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Account-based marketing (ABM)

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B approach in which marketing and sales agree on a list of target companies and plan the research, messages and offers for each one around the people who make or shape the buying decision there.

Updated October 2026 · 4 min read · GetSales team

How account-based marketing works

Lead-based marketing casts a wide net and sorts whoever comes back. ABM starts at the other end: a named list of companies worth winning, agreed by sales and marketing, and a plan for each one.

  1. Pick the accounts. Fit first (industry, size, the tools they run), then signs of timing such as hiring, funding or visits to your site.
  2. Map the buying group. The decision maker, the people who will use the product, and whoever signs off on budget or security.
  3. Plan the touches per account. Email and LinkedIn to the people you mapped, ads aimed at the company, content written about their situation, sometimes an event or direct mail.
  4. Work from one list. Sales and marketing see the same accounts, the same activity and the same next step.

Three kinds of ABM

  • One-to-one. A handful of large accounts, each with its own plan and often its own content.
  • One-to-few. Clusters of accounts with the same problem, such as one industry, sharing a plan.
  • One-to-many. Hundreds or thousands of accounts, with messages tailored by segment and run through software.

Signals and data in ABM

Account-level signals show which target company is warming up: visits from its network, new people in the buying group, posts about the problem you solve. In GetSales a site is at Companies by default, and at Companies a visit names the company only. Visitors from the EU, the EEA or the UK have to consent, and you confirm it in the site's settings.12

The people in the buying group have rights of their own. When you collect someone's details from a public source or a data vendor, the UK GDPR expects you to give them privacy information, including where you got their details, within a reasonable period and no later than one month, or in your first message to them if that comes sooner.3

How to measure ABM

  • Coverage. How many people in each buying group you have reached.
  • Engagement by account. Replies, meetings and site visits, counted per company.
  • Pipeline from target accounts. Its win rate and deal size, set beside deals from companies off the list.

Sources

  1. European Data Protection Board, Guidelines 2/2023 on Technical Scope of Art. 5(3) of ePrivacy Directive, version 2.0, 16 October 2024. Read 28 October 2026.
  2. Information Commissioner's Office, Guidance on the use of storage and access technologies, last updated 29 April 2026. Read 28 October 2026.
  3. Information Commissioner's Office, Right to be informed, no date stated, marked as under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. Read 28 October 2026.

Last updated: October 2026

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