Account-based marketing is everywhere. Everyone's doing ABM. Most of it doesn't work.
The problem isn't the concept—targeting high-value accounts with personalized campaigns makes perfect sense. The problem is execution. Teams treat ABM like a tactic (send personalized emails!) instead of a strategic shift in how you think about demand generation.
Here's what actually works.
Why Most ABM Programs Fail
Let's start with the common failure patterns:
Too many target accounts. You can't run true ABM with 500 accounts. That's not ABM, that's segmented marketing. Real ABM requires deep personalization, which only scales to 10-50 accounts depending on your team size.
No sales alignment. Marketing runs ABM campaigns, sales ignores them and works their own leads. The accounts don't convert because sales isn't coordinating their outreach with your marketing touches.
Activity metrics instead of pipeline metrics. You're measuring email opens and ad impressions, not meetings booked and opportunities created. ABM succeeds when it drives revenue, not engagement.
Generic "personalization." Swapping out company names in email templates isn't personalization. Real personalization means understanding each account's specific challenges and tailoring your entire approach.
The teams that nail ABM do something fundamentally different: they pick fewer accounts, align tightly with sales, measure pipeline outcomes, and personalize deeply.
The Account Selection Framework
Start by identifying the right accounts. Not "accounts that fit our ICP"—that's too broad. You need accounts where you have a realistic chance of breaking in and a strong value proposition.
Three filters for ABM account selection:
Filter 1: Strategic fit. Do they match your ICP? Yes. But go deeper: Do they have the problem you solve? Is it a priority for them right now? Can you prove ROI in their specific context?
Filter 2: Accessibility. Do you have any warm paths in? Existing relationships, mutual connections, recent hiring signals, event attendance? Cold ABM is brutally hard. Warm ABM converts.
Filter 3: Revenue potential. Is this account worth the investment? ABM costs 3-5x more per account than traditional demand gen. You need accounts that justify that cost with deal size and expansion potential.
Most teams should start with 10-20 tier-1 accounts. Master the execution, then scale.
The Sales and Marketing Alignment Protocol
ABM fails without tight sales alignment. Here's the protocol that works:
Weekly account planning sessions. Sales and marketing meet weekly to review target accounts. What's the current status? What's marketing doing this week? What's sales doing? Where can we coordinate?
Shared account plans. For each target account, create a one-page plan: key stakeholders, known pain points, our value prop, marketing tactics, sales tactics, timeline, success metrics. Both teams own it.
Coordinated touchpoints. Marketing runs a LinkedIn campaign targeting Account X. Sales sees engagement data and reaches out to engaged contacts within 24 hours. That's coordination. Marketing and sales hitting the same account independently is waste.
Feedback loops. Sales shares intel from calls: "They mentioned they're evaluating alternatives in Q3." Marketing adjusts campaign timing and messaging. Marketing shares engagement data: "Three executives viewed our case study." Sales knows who to target.
This requires weekly discipline, not a quarterly planning meeting.
The Multi-Channel ABM Playbook
ABM isn't email. It's orchestrated across multiple channels to create consistent account presence.
Channel 1: Targeted advertising. LinkedIn and programmatic display ads targeted specifically at your account list. The goal isn't clicks—it's awareness. Decision-makers see your brand repeatedly across their digital experience.
Channel 2: Personalized direct mail. Physical mail still works in B2B. Not generic swag—personalized packages tied to specific insights about their business. "Saw you're expanding into healthcare, here's our healthcare customer playbook."
Channel 3: Email sequences. Role-based email sequences (different messaging for CFO vs. CTO). Triggered by engagement signals (visited pricing page → send pricing case study).
Channel 4: Content personalization. Website personalization showing account-specific messaging, case studies from their industry, or proof points relevant to their use case.
Channel 5: Event-based outreach. They attend a conference? Set up a meeting there. They hire a new VP? Congratulate them and offer resources for their first 90 days.
The magic happens when all five channels are coordinated. The CFO sees your ad on LinkedIn, receives a personalized email, visits your site and sees content for financial services companies, then gets a direct mail package with ROI data for similar companies.
The Personalization Spectrum
Not every interaction needs deep personalization. Use this spectrum:
Tier 1 accounts (10-20 accounts): Deep personalization. Custom landing pages, account-specific content, personalized direct mail, one-to-one outreach from executives. High effort, high impact.
Tier 2 accounts (50-100 accounts): Industry personalization. Industry-specific messaging, vertical case studies, role-based content. Medium effort, medium impact.
Tier 3 accounts (100-500 accounts): Segment personalization. Company size-based messaging, general use case content. Low effort, lower impact.
Most teams make the mistake of trying deep personalization for 500 accounts. It's not possible. Focus deep efforts on your best opportunities.
Measuring ABM Success
Forget vanity metrics. Here's what actually matters:
Account engagement score. Track aggregate engagement across all touchpoints: ad views, email opens, website visits, content downloads, event attendance. High engagement indicates interest. Low engagement indicates poor targeting or weak messaging.
Coverage percentage. What percentage of key stakeholders at each target account have you reached? If you're only reaching 20% of the buying committee, you're not doing ABM—you're doing individual outreach.
Pipeline created. How many opportunities have been created from target accounts? This is the only metric executives care about. Track pipeline by account tier to understand ROI.
Sales cycle velocity. Do ABM accounts move through the funnel faster than non-ABM accounts? They should, because you're building awareness and relationships before the formal sales process starts.
Win rate. Are you winning a higher percentage of ABM accounts vs. traditional pipeline? If not, your account selection or execution needs work.
Set a baseline: 30% of tier-1 accounts should create pipeline within 6 months. Adjust based on your sales cycle.
The ABM Campaign Structure
Here's a proven campaign structure:
Phase 1 (Weeks 1-4): Awareness building. Multi-channel presence to get on their radar. Ads, thought leadership content, event presence. Goal: name recognition among key stakeholders.
Phase 2 (Weeks 5-8): Value demonstration. Share relevant case studies, industry insights, ROI data. Goal: establish credibility and relevance.
Phase 3 (Weeks 9-12): Engagement and conversion. Personalized outreach, executive briefings, custom demos. Goal: meetings and opportunities.
Don't rush to conversion. ABM is a months-long play, especially for enterprise accounts.
Common ABM Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake 1: Starting with technology. You don't need an ABM platform to start ABM. You need a target account list, aligned sales and marketing, and coordinated execution. Tech helps you scale, but it won't fix bad strategy.
Mistake 2: Ignoring accounts that don't engage. Low engagement doesn't always mean low interest. It might mean wrong channel, wrong message, or wrong timing. Don't abandon accounts after one quarter.
Mistake 3: Treating ABM as a marketing-only initiative. ABM requires sales buy-in and participation. If sales isn't engaged, you're just running expensive marketing campaigns.
Mistake 4: Measuring too early. ABM takes 3-6 months to show results. Don't kill the program after 30 days because you haven't generated pipeline yet.
The Reality
ABM isn't easy. It requires tight alignment, deep personalization, patience, and discipline. Most companies don't have the organizational maturity to execute it well.
But for the teams that do it right—focused account selection, sales-marketing alignment, multi-channel orchestration, pipeline-focused measurement—ABM drives higher win rates, larger deals, and faster sales cycles than any other demand gen strategy.
Just don't call it ABM if you're targeting 500 accounts with generic emails. That's not ABM. That's just marketing.