ABM — account-based marketing
A few accounts decide your year. Treat each one as a market.
We define strategic accounts, map who decides inside them, and orchestrate marketing and sales in personalised approaches that advance deal by deal.
Before personalising, define which accounts deserve that effort.
The problem
Generic campaigns do not open doors at large accounts.
The ticket is high, the decision is collegial, the cycle is long — and marketing speaks to everyone as if they were nobody in particular.
Marketing generates volume, sales wants names
Thousands of leads and no conversation advancing in the accounts that truly matter.
One contact deciding alone in the dark
Outreach reaches one person and ignores the other five decision-makers in the account.
Generic message for a specific problem
Each account has a context, and the campaign speaks as if all were identical.
Scattered effort
Budget and time split across hundreds of companies, with depth in none.
a pipeline of leads that never become opportunities
identical outreach for very different accounts
a single mapped contact per target account
generic content sent to senior decision-makers
sales prospecting alone, without marketing support
strategic accounts with no approach plan
strategic accounts close with whoever arrived first and best
the cycle stretches as each decision-maker must be convinced from scratch
CAC climbs: much effort for few accounts won
Large accounts are not won with campaigns. They are won with a well-planned siege.
What good ABM has to build
Four layers surround the right account.
ABM is the strategy of concentrating marketing and sales on defined accounts: intelligence on each one, personalised messaging, and coordinated progress inside the account.
Target account
The specific company worth personalised effort — chosen by criteria, not by hunch.
Buying committee
The people deciding together inside the account, each with their own concern.
Personalisation
Message and content adjusted to the real context of that account.
Orchestration
Marketing and sales acting on the same account, in sequence, without collision.
How we work
From the account list to progress inside them.
ABM starts by defining what matters — and only then discusses channels and assets.
Define
We build the ideal account profile and the prioritised target list.
01
Map
We survey decision-makers, context and signals for each priority account.
02
Approach
We orchestrate personalised campaigns and content per account and per person.
03
Advance
We measure penetration per account and adjust pressure until opportunity.
04
an honest criterion for which accounts deserve the effort
access to the sales team and the history with the accounts
patience with long cycles: ABM plants to harvest in quarters
What may be part of the work
Scope follows the ambition over the accounts.
From a pilot with few accounts to ongoing operation across the strategic portfolio.
Definition and intelligence
ideal account profile
prioritised account list
decision-maker mapping
signals per account
Personalised approach
campaigns per account
directed content
multichannel sequences
directed events and actions
Integration and progress
routine with sales
reading per account
pressure adjustment
expansion inside the account
ABM pays where the ticket justifies the effort: few accounts, high value, collegial decisions.
What we follow
Accounts are measured by penetration, not by clicks.
Campaign metrics continue to exist, but decisions look inside the account.
Account coverage
How many mapped decision-makers were effectively reached.
Engagement per account
Which target accounts interact, with what and how often.
Funnel progress
How many target accounts become conversations, proposals and negotiations.
Revenue per account
Ticket, expansion and closing speed in the accounts worked.
ABM compares against ABM: the control group is similar accounts outside the programme.
When it fits
When few accounts are worth a lot.
ABM fixes concentrated effort, not a missing addressable market.
when the ticket justifies a personalised approach
when decisions involve several people in the account
when sales already knows which accounts it wants and cannot reach
when generic campaigns generate volume without quality
With low tickets and thousands of potential customers, the right strategy is demand at scale — and ABM would be waste.
Questions
Frequently asked questions about ABM
What is the difference between ABM and segmented campaigns?
Segmentation chooses an audience; ABM chooses names. A segmented campaign speaks to directors of mid-size firms; ABM speaks to the director of that specific company, about her context.
How many accounts do we start with?
Few and well chosen — a typical pilot works with a small, focused set of accounts. Scale comes after the playbook proves itself on the first ones.
Can marketing do ABM alone?
No. ABM without sales is just expensive media. The programme defines the split: marketing opens, warms and equips; sales enters with the context only conversation creates.
Do we need a dedicated ABM platform?
Not necessarily. Platforms help at scale, but the essential part is method: list, intelligence, personalisation and routine with sales. Tools without that are cost.
Before the next mass email, decide which accounts deserve a siege.
We analyse your potential portfolio, design the ideal account profile, and assemble the approach programme.
No ready-made proposal before understanding the context.