For years, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has been seen as the marketer’s domain – a sophisticated way to capture the attention of high-value accounts through targeted, personalized campaigns.
But as the lines between sales and marketing continue to blur, ABM is evolving. It’s no longer just for marketers – it’s becoming a shared, dynamic motion that empowers sales to act with precision, context, and creativity.
1. The traditional view: ABM as a marketing-led play
Historically, ABM was built by marketing for sales, quite literally.
At its most basic level, the purpose of ABM is to win more deals using marketing tailored for sales.
Back then, marketers would handpick strategic accounts, segment them into tiers (1:1, 1:few, 1:many), and craft deeply personalized campaigns – think tailored landing pages, custom videos, or even direct mail pieces like “gift boxes” addressed to specific buying committees.
Sales’ role was largely reactive: they’d use the creative or content built by marketing – microsites, articles, eBooks, or a tailored email template – to reach out to the account.
For example, if marketing created a personalized campaign for Intel, the handover might have gone something like this:
“Here’s a landing page designed for Intel’s CMO and CIO, can you use it in your outreach this week?”
It was high-quality, but not high-velocity.
The creative process required writers, designers, developers, and approval loops. By the time it arrived in the rep’s inbox, the prospect’s priorities may have shifted, or a competitor might have already entered the conversation.
In short, traditional ABM delivered beautiful personalization – but at the cost of agility.
2. The shift: ABM becomes a shared motion
As ABM matured, tools began to close the gap between marketing and sales, turning it into a more collaborative play.
Platforms like 6sense and Demandbase started integrating engagement and intent data directly into CRMs and sales workflows.
That meant sales could now see, at account level:
- What content they were engaging with
- Which accounts were “surging” in interest based on intent signals
While platforms like Vector reveal:
- Which contacts were visiting the website
Suddenly, the dynamic changed.
Instead of marketing pushing campaigns out and hoping sales followed up, both teams could act on shared intelligence.
For example, a rep might get a real-time alert that three contacts from Intel just viewed a pricing page – and instantly trigger a personalized outreach sequence or share a case study relevant to their industry.
The motion shifted from “marketing hands off” to “marketing informs, sales activates.”
Marketing still drives brand consistency and campaign strategy, but now, sales moves in tandem with insight, helping to break into target accounts and accelerate open opportunities.
The result: better timing, tighter alignment, and a more responsive ABM motion overall.
3. The present: sales-driven ABM in practice
Today, ABM is no longer something sales waits on. It’s something they participate in.
Modern ABM platforms allow sellers to be more intentional and relevant by creating their own personalized content experiences using modular templates or brand-approved assets.
For instance:
- A sales rep can build a personalized digital sales room in minutes, pulling in relevant case studies, videos, and one-pagers tailored to a specific buying committee.
- A BDR can quickly create a 1:1 microsite for a prospect, with dynamic personalization that incorporates business context, challenges, and tech opportunities.
- An AE can track which pages a prospect viewed, what files they downloaded, and which teammates engaged – all in real time.
Companies like Userled have pioneered this kind of “sales-led personalization at scale.”
It’s not about replacing marketing; it’s about empowering sales to operate with the same tools, insight, and creative quality, but at their own speed.
Marketing becomes the enablement layer (building frameworks, content libraries, and brand-safe templates).
Sales becomes the activation layer (using those assets in real time to drive engagement and pipeline).
That’s where modern ABM truly lives – at the intersection of structure and speed.
4. The modern ABM motion: ABM → ABX
Steve Armenti says that the future of ABM is really about Account-Based Experience (ABX) – a holistic approach that unites every customer-facing team around a single, seamless experience for the account.
In this next evolution:
- Marketing drives awareness and positioning.
- Sales delivers contextual, insight-driven engagement.
- Customer success ensures value realization and expansion.
Together, they create one continuous experience across the full lifecycle, from first touch to renewal.
Imagine this:
A prospect reads an industry report personalized to their sector (marketing). They engage with a rep who sends a bespoke microsite summarizing their challenges and ROI impact (sales). After purchase, the customer receives ongoing usage insights, success stories, and renewal guidance (success).
That’s ABX – where the experience is unified, personalized, and consistent across every interaction.
Future ABM platforms will likely integrate directly into sales and success workflows, powered by AI that automatically tailors experiences based on intent, engagement, and stage.
Instead of just targeting accounts, teams will orchestrate experiences across the entire journey.
The mindset shift: from “account-based marketing” → to “account-based growth.”
5. The Userled advantage
Speed and scalability have always been the two most prominent issues in the world of ABM.
As I covered earlier, ABM has always been a marketing-led motion, with marketers creating bespoke landing pages and microsites for sales teams to use to engage key accounts.
But the problem with this process is that it’s time-consuming, impractical, and by the time the assets are ready – interest has likely moved on.
Organizations simply aren’t operating at sales speed. As those closest to opportunities, it’s vital that sales are equipped with the right tools for the job – that they don’t have to go “looking around” or asking for bespoke assets per target account.
At Userled, we’ve created an engine that solves for both speed and scalability, bringing true 1:1 personalization to every target account.
Now, we’re giving sales that same ability. The means to spin up 1:1 experiences on the fly, without asking for marketing’s help.
What’s more, sales teams will get real-time engagement insights in the moments that matter most. Say goodbye to “let’s wait and see” and hello to “let’s act now”.
6. In summary
ABM has evolved from a marketing-led tactic into a company-wide growth strategy.
- Yesterday: Marketing created, sales executed.
Example: A single landing page made for one account, handed off to sales. - Today: Marketing and sales co-own the process.
Example: Content repositories for beautiful microsites, shared dashboards, and real-time engagement insights guiding outreach. - Tomorrow: Every team – marketing, sales, and success – collaborates to deliver a unified, insight-led ABX. This covers everything from account prioritization through AI to surfacing actionable trends that help sales differentiate and win deals.
The future isn’t about who “owns” ABM. It’s about how teams come together to create a seamless, personalized journey for every account.
Because in the end, ABM isn’t just for marketers anymore – it’s for anyone responsible for growth, revenue, and relationships.
Author
Generated £1.3M pipeline by focusing on UTM parameters personalisation.
Generated £1.3M pipeline by focusing on UTM parameters personalisation.
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