The B2B world is complex and interconnected, which makes for a formidable challenge to break through the noise. Account‑based marketing (ABM) can help you drive real impact with a focused, strategic approach centered on high‑value accounts. However, to truly get ahead, you need data to power your account-based marketing efforts.
Data is at the core of account-based marketing
Data will enable you to excel in every phase of ABM, from target identification to personalization to outreach to measurement.
Quality, up-to-date data equips you for:
- Precision targeting: Reach the right accounts and stakeholders
- Hyper‑personalization: Create messaging that resonates at scale
- Orchestrated engagement: Align outreach across sales and marketing
- Proving impact: Measure and optimize using actual performance signals
How data fuels every phase of ABM
Account-based marketing works best when it’s powered by precision at every step. Data is the force multiplier that allows teams to focus, scale, and win.
Let’s explore how your team can use high-quality account-based marketing data to drive performance at each stage.
1. Target identification — find the right accounts and stakeholders
ABM success starts with selecting the right accounts and knowing who the decision-makers are for each account. This is where organization and executive intelligence rise in importance.
With top-quality data, you can:
- Build Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) using filters like industry, company size, and geography
- Model lookalike accounts based on your best current customers
- Surface strategic indicators like M&A activity, leadership changes, or expansion plans
- Identify decision-makers and influencers across buying committees, such as CMOs, COOs, Revenue Leaders, and more
Poor targeting wastes resources. Precision targeting ensures that your sales and marketing teams focus only on accounts with real potential.
2. Personalization — create messaging that truly resonates
Generic messaging won’t move a CMO or CFO to action. Data allows marketers to tailor every message to the company, the context, and the individual.
With rich executive and company info, you can:
- Personalize content based on firmographic and technographic traits
- Reference relevant business priorities, such as digital transformation or global expansion
- Align with individual executive interests, from philanthropy to innovation leadership
- Leverage quotes, public statements, or leadership moves for deep message relevance
High-value prospects expect relevance. Personalized messaging rooted in data increases open rates, response rates, and trust.
3. Outreach — deliver the right message at the right time, to the right person
ABM is all about orchestrated, multi-threaded engagement. Data keeps every touch coordinated and impactful.
With the best tools, you can:
- Use verified contact information to ensure email deliverability and call success
- Tailor multi-channel strategies based on channel preference and seniority
- Launch campaigns triggered by live signals (e.g., funding, job changes, product launches)
- Coordinate across marketing, sales, and exec teams for seamless engagement
In a one-to-few or one-to-one ABM motion, every touchpoint must count. High-quality, up-to-date data ensures your outreach is timely and welcome.
4. Measurement — prove impact and optimize strategy
It’s not enough to run ABM programs. You need to show that they’re working. Measurement begins and ends with — you guessed it, data!
With strong data, you can:
- Track engagement by contact, by role, and by account
- Attribute pipeline and revenue back to specific campaigns and sequences
- Analyze deal velocity and win rates across different segments or tactics
- Refine targeting and messaging based on performance data
The ability to demonstrate impact is what secures long-term investment in ABM. Data allows you to make the case with evidence. Whether you’re identifying accounts, crafting messages, reaching out, or reporting results, data is the foundation of effective account-based marketing. It ensures your strategy isn’t based on guesswork, but on vetted intelligence.
“Successful ABM implementation comes down to supporting sales efforts with the right timing, the right content and the right information and insight.”
Senior Account Executive, Altrata
ABM in action: understanding the three strategic modes
Account-based marketing (ABM) treats each high-value account as its own market, requiring close collaboration across marketing, sales, and executive teams. Focused on building relationships, ABM uses deep insights and personalization to engage key decision-makers and drive transformational deals.
There are three strategic modes for ABM. They differ in audience size, account characteristics, and the extent of personalization.
| ABM Mode | Audience Size | Personalization Level | Outreach Approach | Best For |
| Industry ABM | One-to-Many | Moderate (by industry/vertical) | Automated and scalable | Broad awareness campaigns targeting industry segments |
| Named-Account ABM | One-to-Few | High (by company and role) | Mix of automated and personal outreach | Targeted engagement with priority account clusters |
| Large-Account ABM | One-to-One | Very High (individual execs) | Highly personalized, white-glove touch | Strategic accounts with complex, high-value opportunities |
Use C-level influence to win large accounts
When it comes to Large-Account ABM, C-suite engagement isn’t a nice-to-have. It can make or break your deal. The most strategic accounts involve multiple decision-makers, long sales cycles, and complex buying committees. You need to demonstrate value that resonates at the highest levels of the organization.
Built specifically to help enterprise teams engage the C-suite, Altrata offers executive intelligence that goes beyond the basics to reveal what top leaders care about, how they think, and how to connect meaningfully.
Use Altrata to achieve:
- Deep executive profiles: Go beyond name and title with leadership philosophies, business priorities, and recent statements or moves
- Personalization power: Craft messaging based on executive-level strategy, investor calls, and public statements
- Strategic alignment: Equip account teams and senior reps with tailored insights to prepare for high-impact conversations
But information alone doesn’t close transformational deals. Based on Altrata’s work with enterprise clients across industries, four key factors consistently determine the success of C-suite ABM strategies.
1. Mandate from the top
C-suite engagement starts with executive buy-in on your side. Your own leadership must support and participate in outreach, whether it’s your CEO or another senior executive serving as an ambassador. Peer-to-peer introductions carry unmatched credibility. Without internal alignment, your efforts might stall.
2. Serious sales power
Executive sales teams must be trained, empowered, and confident in engaging senior decision-makers. That means doing the groundwork such as researching, personalizing, and coordinating with marketing well before the first boardroom conversation. Close collaboration between sales and marketing is essential.
3. Executive insights & programs
Sustained C-suite engagement requires more than a single great email. You’ll need dedicated resources, including:
- On-demand executive intelligence
- Executive events, thought leadership, or custom content
- Strong account management and high-touch support
This infrastructure turns one-off meetings into lasting relationships.
4. Measurement and proof
To justify investment in Large-Account ABM and executive outreach, teams must connect efforts to outcomes.
- Define performance metrics (pipeline influence, win rate, deal size)
- Collect feedback from account teams regularly
- Compare results between deals with C-level engagement and those without
When leaders see the ROI of executive engagement, they’re more likely to support and expand your ABM program. This article shares more trends and insights about executive intelligence.
To dive deeper into C-suite engagement, get our expert guide. It gives you practical tips at multiple levels — if your team is just getting started with ABM or if you’re a well-seasoned professional looking for new ways to engage key accounts.
Ways to leverage data in account-based marketing
Utilize these data‑powered practices to make a direct impact on your KPIs:
| ABM Process | How Data Helps | KPIs Impacted |
| Targeting | Firmographic filters + look‑alike modeling | Number of target accounts; ICP match rate |
| Stakeholder Mapping | Accurate roles, contact data, network mapping | Stakeholder coverage per account |
| Personalized Outreach | Exec backgrounds, board links, event triggers | Open and reply rates |
| Multi‑Thread Outreach | Verified contact info and channel signals | Depth (touchpoints per account) |
| Trigger‑Based Campaigns | Role change, funding, hiring signals | Response lift; pipeline creation |
| Pipeline Attribution | Contact-level engagement tied to revenue | Pipeline acceleration time; contribution to bookings |
| ROI Modeling | Closed-won data linked to outreach | ABM program ROI |
The practices above lean on account-based marketing data to drive deployment, measurement, and optimization.
How data supercharges every phase of account-based marketing
ABM doesn’t stop at finding the ideal contacts to target. It’s about how intelligently you engage, measure, and evolve. From pinpointing the right accounts to refining post-campaign performance, high-quality data is the common thread that fuels impact at every stage.
Data in action across the ABM lifecycle
| ABM Phase | How Data Helps | Example Use Cases |
| 1. Target Identification | Use firmographic, technographic, and executive-level filters to pinpoint ideal accounts and stakeholders | Filter companies by size, industry, funding stage |
| 2. Personalization | Enrich messaging with persona insights, behavioral signals, and contextual relevance | Reference recent board appointments, executive speaking engagements or thought leadership in outreach |
| 3. Outreach | Orchestrate multi-threaded engagement using verified contact data and engagement triggers | Align marketing nurture with C-suite calls and messages timed to new job roles |
| 4. Measurement | Tie activity to KPIs across pipeline, engagement, and deal progression | Track stakeholder engagement depth or compare performance by account vertical |
A closer look: data-driven best practices by phase
1. Target Identification
- Firmographics to filter by industry, size, HQ location, revenue
- Ideal Account Profiles (IAPs) to model top clients and look-alike scoring
- Stakeholder mapping to identify decision-makers with contact info, organizational roles, and networks
2. Personalization
- Persona-level insights to surface KPIs that matter to each role
- Contextual relevance to reference recent company news, board roles, alma maters
- Channel-specific engagement to match messaging to LinkedIn vs. email vs. events
3. Outreach
- Deliverability assurance for privacy-compliant, verified contact data
- Multi-threaded coordination to orchestrate sales, marketing, and exec touchpoints
- Real-time triggers to react to role changes, product launches, or strategic shifts
4. Measurement
- Engagement depth tracks how many contacts and touches per account
- Pipeline attribution to link contacts to opportunity creation
- Ongoing refinement for performance data to adjust targeting, channels, or messaging
With enriched, accurate, and timely data, you can scale your ABM initiatives with precision and measurable success.
What to look for in ABM data providers
Not all data vendors are created equal. Below are the key attributes to evaluate.
Depth and breadth of data
- Executive profiles: titles, direct contacts, career history, board/service roles
- Company data: revenue, employees, sector, hierarchy, parent relationships
Match and integration quality
- Automatic matching against your CRM
- Daily refresh cycles
- Available via API, feeds, direct app such as Salesforce
Accuracy and recency
- Verified signals, daily updates
- Bounce detection, direct dial validation
Trigger and signal capabilities
- Role changes, funding, geographic moves, corporate transformation signals
Compliance and privacy
- Alignment with privacy regulations worldwide
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), UK’s Data Protection Act
- Clear opt-outs and audit trails
Ease of use
- Unified product vs. stitching multiple vendors
- Flexible delivery (feeds, API, CRM app)
- Operational support and SLA transparency
Altrata makes it easy to choose
When you’re searching for a data provider that can power ABM from end‑to‑end, here’s why leading companies choose Altrata.
Rich executive profiles
- Names, titles, direct‑dials, and email addresses
- Career history, board and government roles, LinkedIn
- Education and network affiliations for nuanced personalization
Robust company intelligence
- Company name, website, HQ address, and sector/ticker info
- Employee counts, revenue bands, company age
- Ultimate parent relationships
Smart matching and integration
- Pre‑built Altrata Matching API simplifies connecting new datasets with your CRM
- Access via API, Salesforce, Snowflake marketplace, and data feeds
- Enables unified delivery across martech stack
Designed for enterprise workflows
- Fuels ABM at scale with multi‑thread cadences, trigger campaigns, attribution
- Enables role‑based automations from Demand Gen to Marketing Ops to Sales to Rev Ops
- High‑refresh frequency ensures accuracy as people and orgs shift
Lead with data to elevate your account-based marketing
When done right, ABM becomes a finely tuned, data‑driven engine. Precision targeting, compelling personalization, orchestrated outreach, and ROI: all require unified, accurate, timely data. From identifying the right accounts and stakeholders to personalizing outreach and measuring impact, data will help your company move from assumptions to informed actions.
With accurate, actionable insights, marketers and revenue teams can better understand their audiences, align efforts across functions, and build relationships that drive long-term value. For enterprise-level ABM, access to high-quality executive and organizational data can make a meaningful difference, especially when engaging the C-suite or navigating complex buying groups, as we covered above.
Luckily, we’re here to take the heavy lifting off your shoulders. Data solutions by Altrata — from executive profiles to organizational mapping and relationship intelligence — are designed with you in mind. We’re proud to support successful teams at every stage of ABM. And it all comes with flexible access via API, CRM app, feed, and marketplace. After all, your ABM is only as strong as your data.
Our experts are here to help you uplevel your account-based marketing strategy. Connect with our team whenever it’s convenient for you.