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In 2025, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is proving to be a critical driver for B2B companies aiming to go upmarket and drive more revenue from high-value accounts with higher ACV.
As the ABM landscape matures, the approach has shifted to emphasize personalization, cross-functional alignment, and continuous optimization.
As we continuously observe and understand the market and purchasing trend, we would like to share with you our updated version of our Account-Based Marketing (ABM) playbook that was presented by Markus Stahlberg, CEO of N.Rich at the ABM Next London event.
This playbook provides a five-step guide for implementing an ABM strategy that boosts revenue by 150% and helps your organization achieve its upmarket ambitions.
ABM Trends from 2024 to 2025
Comparing to 2024, the 2025 ABM approach prioritizes quality over quantity even more.
According to recent data, 65% of B2B marketers in 2024 aimed to generate leads broadly across a wide pool of potential accounts.
In 2025, however, over 70% of B2B marketers are focusing on account-specific engagement with clearly defined Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and tighter alignment between sales and marketing teams.
Key distinctions between 2024 and 2025 ABM include:
Enhanced Personalization and Buyer Journey Mapping:
ABM in 2025 is designed to cater to each stage of the buyer’s journey, offering personalized content and experiences that resonate with key decision-makers.
Cross-Functional Alignment:
Successful ABM campaigns in 2025 require collaboration across marketing, sales, customer success, and product teams, ensuring a consistent experience for each account.
Shift to Revenue-Based KPIs For Marketers:
2025 ABM focuses on pipeline velocity, account progression, and deal size - and how marketing is going to influence each of those metrics.
How have we adapted to this shift?
We updated our ABM playbook and ensured that the strategy is practiced across all teams to have a seamless GTM process starting with the C levels down to the end users.
1. Align ABM Goals with CEO Vision and Revenue Growth
The Importance of CEO Buy-In for ABM Success
A successful ABM strategy begins with strong alignment at the top. Gaining CEO support is critical because many CEOs may not fully understand the nuances of ABM. Present your ABM strategy as a revenue-generating initiative that aligns with the company’s broader growth objectives, and emphasize its potential to drive impactful results.
Setting Revenue-Focused ABM Objectives
Ideally, ABM should influence at least 50% of your total revenue. This can include both new account acquisition and growth within existing accounts. By establishing clear, revenue-focused objectives, you create a compelling case for ABM as a core component of the company’s growth engine.
Budgeting for ABM: Applying the 80/20 Rule
ABM requires a meaningful investment to achieve high-impact results. Instead of allocating just a small portion of your budget, consider dedicating 30-50% of marketing resources to ABM if revenue targets are similarly ambitious.
The Pareto Principle can guide your budgeting decisions; often, 20% of marketing activities generate 80% of results. By prioritizing high-value efforts and trimming low-impact activities, you can optimize budget allocation for ABM without sacrificing overall performance.
2. Start Yesterday: You’ll Never Feel Ready Until You Begin
Why Perfection Isn’t Necessary to Start ABM
One of the most common mistakes companies make is waiting until everything is “perfect” to launch ABM. The reality is, waiting for perfect data or systems can delay progress and result in missed opportunities. The key to ABM is agility—start small, learn quickly, and improve as you go.
Adopting an Agile Approach: Crawl, Walk, Run
To begin ABM effectively, adopt the “crawl, walk, run” methodology. Start with a smaller campaign targeting a select group of accounts. Gather insights, refine your approach, and expand gradually. This agile approach enables you to make data-driven improvements and align your strategy with real-world results.
3.Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for Upmarket Accounts
Building a Detailed ICP: Firmographics, Technographics, and More
A well-defined ICP is the foundation of a successful ABM strategy. Define your ICP based on firmographics (such as industry, size, and location) and technographics (like technology stack). This ensures that your ABM efforts are directed towards accounts with the highest potential for engagement and revenue.
This is an example of one of our clients’ ICP analysis in terms of sales velocity: even if the average deal size in ICP accounts is the same or even slightly smaller, it’s obvious that ICP accounts close faster and with higher win rate - which means you can generate more revenue in the same time frame.
Source: N.Rich ICP dashboard
Cross-Departmental Collaboration on ICP Development
Creating an effective ICP requires alignment across multiple departments. Engage Sales, Customer Success, and Product teams to contribute to the ICP, ensuring everyone understands what an ideal account looks like and values those target accounts.
The Importance of Account Lists in ABM Campaigns
Beyond defining broad criteria, compile a specific list of accounts that meet your ICP standards. An account list keeps the organization focused on high-priority targets, enabling coordinated efforts across departments. This level of focus is essential for successful ABM and helps teams track progress with precision
An example of our own ICP definition workflow:
4. Test, Test, Test: Building a Data-Driven ABM Strategy
Adopting an Agile Testing Approach for ABM
ABM requires continuous testing and iteration. By adopting an agile approach, you can test different messaging, channels, and tactics, then analyze what works best. Adjust your strategy based on real-time data to ensure that each campaign is optimized for maximum impact.
ABM Metrics to Track: Engagement, Pipeline Velocity, and More
Beyond traditional lead-based KPIs, ABM success is measured by metrics like account engagement, pipeline velocity, and deal size. Track how target accounts interact with your content, progress through the pipeline, and ultimately convert. These insights help you understand what’s working and where to focus future efforts.
Leveraging A/B Testing for ABM Campaigns
Implement A/B testing to refine your ABM campaigns further. Test different headlines, CTAs, visuals, and messaging to determine what resonates most with target accounts. Regular testing and optimization help you stay aligned with account needs and continuously improve campaign performance.Test, Test, Test: Building a Data-Driven ABM Strategy
5. Report on ABM Progress and Iterate for Continuous Improvement
Shifting to Revenue-Centric ABM Metrics
Traditional marketing metrics, such as lead volume, are insufficient for evaluating the success of an ABM strategy. Instead, focus on revenue-centric Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that reflect the true impact of your ABM efforts.
Essential KPIs include:
- Account Engagement Score: Measures the level of interaction and interest from target accounts across various touchpoints.
- Pipeline Velocity: Tracks the speed at which target accounts move through the sales funnel, indicating the efficiency of your ABM strategy.
- Average Deal Size: Assesses the revenue potential of ABM-targeted accounts, helping to optimize your targeting strategy.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Estimates the total revenue a customer is expected to generate over their relationship with your company, providing insight into the long-term value of your ABM efforts.
Implementing a Feedback Loop for Continuous Improvement
Establishing a feedback loop is crucial for the ongoing refinement of your ABM strategy. Regularly collect and analyze data from your campaigns to identify areas of success and opportunities for improvement.
This process involves:
1. Data Collection
Gather quantitative and qualitative data on account engagement, conversion rates, and other relevant KPIs.
2. Analysis
Evaluate the data to discern patterns, trends, and insights that can inform strategic adjustments.
3. Hypothesis Development
Based on your analysis, formulate hypotheses for potential improvements or new approaches.
4. Testing
Implement changes on a small scale to test their effectiveness before broader application.
5. Evaluation
Assess the outcomes of your tests to determine their impact on your ABM objectives.
6. Iteration
Apply successful strategies more broadly and continue the cycle to foster continuous improvement.
Aligning Internal Teams Through Transparent Reporting
Transparent and consistent reporting is vital for aligning internal teams and ensuring everyone is working towards common goals. Share insights and progress updates with all stakeholders, including marketing, sales, customer success, and product teams. This collaborative approach fosters a unified understanding of your ABM strategy's performance and encourages cross-functional support for necessary adjustments.
Regular meetings and open communication channels facilitate the exchange of ideas and feedback, enabling your organization to adapt swiftly to challenges and capitalize on opportunities. By promoting transparency and collaboration, you create a cohesive environment that drives the success of your ABM initiatives.
Personalization in ABM: Tailoring Messaging for Each Stage of the Buyer Journey
Importance of Personalized Messaging in ABM
In ABM, personalization is key. Each account is unique, and one-size-fits-all messaging won’t drive the same results. Craft personalized content that resonates with your target accounts based on their buyer journey stage and known pain points.
Leveraging Buyer Insights for Effective Personalization
Use insights from your CRM, analytics tools, and ABM platforms like N.Rich to tailor your messaging. Identify specific pain points, needs, and motivations for each account, and use this data to create messaging that speaks directly to decision-makers. Personalization strengthens your relationship with accounts and keeps them engaged throughout the journey.
Cross-Channel Personalization: From LinkedIn to Email
Multi-channel personalization is critical to ABM success. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn, email, and targeted ads to deliver consistent, relevant messages across each channel..
Start your ABM Motion with N.Rich
Step 1: Define Your Target Accounts
Identify high-value accounts to target based on your ICP and business objectives. N.Rich’s has an ICP builder that allows you to filter accounts using demographics and firmographics to help you identify your ICP.
Tip: Start with a manageable list of accounts that closely align with your goals to focus your efforts effectively.
Step 2: Segment Your Audience
Divide your target accounts into smaller segments based on common characteristics or buying signals. This helps you tailor messaging to each segment’s specific needs and priorities.
Tip: Create intent-based segments for cold leads, warm prospects, and high-intent accounts so you can adjust messaging based on where each segment is in the buying journey.
Step 3: Develop Personalized Content
Craft personalized content that addresses the specific needs and challenges of each segment.
Tip: Use a mix of content types (e.g., videos, case studies, ROI calculators) to engage different stakeholders within each account.
Step 4: Launch Targeted Ads Across Channels
You can run multi-channel campaigns across platforms like LinkedIn and programmatic ads. This ensures that your brand stays visible to your target accounts across their preferred channels.
Tip: Adjust the ad copy and visuals for each segment to increase relevance. For example, use high-level messaging for awareness-stage accounts and more specific offers for those in the decision-making stage.
Step 5: Prioritize Accounts That Demonstrate Intent
After you launch campaigns with N.Rich, you’ll start seeing which accounts are showing more intent: interacting with your ads, visiting your website, returning organically, etc. Use these insights to engage accounts with timely messaging.
Tip: Monitor intent data to see which accounts are showing increased interest. Prioritize these accounts in your outreach and tailor messages to address their current needs to keep your brand top of mind when accounts are most engaged.
Step 6: Monitor and Optimize Campaign Performance
N.Rich’s analytics dashboard provides insights into campaign performance, helping you measure engagement, conversion rates, and ROI. Use these insights to refine and optimize your ABM strategy.
Tip: Experiment with different ad creatives, messaging, and formats to understand what resonates best with your audience. Use clear metrics, such as CTR and conversion rates, to evaluate A/B test results.
