Learn how to execute account-based marketing (ABM) in HubSpot: select target accounts, map buying roles, coordinate outreach and measure account progress.
In a financial or professional services firm, a prospective client may involve a managing partner, a marketing lead and someone responsible for compliance. If each conversation sits in a separate contact record, it is hard to see whether the firm as a whole is moving towards a decision. Stonehouse Communications helps teams connect account-based marketing to their CRM and content processes.
Account-based marketing (ABM) starts with a defined set of companies and a shared plan for engaging the people involved in each decision. These seven steps show how to organise that plan in HubSpot, from account selection to reporting.
Quick Guide: How to Execute ABM with HubSpot in 7 Steps
- 1. Define your ideal customer profile and account tiers: Agree fit criteria and decide where personalised effort belongs.
- 2. Select and mark target accounts: Review company records and mark the firms your team will pursue.
- 3. Map the buying group: Associate known contacts and record each person's buying role.
- 4. Build account and contact segments: Group records by account fit, role and relevant needs.
- 5. Coordinate content and outreach: Give sales and marketing one account-level message and plan.
- 6. Automate follow-up carefully: Trigger useful internal actions while keeping sensitive outreach human.
- 7. Measure account progress: Review buying-group coverage, activities, meetings and associated deals.
How to Put Account-Based Marketing into Practice in HubSpot
1. Define your ideal customer profile and account tiers
Write down what makes a company worth a coordinated sales and marketing effort. For a specialist consultancy, your criteria might include sector, location, organisation size, service need and whether your team can serve that account. Agree these criteria with sales before building a list. Stonehouse Communications' strategy work can help turn broad growth goals into a focused target market.
HubSpot's Ideal customer profile tier company property gives you three tiers. Use Tier 1 for accounts that justify individual research and tailored content, then group lower-priority accounts where a shared need supports a common message. The tier is a planning decision, not a prediction of who will buy. Review it when you learn more about an account.
2. Select and mark target accounts
Start with company records already in your CRM. Check that each has a usable domain and reliable industry, owner and contact associations. Then review the shortlist with the people who will actually work the accounts. A firm may fit your criteria on paper but still be a poor near-term target if there is no relevant service need.
Set the company's Target account property to true for the agreed shortlist. HubSpot's target accounts guidance describes how to add existing companies and review them in one place. You can use an import or a company workflow for a larger, well-defined group, but have a person review the selection rules first. For a broader explanation of CRM data and sales processes, see our HubSpot CRM guide.
3. Map the buying group
Associate each known person with the right company, then use HubSpot's Buying role contact property to record their part in the decision. One person may hold more than one role, and several people may share a role. The account overview helps you see associated contacts and activity together.
For example, a professional services firm's managing partner may own the budget while an operations lead evaluates implementation. Speak to each person's actual concern rather than sending the same case study to everyone. Leave unknown roles unassigned until you have evidence; a job title alone does not prove decision authority. This approach fits the way Stonehouse Communications helps professional services firms explain complex offerings clearly.
4. Build account and contact segments
Create company segments around target-account status, tier and sector. Create contact segments around buying role and association with a target company. HubSpot's ABM setup includes contact segments based on those properties, which you can adapt to your programme.
A segment gives you a reusable audience for appropriate marketing email, advertising or reporting. Check the contact membership before sending anything: a company being on your target list does not establish that every associated person should receive marketing email. Keep your subscription preferences and lawful basis checks in the process. Our email targeting guide explains why message relevance matters alongside segmentation.
5. Coordinate content and outreach
Give each account tier a plan that both teams can see: the problem being addressed, the people involved, the useful content and the owner of the next conversation. For an accountancy practice evaluating a new system, one team member might share a practical implementation article while another follows up with a question about its current process.
Stonehouse Communications creates research-led content that can support this kind of focused conversation. HubSpot segments can inform email audiences and, when a LinkedIn Ads account is connected, company audiences. Keep paid targeting optional. A smaller team may get further by improving the quality of a few sales conversations before adding another channel.
6. Automate follow-up carefully
Use a company workflow for rules that are genuinely repeatable, such as assigning an account tier from agreed criteria. For follow-up, consider internal notifications or tasks that ask an account owner to review recent activity and choose the next action. HubSpot documents an ABM workflow template for updating company properties, but you should customise its criteria to your business.
Stonehouse Communications helps teams connect CRM data with email workflows without treating automation as a substitute for judgement. A visit to a page can prompt review; it does not tell you why someone visited or give permission to send marketing email. Check consent, suppression rules and ownership before enrolling contacts in any communication workflow.
7. Measure account progress
Review the account rather than counting isolated clicks. HubSpot's target-account reporting includes activity totals, open target-account pipeline and accounts with no contacts assigned a buying role. Use those views to ask practical questions: which priority accounts have no mapped buying group, where has a meeting happened, and which associated deals are moving?
Set a regular review with sales to record what changed and who owns the next action. Compare cohorts only when the underlying deal definitions and time periods are consistent. An associated deal is evidence of pipeline, not proof that ABM caused it. For small teams, a focused marketing plan and a few agreed measures are more useful than a large dashboard nobody acts on.
What Should a Small Team Measure First in ABM?
Start with target-account coverage, meaningful activity and associated pipeline. Coverage asks whether you have identified the people involved in the decision. Activity shows whether anyone has held a conversation or booked a meeting. Pipeline shows what happened to deals associated with those accounts.
Review those measures by account tier, then discuss the accounts behind the numbers. A high activity count with no identified budget holder may point to a buying-group gap. Stonehouse Communications' HubSpot CRM services connect data structure, automation and reporting so your team can make that distinction.
How Can You Personalise ABM Without Inventing Account Insights?
Base the message on a verifiable account need, not a company-name token. Read what the firm publishes about its services, note its known contacts and ask the account owner what has already been discussed. If a challenge is only a hypothesis, phrase it as a question rather than claiming to know the firm's internal priorities.
For firms with similar needs, create shared content that explains a real process and its trade-offs. Reserve individual research for accounts where the potential value justifies the work. Stonehouse Communications' content approach starts with audience questions, which gives your team a useful basis for these conversations.
How Stonehouse Communications Helps You Execute ABM
Stonehouse Communications helps SMEs align CRM implementation, content and marketing processes. For an ABM programme, the starting point is practical: agree the account criteria, clean up company and contact associations, and decide which activity deserves a human follow-up.
Our HubSpot CRM Services cover implementation, optimisation and automation to align sales and marketing data. Our content team can then develop material for the questions your chosen buying groups actually ask. That combination gives account owners a clear view of the relationship and relevant material to use, rather than a disconnected campaign calendar.
If you want to put ABM into practice, talk to Stonehouse about your HubSpot setup. We can review your target-account criteria and the data and workflows needed to support them.
FAQs About ABM in HubSpot
What HubSpot subscription supports ABM tools?
HubSpot documents its ABM tools for Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise and Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise. Check the particular feature and your users' access before designing a process around it. Stonehouse Communications can help assess which parts of an ABM plan fit your setup.
Do you need a large target-account list?
No. Start with a shortlist your sales and marketing team can research and review consistently. The right size depends on your deal value, buying-group complexity and the time available for tailored outreach. Expand after you know what work each account requires.
Can you automate every ABM touchpoint?
You can automate defined data updates and follow-up prompts, but a workflow cannot establish what a buyer needs from a page view alone. Stonehouse Communications recommends keeping the account owner responsible for interpreting the signal and choosing a relevant next action.
How do you report on ABM results?
Use target-account activity, buying-role coverage and associated deal reports as a starting point. Review them alongside conversations and deal history. Stonehouse Communications can help structure the CRM and reporting so you can distinguish account progress from individual contact activity.
