In a time where connection means everything, ABM turned from being a competitive advantage to an organisation imperative. By the time we stepped into 2025, ABM would take on newer definitions with the impact of smarter data, sharper personalisation, and sales-marketing integrated seamlessly. But an effective ABM strategy is not strictly about the tool sets; it rather is about the mindset, insights, and action plan. London Premier Hub of Training and Consulting prepares you in developing a result-oriented ABM approach that matures high-value prospects to lasting partnerships.

Ready to elevate your ABM strategy for 2025? Join us at London Premier Hub of Training and Consulting, where we turn ambition into action. Book your consultation today and start building campaigns that convert.

What Is Account-Based Marketing?

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy where marketing and sales work together to target accounts that showcase significant revenue opportunities. Companies use B2B data to create highly personalised marketing campaigns and buyer experiences for each account.

Few words can describe ABM- it is personal, customised, and bespoke. Rather than mass marketing to a broad number of people or organisations that are grouped by similar characteristics or circumstances, with ABM, a select list of targets is identified and the marketing approach is then personalised to exactly meet their needs and requirements.

Getting Creative with Research: How to Build an ABM Strategy for 1:Few ABM

While 1:1 ABM can be extremely effective, companies sometimes need to raise personalization without losing the strategic depth of ABM. This, then, is where 1:Few ABM comes into play. 

1. What is 1:Few ABM? 

1. Targets a selected number of high-value accounts that share common traits, issues, and goals. 
2. Research deeper in order to personalise outreach initiatives at scale in a relevant context. 
3. In contrast, whereas 1:1 ABM tailors all interactions to a single account. 

2. Job Portals Transformed my ABM Research

A major problem of successfully executing 1:Few ABM is getting meaningful data sources that provide relevant insights into these target accounts. 

Back in 2006, while I was leading the lead generation activity at KPIT Cummins, I was asked to profile accounts using job portals like Naukri and Dice. It seemed a bit odd in the first place could job boards that were supposedly meant for recruitment do anything for ABM planning?

The company had just acquired a smaller company specialising in automotive products to large OEMs. We would then cross-sell and upsell business IT solutions to those OEMs. My team was to plan how: 

1. Get necessary insights about the OEMs. 
2. Develop detailed account plans for each one. 
3. Share these insights with Sales for targeting outreach purposes. 

Traditionally, the sources for account profiling included: 

1. Business Directories
2. Industry reports
3. Company websites

The thought of using job portals sounded bizarre, yet I found so many insights. 

Searching for keywords like Account name + Competitor name, I would find resumes of professionals who had been working with these accounts. These resumes contained important information about: Project names, Team sizes, Project durations and Key Responsibilities. 

Job Portals also gave other signals, companies that were continuously hiring through such job portals, and through the job descriptions given there, that an organisation is either working on a new project or is in the midst of a technology adoption or is expanding its business strategy. 

Understanding these trends gave us a possible window into when the company might require some service or solution. Price may be one information that is missing, but with project size and duration, we could have matched the closer than price assumptions with the right service to be marketed. 

This information truly gave our salespeople a leg up and allowed personalized marketing and outreach. 

3. Turning Resumes into Actionable Intelligence

These insights dug deeper than just the resume level. We engaged professionals who posted their resumes. Many were generous to share:

1. What challenges they encountered
2. How they made decisions
3. Which vendors they worked with 

These insights further helped us understand what the accounts required, how people made decisions, who the key stakeholders were, and what pain points were to be solved.

Using Job Postings for Smarter ABM Execution

We even went an extra mile by analysing job postings to know which technologies and skills companies give priority to. Today’s job postings mattered most in the following ways:

Strategic initiatives ‘ months in advance of their public announcements. Each job description provides a window into that of a company’s plans, investment in tech, and growth direction.

For instance, if an account was hiring for AI and machine learning specialists, we knew that they were probably investing in those areas and could tailor our outreach accordingly.

With this 1: Few strategy , we were able to develop hyper personalised sales pitches and thus have a competitive advantage against an organization that relies only on broad market research. But What ABM Scaling Back Research-Driven Insights. Our novel job portal research approach is now paving way for a larger-scale systematic identification and clustering of similar accounts based on a few drivers such as:

1. Technology adoption patterns
2. Growth initiatives
3. Organisational challenges
4. Market positioning

To each cluster, we have created a semi-customised batch of content that would address their common problems and at the same time keeping that much specificity such that a single company within that group will identify it with itself. This ensures that we carry on the touch of personalisation while at the same time increasing efficiency in outreach.

The Evolution of ABM Research

So far as the hired methodologies have evolved the insight building with the help of AI, intent data collected in various manners, and automated personalization-the fundamental principle remains the same: deep understanding is what could provide meaningful personalisation at scale.

Modern ABM investigations would thus include:

1. Primary research: Customer interviews, Gong recordings, direct feedback from sales teams, former employees or industry insiders. 
2. Secondary research: Competitor analysis, market reports, social listening, LinkedIn activity, and job portals. 
3. Hiring trends analysis: By monitoring job postings, we could gauge upcoming projects, expansion strategies, and investment areas within target accounts.
4. Technographic insights: Understanding the tools and technologies in use at an account helped refine messaging to align with their existing infrastructure. 
5. Intent data: Combining job portal insights with search behaviors and content engagement metrics helped predict when an account was ready to engage.
6. AI-driven data analysis: Machine learning models now help identify engagement trends, trigger events, and recommend personalised outreach strategies. 

None of the primary or secondary research modern tools incorporated into it can fix all problems and make the organisational war effective and precise as ABM strategies make them accurate, relevant, and actionable with hyper-personalised scope at scale and with less human processing.

How to Build an ABM Strategy That Goes Big Without Losing the Personal Touch?

As organisations grow and adapt into new markets, there arises on occasion the need for even wider reach, leading us to the third way approach of the ABM framework: 1:Many ABM. This approach most importantly allows companies to keep some degree of personalisation while engaging a wider audience efficiently. 

1. The Vymo Challenge

Vymo set an ambitious goal of building a $3M quarterly pipeline by engaging 50 high-value accounts in the banking and insurance sectors in India. 

Competing in a saturated market called for a deviation from traditional marketing; it required a precision-driven 1:Many ABM strategy that entails deep research, personalised outreach, and multi-channel execution. I believed that to create impact at scale, we needed to truly understand our audience, tailor our messaging, and engage with multiple touchpoints to reach the right people at the right time.

2. Deep Audience Research

I went the extra mile by conducting seller interviews and mystery shopping to figure out what decision-makers cared about most. The pain areas these banking and insurance executives were facing were found to be:

1. The biggest pain points banking and insurance executives faced.
2. The specific messages and offers that resonated with them.
3. Disruption points in competitors’ strategies that would allow us to highlight Vymo as the optimal solution.
4. Triggers that made decision-makers interested in looking at alternative solutions.
5. Common objections their prospects would raise and how to answer them preemptively.
6. These insights served as the stepping stone for our ABM approach and helped us craft hyper-relevant messages that cut through all the noise.

3. Precision Targeting for Maximum Impact Using LinkedIn Campaigns

The key accounts were addressed using LinkedIn as the key channel for a very targeted campaign addressing the executives in banking and insurance. The strategy called for:

1. High-Value Content: Blogs, white papers, webinars, and case studies designed specifically for this audience.
2. Retargeting: Engage anyone who visited the website or viewing the forms with follow-up content to ensure Vymo remains top of mind.
3. Account-Based Advertising: Hyper-personalised ads to key stakeholders in target accounts.
4. Direct Outreaches in LinkedIn: Connecting with decision-makers and nurturing conversations using InMail and in comments.

The Results: Driving Real Business Impact

1. 500 MQLs generated through LinkedIn campaigns.
2. $21M marketing-sourced pipeline from ABM & acceleration campaigns.
3. 2% improvement in engagement rates across high-value accounts.
4. Increased sales velocity: The average time taken to close a deal improved by 30% due to multithreading strategies.
5. Higher conversion rates: A 12% increase in SQL to opportunity conversion as against that via traditional outreach methods.

By implementing a 1:Many ABM approach, I strategically helped Vymo break into a competitive market, build strong relationships with decision-makers, and drive real business impact. This case study proves that with the right mix of research, personalised outreach, and multi-channel execution, ABM can transform engagement and accelerate growth at scale.