E-BOOK

Win with ABM

Everything you need to know
to create and scale account-
based experiences
Contents
Introduction 3
What is ABM, really? 4

ABM or ABX? 4

Why ABM? 4

Before You Start 5

1 | Create Your Ideal Customer Profile 8

Driving Your ICP with Data 10

2 | Target with Precision 12

Precision Targeting at Scale 13

3 | Personalize Customer Engagements 15

Your Visitor Profile 17

Your Content 17

4 | Getting and Closing the Deal 19

Planning Your Experience from Marketing to Sales 20
Making the Handoff 20

5 | Measure, Optimize, Repeat 21

6 | ABM Tools 23

What is RevTech? 24

Conclusion: What’s the Future of ABM? 25

 INTRODUCTION

The Account-based marketing Honestly – it’s just good marketing (and sales).
Understanding your addressable market, most
Our goal is to give B2B revenue teams the
information they need to create and scale their
likely buyers, and how and when to reach ABM strategies so that they can deliver end-to-
has become the dominant them effectively is the foundation of successful
growth strategies.
end account-based experiences that engage
and delight buyers — and help them close

way that companies are But challenges remain for many B2B teams,
more deals.

including wrapping their heads around just

identifying and new pursuing what ABM is and how to run an ABM program
successfully. According to a 2022 study by
With this ebook, you can learn:
• What account-based marketing is and why
opportunities — and seeing Statista, the 270 B2B marketers surveyed
reported these challenges to executing an
you should be thinking holistically about
account-based experiences

performance growth.
ABM strategy at their companies:
• W
 hy you should implement an ABM strategy
and how your marketing and sales teams can
40% said lack of internal expertise gain from it
According to the Dun & Bradstreet 8th Annual B2B Sales &
• W
 hat to consider when planning your
Marketing Data Report, 86% of teams that are using an ABM 1% said no interest in running a
ABM strategy
specific kind of ABM project
strategy saw increased performance, while 64% of teams not • H
 ow to identify your ideal customers
23% said lack of consensus and accounts
using ABM saw no increase.
on the best approach
• T
 actics you can use to be successful with
account-based marketing
8% said no budget
• W
 hat to consider when evaluating tools
and tech for your program
That’s where we come in. We understand how
important it is to have a great account-based ABM can be a significant undertaking, but one
strategy in today’s digital-first world, but we with significant rewards. The information here
also hear the questions B2B teams ask and see can help you build or scale your program to
the hurdles they face. increase your chances at success.

Win with ABM | 3

What is ABM, Really? ABM or ABX? Why ABM?
The first thing to understand is that even You do this by using data to identify the A new term is on the rise that you may have ABM is more than just a sales and marketing
though we may say “account-based buyers who: seen: ABX, or account-based experiences. fad for a reason. Companies that implement
marketing,” ABM isn’t only for marketers. There Really, it’s account-based everything and strong ABM strategies see and report real
• Have the best fit for your business benefits and are more likely to stay ahead of
can — and should — be a role for every team speaks to that need to have a planned,
that contributes to revenue growth. • Have intent to buy, and strategic, end-to-end buyer journey mapped their competitors. The flip side of that is that
out for high-value accounts. An account-based companies who haven’t yet gotten on the ABM
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a go-to- • D
 on’t present a high degree of risk for bandwagon are at risk of falling behind — or
experience encompasses every touch and
market strategy that brings ops, sales, and your business already have.
has become especially important since the
marketing teams (and perhaps more) together
That means you can spend less time on acceleration of online buying journeys because Learning Experience Alliance (formerly Martech
with a single purpose: to target and convert
prospects with less value and less likelihood of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alliance) rounded up some relevant numbers
high-value leads. Successful ABM strategies
of converting. You can also spend more time for 2022, including:
are driven by personalized experiences built on According to Think with Google on the
aligning your sales and marketing teams’ time
a strong foundation of customer and account Future of Marketing: • A
 bout 94% of marketers say they’re running
and effort on engaging with prospects and
data and deep understanding of personas and some kind of ABM program — but only 67%
accounts more likely to yield ROI. • 9
 0% of marketers said “personalization
buyer journeys. of brands are using ABM
significantly contributes to business
Once those buyers are identified, sales and
profitability” in a survey. • A
 BM delivers a 97% higher ROI than other
marketing teams collaborate on strategies,
What ABM is not: experiences, and content targeted at those • 6
 1% of people “expect brands to tailor types of marketing

A marketing campaign on its own buyers, and designed to capture their attention experiences based on their preferences” • M
 ature ABM programs result in 79% of all
and move them through their buyer journeys, sales opportunities
• 4
 6% of people want to go through their
Just one channel or activity from awareness to decision.
entire buying journey on their smartphones So, chances are you’ve already thought about
ABM is a strategy that shifts you toward ABM (or ABX) and have dipped your toes in
Spray and pray sales and marketing Planned and personalized online experiences
more focused marketing and selling one-on- the waters and your real question is how to
are crucial to converting buyers who expect
one, where the one is a buying group at an mature and scale your program. Let’s get to
brands will know something about their
account. This helps you to improve your ROI the foundation you need to do just that.
interests and deliver relevant messages — and
The purpose of account-based marketing is from your marketing efforts and capture the
do it digitally.
basically to cut through the noise and identify right buyers — and let your sales team have
the prospects most likely to convert. conversations with buyers who are more likely We’ll continue to use ABM throughout this ebook
to convert. since it’s more recognized across the industry.
However, we’re thinking about it as ABX.

Win with ABM | 4

Before You Start
As we’ve covered, true ABM or ABX isn’t a one- When you know what outcomes you want to
off activity and it isn’t done by just one team, achieve, you should have a clear idea of what
i.e., marketing. It’s a mindset that has to be success means for your campaign. You can
adopted by everyone driving revenue growth then define your KPIs to measure success.
at your company.

Here are some key steps to take to help your PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
teams make ABM a way of life. An account-based experience has to be
planned from end-to-end. ABM is an
K NOW YOUR GO A LS orchestrated journey, and when done well, can
come together beautifully like a symphony. But
It’s just a good practice to answer this question
that means you can’t get halfway through the
before starting any kind of revenue growth
performance and just start improvising.
program: why are you doing it?
You need to have a thorough understanding
The first step in your ABM implementation is
of your buyer’s journey in order to guide them
to know what you want out of it. What goals do
through it and you have to map out every step,
you want to accomplish?
from first touch to last. That includes the pieces
Some questions you might ask during this step of your marketing campaign, but also the hand-
to prioritize your goals: off from marketing to sales. You can have the
best marketing campaign in the world, but
• Do I want to focus on acquiring new
if those leads just sit in a CRM and nothing
customers? How many?
happens to them, your ABM strategy will fail.
• Do I want to focus on upsell or cross-sell to Proper comprehensive planning ensures your
existing customers? What product(s)? buyer’s experience is seamless and helps them
make the decision to purchase.
• Do I want to focus on increasing revenue?
By how much?

Win with ABM | 5

M AKE YOUR STA KEHO LDERS A L I G N YO U R T E A MS
YOUR ABM C HEERLEA DERS Since it encompasses the end-to-end buyer’s
Your account-based marketing program will journey, account-based marketing works best
be most successful if you get buy-in from key when marketing and sales teams agree not just
stakeholders across your organization. Getting on the overall ABM strategy, but also how to
this agreement will result in a more effective implement it. Working together, you’ll need
ABM strategy and reduce friction as you get to create a realistic account plan that supports
it up and running. It’ll also mean your buyers your business goals.
get a more consistent experience because
As you plan your ABM strategy, you should ask
everyone will be in concert on what you’re
and answer some key questions:
trying to accomplish and how.
• W
 ho are the relevant stakeholders for
You’ll need to agree on some
your target accounts? Who makes the
fundamental pieces:
buying decisions?
• What are your goals for your program?
• W
 hat are your account stakeholders’ needs
• Who has ownership of your account-based or challenges? How does your solution offer
marketing strategy? Who will be involved in value? How does it do that differently from
executing it? or better than your competitors?

• What is the budget for your program? How • W

 hat experiences and content do you need
much is your business willing to invest? What to offer to engage those stakeholders? In
technology and tools are available or need what channels?
to be acquired?
• H
 ow will your sales and marketing teams
• How will you measure success? What’s the work together cross-functionally at different
expected ROI for your program? How will stages of the buyer journey?
you document and report your KPIs?

• How ready is your organization to implement

account-based marketing? A self-assessment
may be useful.

Win with ABM | 6

R E VENUE TE A M , A SSEM B LE • E
 mail marketers who can help you reach your
target audiences with direct email contacts
It’s crucial that you assemble the right team
with the right skills to bring your ABM strategy • S
 ocial media strategists or specialists who
into its endgame — revenue growth. You can know how your buyers are using social media
no longer be just a marketing team or a sales and the best ways to reach them through
team. You have to unite as a collaborative this channel Dun & Bradstreet offers D&B
revenue team.

Some of the roles and skills may want for your

If you’re in a smaller organization, you may have
single individuals filling more than one of these
Rev.Up ABX, which includes
team up include: roles. You may also see the need for additional
roles on your team, like a representative from
a CDP that can help you:
• Marketing and sales strategists who can look
your customer success program. But generally
at the big picture and how all of your tactics
speaking, these are the skill sets that will
will work together to move your buyers
combine into an effective and engaging
Connect your data across the
through their journeys
ABM program. different parts of your organization
• Sales reps who interact with your buyers
regularly and can provide insight into their G E T T H E R I G H T T E C H N O L OGY
and gain a more comprehensive
needs and wants AND ABM TOOLS view of your accounts;
• Marketing analytics experts who can help Once you’ve identified your goals and how to
you make the best use of your customer measure them, and gotten your team in place,
data, as well as define KPIs and how to consider the technology that can help you Build your ideal customer profile;
measure them implement your program. A benefit of today’s
• Content marketers and copywriters who can MarTech stacks, driven by machine learning
plan and execute your content strategy and AI, is that you can automate much of your
program once you’ve designed your strategy.
Segment your accounts to identify
• UX designers who can create frictionless
and engaging digital experiences with your One tool that can be immensely helpful is the right buyers to target; and
buyers’ needs in mind a good customer data platform. A CDP can
help you manage and glean insights from your
• SEO strategists or specialists with a deep
understanding of search intent and search
account and customer data to better optimize Activate your omnichannel
your program and your results.
optimization so your buyers can find digital campaigns.
you organically

• Paid media strategists or specialists who can

plan and implement audience-targeted ad
campaigns through search engines, social
media, and other ad channels
Win with ABM | 7
 CHAPTER 1

Create Your Ideal

Customer Profile
To identify accounts to target, you first have to know who you want to sell
to. With ABM, the answer can’t be “everybody.” It’s time to think through
and narrow down who your best buyers are — the ones with the interest,
purchasing mindset, and money to spend.

In short, it’s time to build your Ideal heads trying to determine and prioritize those
Customer Profile. criteria. One way to arrive at your ICP is to
create multiple theoretical profiles and rank
An Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP, is a bit self-
them from best to least preferred (a good
explanatory — it’s a set of criteria that helps
opportunity to weed out accounts that aren’t
you define who your best buyers and to target
the right fit).
accounts. However, teams often scratch their

Win with ABM | 8

 As you build your ideal customer profile, EXAMPLE: Let’s say you’re marketing high-
you might think about factors like “we know end office furniture like sustainable, designer
we solve for this use case for this kind of ergonomic chairs. Your ICP might look
company,” so you know you’d want to target something like this:

What is an Ideal
other companies that fit that use case. You
• Over $100M ARR (can afford your product)
might create a sophisticated set of segmented
user personas for more mature organizations, • G
 rowing (more likely to have available
Customer Profile? with a variety of “familiar” segmentation budget than a company that is shrinking)
approaches in between, based on organization
• R
 elocation and/or opening new offices
size or industry.
A description of the company that’s (needs new furniture)
If you have an ideal customer profile, being
the right fit for what you’re selling, able to match your account list to that profile
• O
 ver 50% employees are office workers
(greater need than a remote workforce)
including key details. Those may is an obvious first step in prioritizing your
time. Tools that automate lists of companies • H
 igh Tech and BioMedical segments (more
include items like: that match your profile — and keep that list likely to invest in designer style)
updated — can be indispensable.
• C
 orporate initiatives around environment
Revenue Maybe you need some help in defining that (willing to invest in sustainable products)
ideal customer profile, especially if you need
You should have a rationale for each criterion in
to go beyond the basics of segmenting
your ICP. But also, be conscious of not being too
Business size around company size or industry. An efficient
narrow or you could end up with a universe of
way to start is to gather data on your existing
accounts that is too small to support your goals.
customers to glean insights into who your must
Industry lucrative buyers already are, which can help you
target similar buyers or identify opportunities
with new types of accounts.
Location
A good next step is to identify “look-alike”
companies that match your ideal profile, giving
Technology they use you a set of targets that are more likely to be
receptive, and so are worth prioritizing.

Win with ABM | 9

Driving Your ICP with Data
You’ve identified your criteria for your ICP. Now, behavior as they consume content, you may
how do you actually identify accounts? It all not be tying that data to an actual person.
starts with data.
An anonymous visitor identification service, like
Different kinds of data tell you different things Dun & Bradstreet’s Visitor Intelligence solution,
about your potential accounts. You’ll want to can be handy to deanonymize these visitors,
consider having some combination of: associating them with the companies they
work for. A tool like this can help you figure out
• First-party data
which of your target accounts are in-market
• Second-party data and are engaged with your brand.

• Third-party data
S E C O N D - PA RT Y D ATA
• Company and contact data
Second-party data is essentially the same
• Technographic data information you’d collect as first-party data,
you’re just getting it from another source, like a
FI R ST-PARTY DATA partner.

First-party data, also called deterministic data, Say you have an agreement with another
is data that you gather directly from your business whose solutions complement yours
customers. You may gather that data through and you have also agreed to trade data
cookies or pixels on your website, or your about each other’s customers that is mutually
customers might just give it to you. They fill out beneficial. You may get useful insights from
a profile or a form on your website and offer up their data that you didn’t uncover in your own
their emails, phone numbers, and addresses, first-party data, but that can help you refine
and maybe check some boxes about their likes and segment your account list. For example,
and interests. First-party data is an excellent because your partner is offering a different
source to use for retargeting ads, building and complementary solution, they may have
nurture email lists, and sales outreach. a different perspective on customer interests
and behaviors that you don’t.
However, one of the challenges with first-party
data is that it often is anonymous. If you’re Second-party data also is useful for ad
gathering information through a cookie or a retargeting, nurture, and sales outreach.
pixel to glean information about your users’

Win with ABM | 10

TH IRD -PARTY DATA Keep in mind, if you’re purchasing third-party This kind of information can often be acquired When you feed customer attributes plus
data, you need to ensure you’re getting regular from public records, but you may not want to purchase history and usage trends into an AI-
Third-party data is data gathered from some
updates or data can become stale quickly. It do the work yourself. Third-party data vendors driven platform, you can produce propensity
other source about businesses or users in
also matters to connect data for the target like Dun & Bradstreet can do the job for you scores to identify target accounts that fit
general, without that direct connection to your
account at the site-location level rather than and provide business data to help build your identified profiles. A propensity score is
customers. Third-party data often is data you
the headquarters or domain. Knowing which account list. For example, the Dun & Bradstreet another piece of the puzzle that helps you
purchase that can complement your first-party
site location the buying signal is coming from is Data Cloud includes records on hundreds of understand when an account is more likely or
data to give a more holistic picture of customer
key for a precise retargeting effort. millions of companies around the world and is less likely to be in the market for your product
behavior and the overall marketplace.
updated frequently, plus the data is regularly or solutions. You likely want to target the
A subset of third-party data is intent data. C O MPA N Y A N D C O N TA C T DATA cleansed to weed out duplicates. accounts with the highest propensity scores
That’s the information that tells you about user with your ABM programs.
Information about the companies you want to
behavior online that can help shed light on TE CHN OGR AP HIC DATA
target is foundational to creating and refining your
their interests and when they’re in a buying UN IF YIN G YO UR DATA
lists. It’s important to stay on top of things like: The technology in use at an account or site
frame of mind. Intent data is built on searches W ITH A CDP
location can provide great insight into the
and understanding how, when, and why • Current roles and titles
account’s current situation and needs. There In the past bringing all this data together
someone searches for a particular keyword.
• Company hierarchies and linkages could be complementary, competitive, and housing it in a single location was a big
Certain kinds of phrases indicate that someone
or dependent technology platforms that challenge, since the data was coming from so
is interested in a purchase. For example, the • Financial reports
will empower your targeting strategy. By many disparate internal and external sources.
keywords “best” or “near me” connected with
• Sales and acquisitions identifying what technology a target already
what you sell can show that someone is in- A customer data platform or CDP solves this
uses, you can also see where your solution
market for your product or solution. • Legal filings problem at the core. It brings the relevant
might fit into the picture.
enterprise data together to create a unified
To build your account list, you can connect
system of record for both account and
relevant transactional searches to the data that US IN G AI customer information. As such, a CDP is central
fits your ideal customer profile. So, someone
Looking for insights from the first-party data to a data-driven ABM strategy.
searching “best sustainable office chair” and
you already have is probably the best way to
that your data tells you works at the type of
identify the next big customer. This is your
company you want to sell to could go onto
intellectual property and can give you a
your account list.
strategic advantage when used effectively.

Win with ABM | 11

 CHAPTER 2

Target with Precision

Targeting across multiple channels is the norm today and requires
different data sets to reach audience through each channel. Omnichannel
engagement is the Holy Grail, where a journey is orchestrated across every
channel to continue the conversation or messaging.

You may start with an ad or social media outreach. Each step is designed to guide
post that drives to content on your website the buyer on their journey to purchasing
where someone can fill out a form that is your product or solution.
then followed up with a nurture email or sales

Win with ABM | 12

But you can’t orchestrate a journey without too frequent or bombarding your target with
deep understanding of your buyers. You ads on LinkedIn, can backfire and turn your
have to know where, when, and how to buyer away.
engage them. The kind of data discussed
in the previous chapter can help you gain
this understanding and precisely target your Precision Targeting
at Scale
audience in the channels they’re most likely to
inhabit and be receptive to your messages.

The well-written and visually engaging Here are some tips for targeting in particular
content you produce needs to be promoted channels, although ABM is most effective when
in channels where your buyers will see it, or you use the right mix for your target audience.
your ABM program will fall flat. Again, data can
guide you to understand where and how your
P R O G R A MMAT I C A D S
buyers use different channels so that you can
It’s a bit of a paradox. If you ask the average
take an omnichannel approach.
person what they think about online ads, they
For example, you might be able to learn from may describe them as intrusive. But the fact is
third-party data that people with the attributes that ads still drive a significant part of the buyer
you desire tend to frequent LinkedIn during journey – when ads are relevant and targeted.
certain hours, so you’d want to schedule posts
When thinking about ads as a part of your ABM
during those hours. Or they may be more likely
program, start by building a segment of your
to open marketing emails on certain days and
target accounts using digital identifiers, such as
at certain times, so you can plan those sends
cookies or device information. Here, a partner
based on that data.
who can build the segments at the company
A few questions to ask here: site location, leveraging a unique business
identifier, like a Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S®
• Where do my stakeholders spend their time
Number, can be beneficial.
online?
You can expand to multiple locations using
• What is their mindset when using different
company hierarchy (for example, parent
channels?
company and subsidiaries) as another
• Where are you likely to reach them when dimension. Then narrow down to the decision
they’re in-market? headquarters and the site locations where
buying signals originate. Overlay persona data
A good best practice is to be thoughtful about
(such as job function and seniority) to further
how you use each channel and consider quality
narrow it down to a smaller audience within the
over quantity when engaging your buyers. Too
target accounts.
many messages, whether it’s emails that are
Win with ABM | 13
You can go wide (multiple site locations) and This kind of information can be invaluable in that is relevant to your buyer’s needs can be scores should be continuously updated to
deep (specific persona and decision-making aiding your understanding of what your buyer attention-grabbing and provide excellent ROI. move accounts through buying stages based
locations) with precise targeting and less waste. is thinking, feeling, and doing in their journey. on engagement across all channels.
However, as with social media, it’s important
Now, install this segment into your digital- You can like or follow your buyer’s accounts, to strike the right balance. Too many email This takes lead scoring beyond just email
marketing platform (DMP) or your demand- like and comment on posts, and message touches can drive a buyer to unsubscribe. opens and clicks. ABM propensity scoring
side platform (DSP) for campaign trafficking. them directly to engage with them. However, Too much personalization too early, like using includes:
Leverage the people-based targeting be thoughtful in how you use social media someone’s first name in a first touch, can feel
• intent (first- and third-party data),
capability of DMPs for three key purposes. channels to contact your buyer. Relationships creepy and intrusive.
are a key part of social media, and trying to sell • b
 ehavioral (ad clicks, page views, email
When you’re ready to run your email program,
SOC IAL M EDIA to someone through social media before you
you can load your ABM segments and relevant
clicks, offline interaction),
develop a relationship can feel “spammy” and
Social media posts and advertising can be an data into your marketing automation platform, • and profile data.
turn your buyer off.
effective way to reach buyers. Most people or MAP, to start your targeted campaign. If you
Account scoring is an integral part of ABM. You
have some kind of social media account, and already have a CDP in place, that should ease
likely more than one. Your B2B buyer likely uses E MA I L this process; it should have native integration
can roll up all the known and unknown contact
engagement data to score the account and then
LinkedIn and may also follow brands on Twitter Email remains one of the most effective tools into your MAP.
make the scores available across all channels.
or Facebook. at a marketer’s fingertips. The number of email
Once this data is in the MAP, you have flexibility Move them through the buyer’s journey based
accounts globally continues to rise, and email
Your buyer may also be posting about the to further break it down into smaller logical on score changes. Then, orchestrate campaigns
presents an opportunity to speak directly
actual challenges they face in their day-to-day segments, match content to them, and set that respond to these scores, delivering the
and personally to your buyer. A concise email
work and the problems they’re trying to solve. up always-on nurture campaigns. Propensity right content at the right time.

Win with ABM | 14

 CHAPTER 3

Personalize Customer
Engagements
As we mentioned already, there’s so much digital noise and
your buyers only have so much attention to give before they get
overwhelmed. So how do you grab their attention and keep it? The
answer comes from buyers themselves. They want personalization.

Win with ABM | 15

As buying journeys have shifted to being Some key things to think about when crafting
almost entirely online, buyers are telling us they your personalization strategy are similar to what
want companies to show them content that is you’ll have planned for your ABM strategy:
relevant to them.
• U
 nderstand your goals — what do you want
Instapage compiled some relevant statistics your buyers to think, feel, and do?
about personalization:
• K
 now your customer — your ideal customer
• 5
 1% of buyers expect companies to profile and intent data can help you
anticipate their needs and make relevant understand what kind of messages and
suggestions. topics to deliver to your target buyer

• 7
 4% of buyers feel frustrated when • B
 uild precise, targeted audience
companies don’t personalize web content. segments — personalization can lose its
impact and value if you cast your net too
• 6
 3% of Millennials and 58% of Gen Xers
widely and speak too broadly in an attempt
say they will hand over their data for
to reel in every possible fish
personalized offers.
It also matters to strike a balance between
These numbers pretty clearly say that
personalization and privacy. Yes, people are
personalization is the way to your buyers’
willing to sacrifice some degree of online
hearts — and wallets. But it’s easy to say,
privacy for relevant content and offers, but
“personalize content and offerings.” The
when you show that you know too much about
trickier part is knowing how to do
a buyer and their preferences, it can feel creepy.
it successfully.
It’s going to be important for all your teams
Think about the journey your buyer will take
to align on a data and privacy strategy. Know
through your ABM program. They may start
what kind of data you’ll be collecting, where
with an ad, social post, or email and end up
you’ll be collecting it from, and how you’ll be
on your website. It’ll be imperative to optimize
using it about your visitors. Set rules about
your landing pages — really, your entire
data use and privacy and communicate clear
website — to increase engagement and drive
conversion. If a visitor follows a link from your
ad, social media, or email but doesn’t see
anything interesting or relevant, they’ll quickly
bounce. And then you’ve lost an opportunity.

Win with ABM | 16

Your Visitor B E H AV I O R A L D ATA
Behavioral data can provide the same wealth

Profile of information as contextual data by looking at

all the pages the visitor has consumed during
current and previous sessions.
The foundation to your personalization efforts
will be your data-driven visitor profile. You can
build this using known contacts and third-party I N T E N T D ATA
data, as well as your visitor’s company data. It Intent data can provide insight into what a
is generally understood that only 2% – 5% of visitor does outside of your brand engagement
website visitors are known, meaning the vast channels. It sheds light on whether the account
majority, 95% – 98%, are anonymous. is actively engaged in content that would
signal that they’re in market for a specific
You may uncover your visitor’s identity with a
product or service. Having access to this
cookie, session variable, or local storage when
data point in real-time as the visitor engages
a form gets submitted (or logs in), or the data
on your website is crucial if you want to take
may be pushed from email to the page when
advantage of hyper-personalization.
the visitor clicks through from a link.

A tool like Dun & Bradstreet’s Visitor

Intelligence can also help unmask anonymous Your Content
website visitors so that you can deliver relevant
Content remains king. But there is so much
personalized offers. Third-party anonymous
content today that information overload and
visitor identification services can identify a
choice paralysis are real problems for pretty
visitor to a site based on their IP address and/or
much everyone. The challenge for sales and
cookie. If you’re not doing it already, I’d highly
marketing teams is cutting through all of that
encourage you to explore this as it will give a
noise to be seen and heard. How do you
massive boost to your visitor identity data and
provide the right content to the right audience
help you scale your personalization efforts.
at the right time? Without a solid content
Some other types of data that may help you strategy, great content or more content is not
deliver personalized web experiences can include: going to deliver results.

What you say is just as important — perhaps

CONTEX TUA L DATA
more so — than when and where you say it.
The page a visitor is on can provide a wealth Your content and message have to be relevant
of information — provided the page is tagged to your target account. It should speak with
with the right keywords — like persona, product empathy to a problem, need, or desire they
category, and content type. have — and how your solution offers value
Win with ABM | 17
to them. The “what’s in it for me” value stage. Feed this insight back to your content From an ABM perspective, all your effort to automation system to match, append, and
proposition should always be front and center. team, so they focus their efforts on building bring in visitors (whether influencers or decision cleanse your marketing contacts. When
and optimizing content that is working. makers) from the right accounts and presenting you have these services in place, you not
Once more, data can help you decide the
them with the right content will most likely lead only improve your form conversion, but you
right things to say and really tighten your Higher engagement improves the chance
to increased form loads, not necessarily form also collect richer data and keep it clean on
messaging to the segments you defined. In for increased conversion. This is a critical
conversions. There is no guarantee someone an-ongoing basis. This achieves better data
particular, intent data can help tell you what step in the B2B buying journey. This is where
who made it to the form will submit the form. governance all the way from data capture to
your buyers are interested in and searching for anonymous engagement becomes a known
storage and maintenance.
so that you can speak to their needs. You can contact, prospect, or lead. There are two Eliminating friction on the lead form can help.
match offers to their buyer journey stage or steps to conversion when a visitor is already Here are a few things you can do to improve 5. F
 inish with a progressive profiling process
industry, for example. on a page. First, your personalization strategy form conversion. Be sure to keep your security, for contacts who couldn’t be matched
must not only drive higher engagement, but privacy, and legal teams involved so that your and augmented through the form fill and
The goal is to arrive at content aligned to the
drive more visitors to a gated asset. You must forms are legally compliant and you are actively data enrichment services. Make it part of
right topics or the products and services you
also present an asset compelling enough protecting the data you collect. the drip campaign to progressively ask for
sell. If you have a ton of content, an important
for the visitor to click and fill out a form with another piece of information with every
step is to tag the content appropriately, so it 1. M
 ake the form shorter and get rich data.
their professional information in return for the engagement. Keep in mind, progressive
can be used for targeting. It also sends the Collect minimal information on each
content. If your strategy is on track, the gated profiling doesn’t require the visitor to
right intent signal back. form — consider it progressive profiling.
asset is presented at the right time to the right authenticate every time; marketing
The primary goal of the form is to collect
Conduct an audit to ensure you have content audience when he or she is ready to make the automation or first party cookies can keep
contact information and allow the prospect
that speaks to the right persona and matters to next move. track of the return visitor and present them
to consume and/or download the content.
the right target account. Start with a list of target with a refreshed form to capture only the
Web content isn’t the only kind of content ripe
account profiles (country, company size/revenue, 2. A
 lthough there are many different opinions missing information.
for personalization. When you’re planning a
and industry). Then create content to cater to on this, it’s recommended to shorten the
personalized experience, all of these can — and Now you have a comprehensive lead gen (or
smaller segments. Without having content for form to collect only email, company name,
probably should — include some degree of conversion) strategy, that not only improves
specific audiences (you can even customize it for and country. There are many things you can
personalization for your buyer: form conversion (to get more leads with the
each specific account), personalization becomes do to augment and enrich this data for better
same effort), but also cleans and adds rich
stale and meaningless. • Landing pages targeting, lead qualification, and routing.
marketing data to drive precise retargeting,
Chances are, you already have data on the • Content hubs 3. Implement a form fill (smart form) service to eliminate waste, enhance lead qualification,
content that is working and delivering results. match the visitor submitted data real-time and enable lead routing.
• Ads
Don’t ignore this valuable insight hidden within on the form and augment with all company
your analytics platform. Consider which content • Nurture emails level (firmographic) information.
has a high engagement rate for your target
• Events 4. Follow that up with a solution that can
audience. You may then have to break it down
interact directly with your marketing
further based on the content type and buying • Prefilled forms

Win with ABM | 18

 CHAPTER 4

Getting and Closing

the Deal
Here’s where we put in another plug for the idea that ABM isn’t just
for marketing. It’s an entire revenue-driving strategy that should
also include thoughtful planning of your sales experience. When
you’re getting that alignment between your ops, marketing, sales,
and other teams, part of the process should be thinking through
what happens at every stage of the journey from awareness to
purchase — and beyond.

Win with ABM | 19

Planning Your Making the With a fully planned account-based experience,
when the marketing-qualified lead (MQL) gets
practices for measurement and attribution.

Encourage your Ops team(s) to make sure your

Experience from Handoff into the hands of a seller, the seller should have
all the relevant insights and account intelligence
CRM data is cleansed and enriched, and have a
unique account or business identifier, so when
Marketing to Sales
to have a meaningful conversation. But what
With your accounts identified, audiences you route the MQL, it gets matched with the
does that mean? In a nutshell, it means bringing
targeted, personalization planned, channels right account and routed to the right seller.
all the engagement data collected so far in the
You should have already asked the key identified, and content created, marketing For example, the Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S®
buyer’s journey and making it available to the
questions up front, but now is a good time to should be well-positioned to start bringing in Number is a commonly used identifier that
seller within your tech stack.
revisit your answers. high-value leads. But it’s important to also plan distinguishes a business as being unique from
for what happens after those leads are handed When sellers engage with the prospect for the any other in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud.
• Do your marketing and sales teams have
over from marketing to sales. first time, they should have a full understanding Having a common identifier that lives and flows
shared goals?
of the prospect’s journey and touchpoints so throughout your platforms and channels helps
That plan should account for what happens to
• Have you agreed on how you will far, including: ensure you are targeting the right companies
a lead at each point of the journey:
measure success? with your sales and marketing and is critical for
• T
 he content consumed across channels by
• W
 hat qualifies as a good lead? Are marketing measuring your success.
• Do you have the support from Ops teams the lead and other known and unknown
and sales using the same definitions?
that you need? individuals within that account who may It also can be beneficial to have a single
• How will marketing deliver leads to sales? influence buying solution, like a RevTech platform, to stitch your
• Do you have the right tools in place to
sales and marketing stack together. RevTech
deliver a seamless experience? • W
 hat will sales do with marketing qualified • T
 he propensity score generated by your own
can also help you maintain the quality of your
leads? How will you track and progress data team or AI partner
first-party data and leverage third-party data
opportunities?
Agree on a data management strategy, set up and rich analytics to make omnichannel ABM a
the flow between your marketing channels and reality for your organization.
technology platforms, and establish data-driven

Win with ABM | 20

 CHAPTER 5

Measure, Optimize,
Repeat
Once your campaigns are activated, it’s time to measure results
using the KPIs you set. Decide how often you want to measure
and report your results.

Win with ABM | 21

Depending on how you defined success when • Leads & nurtured accounts
you started to strategize your program, you
• A
 ccounts with active opportunities —
should be able to answer questions such as:
revenue and number of accounts
• Did my campaign achieve the results
• D
 eals lost — revenue and number
I wanted?
of accounts
• Did my buyers engage with the content and
• Opportunities rolled over to next quarter
move down the funnel?
• D
 eals won — revenue and number
• Were opportunities generated?
of accounts
• Did I get the right deals into my pipeline?
These metrics can help to identify what’s
• Did my campaign generate revenue? working and what’s not, and where any
bottleneck is in the buyer’s journey. Perhaps
With these answers, backed by data, you
most importantly, they will also help answer the
can make informed decisions about how to
burning question — how is my ABM strategy
optimize your campaigns to improve reach or
affecting revenue?
address any changing priorities.
Your ABM program is only as strong as the
You can measure every single action in digital
weakest link in the buyer’s journey. Measure
marketing. However, what every revenue team
every stage in the process, and every
wants to know is this: What is the program’s
campaign for its effectiveness. Apply what you
impact on sales and revenue? Here are some
learn, optimize, and iterate on the process.
metrics you can track and report to answer
This should be a closed-loop process to
that question.
streamline the buyer’s journey and eliminate
• Targetable accounts any bottlenecks in the process of converting
prospects from awareness to purchase.
• Impressions delivered

• Ad clicks

• Web-engaged accounts (include anonymous

visitors resolved to accounts)

Win with ABM | 22

 CHAPTER 6

ABM Tools
To execute a true omnichannel ABM program, you’re likely using
multiple platforms stacked together, depending on the different
channels in your mix.

Win with ABM | 23

In a typical marketing organization, there are
multiple platforms and systems to deal with,
Adding even more complexity, some
organizations have multiples of the same What is RevTech? RevTech can also help marketing and
sales teams cope with the overwhelming
including any or all of the following: platform types — even multiple instances of proliferation of tools on the market today.
The biggest challenge marketers face is how
the same platform! — for different business So many of these tools just create silos for
• Customer management system (CMS) to execute a single ABM campaign across all
units. Even today, so many organizations aim marketing and sales teams — the tools trap
these channels, leveraging so many individual
• Personalization platform to execute account-based marketing across them in one company’s proprietary tech for
systems. The need for a single platform that
channels, yet end up with multi-channel one aspect of their marketing or sales, and a
• Content management system can interface with all of them is obvious —
campaigns and not an omnichannel strategy different piece of proprietary tech for another.
and the emergence of RevTech is starting to
• Marketing automation platform (MAP) for because of how their work is fragmented
provide that answer. RevTech deals with this fragmentation by
email, mobile, outbound calling, direct mail, across platforms.
connecting these different tools together into
campaign, and lead management RevTech is a new crop of tools designed for
If your marketing stack has some of the one unified ecosystem. Combine the customer
marketing and sales teams to coordinate and
• Tag management system platforms and systems listed earlier, your data you gather with the data you’ve purchased
collaborate on end-to-end account-based
next focus should be connecting your entire from a vendor, segment and target your
• Web analytics experiences as revenue teams aligned for a
technology stack and enabling each element audiences, build personalized experiences, and
single purpose: landing more deals. With the
• Customer relationship management (CRM) to operate from a single source of data. This activate campaigns and sales plays all in one
right RevTech tool, a unified revenue team
is a challenging task that requires multiple seamless workflow.
• Multi-touch attribution platform can combine first- and third-party data for a
stakeholders working together with a common
more comprehensive view of buyers, target Dun & Bradstreet’s answer to the need for
• Data management platform (DMP) understanding of the objective, benefits,
the right audiences for campaigns and sales RevTech is Rev.Up ABX, an open platform
different pieces of the puzzle, and how it must
• Multiple demand-side platforms (DSPs) to plays, activate their brand messaging across that integrates with commonly used MarTech,
be put together to build a single, effective
execute search, display, video, TV, and social channels, and measure their buyers’ journeys AdTech, and SalesTech and powered by our
ABM stack.
media campaigns for continuous optimization. industry-leading CDP to simplify ABM planning
and activation.

Win with ABM | 24

 CONCLUSION

What’s the
Future of ABM?
Simply put, the future of ABM is ABX, driven by RevTech.

ABM as a term might evolve, but this kind of strategy aimed at

efficiently marketing and selling to high value accounts isn’t going
away. It’s becoming the default and aligned marketing and sales
teams — revenue teams — have to successfully build and scale
these programs to stay competitive.

Ready to Rev.Up Your ABM?

D&B Rev.Up is the open RevTech platform that helps marketing, ops, and sales teams

Activate and reach your ideal customer Create engaging, personalized

audiences efficiently and effectively account-based experiences

Reach buyers in the right channels Measure performance for

and at the right times continuous optimization of your
campaigns and programs

Watch a quick demo today.

D&B Rev.Up ABX

Win with ABM | 25

AB OUT D UN & BRADS TREET ®
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