How to Set Up an Effective Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Program in 2025

Account-based marketing (ABM) is no longer just a high-touch sales tactic—it’s now a strategic growth engine that leverages artificial intelligence (AI), real-time intent data, multi-touch attribution, and orchestrated customer experiences. While the core philosophy of ABM—treating high-value accounts as markets of one—remains unchanged, the infrastructure, intelligence, and activation strategies supporting it have evolved dramatically.

ABM provides a lift across several key sales metrics, including a 28% increase in overall account engagement and a 25% rise in the marketing-qualified lead (MQL) to sales-accepted lead (SAL) conversion rates

Gartner

Success with ABM today requires more than targeting a list of key accounts. It demands a unified tech stack, real-time data signals, AI-based scoring, and scaled personalization across the buyer journey. Here’s how to build a highly effective, future-ready ABM program in 2025.

Step 1: Build Your Cross-Functional ABM Team

ABM starts with alignment—cross-functional, strategic, and operational. Sales, marketing, customer success, and product teams must agree on account goals, revenue metrics, and how success is measured across the full lifecycle.

Start by assembling an ABM pod with representation from each team. Their responsibilities include selecting target accounts, defining tiering models, mapping buyer journeys, and coordinating campaigns to drive sales. Shared dashboards and weekly syncs help ensure cohesion and fast iteration.

Success in ABM also requires buy-in at the executive level. You’re not launching a campaign—you’re changing how your organization drives revenue.

Step 2: Assemble Your ABM Tech Stack

A modern ABM strategy requires a tightly integrated tech stack. Here are the foundational categories:

• B2B Data Providers (e.g., ZoomInfo, Clearbit, Apollo): For firmographic, technographic, and contact-level enrichment.
• Account Identification & Tracking (e.g., 6sense, Demandbase, Metadata): To recognize anonymous traffic, map it to accounts, and trigger relevant outreach.
• Intent Data Platforms (e.g., Bombora, G2, NetLine): To identify accounts researching your category or competitors.
• ABM Orchestration Platforms (e.g., Terminus, RollWorks): To manage targeting, multichannel execution, and measurement.
• Personalization Engines (e.g., Mutiny, Dynamic Yield): To adapt web and ad experiences to account and persona.
• AI Lead Scoring & Predictive Analytics (e.g., MadKudu, RevOps.ai, Salesforce AI): To evaluate account readiness based on behavior, intent, and firmographics.
• CRM & Marketing Automation (e.g., HubSpot, Adobe Marketo, Salesforce): To orchestrate outreach and connect marketing to pipeline.

All platforms must integrate to allow real-time data flow. Your CRM should be the source of truth, but your ABM platform should be the lens that interprets that truth with the aid of AI and automation.

Step 3: Define, Prioritize, and Tier Target Accounts

Account selection has evolved far beyond revenue filters or sales hunches. Today, machine learning models can ingest firmographic, technographic, behavioral, and intent data to determine the accounts most likely to buy, churn, or expand.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Propensity Modeling: Identify accounts most likely to close within a set timeframe based on historical data.
• ICP Matching: Score accounts based on how closely they match your Ideal Customer Profile (by industry, revenue, technology stack, geography, etc.).
• Intent Monitoring: Identify accounts researching key topics relevant to your solution and prioritize them based on the buying signals they exhibit.
• Behavioral Lead Scoring: Utilize AI to analyze engagement across email, website, ads, webinars, and social media, and assign account-level intent scores.

Tier your accounts based on this data:

• Tier 1: One-to-one, personalized experiences for strategic accounts.
• Tier 2: One-to-few, vertical or use-case-based campaigns.
• Tier 3: One-to-many, programmatic ABM at scale, fueled by AI and intent triggers.

Step 4: Map Buying Committees and Design Persona-Based Journeys

In enterprise B2B, deals are rarely won with a single stakeholder. Most involve 6 to 10 decision-makers with distinct roles: champion, technical evaluator, economic buyer, influencer. An effective ABM strategy builds personalized journeys for each persona across content, channels, and stages of the funnel.

Start by mapping:

• Who is in the buying committee?
• What are their goals, pain points, and objections?
• Where are they active online and in your CRM?

Then tailor messaging by:

• Persona (e.g., CFO vs. CMO)
• Stage (awareness, consideration, decision)
• Channel (LinkedIn, email, content syndication, on-site)

Use personalization tools to dynamically adjust landing pages, chat flows, email nurture tracks, and even in-app experiences to reflect each persona’s context.

Step 5: Activate Multi-Channel Campaigns

ABM today is omnichannel by design—and orchestration is what connects the dots. Your outreach shouldn’t be siloed between ads, SDRs, or content. Instead, the entire account journey should be sequenced across:

• Advertising: IP or contact-level targeted ads on LinkedIn, programmatic, and display networks.
• Email: Behavior-triggered nurture flows tailored by industry or role.
• Sales Outreach: Coordinated SDR sequences that complement marketing touches.
• Website Personalization: Real-time content swapping based on company and persona data.
• Direct Mail or Gifting: Physical outreach for high-value touches with platforms like Sendoso or Reachdesk.
• Social Engagement: Retargeting or direct connection from account owners and evangelists.

AI plays a central role here—identifying high-intent behavior, optimizing send times, predicting content engagement, and routing the next best action to sales.

Step 6: Track the Full Customer Journey, Not Just Leads

Traditional funnel metrics don’t tell the whole story in ABM. Instead of measuring leads and MQLs, focus on:

• Account Engagement: Are target accounts showing increasing activity across touchpoints?
• Coverage: Are you engaging the full buying committee, not just one contact?
• Journey Progression: Is the account moving from unaware to engaged to pipeline?
• Pipeline Influence: How much pipeline and revenue is being touched or sourced by ABM efforts?
• Win Rate and Deal Velocity: Are ABM-targeted deals closing faster and at higher values?

Utilize account-level dashboards to track progress and identify areas for improvement. If multiple personas aren’t engaging, or engagement stalls, this signals either a messaging mismatch or a need to activate new tactics.

Platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and ABM-specific tools can provide multi-touch attribution models to understand the true ROI of your program.

Step 7: Optimize, Expand, and Scale

ABM is not a set-it-and-forget-it initiative. The best programs evolve continuously through feedback loops between:

• Marketing and Sales: Real-time updates on engagement and readiness.
• Data and Ops Teams: Improvements in models, enrichment, and routing logic.
• Customer Success: Expansion ABM programs that focus on upsell and renewal.

Start small, measure aggressively, and iterate. Most successful organizations start with Tier 1 pilots, then expand to programmatic ABM, utilizing automation and AI to manage scale.

And don’t forget post-sale ABM. The fastest path to revenue often lies in your current customers. Utilize the same data and orchestration to identify whitespace, enhance renewals, and boost LTV.

Final Thoughts

ABM in 2025 is about precision, personalization, and performance. But it’s not magic—it’s a framework built on unified data, buyer intelligence, predictive modeling, and orchestration across the full lifecycle.

With the right tech stack, strong alignment, and a clear roadmap, ABM becomes more than a marketing function. It becomes your competitive advantage for acquiring, expanding, and retaining your highest-value customers.