Getting Started with Account-Based Marketing in HubSpot

Account-based marketing in HubSpot helps B2B teams focus on high-value companies instead of individual leads, so sales and marketing can coordinate outreach and measure pipeline impact together.

This guide walks you through how to turn on ABM tools, define ideal customers, mark target accounts, and report on results using built-in features.

What Is Account-Based Marketing in HubSpot?

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy where you identify key companies, coordinate personalized campaigns for stakeholders at those companies, and track engagement at the account level.

In HubSpot, ABM is powered by a set of properties, views, lists, and reports that help you:

• Identify ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and target accounts.
• Align sales and marketing around the same companies.
• Personalize messages by role and buying committee.
• Measure performance by account and deal influence.

The tools are included in all Professional and Enterprise editions of Marketing Hub and Sales Hub.

Enable ABM Tools in HubSpot

Before using account-based features, you need to enable the ABM tools in your portal.

Steps to Turn On ABM Features

1. Sign in to your HubSpot account with admin permissions.
2. Click the settings icon in the main navigation.
3. In the left sidebar, navigate to Objects > Companies.
4. Locate the ABM section and follow the prompt to Get started with account-based marketing.
5. Confirm to add the recommended ABM properties and default views.

Once enabled, HubSpot automatically creates:

• Target account company property.
• Buying role contact property.
• Default company and contact views for ABM work.
• Prebuilt ABM reports and dashboard (in eligible subscriptions).

Define Your Ideal Customer Profile in HubSpot

A clear ideal customer profile (ICP) is essential for any ABM program. In HubSpot, you do this by using company properties and segmentation tools.

Choose ICP Criteria

Start by deciding what makes a company a best-fit customer, such as:

• Industry and sub-industry.
• Company size or employee count.
• Annual revenue range.
• Geographic region.
• Technology stack or product fit.

Translate these into standard or custom company properties in HubSpot so you can filter and score accounts consistently.

Build ICP Company Lists

Next, create active lists that group accounts matching your ICP.

1. Go to Contacts > Lists in HubSpot.
2. Create a new Company-based list.
3. Set filters based on your ICP properties (for example, industry, size, and region).
4. Save and name the list clearly, such as “ICP – Software – North America”.

These lists can be used to locate future target accounts and track coverage of your ideal customer universe.

Mark Target Accounts in HubSpot

Once your ICP is defined, you can mark individual companies as target accounts within HubSpot.

How to Set a Company as a Target Account

1. Navigate to Contacts > Companies.
2. Use filters or your ICP lists to find companies that qualify.
3. Open a company record and locate the Target account property.
4. Set the property to True (or check the target account box, depending on your view).
5. Save the record to apply the change.

You can also bulk-edit the target account property for multiple companies at once from the index page.

Use the Target Accounts Home View

After you designate target accounts, HubSpot provides a dedicated view for monitoring them.

• Access the Target accounts section from the main navigation (usually under Contacts or Companies depending on your account).
• Review key metrics such as open deals, decision makers, and recent activity for each target account.
• Filter by owner, lifecycle stage, or engagement to prioritize outreach.

This central view helps both sales and marketing teams stay focused on the same accounts and surface gaps in contact coverage.

Map Buying Roles on Contacts in HubSpot

Successful ABM requires understanding the buying committee at each account. HubSpot includes a buying role property to support this.

Assign Buying Roles

1. Open a contact record from any target account.
2. Find the Buying role property.
3. Select the appropriate role, such as decision maker, budget holder, influencer, champion, or blocker.
4. Repeat for all key contacts associated with the account.

Once roles are assigned, you can:

• Segment contacts for tailored messaging by role.
• Identify missing roles at each target account.
• Help sales prioritize outreach to decision makers and champions.

Align Sales and Marketing Activities in HubSpot

ABM in HubSpot works best when marketing and sales teams share visibility and coordinate next steps for target accounts.

Create Shared ABM Views and Queues

Use shared views and task queues to organize work:

• Create a company view filtered to Target account is True and assigned owner.
• Build task queues for outbound sequences targeting specific segments (for example, industry or tier).
• Use saved contact views to group decision makers at target accounts for personalized nurture campaigns.

Use Campaigns, Workflows, and Sequences

Coordinate multi-channel engagement in HubSpot with:

• Marketing campaigns to group emails, ads, and content aimed at specific target accounts.
• Workflows that enroll contacts from target accounts into nurture paths or internal alerts.
• Sales sequences for structured outreach to key stakeholders with personalized messaging.

This structure ensures consistent follow-up and allows you to tie engagement back to each account.

Report on ABM Performance in HubSpot

Measuring success at the account level is a core benefit of ABM in HubSpot.

Use Prebuilt ABM Reports

When you enable ABM tools, HubSpot adds standard reports (availability varies by subscription), such as:

• Target accounts by stage and owner.
• Engaged target accounts.
• Target accounts with open deals.
• Contacts with buying roles at target accounts.

These can be found in the reports library and added to a dedicated ABM dashboard.

Build Custom ABM Dashboards

To tailor reporting to your process:

1. Go to Reports > Dashboards in HubSpot.
2. Create a new dashboard named for ABM or target accounts.
3. Add prebuilt ABM reports from the library.
4. Create custom reports using company, contact, and deal properties filtered to target accounts.

Track metrics such as pipeline value from target accounts, win rate, average deal size, engagement scores, and contact coverage by buying role.

Best Practices for ABM Setup in HubSpot

To make the most of the platform, consider the following best practices when building your strategy.

• Keep ICP definitions documented and aligned across teams.
• Review target account lists regularly and remove low-fit accounts.
• Standardize buying role usage to improve reporting, especially for decision makers.
• Align lifecycle stages and deal stages to how your ABM motions work in practice.
• Use notes and custom properties on companies to capture account plans and key insights.

Revisit your ABM dashboard frequently to refine campaigns and resource allocation.

Learn More About HubSpot ABM Features

For deeper product specifics, interface screenshots, and the latest feature details, review the official documentation on the HubSpot Knowledge Base: Get started with account-based marketing in HubSpot.

If you need expert help designing or scaling an ABM strategy, implementation partners such as Consultevo can assist with setup, playbooks, and optimization.

With a clear ideal customer profile, thoughtfully selected target accounts, and shared reporting, you can use HubSpot to coordinate sales and marketing around the accounts that matter most and accurately measure their impact on revenue.

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