You know ABM works. The question is how to make it work for your organisation — without wasting time, budget, or sales goodwill. Many organisations are implementing ABM or want to get started with ABM. But what exactly is ABM and what is the importance of an account-based approach for your organisation? Not sure if ABM is right for you? Start with a free session.

Account-based marketing: key takeaways

• ABM focuses on high-value accounts, not broad audiences
• It requires tight marketing and sales alignment
• Success is measured by engagement and pipeline, not leads
• It works best for complex B2B sales with long deal cycles

In this guide:

• What is account-based marketing?
• ABM vs. inbound marketing
• When and why use ABM?
• Advantages of ABM
• Is ABM the right choice for us?
• Sales and ABM
• Create an account-based marketing plan
• ABM framework
• Successfully measure account-based marketing
• Examples of account-based marketing
• Account-based marketing software
• How to use LinkedIn for ABM
• Starting with ABM?

What is account-based marketing?

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy in which you engage with a predefined group of target accounts using tailor-made sales and marketing campaigns. When running an ABM programme, you focus on the personal needs of your key (potential) customer, creating exceptional customer experiences.  

ABM vs. inbound marketing

To get started with account-based marketing (ABM), you first define your goals. For instance, do you aim to engage with 3 high-priority accounts, a broader list, or an entire industry? Then, your marketing team collaborates with Sales to define target accounts and identify key personas within those accounts. Using these insights, you create personalised content and campaigns designed to improve your pipeline of opportunities.

While inbound marketing attracts customers broadly, ABM takes a hyper-focused approach. This targeted strategy allows organisations to efficiently allocate resources to pursue accounts with the highest potential return.

When and why use ABM?

Account-based marketing is often used by organisations looking for big (international) customers with a high deal value or those who provide a significant part of the total revenue and profit.

Account-based marketing is also a great approach when dealing with complex purchasing processes. In B2B, this is often the case. Buyers in different roles can be responsible for purchasing your product or service, and you need to cater to multiple interests.

By targeting specific accounts and focusing on the quality of interactions, ABM improves customer retention and builds stronger relationships. In short, you focus on influencing the buying group.

Advantages of ABM

Compared to traditional marketing campaigns, account-based marketing programmes offer some important benefits to you. At SPOTONVISION, we’ve helped B2B teams across Europe unlock exactly these benefits. Here’s how: 

1. Better insight into the buyer and buyer journey 

Personal customer experience is increasingly important in B2B. Account-based marketing plays into this trend. ABM leverages account intelligence to create more relevant, value-driven campaigns, improving the buyer experience and ensuring that content resonates with specific accounts.

2. Better collaboration between marketing and sales 

For a successful ABM campaign, you need input from sales and marketing. Consider account plans and data, market developments, existing contacts, history, intent data, etc. You start together by defining the scope before creating and rolling out a campaign using relevant content. This alignment fosters better outreach, shared best practices, and ideally, a unified approach to account management. Stakeholder management is a key aspect of ABM. 

3. A more strategic go-to-market approach 

In ABM, you focus on target accounts that could add real or substantial value. Therefore you invest time, money and resources in accounts that really matter. This will give you a head start on your competitors who do not implement an ABM strategy. You simply focus on accounts that provide the greatest opportunities, helping your organisation sell strategically and gain a competitive edge.

4. Better results with ABM 

Research consistently shows that ABM gives a higher Return on Investment (ROI). The average deal size is higher because you only focus on accounts that can add a lot of value, and ABM also enables you to create more buy-in within the DMU of your target account. Therefore you can focus on spending your marketing resources more efficiently.

Is ABM the right choice for us?

Whether your market and/or organisation is the right choice for ABM depends on the market and internal organisation. With the help of this infographic, you can assess whether ABM fits you. Or you can read this article: Is ABM right for you? Seven questions and seven tips to help you decide. 

Sales and ABM

To make account-based marketing successful, it is essential to establish good collaboration between Marketing and Sales. Together, you gather interesting and relevant information on the market and the key target accounts. Sales can share insights and knowledge regarding contacts that they have already. Based on that, Marketing can find ‘signals’, or intent data and first and third-party data to drive successful account targeting and build engagement. 

Create an account-based marketing plan 

An ABM plan is the foundation for a successful engagement programme and business growth. A well-structured ABM plan means a bigger chance of success during the actual execution and optimisation. At SPOTONVISION, we use the following 5 steps. 

Step 1. Getting to know your accounts

Together with the sales team, define which accounts you want to focus on. Then choose the target accounts with high value that fit your organisation. And finally, you define the goals and determine your KPIs.

Step 2. Look for account insights

Gather relevant information about your accounts, including decision-makers, influencers, and their value proposition. Understand their business drivers and challenges to craft tailored messaging. Finally map your contacts and map the purchasing process.  

Step 3. Create account-relevant content

Get started with the creation of personalised and account-relevant communication. Specifically, creating appealing content for your ABM campaign. This could include blogs, infographics, e-books, and customer success stories that highlight best practices.

Step 4. Build and launch your campaign

Combine online and offline tactics, such as digital advertising, email campaigns, and personalised outreach. But make sure you align messages across all touchpoints to maximise engagement.

In addition you need close collaboration between Marketing and Sales and work on a consistent message together. Listen to the story of ABM expert Karin Schaff Glazier on how to build an ABM programme and what ABM pitfalls to avoid. In an earlier interview, she also gives us some tips to get started with ABM quickly. 

Step 5. Measure and optimise

Track metrics like engagement, pipeline impact, and account influence to refine your ABM efforts. In addition, share successes with your team to foster continuous improvement and search for ways to optimise your campaign where needed.  

The rollout of an account-based marketing programme requires a coordinated and personalised approach from Marketing, Sales and other commercial teams. So, once your plan is ready and before you start executing, make sure there’s a sales playbook available.   

Successfully measure account-based marketing

In ABM you don’t try to generate as many leads as possible, but you build as much engagement as possible within your selected accounts. To measure success and progress, look at the information on the account level. Think of: 

• Engagement – All activities that are part of your ABM approach are aimed at having valuable interactions with the contacts in your target account. You want to measure this.  
• Reach and impact – Are your ABM activities actually reaching the right people? 
• Influence – A good way to measure your actual impact and influence, is to compare results between different accounts.

Also, read ‘How to measure ABM and its success‘.

Three account-based marketing examples

Example 1: Account-focused content 

Personalised and customised content can be a powerful base for your ABM strategy. Think of blogs, infographics, e-books, and whitepapers you can make buyer, account or industry-specific. You can use a personalised title or subtitle or a front page adjusted to a segment or industry. Or you can share customer cases that fit your target accounts.

Example 2: Out-of-the-box 1-1 actions 

In order to close big accounts and stand out from all commercial actions of your competitors, you can develop a special and personalised action for one account.  

To raise interest, it is important to play into the needs and challenges of this specific account. Finally, you can make it even more personal by using the same language and words your target account uses.  

This example is from GumGum, a software company that wants to close McDonald’s as a new customer. They developed a special kit of a Big Mac containing different ‘ingredients’, each explaining a part of their services.

Example 3: Web personalisation for specific accounts

You can apply web personalisation for account-based marketing in different ways. You can use dynamic content to personalise websites for different accounts or persons within the DMU of an account.

You can also adapt images and texts on a specific landing page. Or go the extra mile and show different content (e.g. blogs, e-books, and infographics). This will lead to improved customer experiences.

These examples show that ABM can be executed in an approachable or a more labour-intensive way. Of course, this also depends on your budget and available time.

Yet, with a lot of creativity, originality, guts, and the help of AI, you can come a long way. And don’t forget; ‘One swallow doesn’t make a summer’. With one successful action, you’re not there yet. In order to build long-term engagement with your accounts, you need multiple moments of contact, spread out over a longer period of time.  

For more account-based marketing strategy examples, have a look at some of our customers who implemented ABM:  

• How Ultimo successfully started with ABM 
• How Unit4 scaled ABM 
• Cyclomedia from Lead Gen to ABM 
• Odido: from outbound to inbound and starting ABM  

Account-based marketing software

Even though you can execute and monitor your account-based marketing campaigns using an excel sheet, our advice is to at least have access to a CRM and marketing automation platform. Per phase, we explain how other ABM tools could also help you.  

Determining target accounts 

To determine your target accounts your CRM system is leading. Who is your ideal customer? In marketing terms, what is your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). The goal is two-sided: 

1. Determine the characteristics of your ICP 

2. Select accounts within your CRM that meet your ICP 

The account data in your CRM might not be sufficient due to missing data, such as the number of employees, revenue, etc. In this case, you can enrich your CRM data using an external source such as the Chamber of Commerce or Apollo.io.  

Collecting relevant contacts 

The next step is to get insight into the DMU on a contact level. Which people are involved in the purchasing process of your product or service? Also think about influencers. You identify these roles and functions through buyer persona research.

Next, map the specific people using your CRM or LinkedIn. To identify and enrich contacts at scale, tools like ZoomInfo, Clay, and Apollo.io are widely used. Clay lets you build and enrich account lists automatically by pulling data from multiple sources. Apollo.io combines a large B2B contact database with outreach sequencing, making it useful for both finding and engaging key contacts within your target accounts.

Gathering insights into target accounts 

Within your organisation, much is known about the target accounts. Gather this information and enrich it with information from the website and by monitoring social channels and news about the accounts. In addition you can use Google Alerts or intent monitoring tools for this.  

There are also tools you can use to grasp ‘intent’. There are plenty of product and service comparison tools that offer visitor information. This way you immediately know which accounts show an interest in your product or service. 

Content creation 

You use the insights you found for your content creation. Personalisation plays an important role. For example by adding a company logo to a whitepaper for a specific account. Or personalising web pages based on which accounts view your page. This way you can provide each target account a relevant experience on your website.  

There are plenty of tools that offer personalisation. Most important is that these are linked to your marketing automation platform (MAP). Many MAPs have this functionality already, such as Hubspot, Pardot and Marketo. For stand-alone personalisation tools, you can have a look at Trendemon. 

Campaign execution 

In order to reach and engage persons within your target accounts, you use different tactics: 

• LinkedIn or LinkedIn Sales Navigator – You may already be connected, otherwise you can use InMails or LinkedIn Ads 
• Account-based advertising – Tools that recognise the IP addresses of target accounts and have these available for online advertising 
• Website personalisation (see above) 
• E-mail marketing via marketing automation 
• Chat functionality via website or messenger platform 
• Physical post (Direct Mail) 
• Face-to-face (online) events 

Measure and optimise 

Your CRM and marketing automation are the basis for measuring and optimising. In addition, there are cloud solutions specifically developed for the execution of ABM programmes. Examples are Demandbase or 6sense for account engagement. Existing marketing automation platforms are also enhancing their systems for ABM functionality.  

How to use LinkedIn for ABM 

For ABM, you want to focus on your key accounts and nurture your DMU. To do this you can use LinkedIn in a couple of ways. LinkedIn as a branding tool or LinkedIn for targeted reach, and/or build out your account list. Read more in ‘How to leverage LinkedIn for your ABM strategy’.  

Getting started with ABM?  

Do you want to get started with account-based marketing and are you looking for practical step-by-step guidance? At SPOTONVISION we make ABM easy, whether we collaborate face-to-face or online.

The most important ingredient for success is close co-operation between your Marketing and Sales. So, when you are ready to work together, SPOTONVISION can facilitate and support with impact. We work in pre-defined sprints, quick wins, and no surprises in the process. Talk to an ABM specialist for more information. 

About the author:

Frequently asked questions about account-based marketing

Reputation + Relationships = Revenue 

For years, B2B marketing has focused on visibility. More content. More campaigns. More automation. But something fundamental is changing, and it starts with trust. 

As artificial intelligence makes it easier to generate content at scale, buyers are becoming more sceptical. The amount of information available to them is exploding, but their ability to trust that information is declining. In this environment, trust is becoming the most valuable currency in B2B. Not reach. Not impressions. Trust. 

This shift is not just theoretical. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2026, 70% of people globally are hesitant or unwilling to trust someone who is different from them. While Edelman’s research covers consumers broadly, the pattern is even sharper in B2B: Dentsu’s Superpowers Index 2025 found that trust is the number one driver of B2B brand choice, for the third consecutive year. 

Trust is no longer a nice-to-have. It is the key differentiator in every B2B relationship. And it shapes how buyers think, decide, and buy long before they ever speak to a salesperson. 

The AI content explosion 

Generative AI has dramatically increased the volume of content companies can produce. Blogs, whitepapers, product descriptions, and entire campaigns can now be created in minutes. From a productivity perspective, this is remarkable. From a buyer perspective, it creates a serious problem. 

When everything looks polished and professional, how do you know what is real, relevant, and reliable? 

Buyers are already responding to this challenge. They validate information across multiple sources before trusting it. They read analyst reports, check peer recommendations, watch independent reviews, and compare different perspectives. Trust is no longer built primarily by the content a company produces. It is built by the signals buyers observe. 

Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60% of CMOs will use content-authenticity tools to protect brand credibility. That tells you something. When even the tools are shifting towards proving authenticity, the game has changed. 

Buyers verify before they trust 

In most B2B buying processes, vendors enter the conversation surprisingly late. Research consistently shows that the bulk of decision-making happens before buyers engage with suppliers at all. By the time the first sales conversation takes place, buyers often already have a shortlist of vendors they consider credible. 

According to 6sense, buyers complete around 61% of their decision process before contacting a vendor. And the eventual winner is almost always on the initial shortlist, in 95% of cases. 

That shortlist is shaped by brand familiarity, market reputation, thought leadership, peer recommendations, analyst coverage, and existing customer experiences. In other words, trust is established long before the formal buying process begins. Companies that are not visible or credible during this early phase find it very difficult to catch up later. 

Trust is built before the buying journey begins 

One important implication of this shift is that trust is increasingly built before the formal buying process even starts.

In many B2B environments, buyers form preferences early. They explore the market, compare options, and often create a shortlist before engaging with suppliers.

This means that a large part of the decision-making process happens long before a sales conversation takes place.

If you are not on the shortlist on day one, the chances of winning become significantly smaller. This is where the idea of “shifting left” becomes relevant. Instead of focusing only on active buying moments, organisations need to build visibility, credibility and trust earlier in the journey, when buyers are still shaping their view of the market.

At the same time, the journey does not end at the deal. Customer experience, onboarding, and ongoing value creation determine whether trust grows, leading to retention, expansion and advocacy.

In that sense, the B2B journey is no longer linear. It stretches both to the left, before the buying process starts, and to the right, long after the deal is closed.

The connected customer 

Buyers are more connected than ever. Information flows quickly across networks of colleagues, partners, and communities. People discuss suppliers with peers, share experiences in professional networks, and exchange recommendations in industry groups. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2026, as a result of major societal events, people have lost trust in national government leaders (-16 net) and major news organisations (-11 net), while gaining trust in their immediate circle; neighbours, family, coworkers. 

This means reputation travels faster than any marketing message. A single positive or negative customer experience can shape how a company is perceived across an entire market segment. 

Harvard Business Review puts it plainly: developing positive customer experiences is fundamentally about building relationships and reputation. In B2B, those two things are inseparable. Experience is not just a post-sale concern, it is a trust signal that shapes reputation long before a contract is signed. 

Customer experience as a growth engine 

Trust is not built through messaging alone. It is built through experience. Every interaction a customer has with an organisation contributes to their perception of the brand, from onboarding and support to how transparently you handle problems, how responsive you are, and how easy you make it to do business with you. 

Even small improvements here can significantly influence loyalty, retention, and advocacy. Satisfied customers stay longer, buy more, and recommend suppliers to others. 

This is why customer experience is no longer a support function. It is a growth driver. According to Forrester’s Global Total Experience Score Rankings 2025, companies that align their brand and customer experience are positioned to achieve up to 3.5x revenue growth and significantly higher customer loyalty than competitors who do not. 

From marketing to trust building 

All of this has implications for how B2B companies approach marketing. Instead of focusing primarily on generating attention, organisations need to think about how they build trust across the entire customer lifecycle. 

That means creating credible thought leadership, ensuring consistent customer experiences, investing in reputation and relationships, aligning marketing with sales and customer success, and genuinely listening to customer feedback and acting on it. 

Marketing still plays a vital role. But its purpose is evolving. It becomes less about persuasion and more about credibility. Less about reach and more about relevance. Less about volume and more about trust. 

Conclusion 

AI will continue to change how B2B companies create and distribute content. But one thing remains constant: buyers ultimately make decisions based on trust. 

The organisations that succeed in the coming years will not necessarily be the ones that produce the most content. They will be the ones that build the most credible relationships with their customers and markets, because in B2B, that is what converts reputation and relationships into revenue. 

At SPOTONVISION, we help companies build trust across every customer touchpoint. Want to find out where trust is being built across your customer journey? Get in touch for a tailored strategy session.

In the evolving world of B2B marketing, choosing the right marketing automation platform (MAP) is a critical decision, particularly when your strategy revolves around account-based marketing (ABM). This 2026 guide will help you navigate the most popular platforms for ABM, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and provide actionable recommendations to help you select the right solution for your business.

What marketing automation means for B2B account-based marketing

Marketing automation refers to the technology used to automate repetitive marketing tasks, optimise campaigns, and track the effectiveness of marketing efforts. When applied to account-based marketing (ABM), a tailored approach for targeting and engaging high-value accounts, marketing automation becomes essential for managing complex campaigns, nurturing prospects, and tracking interactions at the account level.

Key aspects of ABM in marketing automation:

• Account-level tracking: Instead of tracking individual leads, marketing automation tools help you manage and assess the engagement of entire accounts.
• Personalised workflows: Tailored messaging for each account or decision-maker based on their unique needs and behaviours.
• Seamless integration with sales: Align marketing efforts with sales teams, ensuring that account insights are actionable and that campaigns drive sales engagement.

How to evaluate marketing automation platforms (quick criteria overview)

When selecting a marketing automation platform for ABM, consider the following key evaluation criteria:

1. Strength of ABM features: Does the platform allow you to build targeted account lists, track interactions at the account level, and engage decision-makers across multiple channels?
2. Integration capabilities: Can the platform seamlessly integrate with your CRM, sales tools, and other systems used by your team?
3. Account-level analytics: Does the platform offer robust analytics that track engagement at the account level, providing clear insight into the effectiveness of your campaigns?
4. AI-assisted features: Does the platform leverage AI to help personalise content, predict buying intent, and recommend actions for specific accounts?
5. Scalability: Will the platform support your business as it grows and your ABM efforts expand?
6. Simplicity of workflows: Is the platform intuitive and easy to use, or does it require a steep learning curve?
7. Alignment with sales teams: Does the platform facilitate collaboration between sales and marketing teams to drive account engagement and conversion?
8. Data governance: How does the platform handle data privacy (e.g., GDPR compliance for European businesses)?
9. Pricing transparency: Are pricing models clear and scalable according to your needs?
10. Partner ecosystem and local support: Does the platform have a network of trusted partners and support teams, particularly in your region (Benelux, Netherlands)?

Platform comparison (updated for 2026)

Here’s a detailed look at several leading marketing automation platforms, evaluating their ABM capabilities, strengths, and limitations.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Short verdict: Hubspot is a user-friendly platform ideal for small to mid-sized B2B companies looking to scale ABM efforts.

Strengths:

• All-in-one solution with CRM, email, landing pages, and social media tools.
• Robust ABM tools, including targeted account lists, workflows, and dashboards.
• Easy-to-use interface with strong reporting capabilities.

ABM capabilities:

• Advanced segmentation and personalisation.
• Account-based workflows to nurture key decision-makers.
• Integration with sales teams for better alignment.

Limitations:

• Limited customisation compared to enterprise-focused platforms.
• Pricing increases as contact volumes grow.

Best suited for:
Small and medium-sized B2B businesses looking for a comprehensive, easy-to-use marketing automation platform with strong ABM capabilities.

automation platform. Several ABM functionalities have already been included in the development.

Marketo (Adobe)

Short verdict: Adobe Marketo Engage is a powerful platform suited for larger organisations with complex ABM needs.

Strengths:

• Advanced reporting and analytics.
• Robust integration options with CRM, sales tools, and third-party systems.
• Strong support for multi-channel campaigns.

ABM capabilities:

• Advanced account scoring and reporting.
• Seamless handoff from marketing to sales teams for targeted follow-up.

Limitations:

• Steep learning curve and high setup costs.
• The platform can be overwhelming for smaller teams.

Best suited for:
Large enterprises that need highly customisable ABM tools, comprehensive analytics, and seamless CRM integration.

ActiveCampaign

Short verdict: ActiveCampaign is a budget-friendly option with a focus on ease of use and email automation.

Strengths:

• Affordable pricing with strong email marketing automation tools.
• Easy-to-setup workflows and segmentation.
• Excellent customer support.

ABM capabilities:

• Basic account segmentation and automated email drip campaigns for ABM.
• Good for small businesses starting with ABM.

Limitations:

• Lacks some advanced ABM features seen in larger platforms like Marketo or HubSpot.
• Limited multi-channel engagement tools.

Best suited for:
Small businesses or startups looking to begin their ABM journey with a simple and affordable marketing automation solution.

Demandbase

Short verdict: Demandbase is a leading platform focused on ABM, offering AI-driven insights and tailored solutions for B2B marketers.

Strengths:

• Strong account identification and intent data features.
• Advanced AI-driven personalisation and account targeting.
• Seamless integration with CRM and sales systems.

ABM capabilities:

• Intent data-powered ABM, allowing for more accurate targeting.
• Real-time analytics to measure account engagement.
• Personalised campaigns across multiple channels, driven by AI insights.

Limitations:

• Can be complex to implement, especially for smaller teams.
• Pricing can be high, depending on the scale of your operations.

Best suited for:
Medium to large B2B organisations looking to leverage AI and intent data for highly targeted ABM strategies.

6sense

Short verdict: 6sense is an AI-powered platform that helps B2B businesses discover buyer intent and personalise ABM strategies at scale.

Strengths:

• Strong AI-driven analytics and predictive insights.
• Advanced intent data and engagement tracking across various channels.
• Deep integration with CRM, sales tools, and marketing systems.

ABM capabilities:

• Account identification and real-time intent tracking.
• Personalised engagement across email, web, and social media channels.
• Integration with sales teams for better conversion rates.

Limitations:

• Steeper learning curve compared to more basic platforms.
• Can be costly for smaller organisations.

Best suited for:
Larger B2B companies with a focus on predictive analytics and AI-driven ABM for complex, multi-touch engagement.

Key differences between the major platforms

Feature	HubSpot Marketing Hub	Marketo (Adobe)	ActiveCampaign	Demandbase	6sense
Ease of use	High	Medium	Very High	Medium	Low
Advanced ABM features	Medium	High	Low	High	Very High
Email automation	High	High	High	Medium	Medium
Account-level analytics	Medium	High	Medium	High	Very High
CRM integration	Native CRM integration	Extensive CRM options	Limited CRM support	Strong CRM integration	Strong CRM integration
Best for	Small to mid-sized B2B	Large enterprises	Small businesses	Medium to large B2B	Large B2B organisations

Which platform fits your ABM maturity level

Starting with ABM: If you’re just beginning your ABM journey, HubSpot or ActiveCampaign may be the best fit due to their ease of use and straightforward features.

Growing your ABM programme: As your ABM efforts scale, Demandbase and 6sense offer more robust data-driven ABM capabilities that are ideal for larger and more sophisticated campaigns.

Advanced ABM: For enterprises with highly sophisticated ABM programmes, Marketo, Demandbase, and 6sense provide the deep AI insights, predictive analytics, and advanced targeting needed for larger-scale, multi-touch ABM efforts.

Common pitfalls when selecting a marketing automation platform

1. Ignoring integration capabilities: Make sure the platform integrates seamlessly with your existing CRM, sales tools, and other systems.
2. Overestimating your ABM maturity: Select a platform that matches your current ABM maturity, rather than opting for the most advanced solution out of the gate.
3. Underestimating pricing structures: Keep an eye on pricing and understand how it scales with your business.

How SPOTONVISION helps B2B organisations choose and implement marketing automation

At SPOTONVISION, we specialise in guiding B2B organisations through the process of selecting and implementing the right marketing automation platform. With our deep expertise in account-based marketing and a strong understanding of the European market, we ensure that your platform selection aligns with your unique business needs.

Summary

Choosing the right marketing automation platform for your ABM efforts can significantly impact the success of your campaigns. While HubSpot offers an intuitive, user-friendly option for small and mid-sized businesses, platforms like Marketo, Demandbase, and 6sense provide the deep customisation and advanced analytics that large enterprises require. By evaluating your organisation’s needs and understanding the capabilities of each platform, you can make a strategic choice that supports your ABM goals.

For years, B2B marketing has been built around a simple exchange. Content for contact details. Fill in the form, get the whitepaper, wait for sales to follow up.

That model is breaking down fast.

Buyers are still researching. They are still comparing options. But they are doing it on their own terms. They avoid forms. They block tracking. They switch devices. And they expect relevance without friction.

This is not a temporary dip in conversion rates. It is a structural change in how B2B buying works.

The shift from responding to form fills to responding to signals is one of the most practical changes B2B teams need to make right now.

Why form fills no longer reflect buying intent

Form fills used to be a reliable proxy for interest. Today, they are a weak signal.

Senior buyers do not want to be chased after downloading a single asset. Buying groups research anonymously for longer. Many use private browsing or corporate security tools that reduce tracking visibility.

As a result, the volume of form fills goes down. The quality becomes less predictable. And sales teams lose trust in what marketing hands over.

The mistake is trying to fix this by forcing more forms, more required fields, or more aggressive follow-up.

The real change is recognising that intent shows up in many other ways.

From intent data to signals

B2B teams have talked about intent data for years. The term intent signals is also used by platforms such as Demandbase. Topic surges. Keyword monitoring. Third-party intent feeds. The thinking was right, but the execution often stayed abstract.

Signals are easier to work with. A signal is any meaningful behaviour that suggests a real account is moving closer to a decision. Not a single click or visit, but a pattern of activity over time.

Signals can be first-party, such as visits to specific pages on your own website. They can also be broader, such as engagement across channels or renewed activity after a quiet period.

On their own, these actions mean little. Combined, they tell a story.

The job of modern B2B teams is to recognise those patterns early and respond in a way that helps buyers move forward.

How B2B buying is really changing

Buying decisions are increasingly made by groups, not individuals. Research happens across channels, devices and time. And AI has raised expectations for relevance and speed. This leads to three practical shifts.

1. Marketing can no longer focus mainly on lead capture. It must focus on account progression.
2. Sales can no longer wait for a perfect lead. They need context, timing and confidence.
3. Technology is no longer just about automation. It is about interpretation.

This is where signal-based approaches connect naturally with account-based marketing.

Account-based marketing (ABM) without the complexity

Account-based marketing still feels intimidating to many teams. It sounds heavy, manual and expensive.

In practice, the core idea of account-based marketing is straightforward. Focus on the accounts that matter. Understand where they are in their buying journey. Engage accordingly.

Signals make this practical. Instead of asking whether someone filled in a form, you ask whether an account is showing buying behaviour. Instead of handing over a name, marketing hands over insight.

AI helps by connecting the dots at scale. It brings together behavioural data, firmographic data and engagement history. It highlights which accounts deserve attention now, not next quarter.

You do not need a perfect account-based marketing setup to start. You need a shared definition of what a meaningful signal looks like.

What this means for marketing teams

Marketing teams need to rethink success metrics. Volume matters less. Momentum matters more.

This means shifting from campaigns to continuous listening. From isolated actions to journeys. From anonymous traffic to known accounts, even when individuals remain unknown.

Content plays a different role too. It is no longer just a lead magnet. It becomes a signal generator. Certain pages, formats and messages are designed to reveal intent, not hide it behind a form.

Most importantly, marketing needs to work closely with sales on interpretation. Not every signal deserves a call. But every strong signal deserves a plan.

What this means for sales teams

Sales teams benefit most when signals are timely and clear. Instead of cold outreach, they get warm context. Instead of guessing, they know why now.

This changes conversations. Outreach becomes helpful rather than intrusive. Questions are informed. Follow-up feels relevant.

Sales also need to feed signals back. Conversations, objections and engagement patterns improve future prioritisation. This is not a one-way handover. It is a loop.

Getting started without a full account-based marketing programme

You do not need to replatform everything. Start small. Identify your most important accounts. Agree on a short list of high-intent behaviours. Map what should happen when those behaviours appear.

High-intent behaviours are actions that usually occur when an account moves from general research to active consideration. Examples include repeated visits from the same company to pricing, product or comparison pages. Multiple people from one account engaging with similar topics within a short time frame. A return to your site after a period of inactivity, especially following a campaign or sales interaction. Or engagement with decision-stage content without completing a form.

The key is not volume, but consistency. One action means little. Patterns matter. Test, learn, refine.

The biggest risk is waiting for perfection. The biggest opportunity is acting on what you can already observe.

The role of AI in making this work

Without AI, signal-based marketing is difficult to scale. With AI, it becomes realistic. In practical terms, AI supports teams in three ways.

First, it connects data points that would otherwise remain separate. Website behaviour, email engagement, CRM activity and firmographic data are combined at account level.

Second, it filters noise. AI looks for patterns over time instead of reacting to isolated actions. This reduces false positives and helps teams focus on what genuinely indicates buying intent.

Third, it supports next actions. Based on historical outcomes, AI can help prioritise accounts for sales follow-up, continued nurturing or temporary pause.

This does not mean handing decisions over to machines. Teams still define what a good signal is and how to respond. AI helps apply those decisions consistently and at scale.

The most effective teams combine human judgement with machine pattern recognition. That is where revenue impact becomes visible.

From reacting to responding

Form fills pushed B2B teams into a reactive model. Wait, then chase. Signals enable a responsive one. Observe, interpret, engage.

This is not about doing more. It is about doing the right thing at the right moment.

Introduction – The year of orchestration 

As European B2B marketing and sales leaders look to 2026, one question matters most: What will set the pace for growth next year? After a decade of digital acceleration, 2026 marks a turning point. The tools are no longer the story. What matters now is how people and technology work in harmony to create growth that lasts. 

Across recent research from CMI, Dentsu, Forrester, Gartner, McKinsey and 6sense, one pattern stands out. Competitive advantage now depends on combining machine precision with human understanding. 

Here are five predictions that highlight where this balance will matter most for European B2B organisations. The themes: AI, buyer insight, buying-group personalisation, sales and marketing alignment, and brand trust. 

The five 2026 B2B Marketing Predictions:  

1. AI as co-pilot, not driver 

2. Buyer Insight 2.0: From intent to understanding 

3. Buying group personalisation at scale 

4. Sales and Marketing alignment gets real 

5. Brand and metrics: earning trust in the age of algorithms 

As we look ahead to 2026, one technology dominates every conversation. That is where our first prediction begins. 

Prediction 1: AI as co-pilot, not driver 

“Competitive advantage now depends on the ability to combine machine precision with human understanding.” 
SPOTONVISION B2B Marketing Predictions 2026 

AI has moved from hype to habit. In 2026, the challenge is governance and trust. Forrester warns that ungoverned generative AI will cost B2B companies more than US $10 billion in enterprise value. McKinsey notes that the more AI is used, the greater the need for clear top-down processes. Many organisations will need fundamental redesign. 

Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60 percent of CMOs will use content-authenticity tools to protect brand credibility. McKinsey also reports that 27 percent of marketers still check AI output manually. Dentsu advises brands to balance efficiency with emotion, using AI to enhance creativity, not replace it. 

What this means for B2B marketers 

AI now sits beside every marketer as a creative co-pilot. The strongest organisations define clear roles. They decide where AI assists, where humans decide, and how data integrity is maintained. 

Main takeaways on AI 

• Build AI maturity, not activity. This means adopting AI not just for quick wins but in a way that is aligned with your long-term strategy, incorporating governance, clear metrics, and training for teams. 

• Start with a governance framework, then pilot specific use cases: content drafting, segmentation, predictive targeting. 

• Let AI speed up the routine processes so people can focus on relationships, storytelling and strategy. 

• Use AI to augment strategy and creativity, not replace people 

But even the smartest technology is only as good as the insight behind it. 

The next prediction shifts focus from machines to people, understanding what truly drives B2B buyers. 

Prediction 2: Buyer insight 2.0: from intent to understanding 

“The best marketers will stop tracking clicks and start decoding confidence.”
SPOTONVISION B2B Marketing Predictions 2026 

According to Kerry Cunningham (6sense), the recent B2B Buyer Experience Report 2025 reveals that most B2B Wins trace back to Day One. Much of the shortlist is now determined on the first day of the buyer journey, and the eventual winner is almost always on that list (95 percent).  

Major change from last year’s data, when we always repeating that 70 percent of the buyer’s journey happens without contacting the vendor, this year 6sense reveals that buyers complete about 61 percent of their decision process before contacting a vendor. In Europe, 75 percent of deals were closed with the vendor that buyers contacted first.  

Forrester reports that 30 percent of buyers already use generative-AI tools to evaluate options. The modern buyer co-creates the shortlist with machines. 

Buyer insights and buyer enablement content are now more important than ever. Yet the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) found that only 29 percent of marketers rate their content strategy as effective. We are seeing plenty of signals, but not enough genuine insight.  

The modern buyer rarely acts alone. Even in the early research stages, multiple stakeholders are involved, comparing information and sharing views. This is why buyer insight increasingly means buying-group insight. 

What this means for B2B marketers 

Intent data shows what buyers are doing, but not why. In 2026, the best teams will combine data with empathy to understand both buyers and buying groups. Personalisation can only succeed when it is based on a deep understanding of real needs. 

Main takeaways on buyer insights 

• Combine quantitative intent data with qualitative buyer interviews. 

• Map not only journeys but emotions, motivations and obstacles. 

• Create experiences that feel human at every stage and ensure they remain visible through conversational and multimodal search, also known as Search Experience Optimisation (SXO). 

• Build buyer enablement content for the entire buying group. 

Once we understand our buyers better, the challenge becomes activation. The next prediction looks at turning insight into personalised engagement for the entire buying group. 

Prediction 3: Buying-group personalisation at scale 

“The implication of this trend is that account-based marketing and sales will go mainstream, ABM will become business as usual.” 
SPOTONVISION B2B Marketing Predictions 2026 

Buying decisions are now collective. The typical EMEA buying group includes around 10 people. Even with abundant data, many deals stall midway.  

The 2025 Science of B2B BDR Benchmark shows that BDRs (Business Development Reps) must now make more attempts per contact, and that 90 percent are reaching out to three additional personas within the same account. This means that the Agentic AI that is used in sales must support personalisation. 

Dentsu’s Human Truths 2026 echoes this shift. Decision-makers respond faster when experiences are both useful and emotionally relevant. 

Yet B2B marketers struggle with personalisation at scale. The B2B Content & Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026 shows that 59 percent use only basic personalisation, and just 6 percent are advanced.  

What this means for B2B marketers 

Personalisation must expand from individuals to buying groups. Each role, whether CFO, CTO, user, needs its own narrative within one coordinated experience. Forrester reinforces that growth will depend on orchestrating engagement across those collective dynamics.  

The implication is clear: account-based marketing will go mainstream. ABM will become Go-To-Market business as usual. This is already happening in the US and in the UK.  

Sales, marketing, and customer success alignment will become essential. Local nuance, such as language, culture, and buying dynamics, will influence global ABM programmes. 

Main takeaways on buying-group personalisation 

• Use buying-group intelligence to deliver role-based personalisation. 

• Combine intent and CRM data to identify active members and craft content that answers their priorities. 

• Integrate ABM, marketing automation and sales-enablement around shared opportunity metrics so every touchpoint advances the same deal. 

Executing personalised experiences at scale requires teams to work as one. Our next prediction explores how sales and marketing alignment is becoming a measurable reality. 

Prediction 4: Sales and marketing alignment gets real 

“Marketing and Sales will jointly own the pipeline stages.” 
SPOTONVISION B2B Marketing Predictions 2026 

We have talked about alignment for years. In 2026 it becomes measurable. The CMI 2026 report shows fewer than one-third of content teams work closely with Sales, yet those that do achieve stronger ROI. 

Both Forrester and McKinsey point to orchestrated omnichannel models where Sales and Marketing act as one continuous conversation.  

What this means for B2B marketers 

Alignment now means shared ownership of the pipeline. Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) counts fade and opportunity progression becomes the core metric. Real-time data closes the feedback loop between campaigns and sales activity.  

The next stage of alignment is to organise around the buying journey itself. Sales and Marketing will co-own the account journey, not as separate functions but as one continuous flow. This buying-group perspective will become the new measure of alignment. 

Main takeaways on co-owning sales opportunities 

• Establish joint planning and KPIs tied to buyer stages. 

• Create digital sales rooms or shared content hubs to manage accounts together. 

• Alignment in 2026 means transparency and teamwork, not meetings and reports. 

• Marketing and Sales will act as stewards of the entire account journey  

Alignment delivers efficiency, but growth still depends on trust. Our final prediction looks at credibility and attention. 

Prediction 5: Brand and metrics: earning trust in the age of algorithms 

“Use attention and trust as leading indicators of pipeline health.” 
SPOTONVISION B2B Marketing Predictions 2026 

The attention economy is tightening. Dentsu’s Human Truths warns that attention is a scarce resource and brands must focus on quality over quantity. 

Forrester forecasts that 75 percent of enterprise B2B companies will increase influencer-relations budgets to rebuild credibility. AI makes content cheap. Trust makes it valuable. 

What this means for B2B marketers 

Trust becomes the strongest differentiator. Measurement is shifting from activity to impact. Marketers will combine attention metrics such as time and engagement depth with commercial results. Gartner expects search volumes to fall by 25 percent as AI assistants influence discovery. This increases the importance on community and influencer trust. 

Main takeaway on brand and trust 

• Connect brand storytelling to measurable business impact.  

• Link engagement metrics to pipeline quality and sales acceleration. 

• Use trust and attention as leading indicators of pipeline health. 

• Invest in authentic voices, advocacy programmes, and data-driven storytelling that build reputation, not just reach. 

From AI governance to brand trust, each of trend points in the same direction. Technology and humanity must work in sync to drive resilient growth. 

Conclusion: How AI and personalisation drive B2B  growth

After four years of exploring how technology reshapes marketing and sales, 2026 signals a human comeback. Progress is no longer about acceleration but orchestration, bringing insight, creativity, and technology into harmony. 

Sustainable growth depends on understanding people as well as platforms. Combine data with empathy to build seamless, personalised buyer journeys. Use AI to speed up routine tasks, but ensure humans stay in charge of strategy, creativity, and relationship-building. 

At SPOTONVISION, we help organisations achieve that balance, aligning sales and marketing, build ABM programmes that drive resilient growth, and turn buyer insights into stronger relationships.  

Use technology to serve the human purpose behind every deal. That is how B2B leaders will win in 2026. 

Sources: 

• CMI  Content & Marketing Trends – Insights for 2026 
• Demandbase Data-driven GTM planning for 2026: a strategic framework 
• Dentsu Human Truths in the Algorithmic Era | 2026 Media Trends 
• Forrester 2026 Predictions Guide: B2B Marketing, Sales, & Product 
• Gartner Podcast AI, Strategy & Marketing Growth 
• McKinsey The state of AI 
• McKinsey Next best experience: How AI can power every customer interaction 
• Propolis Quarterly Index Report | Q4 2025 
• 6sense The 2024 B2B Buyer Experience Report 
• 6sense The 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report 
• 6sense The 2025 Science of B2B BDR Benchmark 

How AI, empathy, and a hot cup of coffee are redefining B2B marketing.  

It’s always great to be back at the Global ABM Conference — not just for the content, but for the people. There’s something special about being in a room full of friends, partners, and peers who genuinely love B2B marketing. You can feel the energy, the curiosity, and the shared drive to push our craft forward. 

After a full day of keynotes, workshops, and conversations, one thing was clearer than ever: 
Account-Based Marketing isn’t a niche tactic anymore – it’s the operating system for modern B2B growth. 

Across every discussion, from AI to alignment to buyer groups, the same thread ran through it all: the future belongs to marketers who combine intelligence with empathy. 

Here are the 10 lessons that stood out most. 

1. ABM is the new operating system for marketing 

Robert Norum, ABM and Demand Strategy Expert, Propolis 

Robert’s opening keynote reframed ABM as the foundation that holds every modern marketing motion together. 

“ABM isn’t a campaign or a channel – it’s the new operating system for marketing organisations.“

He broke it down into four layers of focus: 

• Account-Based Branding (ABB) for trust and awareness 

• Buyer Group Marketing (BGM) for complex stakeholder orchestration 

• Account-Based Engagement (ABE) for pipeline velocity 

• Account-Based Experience (ABX) for long-term loyalty 

AI now fuels each layer, freeing marketers to focus on creativity, strategy, and empathy. 
As Robert summed it up: 

“AI isn’t replacing marketers; it’s amplifying them.“

2. The rise of contact-level precision 

Dmitri Lisitski & Doug Madey (Influ2), Adam Woozeer (Quantexa) 

This session hit a nerve: despite years of ABM maturity, 58% of marketers still struggle to drive engagement. 
The reason? Too many still stop at the account level. 

Forrester’s research revealed: 

• 40% of companies without contact-level ABM expect slower growth 

• 38% face revenue risk 

• 37% see lower conversion rates 

Adam Woozeer put it perfectly: 

“We can’t stop at the account. We have to connect with the humans inside it.“

It’s clear that contact-level orchestration – where ABM meets empathy – is the new standard. 

3. Scaling ABM without losing soul 

Elena Shevchenko & Laura Matthews, UiPath 

The UiPath team shared one of the most actionable case studies of the day. 
Their challenge: scaling ABM from a handful of pilots to hundreds of accounts without diluting personalisation. 

Their formula for success: 

• Personalise at industry or department level, not just job title 

• Hold joint planning workshops with sales before execution 

• Focus on engagement depth and pipeline velocity over vanity metrics 

• Make the voice of the customer central to content creation 

The impact: 

• 44% year-over-year growth in engagement 

• 3× higher conversion rate from engagement to opportunity 

Their advice was simple: 

“Scale isn’t about volume. It’s about rhythm, trust, and focus.“

4. Alignment is a human practice 

Paul Gibson (Demandbase), Lucy Waterer (The Access Group), Becks Powell & George Hardy (Riverbed) 

Alignment has always been the ABM promise – but this panel turned it into something deeply human. 

They talked about friction, humour, and the reality of working together under pressure. 
Their golden rule: “No more handoffs, only hand-holding.” 

The best teams, they said: 

• Share KPIs 

• Check in weekly 

• Celebrate small wins, not just big numbers 

It was a reminder that alignment isn’t a process – it’s a relationship. 

5. AI-Powered intelligence: curiosity meets speed 

 Dorothea Gosling, Executive Consultant, Inflexion Group 

Dorothea’s session bridged strategy and automation. 
She showed how AI can transform weeks of research into hours of insight – without killing curiosity. 

Her mantra stuck with everyone: 

“AI doesn’t replace curiosity – it accelerates it.“

By combining human interpretation with machine learning, teams can spend less time collecting data and more time understanding what it means. 

6. The innovation story: hot coffee, not foam art 

Veronica Kopec, Senior Marketing Director, ServiceNow 

Veronica’s talk was a masterclass in creative restraint. 

She opened with a story that had the whole room nodding: 

“You order a hot coffee. Twenty minutes later, it arrives overdesigned – covered in foam art and sprinkles. You didn’t want art. You just wanted it hot.” 

Her point was brilliant: marketers often over-engineer when simplicity would have landed better. 

She shared three examples from her team’s playbook: 

• Turning a written manifesto into a podcast for time-poor executives 

• Creating a physical newspaper written from the customer’s future perspective 

• Hosting small, immersive events instead of big, generic ones 

And the best anecdote: a CFO listened to their AI-generated podcast twice in one weekend. 

“Innovation isn’t about doing more,” Veronica said. “It’s about doing what matters – beautifully and simply.“

7. The peace talks of sales and marketing 

Inspired by the closing leadership dialogue 

If you’ve ever tried to align sales and marketing, you’ll know it’s closer to a peace negotiation than a project plan. 

The final session used humour and honesty to map out the emotional stages of alignment: 

“Something feels off.” 
“They don’t get it.” 
“It’s not our fault.” 
“Okay… maybe we should listen to them.” 
“We’ve agreed… kind of.” 

It got plenty of laughs because it was painfully true. 

Like diplomacy, alignment is about structure, dialogue, and trust. 
It takes regular check-ins, shared metrics, and a willingness to talk through tension before it escalates. 

The takeaway: 

“Alignment isn’t a milestone – it’s a living conversation. The best ABM teams don’t exchange updates. They broker understanding.“

8. When buying groups rule the journey 

Marta George (Ping Identity) & Charlotte Graham-Cumming (Ice Blue Sky) 

Marta George, Head of ABM at Ping Identity, shared how she turned a one-person ABM initiative into a scalable global success. 

Her secret? Combining AI with empathy to master buyer group marketing. 

Enterprise deals, she reminded us, aren’t won by personas – they’re shaped by networks of 10 to 14 people with shared but conflicting goals. 

Ping Identity’s framework focuses on: 

• Mapping the entire buying ecosystem 

• Using AI for insight, not automation 

• Personalising around shared objectives, not just titles 

Her most quotable line: 

““We stopped marketing to personas and started co-creating with buying groups.“

It’s a model that shows what happens when strategy, technology, and storytelling truly align. 

9. ABM as an experience, not a function 

Jon Moger, VP EMEA Marketing, Genesys 

Jon made a strong case for treating ABM as a company-wide mindset rather than a department-owned function. 

He shared how Genesys united global and regional teams under one playbook that blends data, messaging, and sales collaboration. 

“Whether you call it ABM or ABE doesn’t matter,” he said. “What matters is that you share the same rhythm.”

His formula: one language, one metric, one customer truth. 
That’s alignment in practice. 

10. Simplicity wins: less noise, more meaning 

After a day of frameworks, AI tools, and creative experiments, the biggest insight was surprisingly simple: clarity is the new currency. 

Marketers don’t need more channels or tools – they need sharper storytelling, tighter focus, and the courage to keep things human. 

As Kasia Borowska reminded us earlier, 

“Your customer doesn’t want foam art – they just want the coffee hot.“

It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters most – with empathy, intelligence, and intention. 

Final reflection 

If I had to summarise the entire conference in one line, it would be this: 

AI scales the work. Humans give it meaning. 

ABM’s future isn’t just about technology or tactics – it’s about empathy at scale. 
Use automation to power relevance, not repetition. 
Use creativity to build connection, not noise. 

That’s the true promise of ABM: where intelligence meets empathy (and where the coffee’s still hot). 

People who shaped the day 

• Robert Norum (Propolis) – redefining ABM as the new operating system 

• Dmitri Lisitski & Doug Madey (Influ2) – proving why contact-level matters 

• Adam Woozeer (Quantexa) – bridging data and storytelling 

• Elena Shevchenko & Laura Matthews (UiPath) – scaling ABM with integrity 

• Lucy Waterer, Becks Powell & George Hardy (Riverbed) – showing the human side of alignment 

• Dorothea Gosling (Inflexion Group) – proving AI fuels curiosity 

• Veronica Kovec (ServiceNow) – reminding us that simplicity is innovation 

• Marta George (Ping Identity) – turning one-person ABM into a global model 

• Jon Moger (Genesys) – building one rhythm between sales and marketing 

This week I joined a breakfast session in Amsterdam with around thirty marketing leaders, hosted by 6sense as part of their RevTalks series. It was one of those crisp September mornings where conversations flow easily, fuelled by coffee and curiosity. The intimate set-up gave us the chance to really listen and challenge each other on how sales and marketing are evolving, and more importantly, how artificial intelligence is reshaping B2B marketing in Europe. 

The speaker line-up was impressive. Latané Conant, CMO of 6sense and author of No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls, set the tone with her energetic perspective on AI and creativity. Marije Gould, now VP Demand Generation at Culture Amp and one of SPOTONVISION’s very first customers, shared her experience of transforming global demand generation. And my colleague and co-founder of SPOTONVISION, Shimon Ben Ayoun, brought things close to home with a case study showing how account-based marketing powered by 6sense can drive efficiency and pipeline generation. 

Listening to these three perspectives, and engaging in discussion with peers from across the Netherlands and beyond, I came away convinced that we are at a turning point. AI is not just an add-on to our marketing toolbox, it is fundamentally reshaping how European B2B companies think about engagement, pipeline and collaboration. 

AI in B2B marketing: from scarcity to creativity 

Latané’s talk carried the title “Scarcity is the mother of creativity” and it resonated strongly. In an era where 80% of search users already use AI, the traditional playbook of keywords and click-through rates is less effective. Instead of thinking about keywords, she challenged us to think in prompts, questions and answers. 

Consistency of brand and messaging has never been more important. If AI is scanning the web for answers, then the way we present our stories, tag our images and structure our content will determine whether we show up in front of potential buyers. 

I particularly liked her analogy of “crumbs making a cake”. Every small signal can be collected and combined, and with the right tools this can lead to a meeting in minutes. At 6sense, 20-25% of the pipeline is already created autonomously in this way. 

She also walked us through four proven plays that her team runs: 

• Awaken the dead: reopening opportunities that had gone cold 

• Job change: following up immediately when decision-makers move roles 

• Early funnel engagement: connecting peers to peers at the right time 

• Website visitors: using behaviour as a trigger for relevant engagement 

Underpinning these plays are AI-driven agents, trained on account behaviour, customer stories and personas. The speed of follow-up is crucial. As Latané reminded us, leads contacted within five minutes are 21 times more likely to convert, while after one hour conversion rates drop dramatically. 

The omnichannel reality is here too. 6sense has brought multiple channels together on one canvas, driven by AI-enabled workflows. This helps marketing generate pipeline more predictably, but it also raises a challenge. If marketing delivers pipeline so effectively, sales risks behaving like “zookeepers” rather than hunters. The call to action for sales is clear: prospecting still matters, but AI can make it easier and more effective. 

Why the funnel is dead: account-based marketing in Europe 

Marije Gould brought her own story from Culture Amp, a fast-growing global company. When she joined, she encountered silos in sales and marketing. Separate inbound and outbound teams, different tools, lots of spend on paid search and events, and an overreliance on form fills. 

As she put it, the funnel is not dead in the sense that we do not measure stages anymore, but it is certainly not linear. Buyers do not move neatly from awareness to decision. They might not even visit your website. 

Her team started shifting towards segment-based plays, looking at buying centres rather than just individual leads. By implementing signal-to-intent, experimenting with AI agents, and collaborating more closely with SDRs, they achieved two things: improved conversion and reduced reliance on large SDR teams. 

Marije admitted the journey was not easy. Convincing people to trust AI required showing clear results, and cleaning up the tech stack was a challenge. But the outcome speaks volumes: less noise, better conversations, and growth that is still continuing. 

Her advice to the group of European marketing leaders was simple: be open, keep learning, and focus on collaboration across sales, marketing and product. The world is moving fast, and AI is already embedded in almost everything we do. 

Account-based marketing case study from SPOTONVISION 

Finally, Shimon grounded the discussion with a case study from SPOTONVISION. He showed how even a simple nurture campaign can become highly efficient when powered by 6sense. One play targeted 43 accounts through a webinar, while another focused on the most active accounts with a breakfast session. 

The goal was clear: sell a scoping session as a foot-in-the-door proposition. Using 6sense signals such as job vacancies, behaviour and intent data, the team built targeted audiences and ran micro-campaigns. The beauty lies in the simplicity. Small, well-structured plays can fill the pipeline when executed with the right signals and tools. 

A live demo showed how easy it is to select accounts, set up multichannel flows, and drag and drop based on behaviour or changing insights. It is not about scaling everything at once, but about precision. 

Hard questions from the room 

The Q&A brought out some of the more uncomfortable truths. 

• Should we ungate content? It feels counterintuitive, but experiments show conversions go up when content is free. The challenge is not creating content, since everyone already has blogs, e-books and videos. The real question is: what is your high-value call to action? 

• How do you justify expensive content? As Latané quipped, “You don’t.” The point of content is not just to promote ourselves, but to build confidence in buyers. They believe the product might be good, but they are not sure if it will work for them. Research and thought leadership should help them gain confidence in their own choices. 

• What should we really report to the board? The consensus was clear: pipeline matters. MQL targets are outdated. Boards want to see growth, and marketing’s role is to deliver it. 

One other strong theme was the role of thought leaders. People follow individuals more than companies. Building trust, category design and brand presence through visible leaders is an investment that pays off in credibility and SEO impact. 

AI as a friend to European B2B marketers 

The underlying message across all contributions was clear: AI is not a threat, it is a friend. Yes, the pace is fast and it can feel daunting, but those who embrace it will drive efficiency, improve collaboration and build better customer journeys. 

For me, as co-founder of SPOTONVISION and partner of 6sense, it was inspiring to hear these stories come together. From Latané’s creative approach, to Marije’s global transformation, to our own practical case study, the message is consistent. The future of account-based marketing is here, and AI is right at the centre. 

As European B2B marketing leaders, we need to be curious, test and learn, and above all, work closely with sales and product. The crumbs really can become a cake, but only if we collect them with care. 

AI is no longer a concept for the future, it’s reshaping the very foundations of account-based marketing (ABM) today. From accelerating targeting to automating content mapping and delivering sharper insights, AI is becoming an integral partner to modern ABM teams. 

At the recent European ABM Forum event, one session stood out for its pragmatic approach to AI in action. I sat down with Adam Woozeer, Director of Digital & ABM, to learn how his team is putting AI to work across the full ABM lifecycle. This isn’t about theory, it’s about real use cases, real results, and real lessons. 

Start with the right foundation: data readiness 

Before the AI excitement kicks in, Adam issues a serious caution: 

“Every AI project has one critical requirement, reliable, unified data. Without it, everything falls apart.”  

Getting to that foundation took months. The team had to clean, align, and validate first-party data across internal systems before even considering which AI models to implement. 

Use case #1: automating account intelligence 

One of the most time-consuming tasks in account-based marketing is deep account research. Before AI, it took a cross-functional team hours to prepare a full picture of a target account: its buying behaviour, campaign engagement, and intent signals. 

“Now, it takes us under a minute,” Adam explains. “We went from spreadsheets and back-and-forth reports to near-instant summaries that help sales act quickly and confidently.”

His team piloted an AI-powered intelligence module embedded in their CRM platform. It wasn’t plug-and-play, the first few weeks delivered shallow results. But after training the model on relevant historical data, the tool began surfacing nuanced, actionable insights that previously required hours of effort. 

Use case #2: matching content to buyer journey 

With multiple industries, solutions, and personas in play, orchestrating content was a bottleneck. The solution? Training AI “agents” that understand the buyer journey by vertical and persona. 

“We built internal agents that act like 24/7 content strategists. They tell us which blog, deck, or video to send based on persona and funnel stage. What used to take weeks now takes minutes.” 

Even more impressive, no advanced prompt engineering was needed. The team used plain English and simple logic, making the tools accessible to marketers across regions and levels. 

Use case #3: AI-assisted email blueprinting 

Personalised outreach is a pillar of AI-powered ABM but scaling it is tough. Adam’s team tapped AI to help create email drafts based on successful past campaigns. 

“We built an internal library of 12 months of email outreach. The AI could instantly generate a draft tailored to a campaign, with tone, structure, and messaging that mirrors what has worked.” 

But there’s a catch: AI output is a starting point, not the final copy. “We always personalise. Always. AI gives you speed, but you need a human voice to earn trust.” 

Balancing AI scale with human authenticity 

Adam warns against over-relying on AI-generated content: 

“We don’t use AI to write blogs or long-form pieces. That’s our thought leadership, and it needs to be unique, expert-driven, and specific.” 

Instead, AI helps repurpose vetted content or create snippets for social and video, adding scale without diluting message quality. 

Practical advice for ABM leaders exploring AI 

Adam outlined a clear roadmap for marketers who want to start using AI smartly, without getting lost in hype: 

1. Use what you already have 
Start with tools from existing providers (e.g., Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini) for faster IT/security approval. 

2. Form a cross-functional AI governance group 
Include legal, security, marketing, and sales to define what data can (and can’t) be used. 

3. Audit your ABM processes 
List every manual task across campaign execution, content, sales support, and research, then score them by effort and impact. This becomes your AI opportunity roadmap. 

4. Start small. Solve real pain. Then scale. 
“Don’t go for shiny features. Solve something your team finds painful today, like account research, content mapping, or competitive tracking.” 

The rise of agentic AI: what’s next 

Adam sees the future of AI in ABM shifting toward agentic AI, autonomous agents built to handle specific tasks across the ABM engine. 

“This isn’t science fiction. It’s already happening. We have agents monitoring competitors, surfacing campaign suggestions, tracking content tone, and even flagging new buying signals.” 

But with new tools come new risks. Without integration, marketers may end up with dozens of disconnected AI tools, each solving a problem in isolation. 

“The race isn’t just to adopt AI. It’s to unify it into a system that supports strategy, not chaos.” 

Final thoughts 

The account-based marketing teams winning today aren’t just using AI, they’re weaving it into every layer of the strategy, guided by a deep understanding of where human expertise ends and intelligent automation begins. 

Adam’s message to other marketing leaders is clear: 

“This is the most exciting time in B2B marketing in a decade. But to win, you need to solve real problems, stay grounded, and never lose your human voice.” 

The AI-infused ABM playbook isn’t about replacing marketers. It’s about making them faster, sharper, and more strategic, one use case at a time. 

For many years, content marketing has been a powerful strategy for many B2B businesses. An effective content marketing strategy entertains, inspires, educates, and convinces your target audience. No matter if you want to work with blog posts, webinars, or infographics, you always need the content.  

Jump to 

What is B2B content marketing? 
Content marketing strategy goals 
How to be an effective B2B content marketer  
Content mapping 
Most common types of content marketing 
Content marketing biggest challenges 
Recycling and repurposing content  marketing 
Personalisation in B2B content marketing 
Data-driven content marketing 
How to use Google trends in content marketing 
How to use a buyer persona for your content marketing strategy 
Examples of excellent B2B content 

What is B2B content marketing? 

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”  

B2B content marketing is therefore a long-term strategy that aims at building relationships with your target audience by providing them with high quality content. By creating truly relevant content for your prospects and customers, you help them find solutions to their business needs. And, at the same time you establish thought leadership. 

Content marketing strategy goals 

B2B companies use content marketing because of the many advantages it provides in the long term. The most common goals of B2B businesses with content marketing are: 

Build brand awareness 

Brand awareness is one of the most important goals of B2B businesses. Creating valuable and relevant content for your buyers is one of the best ways to build awareness for your brand. Some examples of valuable content are educational blog posts, podcasts, infographics, useful video content, e-books, and newsletters. 

Lead generation 

As much as it is important to create content for brand awareness, it is equally important to use content to attract new business. You can do that with lead generation content. You can use content as a lead generator; for example, by asking readers for their email address before downloading a white paper or an e-book. After gathering your audience’s contact information, you can segment your audience and engage with them using more relevant content.  

Customer engagement 

Content marketing is a fantastic opportunity for companies to show their human face. You can create a personal bond with your audience when you share knowledge with them. When your audience sees you as a credible information provider, they can trust you. After all, people do business with people. 

Customer education  

Your target audience mainly searches online to find solutions to their business needs. Educational content, such as problem-solving stories or frequently asked questions, are useful in educating your buyer or customer and giving them direction to their business problems. We also call this buyer enablement. 

Brand authority 

There are many ways to showcase brand authority in your industry. Celebrating your business achievements or interviewing well-known thought leaders are two examples of how you can use content marketing to establish your brand authority.

How to be an effective B2B content marketer  

Nowadays a huge quantity of B2B content is developed and published. The question is: what criteria can you use to make sure your content stands out? Try using the following 6 criteria when developing content: 

Content should be relevant 

Relevancy is a basic requirement for great content. It means your topic is useful to your buyer or customer. Your content must not only appeal to your customers, but it must also be relevant to their work-related issues. An effective way to find out what is relevant to them is to develop a Buyer Persona profile and insights in the buyer journey. 

Content should be unique 

Why would your buyer view or read your content, if the same content has already been written, shown, or distributed before? People are naturally curious about the unknown and new. Unique and original content will lead to more views and engagement, and more appreciation by your customer. 

Content must be credible 

When content is not credible, it will not be accepted by your audience, and they will not engage with it. Credibility occurs when: 

• Content is objective: make sure your content is supported by independent research or written by authorities or experts in a specific field. Content is objective when the information is being interpreted from multiple angles. 
• Content is authentic: content is also credible when it is authentic. Authenticity means that it is personal, genuine, human and that it shows emotion. Look at your content once more with this in mind. Is it authentic? 
• Content comes from a plausible source: content on agricultural developments that was developed by a supplier of office furniture, will never be perceived as credible. Whoever creates the content must show thorough expertise in the subject matter. It is best for an organisation to create content that lies within its own domain of expertise. 

Content should provide added value to your target audience 

Content that provides added value is always appreciated. The added value can lie in usability, recognition, relevancy, benefit, attractiveness, humour, etc.. You can use the Buyer Persona profile to verify that your content has added value. Only when it is perceived as having relevancy and added value, will your content, whether article or video, be recommended and forwarded amongst peers.

Content must be in line with the goals of the organisation

The content you produce should be in line with your business goals. In this way you can assure that the content you develop, will be effective and will contribute to your organisation’s objectives. When you develop outstanding content that is not in line with the overall business goals, your effort is wasted. 

Your content idea should be doable 

Very often when brainstorming about content you will come up with excellent ideas. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to execute all your great content ideas. This may be due to limitations in terms of money, time, capability, talent, etc. You will have to decide on your priorities. Even when your resources are limited, look around for some best practices.  

See how SPOTONVISION can help you with your content strategy.

Content mapping 

In order to map your content, you will need to use the insights offered by your buyer persona. By analysing those insights you can better understand the buyer journey, and optimise or even create new content using this information. By taking advantage of all that your buyer persona offers you, you will find out how to better approach your buyer at all stages of their journey with you. 

Content mapping is one of the many skills we teach at the B2B Vision Academy B2B Marketing Foundation course! Discover how it can benefit you and your team by clicking on this link!

Most common types of content marketing 

Blogs 

56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it’s effective and 10% say it generates the biggest return on investment (HubSpot Blog Research, 2021). Blogs account for most of the content marketing out there; they are an efficient way to establish thought-leadership in your field while providing your target market with valuable information. Rather than blogging about how your newest product works, you should be writing about things related to your products or services. Ideally, write about topics that a reader can personally relate to, whether it’s a challenge, an example, a template, an explainer, etc. 

Videos  

Video marketing is one of the best-performing content types due to its engagement. Here are 9 ideas for video marketing in B2B: 

• Interview your colleague for a change. Let them talk about new products and technologies and how they can change business. 
• Create questions and answers with members of your Management Team and let them explain how companies can save costs by using your products or services. Make it interactive, let the speaker walk around or shoot the video from various locations. 
• Create several customer testimonials and ask your customers to explain why they chose your company to work with and how it has helped them. Do not film this in a standard way against a white wall with a green plant in the background. Be creative! 
• Use video invitations, you can even add animation to the video. By mixing video, and animation with voice-over and text on the screen you can create a very entertaining result. 
• Implement video in datasheets or online brochures. 
• Film your events, have them professionally edited and place them on your website. 
• Send a short video message as part of a quote to a potential customer. This can be amazingly effective especially when your CEO cannot be at a presentation due to distance or availability. 
• Turn your white paper into a white clip, a summary video of the white paper’s highlights. 
• Use video in or instead of your PowerPoint presentation. 

Infographics 

An infographic is a collection of imagery, data visualisations like pie charts and bar graphs, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic. The goal of infographics is to show complicated information in a simplified visual way. They can be used to punctuate written blogs or as standalone content for both blogging platforms and social media.  

White papers and e-books 

Two quite common types of content are white papers and e-books. A white paper is an in-depth report or guide about a specific topic and the problems that surround it. It is meant to educate readers and help them understand and solve an issue. White papers enable you to build trust with your audience. They show readers that you’re reliable, experienced, and adept in your domain. 

E-books are files that you can read on a digital device – a tablet, smartphone, computer, etc. One characteristic of an e-book is that the text should not be editable. With thousands of people having access to it on digital devices, people could potentially change any content without the author’s permission. So, in order to qualify as an actual e-book, the text should not be able to be changed in any way. Another important characteristic is that e-books should be fitting your screen, no matter what the size of the screen is. Like white papers, e-books are also educational in nature. However, e-books are usually written in a more casual tone, like a “how-to” guide. E-books tend to feature more white space and more design elements than white papers. 

Podcasts  

A podcast is a collection or series of digital audio files that are made available for downloading or listening via the Internet. “63% of podcast listeners purchased something the host had promoted” (Midroll). People love to listen to quality content while at work, driving home during a long commute, or working out at the gym. This type of content is based on storytelling; therefore, compelling, fact-driven stories are necessary. 

Webinars 

85% of marketers, who use webinars as a marketing tool, say that webinars are crucial for their marketing efforts (Webinar Software, 2022). A webinar is one of the best ways to generate or nurture leads online. If you wish to plan a webinar, make sure you plan it properly. Check this webinar checklist for successful content marketing in B2B.  

Interactive content 

Interactive content is any type of content that encourages users to participate actively rather than passively read or watch. The reader (or viewer) becomes part of a dynamic and interactive experience. Examples of interactive content are a quiz or poll, calculator, configurator, recommender, assessment, interactive e-book or landing page, interactive video, and image. 

Content marketing biggest challenges 

Creating engaging and useful content for your B2B buyers is not an easy task. There are several challenges that content creators are facing when creating content. These are the most common failures that we observe: 

• Failing in relevancy and usefulness: Creating relevant content or content that answers the questions of your target audience is a very common challenge. Do not forget that your main goal is to help your audience by solving their questions and educating them with useful content. 
• Failing in content quantity and consistency: Not only do you need to create sufficient content, but you also need to do that on a regular basis. Creating one piece of content 3 years ago is not going to work. 
• Failing in promotion: There is no point in great content which is read only by you and your team. You want to spread the news and engage in dialogue! 

Recycling and repurposing content in marketing 

Content recycling means that you use existing marketing material again in a smart way to contact your target group. This way you prevent having to re-invent the wheel. Check what you have before you start making new material. Scan your content and you will find that a large part is still useful.  

Make a list of existing materials and plan to use these for the next few months. Without having to think of new messages and plans, you have relevant content to share with your audience. This is content recycling!

Personalisation in B2B content marketing 

Whether buyers are looking for general industry information or conducting detailed product comparisons, they need to read content that meets their needs. And this is where personalisation in content comes in. Personalisation can take place in many types of content and all stages of the buyer journey. White papers, emails, and reports are examples of content that can be personalised. Learn how you can personalise your marketing content in B2B marketing to get better results from your campaigns! 

Data-driven content marketing 

Creating data-driven content is a type of analytic strategy which is used for online content marketing campaigns. The idea is to know your audience very well before you start your marketing campaign. You need to gather and understand data about your target audience (demographics, buying patterns, pain points, main channels). In this way, you get insights into their buying behaviours. This will help you tailor the content of your marketing campaign and serve targeted messaging at each stage of the buying process. 

How to use Google Trends in content marketing 

Google Trends is a tool that provides insights into the top search queries on Google. It shows data around the search volume of keywords with details about the frequency of searches, interest over time, and most active geographic locations. A smart way to use Google Trends for your content marketing strategy is to observe the trends in your industry and discover content ideas. You can then use these ideas to generate content pieces that will capture your audience’s attention! 

How to use a Buyer persona for your content marketing strategy 

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to discover quality content for your target audience is to develop a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a detailed profile of an example buyer, that represents part of your target group. Based on these insights into the buyer persona profile and the buyer journey, you can then start developing your content. Read how to go from the B2B buyer journey to content plan! 

Examples of excellent B2B content 

After all things said, it is time to start thinking about your B2B content marketing. Don’t know where to start? You can outsource content marketing as well. Watch this webinar to learn about content that converts. We can help you with your content marketing strategy and execution. Get in touch!

We recently interviewed Ingrid Archer, Director of Clients Strategy & Success at SPOTONVISION, to gather her thoughts on why buyer personas are crucial for developing high-performing campaigns. Ingrid’s work includes developing buyer persona profiles and journeys, in fact, during the 17 years of SPOTONVISION, she has interviewed more than 500 professional buyers!

To start, can you explain what a buyer persona is and why it’s important? 

“A buyer persona is a detailed profile of a typical buyer who represents part of a target audience. With a buyer persona, marketing and communications are able to accurately tailor a message to the target audience. Only when you really know your buyer will you be able to make the right decision on how to invest your marketing budget, what content to create, how to promote that content and what channels to use. It makes you more confident as a marketer to make and justify choices.” 

“Organizations often state that they know their buyers, but do they? For example, do you know what keeps your target audience awake, what topics they are interested in and through which channels they are consuming content? Internal information from sales is very valuable and certainly part of your buyer persona research, but not enough. Using data from the internet or AI tools can help as well, but it will not be enough. 

It is important that you start a real-life conversation with your buyers and use all that information to create a good buyer persona. Choose interviews for real insights, not algorithms!” 

What is tricky about creating personas? 

“Many marketers find it difficult to figure out which buyer group to create a buyer persona from. Or you believe that you can create a valuable persona using online tooling or AI. It’s like painting with numbers! Opt for interviews, understand the journey, meet the person behind the persona.”  

How to create them in B2B, and where to start? 

“Define for which product or service you need better insights. Then start with your customer database, or ideal customer profile, and identify with whom you prefer to do business. Often you have multiple types of buyers and decision-makers within a company. Start with the most important and influential people. Start small. After all, you can create ten buyer personas but remember that you need to create specific content for each buyer persona as well. That is often difficult to organize when you have a lot of them.” 

What is the biggest challenge in the beginning?  

“A big challenge is letting go of the image of your buyer you often already have in your head. To create a good persona and buyer journey, you must let go of this. It is important that you conduct the interviews without bias and then analyse the data. You should never assume you already know the answer to the question or fill in the question for your buyer. Also, ask questions thoroughly during conversations. For example, when someone says they read newsletters while searching for solutions, ask for the names of those newsletters. 

While interviewing and analysing the data, it is difficult to process the vast amount of information. Many marketers use AI for buyer personas. AI can indeed help you to create a starting point as well as with the analysis. That way you are able to uncover patterns faster.” 

Also read The 7 most common mistakes when creating a buyer persona. 

When will you know if you’ve created a good buyer persona and buyer journey? 

“Implementing buyer personas means that you need to look again at your messaging, content and ways of campaigning. You will have to adjust your ways of marketing and sales to your buyer persona insights. Only when you start using your newly created content in your new campaigns, you will find out whether you did a good job. When marketing and sales content resonates with your target audience, you know that you did your groundwork well. The best confirmation is when you win more opportunities, leading to better deals.” 

Also read: Indeed’s road from buyer persona research towards successful ABM campaigns 

What else is important when crafting a persona? 

“It is important that everyone in an organization understands their buyer personas. Therefore, always involve other customer-facing teams. You can organize a meeting with Sales to introduce the buyer persona. Give the persona a name and bring him to life, for example, ‘This is Dennis. Dennis is a married man in his 50s and has two children.’ It’s great if they recognize the buyer, but it’s also possible that new insights have emerged. The more specific the profile and the journey, the better you can respond to your buyer’s needs.” 

“Depending on how much content you create, you can easily spend a year fine-tuning your marketing activities based on the buyer persona. After a while, you notice that you can nurture leads better. A buyer persona requires maintenance as the market, information needs and challenges can change over time. So, it is important to keep collecting insights.”  

What tips do you have for marketers starting with buyer personas?  

“It’s incredibly interesting to have a conversation with your buyer. Try to enjoy it!”

Other tips: 

• An online buyer persona template filled out for you with a standard buyer profile will not do the trick, you need the real-life conversation 
• Silences during an interview are fine, let your buyer think about the question 
• Write down quotes from the buyer, and use these real quotes in your presentation 
• Introduce your buyer persona within the organization 
• Keep collecting insights about your buyer