Account-based marketing (ABM) has moved far beyond its roots as a sales-aligned, high-touch strategy. Today, ABM is a dynamic, media-driven engine designed to engage entire buying groups across fragmented, digital-first journeys. As buyers research anonymously, consult peers, and interact across multiple channels, traditional sales outreach and lower-funnel tactics struggle to keep pace. Advertising now sits at the heart of ABM’s value proposition, enabling brands to reach decision-makers early—often before they self-identify or enter the funnel.
Modern ABM orchestrates paid media across display, social, video, and emerging channels, leveraging programmatic tools, intent data, and AI-driven creative to deliver relevant messaging at scale. This proactive approach transforms ABM from a reactive, lead-capture framework into a full-funnel engine for demand creation and early engagement. The ability to activate campaigns based on real-time signals and reach hidden influencers is what sets today’s leaders apart.
ABM’s evolution into a media-first strategy is redefining how B2B brands create demand and build pipeline—well before buyers ever raise their hand.
Unlocking full-funnel ABM: Beyond walled gardens
Expanding account-based marketing (ABM) beyond LinkedIn and Meta is no longer optional—it’s essential for reaching today’s fragmented B2B buying groups. While walled gardens offer ease and precise targeting, their closed ecosystems limit scale, creative flexibility, and transparency. The open web and emerging channels—programmatic display, connected TV, native advertising, and even platforms like TikTok and Reddit—enable marketers to orchestrate campaigns that engage buyers wherever they consume content.
Diversified media orchestration brings several advantages. By leveraging programmatic tools, marketers can combine firmographic, behavioral, and intent data to reach entire buying groups, not just known contacts. Advanced targeting across the open web allows for contextually relevant messaging, while real-time optimization ensures campaigns adapt to signal strength and buying stage. This approach drives earlier engagement, richer insights, and a broader surface area for influence.
For technology suppliers, the path forward is clear: prioritize seamless integration across CRM, MAP, DSPs, and intent providers using open APIs. Usability must be elevated—intuitive, role-based interfaces make complex orchestration accessible to all marketers. Measurement should move beyond vanity metrics, focusing on account-level impact and revenue attribution. Support for emerging channels and cross-device identity resolution will differentiate platforms as marketers demand scale and personalization.
The next wave of ABM belongs to platforms that unify data, AI, and media orchestration—empowering marketers to engage buying groups at scale, wherever they are.
Challenges in modern ABM: Fragmented journeys and limited reach
Despite its potential, modern ABM execution continues to face persistent challenges. Sales and marketing teams often work in silos, resulting in misaligned priorities, disjointed outreach, and missed opportunities. Privacy regulations compound the issue, limiting proactive engagement and pushing brands toward lower-funnel tactics—phone calls, one-off emails, and other outreach confined to known contacts—while early-stage buyers go unnoticed.
Traditional demand generation adds little relief. Once-effective tactics like email blasts and gated content now struggle in an oversaturated digital environment. Fragmented media channels make consistent targeting and measurement difficult, and most teams deploy intent data too late—engaging prospects only after they’ve already shortlisted competitors. Superficial personalization, based solely on a name or industry, fails to connect with the nuanced needs of complex buying groups.
Another structural flaw lies in how ABM is executed. Many programs still operate at the account level, ignoring the fact that real buying groups are smaller, more dynamic, and often represent only a fraction of the total organization. When multiple buying groups exist within a single account, traditional ABM platforms rarely keep up. Account-level approaches also overlook individual personas within those groups, diluting relevance and precision. As a result, many marketers are shifting toward contact-level ABM, which allows for deeper engagement and more accurate activation.
The next evolution of ABM lies in moving from orchestration to discovery—not just coordinating outreach but proactively uncovering, activating, and nurturing buying groups before they self-identify or fully articulate their needs.
Without this evolution, ABM risks becoming reactive and narrow—focused on capturing demand instead of creating it. To drive real B2B growth, marketers must close these gaps by engaging buyers earlier, across more channels, and with richer, more personalized relevance.
ABM’s media-driven future and actionable steps for B2B marketers
Embedding advertising into ABM more intentionally unlocks earlier buyer engagement, scalable reach, and measurable pipeline impact. Success demands cross-channel delivery, dynamic creative, and revenue-based measurement—while balancing automation with authentic, human-centered touchpoints. Over-reliance on paid media risks eroding trust and missing deeper connections. IDC sees the next era of ABM defined by media orchestration, unified data, and adaptive platforms. Marketers and vendors should prioritize seamless integration, creative agility, and outcome-focused measurement. The leaders will be those who orchestrate signal-responsive campaigns, engage full buying groups, and prove real business impact—setting the pace for B2B marketing innovation.
Advertising as ABM’s growth engine: Technology, tactics, and vendor landscape
Modern account-based marketing (ABM) is powered by a new generation of advertising technologies that reach and influence entire buying groups—often before prospects even self-identify. Programmatic advertising, intent data, identity resolution, and generative AI are at the heart of this transformation.
- Programmatic advertising platforms like The Trade Desk, StackAdapt, and Google Display & Video 360 enable precise, scalable targeting across the open web. By leveraging firmographic and behavioral data, marketers can activate campaigns that reach decision-makers beyond walled gardens, with AI-driven optimization for continuous improvement.
- Intent data providers such as Bombora, 6sense, Influ2, and Demandbase capture digital signals that reveal when companies are actively researching solutions. This allows for proactive pipeline generation, triggering campaigns at the earliest signs of buying interest.
- Identity resolution tools—including LiveRamp and Experian—unify interactions across devices and channels, building persistent buyer profiles for consistent personalization and accurate measurement, even as privacy rules evolve.
- Generative AI Creative: platforms like Canva and Adobe Firefly accelerate creative production and personalization, enabling rapid A/B testing and dynamic content tailored to specific accounts or buying groups.
Omni-channel activation is now essential, with ABM campaigns spanning display, social, video, native, and emerging channels like connected TV and podcasts. The vendor landscape is complex: no single solution covers every need. Marketers often assemble custom stacks, integrating ABM suites (6sense, Demandbase), programmatic specialists, data providers, and engagement tools.
As ABM evolves into a media-driven engine, success depends on orchestrating these technologies for full-funnel engagement and early buyer influence.
The next era belongs to platforms that combine unified data, GenAI content, media, and orchestration to influence buying groups at scale.
