Observations
Why Your Account-Based Marketing Isn’t Working Common Mistakes
Account-based marketing is often presented as the ultimate solution for B2B sales. The idea is simple: choose a few clients and personalize your approach. Success is inevitable, right? But, in reality, things rarely go that smoothly. Companies often find that their investments don’t pay off, clients remain indifferent, and teams start to doubt the idea itself.
Why does this happen? Because account-based marketing is a methodology that requires precision, thorough preparation, and systematic work—not magic. If something goes wrong, the outcome will be worse than with traditional lead generation.
Today, we will examine the most common mistakes companies make when implementing account-based marketing (ABM) and why even a well-planned strategy may not work. If your ABM is stalling, one of the mistakes listed below may be the reason why.
Targeting Too Broad an Audience
Account-based marketing requires focus. Yet, many companies forget this and try to “play it safe” by including as many companies as possible in their target list. As a result, rather than working with a select group of high-potential clients, you end up with a mass marketing approach again.
The approach of “let’s add another hundred companies just to be sure” undermines the essence of ABM. Your team wastes time trying to reach a too-large audience, personalization becomes superficial, and campaign costs rise without producing noticeable returns. This is often justified by the desire to increase the chances of success, but the opposite is true. ABM stops being a precise tool and starts resembling a shotgun approach to targets of varying sizes.
Solution: Narrow your focus. Your audience should be precise, not broad. It’s better to target 20 companies that match your ideal customer profile than 200 that were chosen on a “maybe it will work” basis.
Insufficient Target Account Analysis
ABM is a strategy based on a deep understanding of customers. Yet, companies often simplify this stage by limiting themselves to browsing the client’s website or collecting basic information from LinkedIn. This approach is like judging a book by its cover — everything looks fine on the surface, but you don’t know what’s inside.
Many companies follow a standard checklist, looking at business size, industry, and key products. However, to offer a valuable solution, you need to dig deeper. What are their current challenges? What technologies do they use? What markets do they operate in? What drives their industry? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, how can you offer something useful? Superficial research leads to obvious problems. Your proposals will seem generic and fail to solve the client’s real issues. As a result, your campaign comes across as just another sales attempt rather than a genuine collaboration.
Solution: Develop a research process to form the foundation of your strategies. This should include studying industry trends, analyzing the client’s competitive landscape, and identifying internal company challenges. This is an investment in the effectiveness of your efforts, not just preparation. ABM does not tolerate shortcuts, especially at the research stage.
Name-Level Personalization
Does this sound familiar: “Dear Ivan Ivanovich, specially for your company, {company_name}, {company_name}we have prepared a unique offer…”? If your personalization strategy ends at this level, clients will notice right away.
Personalization isn’t just swapping a couple of variables in a template. It’s about showing clients that you understand their business and challenges and know how to solve their specific problems. Using a template-based approach instead of doing the necessary work not only fails to help, but it can actually harm your relationship with the client. Clients feel they are being “bought” with formalities rather than genuine attention to their needs. Such attempts at personalization often seem insincere and devalue your offering. Clients think: “If they can’t even prepare a proper proposal, how will they solve our complex problems?”
Solution: Deepen your personalization. Include real information about the client’s company in your messages, such as recent achievements, current challenges, and future plans. Build your communication around what matters most to the client. Personalization occurs when the client reads your message and thinks, “They did this specifically for us.”
Expecting Quick Results
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is often perceived as a magic pill that will instantly transform sales. Leadership asks: “We implemented ABM, so where are the results?” — and only a couple of months have passed. This mindset leads to inflated expectations and disappointment when immediate results do not appear.
However, ABM is not about quick wins; it is about long-term, deliberate work. Building relationships with key clients takes time. Personalized campaigns, data analysis, and cross-team collaboration cannot be done “with the snap of a finger.” Furthermore, focusing on high-value clients means that results will come gradually, but with higher returns. ABM is not mass mailing in hopes of random responses; it is methodical work where every step is carefully planned.
Solution: Prepare your team and leadership for the fact that account-based marketing (ABM) is a marathon, not a sprint. Set realistic expectations and intermediate goals from initial contact to full-fledged partnership. When you commit to the long run, ABM pays off, delivering much more than standard short-term campaigns.
The Gap Between Marketing and Sales
Account-based marketing (ABM) is built on the synchronized work of marketing and sales. However, these departments often become two separate camps operating under the mindset of “We did our part; now it’s your turn.” As a result, the strategy often collapses at the implementation stage. Marketing creates materials that they believe will help sales, but salespeople find them useless. In turn, sales gather feedback from clients but rarely share it with marketing. Instead of a unified team, you end up with two departments blaming each other for the campaign’s failure.
This misalignment hinders not just ABM, but also erodes trust within the company. If salespeople believe that marketers “don’t understand real clients” and marketers believe that salespeople “don’t want to use the provided tools,” success is impossible.
Solution: Establish clear communication. Both teams must work together as a single unit, jointly defining target accounts, sharing insights, and adjusting the strategy as needed. Regular meetings, clearly defined roles, and shared KPIs are not mere formalities—they are the foundation of effective ABM. When marketing and sales collaborate, campaign effectiveness increases exponentially.
Ignoring Measurement and Strategy Adjustment
However, ignoring measurement and strategy adjustment is a common mistake. ABM is often presented as a stable process: set it up once, choose target companies, and follow the plan. But this is not the case. One of the key mistakes in ABM is failing to regularly analyze campaign performance.
Without measurement, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t. Which companies are actively engaging? Which messages go unanswered? Which strategies need refinement? Failing to answer these questions can lead to the continued investment of resources in approaches that don’t deliver results. Additionally, clients and markets are constantly evolving. Solutions that worked three months ago may be ineffective now—for example, a client’s priorities may have changed, or your approach may have become outdated due to new market trends.
Solution: Integrate a regular measurement process into your ABM strategy. Analyze key metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions. Gather feedback from sales teams and clients. Most importantly, don’t hesitate to adjust your tactics if something isn’t working. ABM is about flexibility and adaptation, not rigid plans. Only in this way can you maintain high campaign effectiveness.
Account-based marketing (ABM) promises effective sales, deep personalization, and long-term client relationships. However, as with any complex process, success depends on how well you implement the strategy.
Common mistakes, such as targeting too broad an audience or failing to analyze results, can easily undermine all your hard work. ABM requires precision, consistency, and patience. It is not a magic wand; it is a tool that only works when used carefully and consciously.
If your ABM isn’t delivering results, don’t be quick to write it off. Instead, assess which mistakes may have been made and adjust your strategy. ABM is not about a perfect start, but rather, it is about being willing to learn and adapt as you go. Clients value sincerity and professionalism. Show them that you are genuinely aiming to understand their challenges and provide real solutions, not just trying to sell. That is when your ABM will start working as expected.
