Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B approach in which marketing and sales agree a list of target companies first, then plan content, advertising and outreach around each account or a small group of similar ones, instead of generating leads from a broad audience and qualifying them afterwards.
How a programme runs
Programmes usually work at one of three scales: one account at a time for the largest targets, a cluster of similar accounts, or a wider segment that shares a message. The steps are the same at each. Choose accounts that match the ideal customer profile, rank them by fit and timing, give each an owner in sales and in marketing, run coordinated activity, and measure by account (engagement, meetings, pipeline created) instead of by lead count. Keep the list short enough that every account gets work written for it: a list close to the size of the whole market is a segment, not an account list.
What data it needs
Three kinds of data are needed:
- The list. Company attributes that say who fits.
- The timing. What changed lately at each account.
- The people. Who to reach there.
The first two are company-level and can be built from public signals, since a new market, a funding filing or a rise in interest on a topic can lift an account up the list. The third is held in your CRM or your own contact source.
In Fokals data
Fokals supplies the account side. A segment is a join on the company ID across three datasets:
- Fit from Technology Stack: companies running a given commerce platform.
- Timing from Intent Scores: a surge on a related topic in the latest week.
- A trigger from Company News: a funding announcement in the last 90 days.
Each account is a company with one stable company ID, so the segment joins to the accounts in your CRM and refreshes as the weekly scores and daily signals arrive. The guide to account-based marketing segments from signals gives recipes, and the intent dataset describes the scores.
Related terms
ABM ranks its targets with account scoring. Fit comes from the ideal customer profile, and timing from an intent surge or a trigger event.
Frequently asked questions
What is account-based marketing in simple terms?
Account-based marketing means choosing the companies you most want as customers first, then building campaigns for them by name. A normal funnel casts wide and waits for people to respond. ABM reverses the order: the list of companies comes first, and marketing and sales then work together to reach several people at each one with messages that fit that company.
How is ABM different from lead generation?
Lead generation starts with a wide audience and filters for individuals who respond, so success is counted in leads. ABM starts with a fixed list of companies and works to engage several people at each, so success is counted in accounts that move forward. The two can run side by side, but they need different data: lead generation needs people and behaviour, ABM needs company attributes and timing.
How do you measure account-based marketing?
Measure by account, not by lead. Track coverage (how many target accounts have engaged at all), progression (how many moved to a meeting or an open opportunity) and pipeline and revenue from the target list. Compare those against similar accounts outside the list over the same period; without that comparison you cannot tell what the programme added from what would have happened anyway.