There are plenty of ABM resources available on the web. This can make it hard to separate the good advice from the bad and the accurate definitions from the incorrect ones. That’s why we chose to put together this collection of ABM terms and definitions—to serve as a comprehensive guide on the basic ABM terms that every marketer needs to know.
Account-Based Marketing: A holistic, omni-channel marketing strategy that identifies target accounts and tailors messaging toward the individual decision-makers within that account.
Account Lifecycle: The process an account follows during ABM. Beginning with the marketing and sales funnel, accounts begin at the top in an awareness stage. Toward the middle of the funnel, these accounts begin to show interest in learning more. This could potentially include a demo meeting, request for cost estimates, etc. At the bottom of the funnel, accounts are likely in the negotiating process.
If the deal is won, that account becomes a customer, which leads the account into a new process beginning with onboarding stages, followed by the usage of the product and customer success meetings. Toward the end of the contract, it comes time for companies to decide to renew. If for some reason the account chooses not to renew, the account is moved back into the very beginning of the sales and marketing funnel, with a rest period in between before marketing begins again.
Buyer Persona: A customer-profile that includes the purchasing habits of the people being directly communicated with during the sales process.
Buyer’s Journey: The buyer’s journey is the steps that each of your customers take toward purchasing your product. Today’s marketers need to target and engage every stage of the buyer’s journey and reach more than just one key decision-maker. By implementing a multi-channel ABM strategy, marketers can reach multiple buyers with relevant content to achieve full-funnel messaging.
Engagement Data: The measurement of interactions between a company and its clients, customers, or the public.
Firmographics: Significant characteristics of businesses that can be used in the segmentation process of target market analysis.
Fit Data: The measurement of how well a company “fits” your company’s Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP.
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): A description of a company or organization that is a perfect fit for your product.
Intent Data: Intent data reveals which companies are exploring topics and products related to your brand on other third-party sites. This allows for your sales team to recognize potential clients’ interests before even communicating directly with them, which allows for the preparation of strategy design.
Marketing Qualified Account (MQA): Once a target account has generated enough engagement and is ready for sales, it becomes a marketing qualified account or MQA (vs. an MQL, which is a singular lead).
Targeting: There are two distinct ways to use targeting in ABM. The first is IP targeting. An IP address (Internet Protocol Address) is an assigned number based on the location of the devices connected to the computer network in a designated area. IP targeting tracks companies’ internet usage on a higher level.
Be cautious, however, because several companies may be using the same IP address at once, especially if they share an office building! The second type is cookie targeting. Cookie targeting is the analysis of users’ cookie data to place targeting advertisements in front of targeted buyer personas. This will most likely be phased out of use as marketers move toward cookieless marketing.
Target Account List (TAL): A list of companies that you want to turn into customers at the moment.
Technographic: Data that allows marketers to know which technology an organization or its employees are using (a.k.a. its tech stack). If your product plugs into other software, it is crucial to know which potential clients would easily be able to integrate products.
Tiering: Prioritizing accounts based on ICP to ensure the appropriate amount of time is being spent on marketing efforts based on the returns expected from each potential client. There are 3 levels of tiering:
- Tier 1: Accounts that are a perfect fit for your product. These will generally be similar to customers that are the most valuable to your business.
- Tier 2: These accounts are a good fit, but not quite tier 1. They’ll be quality customers but not as valuable over their account lifecycle.
- Tier 3: Accounts that will match some of your ICP criteria, but they won’t reach nearly the same value for your business as tier 1 and tier 2.
Total Addressable Market (TAM): The total amount of potential companies that would benefit from your product or service.
Interested in learning more about how Madison Logic can help you accelerate your pipeline and convert your best accounts faster? Get in touch and our team will reach out to discuss how we can help you engage with the most influential individuals throughout the buyer journey.
