8 Takeaways About ABM from Industry Experts

Of all the acronyms in sales and marketing, none garner a polarizing reaction so much as Account-Based Marketing (ABM).

As part of our Marketing Mayhem series, we asked three ABM experts to share their best ABM tips, wins, and fails:

• Tyler Pleiss, Associate Director of Growth Marketing at Movable Ink
• Corrina Owens, Fractional ABM Expert
• Mason Cosby, Founder at Scrappy ABM

Didn’t have a chance to catch the episode? Watch the full episode below, or check out these takeaways.

1. ABM Is a Cross-Functional Strategy, Not Just a Marketing Initiative

When you boil it down, ABM is a B2B revenue strategy that aligns marketing, sales, customer success, and even product teams around shared target accounts. Thanks to the ‘M’ in ABM, those other teams listed might just think of it as just another marketing initiative.

To attempt to combat that, “we’ve created more terms like ABX, ABE, ABGTM, ABCM,” Mason noted, “And I think that those have only made things further confusing, because now we have arguments about ABX versus ABM, when at the end of the day, we all want the same thing [which is alignment and engagement from target accounts].”

While marketing often leads the charge, successful ABM requires buy-in and participation from all revenue-generating departments, including executive leadership.

2. Involving Product Teams Is Critical but Often Overlooked

While ABM discussions typically focus on marketing and sales alignment, don’t leave other vital functions out of ABM planning.

As Corrina noted, product teams in particular are “probably one of the most siloed organizations within the go-to-market function” and their exclusion is “such a mystery” because it creates a fundamental disconnect in the buyer’s experience.

She then highlighted several critical reasons for product team inclusion such as the continuity of buyer experience, noting that “Once you build up all this awareness and traction, to not have product be speaking the language that the rest of your go-to-market org is speaking, is just such a disconnect for the customer.”

When the aim of ABM is to create a unique, personalized experience, feeling disconnected is the last thing you want.

3. The Importance of Reengagement Programs

If at first you don’t succeed, try again… but don’t be annoying. In other words, don’t abandon accounts that don’t convert immediately. As Mason emphasized, “a great ABM program helps to prioritize likely in-market accounts, but I can’t guarantee the account will buy in the next 90 days.”

However, he noted that what you can guarantee is “that they’re interested in buying a solution. They might buy nine months from now… Keep them engaged so that when they’re ready to buy, you’re still top of mind.”

He continued saying that one of “the biggest misses that we see often is someone will launch an ABM pilot program, they’ll run it for three months, they’ll drive a lot of engagement with accounts, and then they’ll say, ‘oh, this failed,’ and they’ll just let it go.”

Instead, he advocated for implementing a reengagement program after the initial pilot push as a way to keep accounts engaged.

4. Clear Account Progression Models Are Essential

Successful ABM programs need a well-defined account progression model that outlines how accounts move from awareness through to conversion.

This progression should be built around specific stages, each with its own purpose.

According to Mason, “If awareness is the goal, do they know that we exist? If initial engagement is the goal, do they know that they have a problem? Meaningful engagement is where you can start to identify that they are looking for viable solutions.”

Each stage requires different content, triggers, and activation strategies.

As Tyler emphasized, “forcing your outbound teams to reach out to prospects right away is not always the best recommendation.” Instead, you need to drive meaningful engagement first through targeted content and interactions, then activate sales when the engagement signals indicate genuine interest.

This progression model should include clear tracking and metrics at each stage – what Mason calls the “direction” component – because “if you don’t have great tracking on are we winning or losing in our various stages, you’re not going to be able to trigger the other playbooks and you can’t progress your accounts effectively.”

5. Don’t Rely Solely on Revenue Metrics

While revenue is the end goal, focusing exclusively on revenue metrics can be misleading, especially in the early stages of an ABM program.

According to Corrina, “You always want to get to that holy grail of revenue generated, pipeline velocity, average size of deal.” However, she stressed the importance of including “softer metrics to understand if you’re actually hitting the mark with your target audience.”

These include measuring awareness across target accounts, website engagement patterns, and content interaction metrics.

Mason reinforced this by noting that “if you spend all of your time on your pilot program in the awareness stage, people are going to kill the program really quickly because they’re like, ‘We didn’t generate any revenue.’”

The key is balancing both hard and soft metrics to get a complete picture of program success and account progression.

6. Timing Matters in ABM

Just because your team thinks it’s a good time to launch an ABM program doesn’t mean it will be for the rest of the teams involved.

Tyler shared a particularly insightful lesson about timing: “I had an idea to start this in Q1, and typically Q1s are kind of a wash, if we’re going to be honest.”

He explained that during a period like Q1, “sales teams are getting new accounts, they’re getting new territories, they’re figuring out compensation.”

Consider what other teams are working on while you’re simultaneously looking to launch an ABM program.

Similarly, engaging your target accounts might be reliant on your product road map.

Corrina added: “You should really be aware of what product [is doing]. What are the new product releases that are coming down the line? [That way] you can really know which audience best serves whatever your product is able to offer and when.”

7. Content Alignment Is Crucial

Mason introduced one idea during the conversation that he called “FAQ ABM,” describing it as “one of my favorite programs of all time”. In short, you take the frequently asked questions by your target accounts in the sales process. Then, you make content about it and send it to those target accounts earlier in the process so they come in more educated.

Tyler emphasized the importance of bringing in content teams early saying that “throughout that same kind of process, you have to pull in content… what kind of content can we produce or repurpose and customize a little bit for these target accounts?”

Corrina added that content teams are “often the unsung heroes in marketing teams” and recommended “Letting [content teams] know that you’re their partner. You want to help elevate their content” while ensuring alignment with overall ABM goals and sales feedback.

8. Data Validation Is Critical

As the adage goes, trust but verify—especially when it comes to data. ABM hinges on leveraging accurate data so that you are sending the right message to the right person at the right time.

Mason shared a cautionary tale about an Inc. 5000 campaign which perfectly illustrates the importance of data validation. As he recalled, “My data source was incorrect. I emailed almost all of them [on the list]. So not only was I [sending a poor message], it was also just wrong.”

He emphasized that “when you do ABM well, it resonates better than generalized ICP messaging because it’s specific and correct. The challenge is if your data source is incorrect, you are specifically incorrect.”

Tyler reinforced this point when discussing BDR alignment, saying how important it was that those team members “understand the data that’s coming through.”

Corrina added to his point, emphasizing that marketers should be “stewards of account data” and “come to the table with data on who you think your core ICP is, who those target accounts should be and why,” but ensure that data is thoroughly validated before building campaigns around it.

Watch the webinar or sign up for a future episode of Marketing Mayhem here.