Getting Started with ABM: Enterprise Pre-Work That Pays Off
- September 17, 2025
- Posted by: Sherry Prescott-Willis
- Category: Demand Generation and Growth
When enterprises think of Account-Based Marketing (ABM), they often picture high-cost platforms and complex campaigns. But the smartest programs don’t start with tools—they start with strategy. By investing in foundational pre-work, enterprises can sharpen account focus, align Sales and Marketing, and define success metrics before spending a dollar on technology.
What ABM Really Is
ABM is an enterprise B2B growth strategy that treats each high-value account as a market of one. Success comes from tailoring outreach, content, and engagement to a company’s unique industry drivers, decision-making process, and revenue model. For enterprises, this means doubling down on strategic accounts where expansion and influence matter most. But before any ABM program officially kicks off, it’s important to invest in the following steps.
5 Pre-Work Steps for Enterprise ABM Success
ABM is an enterprise B2B growth strategy that treats each high-value account as a market of one. Success comes from tailoring outreach, content, and engagement to a company’s unique industry drivers, decision-making process, and revenue model. For enterprises, this means doubling down on strategic accounts where expansion and influence matter most. But before any ABM program officially kicks off, it’s important to invest in the following steps.
1. Audit Current Accounts
Work with Sales to analyze your top 50–100 accounts by revenue and lifetime value. Look for vertical concentration and identify what makes these accounts strong fits.
2. Build a Strategic Account List
With Sales and executive leadership, define the accounts you want to break into or expand. Keep the list focused—quality over quantity wins.
3. Curate Content by Vertical
Your ABM campaigns will only be as good as the content that you use but you may have existing content in your company already. Inventory existing case studies, webinars, articles and proof points by industry. Enterprise prospects need scalable, repeatable content aligned to buyer priorities in each vertical and they also need to see that your company knows how to solve problems that they have.
4. Define Enterprise-Level Success Metrics
Metrics for your campaign needs agreement from your C-suite and your rev and sales operations teams. Decide upfront whether success is measured by booked meetings, multi-threaded engagement, pipeline progression, or expansion revenue. You can track early with simple tools with a pilot as you build out and scale your dashboards later.
5. Align Teams Early
Run a joint Sales + Marketing kickoff to set shared goals, responsibilities, and processes. Alignment at the start prevents execution gaps later.
Why This Matters
ABM doesn’t have to begin with costly technology investments. Enterprises that start with clarity, alignment, and a pilot program are better positioned to scale efficiently and realize stronger ROI when platforms are introduced.
Pro Tip: Start small. A pilot program with a defined account set provides quick wins, executive confidence, and lessons to scale across the enterprise.
