4 Ways to Elevate Your ABM Strategy with Data, Intent, Experience and AI

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) continues to be a core strategy for B2B marketers looking to engage high-value accounts, but the landscape is evolving. With growing pressure to show measurable ROI and the rise of AI-driven insights, marketers are shifting from traditional ABM tactics to a more holistic Account-Based Experience (ABX) approach. This means prioritizing the full customer journey—from first touch to long-term loyalty.

So how do you evolve your ABM strategy in step with today’s demands? It starts with data and extends through experience and intelligent automation. From our perspective as a performance marketing agency, here’s what’s working now in ABM:

1. Measure Engagement, Not Just Volume

One of the shifts in ABM—and a cornerstone of ABX—is redefining how success is measured. Traditional digital campaigns often focus on volume metrics: impressions, clicks, open rates. But ABM is different. It’s about the depth of engagement across an account.

As shared recently on our podcast, The Marketing Vanguard, Kneko Burney, Founder and CEO of Change3, a full-service growth agency, says that when it comes to the kind of campaigns that deliver high-quality, fully-vetted lead opportunities, look to interest signals for measurement. This could be, for example, a potential prospect visiting a specific website page repeatedly or multiple stakeholders from the same account interacting with content.

Another tip: measuring engagement by brand and account lets you see how buying group interest is unfolding. This kind of knowledge really drives opportunity creation in B2B

This shift in measurement also highlights why email—despite growing challenges—remains a powerful tool when connected to a high-quality database. Email continues to play a pivotal role in delivering personalized, trackable experiences that align to an account-based framework. At OMI, where B2B customer acquisition is our specialty, we partner with our clients to give them a fully-measurable email marketing experience, driven by our Living File® B2B database, to support their ABM efforts at scale. Check out our recent case study.

2. Amplify Your Strategy with AI

Artificial Intelligence is transforming how B2B marketers approach ABM and ABX. From smarter targeting to hyper-personalization and campaign optimization, AI enables marketers to deliver more relevant experiences—at scale. To implement AI effectively in your account-based strategy:

• Integrate AI tools with your existing systems (CRM, email, analytics).
• Prioritize data accuracy to give AI the right inputs.
• Educate your teams so they can fully leverage AI capabilities and interpret results meaningfully.

AI doesn’t replace strategy—it strengthens it. It brings speed, scale, and intelligence to your ABM and ABX efforts.

3. Aligning Sales and Marketing: It Starts with Accurate Data

Alignment isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a critical success factor in ABM. The best programs ensure marketing and sales work together from the start to identify target accounts, craft personalized engagement strategies, and close deals.

This collaboration is paying off. A study by ITSMA states that nearly 70% of ABM leaders say their efforts are significantly improving sales and marketing alignment. The result is a more unified customer experience and better outcomes across the board. Effective ABM and ABX strategies begin with data that is accurate, complete, and actionable. Without it, personalization falls flat and targeting becomes guesswork.

Recent insights from MarTech and DemandGen Report underscore the need for marketers to ensure data quality and completeness across the full customer record. Our massive Living File® B2B database—which features a 95% email validity guarantee for 30 days--forms the foundation for our clients’ ABM marketing efforts. The OMI B2B database encompasses 145MM+ verified contacts, including manager, director, and professional-level and above records with email/HEM, social URL, and other attributes. We also deliver the largest reach into the SMB marketplace and back up every client engagement with a 95% email validity guarantee for 30 days.

Today we are also layering B2B2C matching on top of our B2B records to enable a more robust view of each ABM prospect. By linking B2B profiles to B2C-level insights, you gain access to personal context that traditional business data may overlook. Knowing that a target decision-maker is also a homeowner with children and specific lifestyle interests, like hiking or tennis, opens the door to message customization that aligns more closely with their real-world priorities.

This expanded B2B2C view opens the door to new opportunities for your ABM marketing, whether it’s digital or traditional. You can combine a targeted email campaign with connected TV ad placements, social advertising, or direct mail—to engage the individual in the channels where they are most active. Go here to read more about our B2B2C matching and linkage services.

Last but not least, when it comes to prospect data, marketers should also prioritize data cleansing, as data regularly decays when people change jobs, email addresses, phone numbers, etc. Outdated records can derail even the best campaigns. Keeping data fresh enables smarter segmentation and more precise messaging.

4. Find High-Interest Leads with Intent Data

Good data helps you reach real people—but intent data helps you target warm leads with the highest potential to convert. ABM success increasingly hinges on knowing which accounts are actively in-market. Intent data reveals which prospects are researching your category, product, or even your competitors—so you can focus your efforts on those most likely to convert.

Strategies like audience mirroring can be a useful starting point, identifying new prospects that resemble your best existing customers. But layering in intent data takes it a step further, allowing marketers to prioritize accounts showing actual buying signals. Go here to read more about our intent data offerings.

From ABM to ABX: A Strategic Evolution

As ABM continues to mature, the shift toward ABX reflects a broader trend: moving from targeting accounts to engaging them with meaningful, value-driven experiences. It’s about building trust, fostering long-term relationships, and creating momentum that continues after the initial sale.

By combining robust, high-quality data, real-time intent signals, AI-powered insights, and strong collaboration with sales, marketers can deliver personalized, scalable experiences—and drive measurable growth.

Reach out to our team for insight into how to use data to drive stronger outcomes with your ABM program: request@outwardmedia.com.