November 26, 2025
by Emily Malis Greathouse / November 26, 2025
Account-based marketing (ABM) doesn’t fail because teams don’t understand it.
It fails when marketing chooses the accounts, sales works them differently, and performance is measured without a clear link to revenue.
Campaigns launch, engagement looks strong, and yet deals stall. Sales questions account quality. Marketing can’t prove impact. The strategy stays active, but not effective.
Build a successful ABM strategy by identifying high-value target accounts, aligning sales and marketing teams, and personalizing campaigns for each account. Use firmographic and intent data to prioritize accounts, deliver tailored messaging across channels, and measure success through account-level metrics like pipeline growth and deal velocity.
High-performing teams support this approach with account-based analytics software, which helps sales and marketing agree on which accounts to prioritize and how each team should engage them.
When both teams work from the same account list and success metrics, account-based marketing becomes easier to run and easier to measure.
The six components below show how to build an ABM strategy that moves accounts through the pipeline and into revenue.
A successful ABM strategy relies on interconnected components that align sales and marketing on the same accounts, target the right people, and measure success by pipeline and revenue, not activity.
The six components below outline how high-performing teams structure and execute ABM in practice.
ABM only works when sales and marketing are aligned on which accounts matter and what success looks like.
In a strong ABM strategy, both teams agree on the target account list, account tiers, and priority opportunities before campaigns or outreach begin. This prevents a common breakdown where marketing focuses on engagement while sales focuses on a different set of accounts or deals.
Alignment also means shared accountability. Sales and marketing should define:
Regular, account-focused reviews help teams stay aligned. Instead of discussing leads or campaign activity, these meetings should focus on account movement: which accounts are advancing, which are stalled, and what actions are needed to move deals forward.
Choosing the right accounts is one of the most important decisions in an ABM strategy.
Rather than targeting a broad audience, teams should focus on a defined set of high-value accounts that closely match their ideal customer profile (ICP). This typically includes firmographic factors such as industry, company size, revenue potential, and historical deal performance.
Within each target account, it’s critical to identify the full buying group. Most B2B deals involve multiple stakeholders with different priorities, concerns, and levels of influence. Building personas for these roles helps ensure outreach and messaging resonate across the entire decision-making team.
Sales insight is essential here, but it should be supported by data. Firmographic data, intent signals, and engagement history help teams prioritize accounts based on readiness and likelihood to convert.
Once accounts and buying groups are defined, the focus shifts to engagement.
ABM outreach should feel intentional and coordinated. That means choosing channels based on how each account prefers to engage, rather than relying on a single tactic.
Common ABM channels include:
Most effective ABM strategies use multiple channels working together. Consistent, relevant touchpoints across channels help reinforce messaging and keep momentum going throughout longer sales cycles.
Personalization is a core differentiator of ABM, but it needs to be practical and purposeful.
Effective ABM content is tailored to the specific needs, challenges, and goals of each target account. This might include industry insights, competitive context, or messaging aligned to a known business initiative or pain point.
Account-specific content can take many forms, such as:
Sales and marketing collaboration is extremely important at this stage. Sales brings real-world context from conversations, while marketing turns those insights into content that supports deal progression and ongoing engagement.
ABM isn’t limited to acquiring new customers. It’s also a powerful strategy for growing existing accounts.
Satisfied customers can become advocates who support renewals, upsells, cross-sells, and referrals. An ABM approach makes it easier to identify high-value customer accounts and engage them with targeted programs designed to strengthen relationships.
Account-based advocacy efforts may include:
Because advocacy comes from real customers, it often carries more credibility than traditional marketing and can influence buying decisions within similar accounts.
ABM requires a different measurement approach than traditional marketing.
Instead of focusing on lead volume, ABM success should be measured at the account level. Sales and marketing teams need to agree on which metrics reflect meaningful progress toward revenue.
Common ABM metrics include:
Account-based analytics and reporting tools help teams connect marketing activity directly to sales outcomes, making it easier to understand what’s working, what isn’t, and where to adjust strategy.
Operationalizing an ABM strategy means turning intent into execution. The table below outlines the concrete steps teams take to move ABM from planning to day-to-day operation.
| Step | What to do |
| Commit to a quarterly account list | Publish a short, realistic list of accounts that sales will pursue; those not on it won't receive ABM resources. |
| Tie marketing support to sales stages | List your current sales stages and define marketing support for each. Early: awareness ads, light personalization Mid: account-specific content, sales enablement Late: proof points, case studies, exec outreach |
| Name owners per account | Assign sales owner and marketing owner per account. Define who owns the next steps. Record this in your CRM or account tracker. |
| Run a weekly account review | Hold a 30-minute weekly review covering: what moved, what stalled, and what happens next. |
| Validate priorities with account data | Utilize account-based analytics software to analyze intent, engagement, and pipeline impact. Adjust the focus based on the data. |
| Scale only after results repeat | Add accounts only after deals consistently progress, and revenue impact is visible. Expand in small batches, then reassess. |
So, what does a well-operationalized ABM strategy look like? Fewer accounts, clearer ownership, weekly deal reviews, and measurable impact on the pipeline.
G2 helps businesses find the best account-based analytics software for identifying priority accounts and measuring ABM performance.
Below are the top account-based analytics tools, as ranked in G2’s Winter 2026 Grid Report.
Got more questions? We have the answers.
Most teams start seeing early signals (account engagement and pipeline influence) within 60–90 days. A meaningful revenue impact typically takes one to two sales cycles, depending on the deal size and sales length.
Yes. Many teams start ABM using their CRM, marketing automation, and account-based analytics software. Dedicated ABM platforms can help scale efforts, but they aren’t required to get started.
ABM and demand generation can run in parallel. Demand generation captures broad interest, while ABM focuses on specific high-value accounts. Insights from inbound activity can also inform ABM account prioritization.
No. While ABM is common in enterprise environments, it’s also effective for mid-market B2B teams with longer sales cycles, higher deal values, and multiple decision-makers.
If engagement looks strong but deals aren’t progressing through sales stages, the issue is usually execution or alignment, not the ABM strategy itself.
Yes. ABM is well-suited for renewals, upsells, and cross-sells because it focuses on account-level relationships rather than one-time conversions.
A lot of teams can say they’re doing ABM. Far fewer can point to accounts that moved because of it.
The difference isn’t in the depth of personalization or the channel mix. It’s whether ABM is treated as a weekly operating habit instead of a quarterly initiative. When accounts are reviewed regularly, ownership is obvious, and priorities change based on real movement, ABM stops being theoretical.
That’s when it starts to earn trust, and budget.
Your strategy is clear, but execution feels heavy? Compare the best account-based advertising software on G2 to find tools that help teams reach priority accounts, align with sales, and track the real impact on their pipeline.
This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated with new information.
Emily is Director, Market Research at G2. She earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration and Master's of Business Administration degree with a concentration in marketing and business analytics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She's worked in various industries, including media consulting, information technology, employee wellness, and finance and accounting. She enjoys coaching and volunteering for Girls on the Run, attending concerts and music festivals, running half marathons, and hiking.
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