If you’re in B2B marketing and tired of spray-and-pray tactics, you’ve probably heard about account based marketing (ABM). It sounds great: focus on the right accounts, get sales and marketing in sync, and stop wasting money on people who’ll never buy. But most ABM advice is either too generic or assumes you’ve got a team of 20 and a six-figure martech stack.
This guide is for small-to-medium B2B teams who want to use Ortto to actually do ABM—not just talk about it. I'll break down what works, what doesn't, and how to skip the nonsense.
What Is ABM — and Does It Actually Work?
ABM means targeting specific companies (not just random leads) with personalized marketing and sales efforts. You treat each account like its own market. Done well, it does two things:
- You stop chasing junk leads.
- You give sales real ammo to close deals.
Does it work? When it’s focused and realistic, yes. But if you try to get too fancy or automate everything, you’ll end up with a mess. The real trick is to keep it simple and actually execute.
Step 1: Get Clear on Who You’re Targeting
Don’t let software drive your strategy here. Before you touch Ortto, know who your “ideal” accounts really are. You should be able to list:
- Industry: What sectors are actually buying?
- Company size: Are you selling to startups, mid-market, or enterprise?
- Key job titles: Who signs the check? Who influences the deal?
- Pain points: What problems do they lose sleep over?
Pro tip: If you’re not sure, ask your best sales rep—or better yet, talk to a couple of actual customers.
Step 2: Get Your Data House in Order
ABM falls apart if your data is a mess. Ortto is flexible, but it’s only as good as the info you put in. Here’s what you need:
- Accounts as a first-class citizen: In Ortto, import (or sync) your target accounts as organizations, not just contacts.
- Contacts mapped to accounts: Make sure your contacts are linked to their company records.
- Firmographic data: Add fields for industry, company size, location, etc.
- Engagement/activity data: Track key actions—email opens, web visits, event attendance, etc.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over having “perfect” data. Get the basics right and clean it up as you go.
Step 3: Build Your Target Account List in Ortto
Here’s where ABM gets real. In Ortto, you’ll want to:
- Create a segment for your target accounts. Use the filters you set up (industry, size, etc.).
- Score accounts based on fit and engagement. Ortto’s scoring is flexible; start simple. For example:
- +10 points if the company is in your ideal industry
- +5 if they’ve visited your pricing page
- -10 if they’re a tiny company with no budget
Honest take: Don’t get hung up on “perfect” scoring models. Use scores to prioritize, not to run your whole strategy.
Step 4: Personalize Your Messaging (But Don’t Overdo It)
Personalization is the heart of ABM, but most teams go overboard. Here’s a practical approach:
- Create email templates for each segment (industry, pain point, etc.).
- Personalize with tokens (company name, contacts’ roles) using Ortto’s dynamic fields.
- Trigger campaigns based on engagement (e.g., if they visit your site or open a key email).
Skip this: Writing a unique email for every single account. It doesn’t scale and usually isn’t worth the effort.
Step 5: Set Up Multi-Touch Journeys
A good ABM campaign isn’t just one email—it’s a sequence. Ortto’s customer journeys let you automate this without getting lost in the weeds.
- Design journeys for each major segment (e.g., SaaS companies, manufacturing, etc.).
- Include multiple touchpoints:
- Intro email (“Saw you’re doing X, thought this might help…”)
- Follow-up with a relevant case study
- Invite to a webinar or event
-
Nudge to book a call/demo
-
Branch journeys based on actions. If someone books a call, put them in a high-touch sequence. If they ignore you, try a different angle or pause outreach.
What works: Keeping journeys short (3-5 steps). Long, 15-step nurtures rarely pay off.
Step 6: Align Sales and Marketing (for Real)
ABM only works if sales and marketing actually talk to each other. In Ortto:
- Share account insights with sales. Use dashboards or email alerts when target accounts engage.
- Hand off “hot” accounts: Set up triggers so sales gets notified when an account hits a certain score or takes a key action.
- Track outcomes: Don’t just pass leads—track which accounts actually move forward.
Real talk: If your sales team ignores your ABM alerts, fix that first. No software can solve a broken process.
Step 7: Measure What Matters
It’s easy to get lost in vanity metrics. Focus on these:
- Account engagement: Are target accounts opening emails, visiting your site, booking meetings?
- Pipeline movement: Are more target accounts moving forward in the sales process?
- Actual revenue: Did your ABM accounts close? Did deal size go up?
In Ortto, you can build dashboards for these KPIs. But don’t overcomplicate it—track only what you’ll actually use to make decisions.
Ignore this: Open rates in isolation, or “increased brand awareness.” If it doesn’t move deals, don’t worry about it.
Pro Tips and Pitfalls to Avoid
- Start small. Pick 20-50 accounts and run a pilot. Don’t try to boil the ocean.
- Review regularly. Meet with sales monthly to review what’s actually happening.
- Automate, but don’t set-and-forget. Automation is great, but you still need to tweak and update based on what you learn.
- Don’t chase the shiny object. New ABM features come out all the time. Focus on execution, not endless tool shopping.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Ship, and Iterate
ABM in Ortto isn’t rocket science, but it does take discipline. Start with a clear target list, set up basic campaigns, and actually talk to sales. Skip the over-engineered flows and endless data cleanup—just get moving, measure what matters, and improve as you go.
The teams that win are the ones who keep things simple, launch fast, and adjust based on what works. You don’t need a massive budget or a consulting firm. Just a bit of focus, some real talk with sales, and the discipline to execute. Good luck—and remember, perfect is the enemy of done.