Running ABM campaigns in HubSpot: a comprehensive guide

In this article, we’ll explore how to run ABM in HubSpot, including key strategies, implementation tips, and essential tools to enhance your ABM strategy in HubSpot.

In a world where privacy is a top priority and consumers are less and less willing to disclose personal information or be included in marketing databases, it has never been more important to provide personalised experiences.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a powerful strategy that allows companies to focus on high-value customers with tailored marketing efforts, making personalisation a key differentiator in today's competitive landscape.

According to new research conducted by the ABM Leadership Alliance and ITSMA, 76% of marketers saw higher ROI with ABM than any other marketing strategy. As its results build over time, marketers agree that ABM's many benefits are worth the wait, including improved team collaboration, enhanced processes and tools, and overall workplace efficiency.

However, for ABM to be truly effective, your customer relationship management (CRM) system must be able to support this strategy. A CRM that is aligned with your ABM efforts will ensure that your marketing and sales teams can collaborate, track key metrics and personalise interactions at scale.

HubSpot offers a suite of tools that can significantly enhance the execution of ABM strategies and is well-equipped to support businesses in their ABM efforts.

Everything you need to know about ABM

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is an effective strategy that focuses on specific high-value customers rather than casting a wide net to reach a broad audience.

This approach uses personalised marketing efforts and aligns sales and marketing teams to drive better business results. 

These are some of the key principles of ABM:

• Targeting specific high-value accounts: ABM prioritises high-value accounts that offer the greatest potential return, ensuring that marketing resources are used efficiently. This focused approach allows businesses to concentrate their efforts on prospects most likely to convert into loyal customers.
  
  
• Personalised marketing efforts: Personalisation is central to ABM. Each targeted account receives customised marketing messages and campaigns that address their unique needs and business goals. This level of personalisation significantly increases the relevance and effectiveness of marketing efforts, making it more likely to resonate with key decision-makers.
  
  
• Collaborative alignment of sales and marketing teams: A successful ABM strategy requires collaboration between sales and marketing teams. By working together, these teams can share insights, develop coordinated campaigns, and ensure a unified approach to engaging target accounts. This alignment enhances the overall customer experience and improves the chances of conversion.
  
  

With a customised ABM strategy, organisations can develop highly targeted and effective marketing strategies that resonate with key decision makers and drive significant results.

Primary types of ABM approaches

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is not a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Instead, it offers different approaches tailored to the specific needs and goals of your organisation.

Here’s an overview of the primary ABM approaches:

1. One-to-One ABM

One-to-One ABM focuses on delivering highly personalised marketing efforts to individual high-value accounts. This approach involves deep research and customisation, creating bespoke content and campaigns tailored to the specific needs and pain points of a single account. It's ideal for businesses targeting major clients with the potential for substantial revenue.

For example, a software company is targeting a Fortune 500 company as a potential client. The company’s marketing team conducts extensive research to understand the Fortune 500 company’s specific challenges, industry trends, and key decision-makers. They then create a personalised campaign that includes a custom white paper addressing the company’s pain points, a tailored demo of how the software can solve their specific issues, and a series of personalised emails from the sales team. The campaign is designed exclusively for this one account, with every touchpoint reflecting deep knowledge of the company’s needs and goals.

2. One-to-Few ABM

One-to-Few ABM targets a small group of accounts with similar characteristics, such as industry, company size, or specific needs. This approach allows for some level of personalisation while reaching multiple accounts simultaneously. It strikes a balance between the depth of One-to-One ABM and the broader reach of One-to-Many ABM, making it suitable for businesses looking to engage a handful of key accounts within a particular segment.

For instance, a cybersecurity firm is looking to target a group of mid-sized financial institutions. These institutions share common challenges, such as regulatory compliance and protecting sensitive customer data. The marketing team creates a semi-customised campaign that includes a series of webinars focused on industry-specific challenges, case studies from similar-sized institutions, and email content that speaks to the specific regulatory environment of the financial sector. This campaign is designed to resonate with this small group of accounts by addressing their shared needs while still allowing for some personalisation.

3. One-to-Many ABM

One-to-Many ABM, also known as programmatic ABM, scales personalised marketing efforts across a larger number of accounts. This approach uses technology and automation to create and deliver tailored messages to a broader audience. While the level of personalisation is not as deep as in One-to-One or One-to-Few ABM, it allows businesses to efficiently engage a wide array of accounts with relevant content. This approach is ideal for companies aiming to build brand awareness and engagement across a broader market.

Let’s say, a B2B SaaS company wants to increase its presence among small to medium-sized tech startups. Using programmatic ABM, the marketing team creates a scalable campaign that targets a broad list of tech startups. The campaign includes automated emails, targeted ads, and content such as blog posts and eBooks that discuss common challenges faced by startups, like scaling infrastructure and managing growth. Although the messaging is less personalised than in One-to-One or One-to-Few ABM, it is still relevant to the broader audience, allowing the company to engage a large number of accounts efficiently.

By understanding and leveraging these different ABM approaches, businesses can tailor their strategies to effectively engage and convert high-value accounts, whether focusing on individual clients or broader market segments.

Benefits of including ABM in your marketing strategy

Let's look into the specific advantages that ABM offers, highlighting why this approach is increasingly favoured by marketers and sales teams alike.

• Improved ROI: ABM delivers higher ROI compared to other marketing strategies by focusing on high-value accounts and personalising marketing efforts. This targeted approach leads to better conversion rates and more substantial returns on marketing investments.
  
  
• Shortened sales cycles: ABM accelerates the sales cycle by engaging key decision-makers early and addressing their specific needs. This targeted approach reduces the time spent on unqualified leads and speeds up the process of moving prospects through the sales funnel.
  
  
• Enhanced customer relationships: ABM fosters deeper relationships with target accounts by providing tailored solutions and personalised experiences. This focus on individual accounts helps build trust and loyalty, leading to long-term customer relationships and increased lifetime value.
  
  
• Increased likelihood of conversion: One of the main goals of ABM is to deliver tailored content to the right stakeholders, helping them move further into the sales funnel. Using the right B2B lead generation software with your ABM campaign can ensure your content connects with your leads. Notably, 71% of customers expect companies to deliver personalised and tailored interactions. This approach increases the likelihood of capturing buyers' attention, capitalising on commonalities, and driving conversions.
  
  
• Higher engagement levels: Engagement is crucial for closing significant deals. Sales professionals often spend considerable time meeting, discussing, and negotiating with prospects. ABM shines in this area, with 75% of B2B marketers reporting that ABM allows them to find and engage with the right buyers earlier in their buying process. This early engagement is critical for nurturing relationships and moving prospects towards a purchase decision.

By focusing on these principles and benefits, organisations can use the power of ABM to drive higher engagement, better conversions and better business results. 

In the next section, we look at HubSpot's ABM capabilities and why organisations should consider integrating third-party ABM tools.

Can you do ABM in HubSpot?

HubSpot provides a comprehensive suite of tools that can significantly enhance your Account-Based Marketing (ABM) efforts. Its features support various aspects of ABM, from targeted account management to advanced analytics.

However, while HubSpot Marketing Hub offers robust functionalities, there are some limitations to consider.

How does HubSpot support ABM?

1. Targeted account management

HubSpot’s CRM enables efficient management of high-value accounts. With features like account-based views, custom properties, and segmentation, you can easily track and manage interactions with specific accounts. This helps in organising and prioritising your efforts based on the strategic value of each account.

2. Customisable marketing automation

HubSpot's marketing automation tools allow you to create and execute personalised campaigns tailored to the needs of your target accounts. You can design automated workflows that trigger specific actions based on account behaviour and engagement, ensuring timely and relevant communication.

3. Advanced reporting and analytics

HubSpot offers advanced reporting and analytics capabilities that help measure the effectiveness of your ABM strategies. You can track key metrics such as engagement rates, pipeline progression, and ROI on account-specific campaigns. The platform’s dashboards and reports provide valuable insights into campaign performance and account interactions.

Do you need additional ABM tools?

While HubSpot offers features for managing and executing ABM campaigns, certain advanced functionalities may require the integration of third-party tools.

For example, advanced account targeting, deep multi-touch attribution, and highly granular analytics are areas where HubSpot’s native features might fall short. If your ABM strategy requires complex segmentation, detailed account insights, or sophisticated account-based advertising, integrating additional tools can enhance these capabilities.

To ensure a cohesive ABM strategy, it is important that third-party tools integrate with HubSpot. Such integrations enable a smooth flow of data between platforms and ensure that your sales and marketing teams have access to consistent, up-to-date information. Integration with third-party tools also helps maintain workflow efficiency, reduces the risk of data silos and supports a unified view of your target customers.

Demandbase, Terminus, RollWorks and 6Sense: additional tools for integrating with HubSpot

To enhance your ABM strategy within HubSpot, several popular ABM tools offer advanced features that complement and extend HubSpot’s capabilities.

Here’s an overview of three such tools:

1. HubSpot and Demandbase for ABM

Demandbase is a leading ABM platform that provides advanced targeting, personalization, and analytics. It allows businesses to identify, engage, and convert high-value accounts with precision.

Benefits of integrating Demandbase with HubSpot:

• Enhanced targeting and personalisation: Demandbase enables more sophisticated targeting based on firmographic data and buyer intent, helping you personalise campaigns at scale.

• Improved analytics and insights: Gain deeper insights into account engagement and performance, allowing for data-driven decision-making.

• Streamlined workflows: Integration with HubSpot ensures that sales and marketing teams can access and act on unified data across platforms.

How to integrate Demandbase with HubSpot:

1. Set up the integration: Begin by visiting HubSpot’s marketplace and finding the Demandbase integration. Connecting these platforms is straightforward and sets up the groundwork for a cohesive ABM strategy.

2. Sync your data: Once the integration is complete, ensure that your key account data has been synchronised between HubSpot and Demandbase. This step ensures that you have accurate and up-to-date information to manage your campaigns effectively.

3. Customise your workflows: Next, tailor your workflows to make the most of Demandbase’s insights within HubSpot’s automation tools. Customising these workflows will help you harness valuable data to create more targeted and effective marketing actions.

4. Monitor and optimise: After everything is up and running, keep a close eye on how the integration is performing. Regularly review the data and performance metrics to ensure everything remains in sync and adjust your strategies as needed to optimise your results.

2. HubSpot and Terminus for ABM

Terminus is an ABM platform focused on account-based advertising, multi-channel engagement, and deep analytics. It helps businesses deliver targeted advertising and coordinated marketing efforts across channels.

Benefits of integrating Terminus with HubSpot:

• Multi-channel engagement: Reach your target accounts through coordinated advertising campaigns across web, social, and email.

• Improved analytics: Terminus provides detailed account-based analytics, offering insights into campaign effectiveness and engagement.

• Coordination: Integrate with HubSpot to align advertising efforts with your overall ABM strategy, ensuring consistent messaging.

How to integrate Terminus with HubSpot:

1. Connect Terminus to HubSpot: Start by heading over to HubSpot’s marketplace and finding the Terminus integration. With just a few clicks, you’ll connect the two platforms.

2. Sync your audiences: Next, bring your HubSpot contact lists into Terminus. This step is key to ensuring that your targeted ad campaigns reach the right people. It’s as simple as selecting the lists that align with your ABM goals and syncing them over.

3. Coordinate your campaigns: Now, it’s time to get your campaigns in sync. Align your HubSpot marketing automation with the ad campaigns you’re running in Terminus. This coordination ensures that your outreach is consistent across channels, providing a cohesive experience for your target accounts.

4. Track, learn, and optimise: Finally, keep a close eye on how your campaigns are performing. Use the integrated data from both platforms to track results, learn what’s working, and make adjustments as needed. This ongoing optimisation will help you fine-tune your strategy and get the most out of your ABM efforts.

3. HubSpot and RollWorks for ABM

RollWorks is an ABM platform designed to help businesses identify target accounts, run account-based advertising, and measure results. It’s particularly useful for businesses looking to scale their ABM efforts.

Benefits of integrating RollWorks with HubSpot:

• Scalable targeting: RollWorks offers tools to scale account-based advertising efforts, reaching a broader set of target accounts.

• Enhanced analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into account engagement and campaign performance.

• Streamlined sales and marketing alignment: Integration with HubSpot ensures that both teams work with the same data, improving coordination.

How to integrate RollWorks with HubSpot:

1. Kick off the integration: Start by heading over to HubSpot’s marketplace to find and connect RollWorks. It’s a quick and easy process that lays the foundation for a powerful ABM strategy by bringing these two platforms together.
   
   
2. Segment and target your audience: Once connected, import your HubSpot data into RollWorks. Take the time to segment your audience based on key criteria, refining your account-based targeting so that your efforts hit the mark with precision.
   
   
3. Launch and sync your campaigns: With your audience set, it’s time to roll out your campaigns. Use HubSpot for crafting and sending targeted emails, while RollWorks handles your digital ads. Synchronise these efforts to create a unified, multi-channel experience that resonates with your target accounts.
   
   
4. Analyse, learn, and improve: After your campaigns are live, dive into the data using the combined reporting tools from both platforms. Analyse the results to see what’s working and where you can improve. This ongoing refinement will help you continually enhance your ABM strategy for even better outcomes.

4. HubSpot and 6Sense for ABM

6Sense is a powerful ABM platform that leverages AI-driven insights to help businesses identify, engage, and close more deals with their ideal customer profiles. It offers advanced account identification, predictive analytics, and multi-channel engagement capabilities.

Benefits of integrating 6Sense with HubSpot:

• Predictive analytics and intent data: 6Sense uses AI to analyse buyer intent signals, enabling you to identify accounts that are most likely to convert. This integration helps you prioritise your efforts on high-value targets.
  
  
• Enhanced segmentation and targeting: With 6Sense’s rich data, you can create highly targeted segments within HubSpot, ensuring that your marketing campaigns are precisely aimed at the right audience at the right time.
  
  
• Unified sales and marketing alignment: The integration ensures that both sales and marketing teams are working from the same data, leading to more coordinated and effective outreach.
  
  

How to integrate 6Sense with HubSpot:

1. Initiate the integration: Start by visiting HubSpot’s marketplace and finding the 6Sense integration. Connecting the two platforms is a straightforward process that will enable seamless data flow and coordination between your teams.
   
   
2. Import and map your data: After setting up the integration, bring your HubSpot data into 6Sense. Map key data points between the two platforms to ensure that all relevant information is synchronised, enabling more accurate segmentation and targeting.
   
   
3. Leverage AI-driven insights: Once your data is synced, use 6Sense’s predictive analytics to identify high-priority accounts. Integrate these insights into your HubSpot workflows to ensure that your marketing and sales efforts are focused on the most promising leads.
   
   
4. Monitor and refine your strategy: After launching your campaigns, regularly monitor the performance data within both platforms. Use 6Sense’s detailed analytics to refine your strategies, making adjustments to improve targeting and engagement.
   
   

While HubSpot offers a strong foundation for executing ABM strategies, integrating third-party tools like Demandbase, Terminus, RollWorks and 6Sense can significantly enhance your capabilities. 

These tools provide advanced targeting, deeper analytics, and more personalised engagement, helping you fully realise the potential of your ABM efforts.

How to decide if you need additional ABM tools

While HubSpot provides a strong foundation for Account-Based Marketing, there are scenarios where your ABM strategy may require more advanced capabilities.

HubSpot’s native features are excellent for managing and executing ABM campaigns, especially for businesses with straightforward needs.

However, as your ABM strategy becomes more complex, you may find that integrating additional tools like Demandbase, Terminus, RollWorks or 6Sense becomes necessary to fully optimise your efforts.

When is ABM in HubSpot enough?

• Simple ABM strategies: If your ABM approach focuses on basic segmentation, straightforward personalisation, and typical reporting needs, HubSpot’s in-built features can effectively handle your campaigns.
  
  
• Small to medium campaigns: For businesses targeting a smaller number of accounts or with less complex marketing funnels, HubSpot’s CRM and marketing automation are sufficient.
  
  
• Unified sales and marketing teams: If your sales and marketing teams are well-aligned and work efficiently within a single platform, HubSpot provides everything needed to manage these processes seamlessly.
  
  

When do you need additional ABM tools?

• Advanced targeting and personalisation: Tools like Demandbase offer sophisticated targeting based on firmographics, buyer intent, and AI-driven insights that go beyond HubSpot’s capabilities.
  
  
• Complex multi-channel campaigns: If your ABM strategy involves highly coordinated, multi-channel campaigns across web, social, email, and ads, integrating a platform like Terminus can enhance campaign management and tracking.
  
  
• Granular analytics and reporting: For businesses that require deep analytics on account engagement, multi-touch attribution, and predictive analytics, platforms like RollWorks or 6Sense provide the necessary insights to make data-driven decisions.
  
  

Here’s a comparison table to help you decide:

By understanding the strengths of HubSpot and identifying where additional tools can complement these capabilities, you can create a more powerful and effective ABM strategy tailored to your specific business needs.

When to use Account-Based Marketing 

As you consider implementing Account-Based Marketing strategies in Hubspot, it's important to evaluate when and how this strategy could be most effective for your organisation.

Here are key scenarios to keep in mind when deciding whether ABM is the right approach for you:

Do you offer large, considered purchase services or products?

If your organisation deals with high-value transactions, such as enterprise software, industrial equipment, or bespoke services, ABM might be the right strategy for you. These types of purchases typically involve long sales cycles and multiple stakeholders. ABM’s targeted approach ensures that your marketing efforts are focused on the specific needs and concerns of these key decision-makers, increasing the likelihood of closing these substantial deals.

Are there gaps in your Marketing strategy?

Even the most robust marketing strategies can have gaps. Perhaps your content isn't attracting the right type of leads, or your efforts are not converting high-value prospects as expected. ABM can address these issues by shifting the focus from attracting a broad audience to engaging specific, high-value accounts with personalised content and outreach.

Could ABM fill gaps in your existing marketing strategies?

If your current marketing strategies are not delivering the desired results, it might be time to consider ABM. Look for indicators such as low engagement rates with key accounts, lengthy sales cycles, or a disconnect between your sales and marketing teams. ABM can help bridge these gaps by aligning sales and marketing efforts, providing tailored content to high-value accounts, and fostering deeper engagement with key stakeholders.

By recognising these signs and understanding how ABM can address these challenges, your organisation can take a strategic step toward more effective and efficient marketing efforts.

In the next section, we will explore different ABM approaches and how they can be tailored to suit your specific needs.

ABM in action: key strategy use cases

Implementing Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies in HubSpot can drive significant results across various stages of the customer journey.

Here’s how different ABM strategies can be applied to achieve specific business objectives:

1. Awareness: Building brand recognition with target accounts

ABM strategies aimed at awareness focus on introducing your brand to high-value accounts and establishing your presence in their minds. This can involve creating and distributing tailored content such as industry reports, case studies, and thought leadership articles that address the specific interests and challenges of your target accounts.

2. Opportunity creation: generating leads and nurturing prospects

Opportunity creation focuses on identifying and nurturing potential leads within target accounts. This involves delivering tailored content and offers that address the needs and pain points of your prospects, encouraging them to take the next step in their buying journey.

3. Pipeline acceleration: speeding up the sales cycle

Pipeline acceleration strategies aim to move prospects through the sales funnel more quickly. This involves providing targeted content and interactions that address objections, demonstrate value, and facilitate decision-making.

4. Account revenue expansion (Upsell): maximising value from existing accounts

ABM strategies for account revenue expansion focus on identifying opportunities for upselling or cross-selling within existing high-value accounts. This involves delivering personalised offers and content that align with the account’s evolving needs and business goals.

By employing these ABM strategies, organisations can effectively engage target accounts at various stages of the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-sale expansion.

In the following sections, we will explore whether ABM can be implemented in HubSpot and why the integration of third-party tools may be helpful.

Unlocking ABM success with HubSpot

Running an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy within HubSpot can be highly effective when implemented correctly. HubSpot’s customisable marketing automation, and advanced reporting tools provide a strong foundation for executing ABM campaigns that resonate with high-value accounts. 

However, depending on the complexity and scale of your ABM strategy, you may find that additional tools are necessary to achieve optimal results. Integrating third-party ABM platforms like Demandbase, Terminus, RollWorks or 6Sense with HubSpot can enhance your capabilities, offering more advanced targeting, deeper analytics, and streamlined workflows between sales and marketing teams. These integrations ensure that your ABM efforts are not only aligned but also data-driven and scalable.

To maximise the effectiveness of your ABM strategy within HubSpot, consider consulting with a HubSpot solutions partner to assess the need for additional tools, and ensure that your strategy is tailored to meet your specific business goals. Reach out to our team today to explore how you can fully harness the power of ABM in HubSpot.