The jury is in: Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is now the strategy for enterprise B2B marketers, with 89% reporting it delivers higher ROI than any other type of marketing initiative.
But while ABM works (if done properly), scaling it across large markets is a different story.
The problem is that enterprises sell multiple product lines, engage a wide variety of personas, and market across regions with distinct cultural and regulatory nuances.
Without a way to scale ABM, it can become resource-intensive, fragmented, and worst of all: generic.
Traditionally, only companies with large agencies and big budgets could attempt personalization across dozens of high-value accounts.
AI, however, changes this completely.
It provides the intelligence and automation layer to manage complexity, making scaled ABM possible, and 87 percent of executives expect AI-powered customer journeys to deliver measurable returns by 2025.
So now the question is, how can you make that scale sustainable? In this article, we’ll walk you through how to build ABM campaigns that reach the right audiences across products, services, verticals, and personas.
Step 1: Define your north star: buyer personas, ICP, goals, and metrics
A. Understand your buyer personas
Before defining which companies to target, you need to understand the individuals who will make or influence the buying decision, and this means creating buyer personas.
Buyer personas are semi-fictional profiles of the people within key accounts who play a role in the buying process. They capture motivations, challenges, and decision-making styles.
Personas typically fall into three categories:
- Decision makers: executives who approve budgets and strategic direction (e.g., CTO, CFO, CHRO)
- Influencers: mid-level leaders who shape solution requirements (e.g., IT directors, compliance managers)
- End users/champions: practitioners who use the solution daily and advocate internally (e.g., architects, analysts, HR managers)
These personas are not interchangeable. For example, a CTO evaluating cloud security will care about risk reduction and scalability, while a Security Architect will prioritize technical integration and day-to-day usability. Both influence the same deal, but their needs are fundamentally different.
According to Gartner, typical B2B buying groups now include between 6 and 10 personas, each conducting independent research before coming together to form consensus. This means ABM campaigns must be built with a multi-persona lens, ensuring relevance across the buying group.
Once personas are mapped, they become the foundation for tailoring content, messaging, and channel strategy. Your ICP then builds on this by helping you to identify high-value target accounts based on your product offering, buyer personas, and their business challenges.
B. Establish your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) defines the type of companies that deliver the greatest long-term value. It is built on firmographic, technographic, and behavioral data points.
For example, a healthcare IT vendor might discover that large hospitals grappling with patient data privacy regulations are three times more likely to buy compared to smaller providers.
You can also use AI to strengthen ICP development by surfacing which accounts are both a fit and showing in-market intent. Platforms like 6sense and Demandbase use predictive analytics to reveal readiness signals, so campaigns start with science, not guesswork.
C. Define goals and metrics with sales alignment
Shared measurement between sales and marketing is critical. ABM programs that align on engagement-based metrics generate more than double the revenue of those that don’t.
The most effective ABM metrics include:
- Account engagement score: to track stakeholder interactions across channels
- Pipeline velocity: to understand how quickly accounts progress through the funnel – SQLs in the pipeline (x) average deal size (x) overall win rate divided by length of sales cycle
- Conversion rate: to understand what percentage of accounts progress through the funnel
- Average contract value (ACV): to confirm resources are directed toward high-value opportunities
- Customer lifetime value: to understand the predicted net profit a business can expect to make from a single customer over the duration of their relationship
Without this shared framework, ABM risks being seen as a marketing-led initiative rather than a revenue-led, organization-wide one.
Step 2: Choose the right type of ABM for your target accounts
Now, not every account justifies the same level of effort. Some will be a better fit than others, or have more pipeline potential. Segmentation ensures your investment is proportional to your potential return.
It is pointless investing efforts in accounts with low conversion or pipeline potential, especially when resources are stretched.
Without segmentation, marketers risk spreading budgets too thin, over-investing in low-potential accounts, or underinvesting in those that could become flagship customers.
Predictive intelligence tools such as 6sense or Terminus make this segmentation possible.
For example, if multiple fintech companies in North America show a surge in research around “payments modernization,” AI can cluster them into a 1:few campaign centered on compliance and operational efficiency.
On average, companies using predictive analytics are 2.9x more likely to outperform their industry in revenue, and it’s one of the top five use cases according to ABM practitioners.
Step 3: Build your AI foundation
Enterprise buying groups are complex.
Gartner found that the average B2B purchase now involves between 6 and 10 stakeholders, each bringing independent research to the table. Managing this complexity manually is unsustainable. AI provides the scale required.
A. Identify and prioritize buying groups
AI enables:
- Automatic mapping of buying group roles from CRM and third-party data
- Gap-filling in contact records to ensure full coverage
- Predictive scoring to highlight which accounts are most likely to convert
For example, a cybersecurity firm might run deep account research and discover that, through AI-driven analysis, technical architects are key influencers in 70 percent of deals, despite previously focusing only on CISOs.
Based on these insights, they could adjust their messaging to address both roles, reducing stalled opportunities significantly, increasing account penetration, and accelerating deals.
B. Scale personalization and ensure compliance
One of the most important components of scaling ABM campaigns across products, verticals, and regions is having a robust personalization platform that doesn’t require an entire team to run.
Generative AI platforms like Userled remove bottlenecks in content creation. They can:
- Auto-generate branded ads, microsites, and emails using a target company’s website and brand assets
- Produce hundreds of tailored experiences in minutes, not weeks
- Track engagement without cookies, protecting compliance with GDPR and CCPA
This automation layer is the difference between campaigns that can address dozens of accounts and those that can address hundreds.
Step 4: Create and orchestrate personalized content
Personalization matters not just in message but also in delivery. This means ensuring you craft narratives that resonate with each member of the buying group.
A. Align content to persona and product needs
Different personas need different narratives:
- CTOs want to see how the solution reduces risk and scales across infrastructure
- CFOs demand proof of ROI and cost savings
- End-user champions require evidence of usability and support
For example, a SaaS vendor promoting HR software might use AI to serve CHROs with culture-focused thought leadership while simultaneously targeting General Counsels with compliance case studies. Doing so helps increase engagement across both groups, and increase the likelihood of conversion.
B. Orchestrate campaigns across channels
Campaign orchestration is about sequencing. Consider a LinkedIn-driven ABM campaign:
- Awareness ads highlighting regulatory risks within the industry
- Consideration ads retargeting engaged personas with peer benchmarks and case studies
- Decision ads delivering ROI calculators, competitive comparisons, or direct invitations to demos
Complementary platforms like Influ2 allow ads to be served directly to specific job titles within accounts, while Userled ensures that every ad click leads to a dynamic microsite tailored to the account’s unique needs.
C. Keep sales teams involved throughout the process
While ABM is often driven by marketing, its real effectiveness depends on the collaboration between sales and marketing teams. In enterprise environments, where buying committees are complex and deal cycles are lengthy, this partnership determines whether campaigns move from awareness to revenue impact.
Align sales and marketing around high-value accounts
Start by identifying and prioritizing high value accounts that best match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Marketing teams can use predictive analytics and intent signals to flag active opportunities, while sales teams contribute intelligence from their pipeline and customer interactions. This alignment ensures ABM investments focus on accounts with the greatest potential return and strategic relevance.
Map ABM efforts to the sales process
Your ABM campaign design should mirror the sales process, not run parallel to it. Each touchpoint, from awareness ads to executive roundtables, should support a specific stage of the buyer journey.
For instance, thought leadership and problem-framing content can initiate engagement, while tailored ROI models or peer benchmarks can accelerate deals in late-stage evaluation. When sales and marketing teams co-develop these plays, it creates a cohesive experience that moves target accounts predictably through the funnel.
Personalize outreach with sales insights
Generic messaging is the fastest way to lose enterprise attention.
Sales teams possess the firsthand context that makes personalization credible, pain points, objections, and organizational politics.
Marketing can translate these insights into tailored messaging, dynamic content, and personalized microsites. Meanwhile, engagement analytics from ABM platforms feed back into CRM systems, equipping sales with real-time visibility into account intent and activity.
Sales are often the best people to turn to when building your ABM strategy, precisely because they understand the audience.
Step 5: Adapt for regional and product nuance
Scaling your ABM strategy globally isn’t just about translation, narratives must also reflect regional business cultures and regulatory contexts.
A. Messaging differences by region
- In the United States, buyers respond well to innovation, speed, and competitive advantage. Typically, organizations in the US favour visionary statements.
- In Europe, governance, compliance, and sustainability resonate more strongly. For example, UK buyers are far more persuaded by “compliance-first cloud” messaging than “innovative cloud adoption.”
- In APAC, relationship, hierarchy, and proven reputation play a central role. Messages emphasizing credibility and partnership are often more effective than aggressive sales claims.
You should also ensure that your campaigns reference and represent the appropriate countries and regions. For example, a campaign citing only US customers risks falling flat in Japan or Singapore, where local case studies carry greater weight.
B. Regulatory and cultural compliance
Organizations also need to think about global regulations when it comes to capturing and using prospect data.
For example, GDPR in Europe and PDPA in Singapore make traditional cookie-based tracking impossible. However, AI-powered identity solutions like Vector provide contact-based tracking and engagement tracking, enabling global consistency while respecting local law.
Step 6: Measuring ROI
Measuring success is about both immediate and long-term impact. Four in five ABM programs fail, and one of the reasons is that organizations sometimes chase short-term impact without realising ABM is often a long-term strategy.
Measuring the ROI of an account-based marketing (ABM) campaign in an enterprise setting requires more than just tallying up leads or clicks, it demands a holistic view of how target accounts progress through the pipeline and contribute to long-term revenue.
The first step is building an account-level funnel rather than a lead-based one. Metrics such as coverage (the percentage of target accounts with complete buying group contacts), engagement (intent surges, website visits, ad interactions, or content downloads), and pipeline creation form the foundation.
From there, organizations can measure opportunity volume, pipeline value, win rates, deal size, and sales cycle length, all tied directly to revenue and margin. Expansion, upsell, and retention metrics are also essential for a complete picture of ROI in enterprise contexts.
To ensure accuracy, ROI analysis should incorporate incrementality testing: using matched cohorts or control groups to help reveal whether ABM truly accelerates pipeline and revenue.
Attribution also plays a role: rather than relying on last-touch, enterprises benefit from multi-touch or data-driven models that distribute credit across ABM ads, events, outreach, and content.
Efficiency is another layer of measurement. Tracking customer acquisition cost (CAC) at the account level, payback period, and return on marketing investment (ROMI) by channel allows teams to optimize spend. Equally important are measures of quality and velocity, such as reduced sales cycle times, deeper buying group engagement, and healthier deal profiles.
Finally, ROI measurement isn’t complete without context. Beyond dashboards and KPIs, enterprise ABM teams should share account stories: case studies that illustrate how ABM unlocked executive access, accelerated deal progression, or expanded footprint within a strategic client.
Numbers prove the ROI, but stories make it tangible.
So, what KPIs should you measure?
- Depth of engagement across buying groups
- Pipeline velocity and conversion rates between stages
- Average deal size and expansion revenue from multi-product adoption
- Customer acquisition cost versus campaign spend
- Number of new customers through specific campaigns
- Upsell and cross-sell through ABM campaigns
AI + ABM, a match made in heaven
Scaling ABM no longer requires armies of marketers or ballooning budgets. By embedding AI across the lifecycle, from ICP definition, account tiering, and buying group discovery, to content orchestration, global adaptation, and measurement, enterprises can deliver campaigns that are both personalized and scalable.
The outcome is not just more deals, but a predictable revenue engine capable of adapting to the complexity of global enterprise sales.
Author
Generated £1.3M pipeline by focusing on UTM parameters personalisation.
Generated £1.3M pipeline by focusing on UTM parameters personalisation.
