In today’s competitive B2B landscape, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has emerged as a leading strategy for companies aiming to focus their marketing efforts on high-value accounts. HubSpot, with its robust suite of marketing and sales tools, offers a perfect solution for companies looking to implement and scale their ABM strategy. In this blog, we’ll walk through how to effectively use HubSpot for B2B Account-Based Marketing (ABM), ensuring your marketing and sales teams work together seamlessly to land those key accounts.
What is Account-Based Marketing?
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused approach where marketing and sales teams collaborate to target specific high-value accounts. Unlike traditional marketing, ABM customizes communication, content, and campaigns for each account, ensuring that messaging is personalized and tailored. This personalized approach helps build stronger relationships with potential customers and accelerates the sales cycle.
Why HubSpot Is Ideal for B2B Account-Based Marketing
When it comes to account-based marketing for B2B companies, HubSpot stands out due to its comprehensive toolset that supports both marketing and sales efforts. HubSpot enables businesses to streamline their ABM efforts by aligning marketing and sales, automating repetitive tasks, and leveraging analytics to measure success.
Best Practices for Using HubSpot for ABM:
1. Align Sales and Marketing Teams: Ensure seamless collaboration between sales and marketing teams by defining clear roles and responsibilities. Use HubSpot’s shared CRM to keep track of all interactions, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
2. Leverage HubSpot’s Personalization Tools: HubSpot allows you to create highly targeted content. Personalization is key to successful ABM campaigns—tailor emails, landing pages, and workflows to resonate with key decision-makers at target accounts.
3. Utilize HubSpot’s ABM Features: Use the ABM tools such as contact scoring, dynamic lists, and the ABM dashboard to prioritize high-value accounts and track their engagement.
Step-by-Step Guide to Planning and Executing an ABM Campaign in HubSpot (2024)
Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and Target Accounts
The first step in planning your ABM campaign is to clearly define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and identify target accounts. Use firmographic data such as company size, industry, location, and revenue to develop your ICP. In HubSpot, leverage the Target Accounts tool to mark and manage high-value accounts.
Best Practices:
- ICP Definition: Use firmographic data like company size, industry, location, and revenue to define your Ideal Customer Profile.
- Select Target Accounts: Leverage HubSpot’s Target Accounts tool to mark high-value accounts.
How to Do This in HubSpot:
- Go to CRM > Companies and click See Target Accounts to activate ABM tools.
- Assign ICP properties (like company size, revenue) to your accounts using the Properties feature.
- HubSpot automatically creates default ABM properties such as Buying Role and Target Account to help categorize accounts.
Step 2: Set Up Your ABM Tools in HubSpot
To successfully implement ABM, it’s essential to ensure that HubSpot’s ABM features are fully enabled and set up correctly. Assign roles like Target Account Owner and enable the ABM Dashboard to monitor account activity.
Best Practices:
- Enable ABM Features: Ensure that ABM features are activated in HubSpot.
- Use ABM Dashboard: Track engagement and account progression with the ABM Dashboard.
How to Do This in HubSpot:
- Navigate to CRM > Companies and enable ABM Tools.
- Assign roles like Decision Maker or Budget Holder for each contact associated with your target accounts.
- Use ABM Dashboards to monitor accounts and progress.
Step 3: Create Content and Outreach Strategies
Once your ABM tools are set up, the next step is to create personalized content and develop a multi-channel outreach strategy. HubSpot’s Smart Content feature allows you to tailor content for each target account.
Best Practices:
- Personalized Content: Craft personalized content tailored to each account.
- Multi-Channel Engagement: Use multiple channels, including email, social media, and direct mail.
How to Do This in HubSpot:
- Use Smart Content in emails, landing pages, and ads to customize experiences for each target account.
- Set up automated workflows to trigger account-specific follow-ups and nurture sequences.
Step 4: Execute Multi-Channel Campaigns
Coordinating multi-channel campaigns is a key aspect of ABM. HubSpot allows you to create campaigns that align sales and marketing efforts, ensuring consistent messaging across all channels.
Best Practices:
- Coordinate Sales and Marketing: Ensure alignment across sales and marketing.
- Monitor Engagement Across Channels: Use HubSpot to track engagement at the account level.
How to Do This in HubSpot:
- Navigate to Marketing > Campaigns to create a multi-channel campaign targeting specific companies.
- Set up ads targeting your accounts via LinkedIn Ads integration or other ad platforms.
Step 5: Monitor, Measure, and Optimize Your ABM Campaign
Monitoring and measuring the success of your ABM campaigns is essential. HubSpot’s ABM dashboard and reporting tools provide valuable insights into account engagement, deal velocity, and conversion rates.
Best Practices:
- Monitor Continuously: Use HubSpot’s ABM dashboard to track performance in real time.
- Optimize Campaigns: Adjust tactics based on account engagement data.
How to Do This in HubSpot:
- Track metrics such as deal velocity, engagement, and conversion rates in the ABM Dashboard.
- Use the Custom Report Builder to analyze data and optimize your campaigns.
Required HubSpot Packages for ABM Success
To fully leverage HubSpot’s ABM capabilities, you need the right tools. Ensure you have the following HubSpot packages in place:
– Marketing Hub Professional/Enterprise for advanced marketing features.
– Sales Hub Professional/Enterprise for managing and tracking sales activities with target accounts.
– Content Hub for creating personalized landing pages and content tailored to your target accounts.
Recommended HubSpot native integrations for Account-Based Marketing , including a new powerful AI-based feature from HubSpot:
LinkedIn Ads Integration
This integration allows marketers to run targeted advertising campaigns directly on LinkedIn, syncing leads and engagement data back into HubSpot for more precise ABM targeting.
Apollo.io
Apollo.io integrates with HubSpot to enhance prospecting by enriching contact details and automating sales outreach. It’s a strong tool for managing outreach to target accounts within an ABM framework.
SendSpark
This integration allows you to send personalized video messages to decision-makers in target accounts, improving engagement and standing out in crowded inboxes—an essential tactic for ABM.
ZoomInfo
The ZoomInfo integration helps enrich HubSpot records with up-to-date firmographic and contact data, improving the precision of your ABM campaigns by ensuring you are targeting the right decision-makers.
Breeze AI
A new AI-powered tool introduced by HubSpot in 2024, Breeze includes features like Breeze Intelligence, which enriches contact records with firmographic and technographic data, and Breeze Agents, which automate tasks like content creation, social media posts, and lead prospecting. Breeze helps marketers identify high-fit accounts and shorten forms to enhance ABM effectiveness.
Need Help with HubSpot for ABM? 🎯
Implementing Account-Based Marketing with HubSpot can be transformative, but getting started can feel overwhelming. If you’re looking for expert guidance or have questions, we’re here to support you.
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