ABM Foundation Checklist: What You Need Before Launching Campaigns
You don't need permission to run ABM. But you do need a foundation.
Many teams fail at ABM not because the concept doesn't work, but because they skip foundational steps. They run campaigns without clear strategy, without proper targeting, without sales alignment, or without measurement.
This checklist ensures your foundation is solid before you invest in campaigns.
Strategy Foundation
Define Your ABM Goals. What are you trying to achieve with ABM? Account retention? Account expansion? Competitive displacement? Net new logos in a specific vertical?
ABM doesn't make sense for every goal. It makes sense for high-value account expansion. It makes sense for competitive win-back. It makes sense less for pure lead volume generation.
Write one sentence: "We're doing ABM to [goal]. This will help us [business outcome]. We measure success by [metric]."
Document Your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). You need a written ICP. Not in Slack. Written.
Your ICP should include: - Company characteristics (size, industry, stage, geography) - Buying signals (job titles involved in decisions, budget authority, decision timeline) - Problems they have (not features they want, but problems they solve) - Typical ACV and unit economics (how much do they spend, how long before ROI)
Your ICP should be specific enough to find accounts, not so specific you eliminate your market.
Align on ABM Approach. Are you doing one-to-one ABM (highly personalized campaigns to 5-10 accounts)? One-to-few ABM (personalized campaigns to 50-100 accounts)? One-to-many ABM (large-scale campaigns to 1,000+ accounts with account-based messaging)?
Different approaches require different resources and tools. Align before you start.
Get Leadership Buy-In. ABM requires investment and ongoing commitment. Get explicit buy-in from VP of Sales and VP of Marketing (or whoever owns those functions).
This conversation should include: why ABM, expected timeline to ROI (6-12 months), required investment (tools, people, content), and what success looks like.
People and Skills Foundation
Designate an ABM Lead. Someone needs to own ABM across the company. This person manages the strategy, coordinates between sales and marketing, owns measurement.
This doesn't need to be a full-time role (could be 50% of someone's time), but someone needs to own it.
Sales Involvement. Pick 2-3 sales managers or leaders to be your ABM advocates. They'll champion accounts, provide feedback on messaging, and hold their teams accountable to account plans.
These people need to understand ABM. Have them read one ABM book or take a training. They're your on-the-ground partners.
Marketing Skill Inventory. Do you have someone who can run email campaigns? Design ads? Write account-specific content? Create case studies?
You don't need a dedicated ABM team, but you need people with these skills. If you don't have them, outsource them.
Demand Gen Integration. Make sure your ABM efforts don't conflict with demand gen. Pick a CPO, VP of Marketing, or marketing ops person to be the integration point. Regular sync meetings prevent conflicts.
---Data and Intelligence Foundation
Establish Your Target Account List. Start with 50-100 accounts. Not 1,000. You'll expand, but starting small ensures quality and focus.
Build this from: - Best customer data (who do you make money from) - Competitive win/loss data (who are you losing to, who did you displace) - ICP fit (who looks like your best customers) - Buying signals (who's looking to buy this quarter)
Your target account list is the foundation of everything else.
Confirm Contact Data. For your target accounts, validate that you have accurate contact info for 70%+ of buying committee members.
You don't need 100% accuracy, but you need enough to reach people. If your contact database is 30% accurate, fix it before launching campaigns.
Set Up Intent Data. Intent data (third-party signals that someone is actively researching your solution) is optional but valuable.
Options: 6sense, Demandbase, ZoomInfo, or your built-in analytics. You don't need to buy, but you should at least access your own website analytics and understand which accounts are visiting.
Historical Win/Loss Data. Review your last 20 deals (won and lost). What accounts looked like your winners? What accounts should you avoid? This informs targeting.
Tools and Infrastructure Foundation
CRM Integration. Your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) needs to have: - Account records (not just contacts) - Account hierarchies (parent companies) - Custom fields for ABM data (target account tier, account status, account owner) - Permission structures so teams see only relevant accounts
Email Platform. You need a platform that can send personalized, account-aware emails. Options: HubSpot, Marketo, Klaviyo, or basic email via Gmail with manual personalization.
For your first campaign, HubSpot or basic email is fine. Don't buy Marketo yet.
Analytics and Measurement. You need to measure what happens after you send campaigns.
Set up: - UTM parameter standardization (so you can track which campaigns drove traffic) - Account-based tracking (so you know which accounts engaged) - CRM integration (so you can tie website visits to companies)
Start simple. A spreadsheet tracking which accounts engaged is better than perfect analytics that doesn't exist.
Ad Platform. If you're running LinkedIn ads or Google ads, you need business accounts set up and payment info ready.
Collaboration Tool. Use Slack, Google Sheets, or Notion to track campaign status, share results, and coordinate between sales and marketing.
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Campaign Planning Process. Define how campaigns get planned. Quarterly? Monthly? Who proposes ideas? Who approves? How long does planning take?
Establish a cadence. "Every month, marketing proposes one ABM campaign to sales. Sales has 3 days to approve or propose changes. Campaign launches the following week."
Sales and Marketing Sync. Schedule a recurring meeting (weekly or bi-weekly) where sales and marketing discuss: - Account priorities - Campaign performance - Account feedback - Blockers or conflicts
This is non-negotiable. ABM dies without regular sales/marketing alignment.
Content and Messaging Process. How will you create account-specific messaging and content? Who owns this? How long does it take?
For your first campaign, you'll probably repurpose existing content. But establish a repeatable process so campaign #2 is faster.
Reporting and Dashboards. Define what you'll measure and how. Will you report weekly? Monthly?
Build one dashboard (even if it's a spreadsheet) that shows: - Campaigns running - Accounts engaged - Meetings booked - Pipeline created
Everyone should see the same dashboard.
---Legal and Compliance Foundation
Data Usage Policy. Confirm you have legal right to use your prospect data. Are you scraping LinkedIn? Do you have a data provider agreement?
Make sure your data sourcing is compliant with relevant laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.).
Privacy and Consent. Confirm your email sends and ads comply with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CCPA, or relevant regulations.
Sales Enablement Approvals. Work with legal/compliance to ensure your account-specific content (case studies, competitive comparisons) doesn't expose confidential information.
The Complete ABM Foundation Checklist
Strategy: - [ ] ABM goals documented (1 sentence) - [ ] ICP written and socialized - [ ] ABM approach defined (one-to-one, one-to-few, one-to-many) - [ ] Leadership buy-in secured - [ ] Budget allocated for ABM
People: - [ ] ABM lead designated - [ ] Sales champions identified - [ ] Marketing skills inventory completed - [ ] Demand gen integration point identified
Data: - [ ] Target account list created (50-100 accounts) - [ ] Contact data validated (70%+ accuracy) - [ ] Intent data source identified - [ ] Win/loss analysis completed
Tools: - [ ] CRM configured for ABM - [ ] Email platform ready - [ ] Analytics/measurement plan created - [ ] Ad platform accounts set up
Process: - [ ] Campaign planning process documented - [ ] Sales/marketing sync meetings scheduled - [ ] Content and messaging process defined - [ ] Reporting dashboard created
Compliance: - [ ] Data sourcing compliant - [ ] Email privacy compliant - [ ] Sales enablement approved
What If You're Not Ready on Everything?
You don't need 100% maturity to launch ABM. But you do need:
- Clear goals
- Clear targeting (50-100 accounts with decent contact data)
- Sales alignment (at least one sales leader who gets it)
- One way to measure results
Everything else you can figure out or skip for your first campaign.
---Ready to Build Your Foundation?
Most teams skip this. They jump straight to campaigns. Then they wonder why results are weak. Take two weeks to build your foundation. Then run your first campaign.
The foundation work isn't exciting, but it's the difference between campaigns that generate 1-2 meetings and campaigns that generate 5-10 meetings.
Ready to launch ABM on a solid foundation? See how Abmatic AI helps teams establish the strategy, data, and tools needed for ABM success. Book a demo to discuss your ABM foundation.
