---
title: "Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Definition and Examples"
description: "Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy where marketing and sales pick a defined list of target accounts and run coordinated, personalized campaigns..."
path: /glossary/account-based-marketing
family: glossary
updated: 2026-10-17
html: /glossary/account-based-marketing
sources:
  - "https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/feature/What-is-account-based-marketing-The-ultimate-ABM-guide"
  - "https://www.forrester.com/blogs/what-is-account-based-marketing/"
facts:
  term: "Account-based marketing (ABM)"
  also_called: "ABM, account based marketing, key account marketing"
  category: "Marketing"
---

# Account-based marketing (ABM)

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy where marketing and sales pick a defined list of target accounts and run coordinated, personalized campaigns to the buying committee at each one, instead of generating leads broadly.

## What Is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?

**In short:** Momentum ITSMA, a marketing consultancy, says it coined the term in 2003.

ABM flips the usual funnel: instead of attracting many leads and filtering them, you start with the accounts you want, map the people who influence the decision and aim content, ads, events and outreach at them. Programs are usually tiered: one-to-one for a handful of strategic accounts, one-to-few for clusters of similar accounts and one-to-many for hundreds of accounts with lighter personalization.

It suits companies with large deal sizes and long sales cycles, where one account is worth months of work and several people have to agree. Success is measured per account: engagement across the buying committee, meetings, opportunities and revenue from the target list.

## Account-Based Marketing Example

Example: a logistics software company picks 150 manufacturers with more than 500 employees. For each one it finds 5 to 8 people across operations, finance and IT, runs LinkedIn ads to all of them and sends each role its own email sequence. In this example, 38 accounts take a meeting within a quarter.

## Account-Based Marketing in Practice

Outbound is often the engine of ABM. SDRs work the target list with multi-threaded email and LinkedIn sequences, so several people at each account hear a consistent message while ads and content warm them up.

## FAQ

### What is the difference between ABM and demand generation?

Demand generation casts a wide net and qualifies whoever responds. ABM starts with a named list of accounts and concentrates every touch on the people at those accounts.

### What are the three types of ABM?

One-to-one (strategic ABM, tailored to individual accounts), one-to-few (ABM lite, a small set of accounts with similar needs) and one-to-many (programmatic ABM, automated outreach to segments of many accounts).

### Is ABM sales or marketing?

Both. Marketing usually runs the programs and content, sales and SDRs run the outreach and meetings, and the two agree on the account list and how success is measured.

### What is an example of account-based marketing?

A software company picks 50 target banks, sends each one a tailored research brief, runs LinkedIn ads to their IT and risk teams and has SDRs email those same people with role-specific messages.

## Do this in Ken

### Do This in Ken

Build the target account list in Ken Search (250M people and 24M companies), find several people per account by title and seniority, then reach them with email and LinkedIn sequences in Campaigns.

- Link: [Do This in Ken](/features)

## Related

- [GTM Glossary](/glossary): Every GTM term, grouped by topic.
- [Ideal customer profile (ICP)](/glossary/ideal-customer-profile)
- [Buying committee (buying group)](/glossary/buying-committee)
- [Stakeholder mapping](/glossary/stakeholder-mapping)
- [Intent data](/glossary/intent-data)
- [Demand generation](/glossary/demand-generation)
- [Signal-based selling](/glossary/signal-based-selling)
- [Ken features](/features)

## Sources

| Source | URL | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TechTarget: What is account-based marketing | https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/feature/What-is-account-based-marketing-The-ultimate-ABM-guide | 2026-10-17 |
| Forrester: What is account-based marketing | https://www.forrester.com/blogs/what-is-account-based-marketing/ | 2026-10-17 |

## Changelog

- 2026-10-17: Page published.