalized content only works in account-based marketing; you need to drill down to the specific information your customers need.
• Providing valuable information is the most effective strategy to keep your potential accounts engaged in your sales pipeline. Often, people want to avoid hearing about how great your product is or why they should buy it. They simply need relevant information to help them make informed decisions. One effective strategy, borrowed from Calendly, is hosting virtual events for potential accounts. These events are designed to educate them about scheduling and appointments, helping to build brand awareness and establish Calendly as a thought leader in the industry. Calendly also sends email invitations to potential accounts, providing them with free access to their software. This helps to create one-on-one interactions during the event, converting free accounts into paid ones. This simple yet effective marketing strategy enables businesses to establish personal relationships with their potential accounts and foster trust and loyalty.
• In addition to personalizing your content, you need to tailor the offers you provide to your targeted customers. This may include special pricing, personalized deals and packages, and even personalized products or services. You can even personalize website landing pages with content specific to each customer’s interests, displaying custom copy, offers, and other information that addresses their specific needs.
• Targeted online advertising is also beneficial in ABM, as it allows you to create ads specific to targeted groups or even individual businesses. For example, LinkedIn makes it easy for any ABM campaign to reach key personas in your target audience.
• When it comes to generating leads, gated lead magnets are an effective strategy to consider. However, the content offered should provide more value than your free content. This ensures that potential accounts are incentivized to provide their email address in exchange for access to exclusive content. It’s important to ensure that the lead generation content covers bottom-of-the-funnel topics, addressing customer pain points and increasing purchase intent to improve conversion rates. Backlinko is a prime example of a company that utilizes this strategy. They publish gated blogs on their website, which unlock when a user enters their email address. This approach has two key benefits. Firstly, it enables them to gather information about potential accounts who are interested in their content. Secondly, they can build their email list, which can be leveraged for future marketing efforts.
• Retargeting is another effective way to keep your brand in front of interested customers. By using cookies to serve your ads on other sites to customers who’ve previously visited your site, you can efficiently and effectively stay in mind with potential customers.
• Testimonials and case studies from existing customers are also powerful tools in ABM. Targeted customers like to hear from others like them, so using these to sing your praises to similar target customers will prove your legitimacy.
• Finally, gifts can be a simple yet effective way to get the attention of targeted customers and shorten the sales cycle. Personalized gifts, such as a buyer’s favorite wine or a windbreaker with your company’s logo, go a long way in establishing a strong relationship.

Account-Based Marketing Examples

To help you get the most out of implementing the aforementioned account-based marketing tactics, let’s consider several account-based marketing examples implemented by world-known companies. 

Snowflake is a renowned data warehousing company that operates in the cloud. Snowflake utilized personalized and customized content to engage with its target accounts effectively. They developed a library of high-quality content to provide a tailored content experience for each account. Snowflake provided relevant educational content to the target audience by analyzing the account lifecycle stage. Snowflake’s focus was not only on driving conversion but also on creating credibility and reliability. 

LinkedIn provides an excellent platform for connecting with key decision-makers of target companies and quickly converting leads into clients. The founder of “Emails that Sell” highly recommends using LinkedIn Sales Navigator as an effective way to connect with potential clients, particularly for B2B businesses. The key is to personalize your message just as you would with email marketing. 

O2, a British telecommunications provider, faced tough competition in its industry and implemented a unique ABM strategy to increase its credibility in the market. The company identified its target organizations and over 2000 key employees. O2 created personalized reports for each target company, providing detailed information on how much the organization could save and how much more revenue they could generate by using O2’s services. The reports were then shared with the clients and sales executives at O2 followed up with individual clients for face-to-face meetings. 

Wrapping up

Implementing an account-based marketing campaign strategy can be incredibly effective for companies, as evidenced by numerous success stories. This approach focuses on a select group of targeted accounts rather than attempting to sell to everyone, resulting in a higher chance of success. The first step is to define the target customer precisely to ensure that this targeted approach is successful. Without a clear understanding of your target audience, creating an effective account-based marketing strategy is not possible. The account-based marketing tactics mentioned above provide useful insights into how this approach can be leveraged to maximize its benefits.