Account-based marketing (ABM) isn’t a new concept. But doing account-based marketing in HubSpot—and proving it’s working—is where most B2B teams still hit a wall.
Let’s be honest: the theory of ABM sounds great. Focus on high-value accounts, personalize engagement, and align sales and marketing. But when it comes to showing real ROI? That’s where strategy gets fuzzy, dashboards get messy, and revenue leaders start asking hard questions.
If you’re using HubSpot ABM tools but still reporting like it’s 2015 (hello, MQLs), it’s time for a refresh.
This guide is for B2B marketers who are sick of vanity metrics and ready to get real about what ABM success looks like—and how to actually track it inside HubSpot. We’ll show you:
Plus, we’ll drop real-life dashboard examples that make your reports not only accurate but presentation-worthy. This is a battle-tested guide from strategists who’ve seen the dashboards, the data, and the difference.
Account-based marketing is a strategy where sales and marketing work together to engage a defined set of high-value accounts—not chase every lead that fills out a form. It's targeted. It's personalized. And it’s built for the long game.
Unlike traditional inbound marketing, which casts a wide net and nurtures whoever bites, ABM flips the model. Instead of waiting for the right accounts to come to you, you go after them—with tailored campaigns, coordinated outreach, and metrics that tie directly to revenue.
Why does this matter for B2B? Because big deals rarely happen from a single lead or a single touchpoint. In enterprise sales, you’re dealing with:
That’s where ABM shines. It treats accounts as markets of one—focusing your energy on the people who actually have buying power. When done right, it leads to:
And here’s the kicker: most B2B teams are already doing pieces of ABM—they just aren’t measuring or managing it like a real strategy.
HubSpot gives you the tools. ABM gives you the focus. Together, they turn messy lead funnels into coordinated revenue engines.
Let’s kill a myth: you don’t need an overpriced enterprise MarTech stack to run a serious ABM program. Account-based marketing in HubSpot works—and it works well—because HubSpot gives you structure without suffocating you in complexity.
HubSpot comes preloaded with ABM-specific tools that make targeting and tracking easy:
Whether you’re doing 1:1 executive outreach or a 1:Many awareness push, HubSpot supports it:
HubSpot doesn’t just bolt ABM onto your existing marketing—it threads it through CRM, sales enablement, automation, and reporting. That means your sales team sees the same data you do. And they might even thank you for it.
Bottom line? HubSpot makes ABM strategy scalable, trackable, and (dare we say) enjoyable—without needing a full-time admin just to run reports.
ABM isn't a campaign. It's a system. And with HubSpot, you can build that system from the ground up—without duct tape or data gymnastics.
Here’s how to architect your HubSpot ABM strategy step by step.
Start by defining who actually matters. Use:
Then tier them. HubSpot lets you set ICP criteria using custom properties—assign Tier 1, 2, or 3 status based on strategic value. Tiering matters. It determines how much personalization and effort each account gets.
No, this isn’t optional. If marketing is targeting accounts sales doesn’t care about, you’re wasting everyone’s time.
Use HubSpot’s dynamic tools to tailor outreach:
HubSpot’s smart content, custom tokens, and property-based segmentation make it possible to scale without sacrificing relevance.
This is where most ABM strategies get sloppy. HubSpot lets you:
Done right, this turns your campaign from "we sent some emails" to "we moved this account from cold to closed."
This is where your ABM strategy either proves its worth—or gets questioned in the next budget meeting. Great campaigns don’t mean much if you can’t tie them to revenue. That’s why reporting isn’t an afterthought. It is the strategy.
HubSpot gives you the tools to surface the data that matters—but only if you know what to build. Here's how to do it.
Purpose: Show how your target accounts are progressing from awareness to closed-won.
Stages to define:
Funnel visibility at the account level—see how many Tier 1 accounts are stuck in ‘engaged’ and prioritize sales outreach.
Purpose: Prove pipeline and revenue tied to your ABM campaigns.
How to build it:
Tying deals to campaigns isn’t optional. This dashboard shows which campaigns actually moved revenue—no more guessing.
Purpose: Diagnose performance and tailor strategy per tier.
Key metrics:
Engagement looks different across tiers. This view helps you avoid over-investing in accounts that aren’t responding.
These dashboards don’t just tell you what happened—they tell you what to do next. If Tier 1 accounts are stalling at ‘Engaged,’ it’s time for sales to lean in. If Campaign B drives twice the revenue of Campaign A, shift your spend.
That’s the power of HubSpot dashboards: strategy becomes visible, measurable, and actionable.
Even with HubSpot’s ABM tools baked in, things can go sideways fast. Here’s what derails most ABM programs and how to stay on track.
HubSpot is great at contact-level data. But ABM demands an account-level view. If you’re still obsessing over MQLs and email clicks without aggregating that data at the account level, you’re missing the full picture.
Fix: Use HubSpot’s Target Accounts property and account-level dashboards to roll up contact activity.
Sending the same nurture sequence to a Tier 1 enterprise and a Tier 3 SMB? That’s how personalization dies.
Fix: Tier your accounts and tailor your campaigns accordingly using smart content, sequences, and custom properties in HubSpot.
Still having weekly “syncs” that feel more like status updates than strategy sessions? That’s a red flag.
Fix: Align on ICP definitions, co-own account selection, and build SLAs with mutual accountability. HubSpot’s shared dashboards make it easier to stay honest.
If your only proof of success is a handful of anecdotes or a spike in website visits, good luck getting buy-in.
Fix: Build dashboards that show funnel stage progression, revenue impact, and engagement by tier. (See above—we did the homework for you.)
You don’t need 17 custom properties and 3 third-party tools just to run ABM. Complexity kills momentum.
Fix: Start with HubSpot’s native ABM features. Scale from there, not the other way around.
Let’s be blunt—ABM in HubSpot isn’t hard. But doing it well? That’s where most teams get stuck.
If you’re spending more time figuring out reporting filters than closing deals, it’s time to bring in a partner who’s done this before. At ThinkFuel, we don’t just “optimize” your portal—we build the full ABM machine:
Need help setting up ABM reporting in HubSpot? ThinkFuel can deploy your entire ABM dashboard suite—from account targeting to ROI tracking—so your team is running smarter campaigns in days, not months. Let’s build your ABM engine in HubSpot. Contact us today.