How to Maximise your Account-Based Marketing Success with HubSpot

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has become a go-to strategy for businesses looking to drive personalised engagement with high-value accounts.

But with its rising popularity comes the need for powerful tools to effectively manage ABM campaigns - and that’s where HubSpot comes in.

HubSpot offers a range of features to improve your ABM efforts, making it easier to align marketing and sales teams, personalise outreach, and measure results.

In this article, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about using HubSpot for ABM—from setup to advanced strategies—so you can maximise your return on investment and hit your growth goals.

What is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a marketing strategy targeting key accounts or specific businesses.

Instead of approaching a wider audience, ABM views each business or account as an individual market. The approach uses content marketing specific to their pain points and requirements.

Internal collaboration is key to ABM’s success; marketing and sales team up to ensure the accounts targeted by the company are provided with consistent messaging, across various channels. This makes the conversion of high-quality leads more effective.

The Differences Between Inbound Marketing And ABM Campaigns

While inbound marketing and ABM are used to generate leads and revenue, it’s important to understand the nuances between them.

Each method has its strengths, but the choice between them depends on your business goals, resources, and customer base.

Let’s break down the key differences:

Targeting

ABM

At its core, ABM is all about precision. Rather than casting a wide net, ABM focuses on a carefully curated list of high-value accounts or businesses most likely to yield substantial returns.

These accounts are typically chosen based on their potential to be ideal clients, and all marketing efforts are laser-focused on engaging key decision-makers within these organisations.

The approach is highly personalised, with every touchpoint designed to resonate with the specific needs, pain points, and challenges of the target account.
This makes ABM a powerful strategy for businesses looking to land large, strategic deals rather than relying on volume.

Inbound Marketing

In contrast, inbound marketing is built on the idea of attracting a broader audience by creating valuable content that appeals to a wide range of potential customers.

Instead of identifying specific accounts, the strategy aims to pull in leads organically by addressing common pain points and offering solutions through blogs, eBooks, videos, podcasts and other forms of content.

Inbound marketing doesn’t target specific individuals or accounts; rather, it draws in any potential customers who fit a general buyer persona and are searching for relevant information.

[Source: OpenMoves]

Approach

ABM

ABM tends to be more outbound-focused. Once key accounts are identified, marketing and sales teams proactively reach out with highly personalised messaging and outreach strategies, often through direct communication like emails, phone calls, or even personalised events.

Account-specific advertising further reinforces direct outreach, amplifying personalised messaging across channels where key stakeholders are active. This approach creates multiple touchpoints that strengthen engagement throughout the decision journey.

The goal is to establish a connection with key decision-makers and stakeholders, fostering deeper relationships that lead to higher-value deals.

Inbound Marketing

The approach in inbound marketing is entirely different, as it centres on attraction rather than direct outreach.

By creating content that provides valuable solutions to potential customers' problems, brands aim to be discovered organically. The customer journey typically starts when a potential lead finds your blog post, white paper, or social media content.

From there, inbound marketing nurtures the relationship through content-driven strategies like email marketing, SEO, and social engagement. The audience finds you when they’re ready, rather than the brand initiating the contact.

Personalisation

ABM

Personalisation is at the heart of ABM. Since the strategy targets a select number of high-value accounts, the messaging, offers, and content are specifically tailored to the needs, pain points, and preferences of each business.

In many cases, ABM campaigns are designed at an account level, which can mean creating unique marketing assets for just a handful of potential clients. This bespoke approach results in deeper engagement and more meaningful conversations with the accounts that matter most to your business.

Inbound Marketing

While inbound marketing can incorporate some level of personalisation, such as content tailored to different buyer personas or targeted email campaigns, the overall strategy is less personalised compared to ABM.

Inbound tends to focus on providing general value to a broader audience, so the level of personalisation often doesn’t go beyond demographic or behavioural segmentation. The content might address common pain points for various segments, but it’s not as deeply customised as in ABM.

However, with tools like HubSpot’s smart content, inbound marketing can offer deeper personalisation.

Once a lead is captured, on-page content and communications can be tailored dynamically based on specific characteristics, like industry, to provide a more personalised experience similar to ABM.

Sales Alignment

ABM

One of the defining characteristics of ABM is the close alignment between marketing and sales teams.

In ABM, both teams collaborate to identify target accounts, develop personalised messaging, and ensure consistent communication across all touchpoints.

This ensures that marketing and sales efforts are integrated, with shared goals and strategies that result in a seamless customer experience. Marketing doesn’t just hand off leads to sales—it works with sales to nurture relationships and move accounts through the pipeline.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing typically follows a more traditional model of lead generation, where marketing efforts focus on attracting and nurturing leads, and then passing those leads to sales once they’ve been deemed ready or qualified.

While marketing and sales teams do align on key points, such as defining what constitutes a “qualified lead,” the collaboration is often not as deep as in ABM. Marketing’s role is more focused on top-of-the-funnel activities, while sales steps in later to close the deal.

Scope

ABM

The scope of ABM is narrow and focused. ABM campaigns are typically reserved for a small number of high-value accounts that represent the best-fit clients for your business.

Rather than trying to reach as many leads as possible, the goal is to focus on quality over quantity.

Each account in an ABM strategy receives a significant amount of attention, with tailored campaigns designed to nurture relationships and drive conversions with specific decision-makers.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing casts a wider net. Its scope is much broader, aiming to attract and engage a large audience.

The strategy focuses on generating leads through content and nurturing them over time, eventually converting them into customers.

The goal is to engage as many relevant prospects as possible and guide them through the funnel using automated workflows and content-driven strategies, before handing them off to sales.

Common ABM challenges

There are common challenges companies face when using ABM.

One of the most common is not setting up tools correctly from the start. ABM platforms, like HubSpot's target account tool, need to be configured in a way that aligns with best practices.

Without doing so, you miss out on the full potential of features like tracking decision-makers and building a clear buying committee at your prospect’s company. If you don’t take the time to set this up, it can prevent you from properly managing target accounts and seeing how well your team is engaging with key stakeholders.

Another familiar issue is the failure to approach ABM as a holistic strategy shared across departments. Many companies leave ABM efforts to the marketing team alone, leading to disconnected campaigns focusing heavily on emails or other isolated tactics.

However, ABM requires collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer service teams. If you're not involving all relevant departments and developing a shared plan to engage with accounts your efforts may be unsuccessful.

Finally, cross-channel coordination in outreach is often lacking. ABM is most effective when you engage target accounts through multiple touchpoints, including email, phone calls, social media, and events.

Yet, you may find it difficult to align all these efforts if there isn’t a cohesive plan that involves all teams. Without this, you risk missing opportunities to establish deeper relationships with key accounts.

To overcome these challenges, you must ensure that your ABM strategy is well-integrated across all teams and fully uses your tools to track and engage the right decision-makers.

When to consider using ABM

ABM isn’t the right fit for every business, so it’s important to know when it’s most effective.
One of the key indicators that ABM might be a good strategy for you is the value of the products or services you offer.

ABM is resource-intensive, both in time and budget, so it only makes sense to use it if the potential return on investment justifies the cost.

If you’re selling products or services with a high price point, then ABM could be a suitable choice. For lower-cost offerings, it’s harder to recoup the expenses involved in highly targeted campaigns.

Another factor to consider is the complexity of your offering. ABM works best when you’re selling solutions that are not easily commodified and require a more personalised approach.

If multiple stakeholders are typically involved in the purchasing decision for your product, ABM can help by targeting each of them with tailored content that addresses their specific roles and concerns. On the other hand, if your product is simple and the decision-making process only involves one person, a less targeted marketing strategy may be more appropriate.

Timing and resources also play a critical role in determining whether ABM is right for you. ABM requires significant time to create highly personalised content for each account.

Unlike more traditional marketing strategies where content is designed to appeal to a broad audience, ABM content focuses on addressing the unique needs and pain points of individual accounts. This can be time-consuming, and if your team is spread thin or your organisation lacks the budget, it might not be the right time to pursue ABM.

Additionally, company buy-in is crucial. ABM requires a focused, strategic effort from both marketing and sales teams, and if there isn’t a shared understanding of the time and resources needed, it can be challenging to execute successfully.

If leadership expects broad-reaching results from a strategy that is meant to be highly targeted, you may face resistance or unrealistic expectations.

How to approach an ABM campaign

Successfully running an ABM campaign requires a strategic, well-coordinated approach across several stages.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to get started:

1. Set objectives and success metrics

The first step in any ABM campaign is to define clear objectives and success metrics. This typically begins with a kickoff session involving marketing, sales, and sometimes service teams to align project goals.

Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as the number of touchpoints, conversion rates from marketing to sales, and call-to-meeting conversions. By mapping out a funnel, you can set expectations for what results to track and measure throughout the campaign.

Regular weekly and monthly reporting will help ensure that real-time data informs your decisions and adjustments.

2. Align teams and set SLAs

ABM is a collaborative effort, so it’s important to align your teams by establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between marketing and sales.

These SLAs define responsibilities for each team and specify when leads should be handed off from marketing to sales.

By formalising the process, you ensure a smooth transition of qualified leads into the sales pipeline, enabling timely follow-ups and a coordinated effort between departments.

3. Identify target accounts

Once objectives and team responsibilities are set, the next step is to identify your target accounts.

This involves conducting a discovery workshop to define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

The ICP should be based on the characteristics of your most successful customer relationships, including demographic data like company size, location, and industry, as well as behavioural data, such as growth potential.

By combining both firmographic and behavioural insights, you can create a shortlist of accounts that are most likely to benefit from your product or service.

4. Conduct market and competitor analysis

Analysing your target market and past data is crucial for identifying trends and patterns that can inform your ABM strategy.

Look at how your target audience has behaved in the past and anticipate their future needs.
It’s also helpful to evaluate your competitors’ efforts. Understanding where they succeed or fall short can reveal opportunities to better position your offerings.

5. Map the customer journey

Once target accounts are identified, map out the customer journey. This involves understanding the stages of the buyer's journey, from initial awareness to the final purchasing decision.

Identify key roles within each account, including decision-makers and influencers, and determine how each stage of the journey can be influenced by timely communications. This detailed mapping ensures that your ABM efforts are personalised to each stage and person involved in the decision-making process.

6. Develop personas and content

Based on your findings, develop detailed personas for your target accounts. These personas should capture demographic information, pain points, goals, and the specific solutions your offering provides.

Content created for ABM campaigns needs to be personalised, directly addressing the unique challenges and objectives of each account. Tailor your messaging to ensure it resonates with each persona.

7. Use technology and automation

Lastly, technology plays a crucial role in managing and tracking your ABM efforts.

Enable CRM features, like the ABM tools within HubSpot, to track and manage target accounts effectively. You may also need to customise your CRM with specific data properties, workflows, and reports.

Automation tools can help streamline your outreach by sending timely communications based on triggers, such as a contact’s behaviour or engagement level. Implementing a lead scoring model based on firmographic data and engagement levels will give your team a clear view of which accounts are most likely to convert.

By following these steps and maintaining close collaboration between teams, you can create a successful and well-rounded ABM campaign tailored to your target accounts.

Discover first-hand how we’ve helped companies use HubSpot to drive effective campaigns that deliver results.

How can HubSpot make your ABM campaign easier?

HubSpot offers several tools designed to simplify and improve your ABM campaigns, particularly with its use of AI-powered features.

Here are some key ways HubSpot can make your ABM campaigns more efficient:

1. Automated data enrichment

One of the biggest challenges many companies face with ABM is the need for accurate and comprehensive data on target accounts.

Breeze automates the process of enriching company and contact records. By tapping into a database of over 200 million records, HubSpot ensures that your target account data is always up-to-date.

This gives you a more rounded view of the companies you're working with, helping you build accurate profiles without the manual effort of data collection.

2. AI-driven research and insights

HubSpot’s AI tools can take the heavy lifting out of initial research by automatically gathering insights on your target accounts.

AI can track key developments such as funding rounds, new hires, or product launches, delivering real-time information that could inform your ABM campaign.

For example, if a target account recently launched a new product, HubSpot’s AI might flag this opportunity, allowing your team to position your offering as a solution to their evolving needs.

3. AI-powered lead scoring

Instead of manually building lead scores, HubSpot’s AI can analyse your customer and contact data to identify patterns in buyer behaviour.

By understanding the journey your best customers took and the characteristics they shared, you can automatically adjust your lead scoring model.

This means you get a more accurate and dynamic understanding of which leads are most likely to convert, enabling your sales team to prioritise the right accounts more effectively.

Using these HubSpot features as part of your ABM campaign can streamline your processes and help ensure that your marketing and sales teams are working with the most relevant, actionable data.

Improve your ABM campaigns with HubSpot technology

HubSpot’s suite of tools provides the perfect platform to enhance your ABM efforts.
By automating data enrichment, offering AI-driven insights, and optimising lead scoring, HubSpot helps you to create highly personalised, targeted campaigns, while improving alignment between marketing and sales.

See how we’ve helped businesses drive meaningful engagement with high-value accounts.