In consumer marketing, ad targeting often focuses on individual demographics and behaviors. Show a coffee ad to coffee drinkers. Show a fashion ad to people interested in fashion.

Intent data is one of the most powerful innovations in B2B marketing over the past decade. In theory, it sounds simple: you know when a prospect company is actively searching for solutions in your category, so you reach out with perfect timing. In practice, using intent data well requires strategy.

In B2B sales, timing is everything. The difference between reaching out to a prospect at the beginning of their buying journey versus after they’ve already chosen a competitor can mean the difference between winning a deal and losing it.

ABM is an investment. Your company spends money on tools, people, events, and paid media. The fundamental question is whether that investment returns revenue greater than the cost. Yet measuring ABM ROI accurately is genuinely difficult. Unlike direct response marketing where attribution is clear, ABM involves multiple channels, multiple stakeholders, and long sales cycles. A deal that closes 12 months after an ABM campaign launches: did ABM cause it or would it have closed anyway?

Intent data powers modern ABM. It tells you which accounts are actively looking for solutions like yours. But the intent data market is crowded. Bombora is the largest, but competitors like 6sense, Demandbase, and newer players like Abmatic are gaining share.

Every sales and marketing team has limited resources. You can’t pursue every prospect with equal intensity. You have to make choices about which companies and customers to focus on.

Account-based marketing represents a fundamental shift in how B2B companies think about growth. Instead of casting a wide net and hoping to catch prospects, ABM flips the funnel by focusing resources on a defined set of high-value accounts. If you’re ready to launch your first ABM campaign, this guide walks you through each phase, from planning through execution.

What Is Account Scoring? Definition & Implementation Guide

Account scoring is a systematic method for ranking companies based on how well they fit your ideal customer profile and how ready they are to buy. Instead of treating all prospects equally, account scoring creates a priority order, telling sales and marketing which accounts deserve the most attention and resources.

Your website is often the first and most frequently visited touchpoint for prospects evaluating your solution. Yet most B2B websites serve the same experience to every visitor. A Fortune 500 prospect and a startup get the same homepage. A prospect already familiar with your solution and a complete newcomer see identical messaging. This lack of personalization leaves significant conversion opportunity on the table.

Account-based marketing is no longer a luxury for enterprise companies. B2B agencies are increasingly selling ABM as a service to mid-market and growth-stage SaaS companies. But most ABM platforms were built for in-house marketing teams, not agencies managing multiple clients.

In traditional demand generation, companies use lead scoring to prioritize inbound prospects. A lead takes certain actions (visits pricing page, downloads a resource, opens multiple emails), accumulates points, and gets passed to sales when it reaches a threshold. Lead scoring works for traditional channels.

In the world of B2B sales and marketing, information is power. The more you know about the accounts you’re targeting, the more effectively you can engage decision-makers, personalize your messaging, and close deals faster.