accountbased

Accountbased is an adjective used to describe strategies, practices, or systems that focus on individual customer accounts rather than broad market segments. In business contexts, it is most closely associated with account-based marketing (ABM), a structured approach that treats a defined set of target accounts as markets in their own right.

Account-based marketing integrates marketing and sales to tailor messaging, content, and campaigns to specific accounts. Tactics may include personalized content, targeted advertising, executive sponsorship, and multi-channel outreach aimed at multiple stakeholders within each account. The process typically starts with selecting target accounts, defining an ideal customer profile, and building engagement plans that address the needs and buying journeys of those accounts.

Measurement and technology emphasize account-level outcomes. Success is judged by metrics such as pipeline value, win rate, average contract size, and revenue attributed to target accounts, rather than the volume of leads or general engagement. Supporting tools commonly include customer relationship management (CRM) systems, marketing automation, intent data, and ABM platforms that help coordinate activities across marketing, sales, and customer success.

Variants of the approach include account-based advertising, which targets ads to specific accounts or individuals within them, and account-based selling, which aligns sales outreach with marketing-generated insights. While highly effective for high-value, longer sales-cycle deals, account-based strategies require substantial cross-functional alignment, data quality, and resource investment, and may be challenging to scale across many accounts.

See also: account-based marketing, B2B marketing, ICP, CRM, ABM platforms.