---
title: "What is ABM (account-based marketing)?"
description: "ABM (account-based marketing) targets a named list of accounts worth winning, instead of casting wide for any lead who fits a profile."
canonical: https://trysincerely.com/glossary/abm
last_updated: 2026-08-25
---
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# What is ABM (account-based marketing)?

> ABM (account-based marketing) targets a named list of accounts worth winning, instead of casting wide for any lead who fits a profile.

Source: https://trysincerely.com/glossary/abm

ABM (account-based marketing) means you pick the accounts first, then market to them. Instead of casting wide and scoring whatever leads come in, you name the companies worth winning and coordinate sales and marketing against that list. Success is measured per account, not per lead.

## Why it matters

Most B2B deals are decided by a handful of people inside a specific company. ABM accepts that and spends accordingly. You trade reach for depth: fewer accounts, more research, more relevant touches per account.

That trade changes what channels make sense. Blasting 50,000 emails costs almost nothing, so spray-and-pray survives on volume. When your list is 200 named accounts, a $2.00 letter per account is trivial next to the deal size, and a channel that actually gets opened starts to look cheap. Direct mail fits ABM for exactly this reason: high cost per touch, high attention per touch, small deliberate list.

ABM also changes measurement. Leads are the wrong unit, because a deal involves a whole [buying committee](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/buying-committee). You measure whether target accounts engaged, opened opportunities, and closed, ideally against a [holdout](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/holdout) so you know the program caused it.

The honest tradeoff: ABM is slower and more expensive per account than volume outbound. If your deal size is small or your market is huge and undifferentiated, volume plays win.

## Example

A 40-person SaaS company sells a $30k product. They name 300 target accounts from their CRM, hold out 45, and run ads, SDR sequences, and personalized letters to the rest. After 90 days, mailed accounts open opportunities at twice the holdout rate. The [ABM direct mail playbook](https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/abm-programs) walks through this setup.

ABM is not a tactic; it is the decision to know who you want before you spend a dollar reaching them.

## Related questions

- [How to prove ABM ROI to finance](https://trysincerely.com/guides/how-to-prove-abm-roi-to-finance): Build a finance-ready ABM ROI model from full campaign cost, account-level holdout lift, gross profit, and payback with an honest outcome range.
- [Account-based direct mail: mail by account, not contact](https://trysincerely.com/guides/account-based-direct-mail): Coordinate direct mail across a buying committee and measure it with whole-account holdouts. A guide to account-based mail.
- [ABM direct mail: where it fits in 1:1, 1:few, and 1:many](https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/abm-programs): Where direct mail fits in 1:1, 1:few, and 1:many ABM. Coordinate with ads and SDR touches. Measure lift with account holdouts.

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Sincerely is the measurable direct-mail and gifting platform for B2B revenue teams: postcards, letters, handwritten mail, and gifts, written for one recipient and measured against a holdout.

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