Personalize where it pays

When to shift from scale to focus - and why it matters

Personalize where it pays

When to shift from scale to focus - and why it matters

What is an ABM play?

In American football, teams use a strategy of ‘plays’ to move the ball downfield. Each play, simple or complex, is meticulously documented, tested and refined for success. ABM plays work in the same vein!

Much like building blocks, ABM plays are essential to a team’s execution. Crafted to advance progress, maintain control, and set up scoring opportunities, each play is a vital step towards ‘touchdown’!

In this ABM play, we’ll look at personalization layering, and how ABM personalization can shift and refine from a One-to-many, to a One-to-few approach.

What is personalization layering?

Personalization layering is a strategic approach that determines when and how to dial the depth of personalization up (or down), based on account engagement, insight, timing and key triggers.

Rather than applying a static approach, it encourages dynamic judgement.

It helps you know exactly when to invest resource, and advance from broader cluster relevance in One-to-many, to more account-focused messaging in One-to-few (and vice versa). Often, the shift is based on key triggers, such as leadership changes, strategic shifts, or signs of openness to change.

Get it right and you’ll ensure you invest in personalization at the right moment, align with the account's journey stage, and build that relationship for the most resonance.

Aligning to the ABM strategy

How personalized is personalized?

In ABM, the higher the likely reward, the greater the degree of personalization, time and resource you should apply.

Typically, One-to-many campaigns will sit at the cluster-level for this reason, focusing more on building awareness.

Then, as certain accounts within your cluster start to show signs of engagement and progression, the depth of personalization, specificity, and the resource required, increase.

At One-to-few, personalization evolves into relationship-building and deepening engagement – within the account and, gradually, the DMU (Decision-making Unit) – as you advance toward One-to-one.

Align personalization layering with your objectives

The success of personalization layering hinges on having clear campaign objectives and a robust understanding of what qualifies an account to receive a deeper level of messaging (or disqualifies it).

With clarity over what you want to achieve, you can better select accounts to meet that objective, and ensure messaging aligns.

Early on in a campaign, or with a wider audience, your aim may be to build awareness and reputation at scale. However, as accounts lean in, show intent and engage, your approach (and level of personalization) will shift.

For example:

Is the objective of your campaign to close 5 deals in the next 6 months?

Look at your account list. Say you have 100 accounts; 50 are engaged, but 20 are further down the line. Here, you could develop always-on cluster messaging to nurture the bulk of engaged accounts. Then, dedicate deeper One-to-few, or One-to-one personalization time to those more advanced 20 accounts.

Is the objective of your campaign to close 5 deals in the next 6 months?

Keep your focus on reputation building, and build awareness messaging and reputational campaigns.

Do you feel it’s a key moment to shift? Think: has something happened in the market?

Say, you want to change focus from mid-market vendors to enterprise. You can look at your enterprise target accounts and identify which are engaged, which know you, and which are ready for new, deeper enterprise personalization. Now think: Which relevant accounts aren’t engaged? Is that also an opportunity to build always-on awareness-level messaging?

Hi [Name]! I see you have challenges with [X] at [Company]” is token, not meaningful personalization.

The use cases are endless, but the principle is clear:

1 Define your objectives

2 Select accounts that align with that objective

3 Then, focus resource and prioritize deeper personalization on the best-aligned accounts. And use wider personalization to nurture less-engaged accounts

Don’t forget disqualifiers to avoid wasting resources on
accounts with red flags; e.g. layoffs, budget freezes, or
key stakeholder exists.

What about KPIs and metrics?

ABM personalization done well should support across:

Engagement from key cluster, account or DMU targets (website visits, ad clicks, time on page)
Relationship indicators (sales meetings, event attendance)
Reputation lift (brand recall, anecdotal feedback)
Revenue: Pipeline progression (from awareness to opportunity, to close)

Executing the play

Scaling your ABM personalization framework

How do you actually execute meaningful personalization? Remember: “Hi [Name]! I see you have challenges with [X] at [Company]” is not meaningful personalization.

Instead, develop a deep understanding of the needs, challenges and priorities of your accounts. Then work to translate that knowledge into meaningful content and engagement strategies.

To personalize with meaning:

Set the foundations; create an ABM value proposition

The ABM VP is your program's ‘North Star’. It recognizes your target’s challenges, and explains ‘why you’ within their context.

Personalization is more than content: Scale with context!

Effectively executing layered personalization requires contextual clarity across your content, orchestration, and timing.

Remember; success is not just a case of personalizing a content asset more deeply at One-to-few than at One-to-many; it impacts your entire approach.

You need to consider how your account, DMU or stakeholder experiences the wider personalized journey, in terms of your content strategy and channel mix. Know when to show that more personalized approach – and then use appropriate timing to allow for your message to sink in.

At a market or cluster-level
Personalization here is more ‘One-to-many’, and should promote cluster-level VP-led messaging into a group of accounts (same industry, challenge, competitor, pain point, opportunity etc.) Then, measure engagement to track which accounts justify the resource for
account-level personalization.

At an account-level
Personalization here is more ‘One-to-few’. Use insights you have gained as a filter to apply an account-specific lens. Here, content should help the account understand why now is the right time for them, uniquely, to prioritize the issue or topic you’re presenting for their business.

At a DMU level
Requiring more ‘One-to-few’ or ‘One-to-one’ levels of resource, use engagement metrics and insights to understand who specifically in the DMU is engaged (and who should be). Introduce DMU-level personalization versions to your content for each major decision-maker, or team. Identify their challenges, how they think and what they care about, and build around that.

At a stakeholder-level
As the highest resource dedication, use One-to-one personalization with your highest value accounts and/or those that are advanced in the buying journey. Use stakeholder analysis to uncover their needs, challenges, primary focus, behavior, and ideal channels etc. You should also create a version of your ABM value proposition to speak to the deep specificity of this level.

Key considerations as you
evolve personalization

Map the journey

Where is the account/ stakeholder now, and what does their personalized experience / the message they see look like, as they progress? What channels should your content strategy contain for this level of personalization?

Consider how creative evolves

from One-to-many messaging to more tailored, role- and problem-specific outreach at One-to-few. How can you make this feel different, yet resonant? Remember: when you shift to One-to-few, your account may have already seen your One-to-many activities, so differentiation and customization are key.

Allow breathing space!

Use time wisely, and allow time for always-on messaging to sink in. For example, don’t send outbound emails the same day your display ads go live. Give them time to resonate.

Monitor personalization triggers closely.

Is there a change in the account to prompt more specific messaging right now? (Key decision-maker change, engagement, new budget etc?)

Align Sales and Marketing teams.

A lack of alignment, or misunderstanding of roles and responsibilities, kills ABM personalization momentum. Equally, success hinges on regular Sales and Marketing collaboration to share progress and plan outreach accordingly. This should include:

Weekly stand-ups (c.30min): To help each team identify opportunities to progress, define responsibilities to outreach, and scale personalization
Monthly campaign reviews: to assess the wider picture
Quarterly strategic planning sessions: high-level QBR-style meetings/ strategic objective setting.

NB: The purpose of these sessions is not just to talk about what you’re doing and why. Define a specific agenda to outline what’s changing, who’s responsible, and what action should be taken and when.

Ideally, in your weekly Sales and Marketing alignment meeting, the Marketing team would go into the CRM and their ad platforms, and say: “Okay, we're seeing increased engagement from these 20 accounts. Sales team, next week, can you go and do cold outbound into those accounts, with this messaging? Because they're warming up.” So, there you have a very clear process in terms of timing, roles and responsibilities. That's ultimately what will make or break a personalized ABM campaign. Everything, from each team, needs to feel cohesive”

Josh Weale, Director of ABM, strategicabm

Quickfire ABM personalization plays

Results and optimization

What does success look like?

Personalization layering should demonstrate reciprocal value; as personalization increases, so should engagement, and vice versa.

Key markers of success include:

Increased engagement from target personas across channels
Sales outreach met with familiarity and context (“I’ve seen your ads”)
Tangible pipeline progression or brand perception uplift

Optimization tips

Review early, optimize late. Monitor results immediately, but avoid reacting before meaningful data is available. Don’t pivot after a week!
Benchmark: Define what good looks like for you (e.g. how many personalized touchpoints typically lead to action) to refine future efforts.
Track micro-wins: Has an account engaged with an ad? Connected on LinkedIn? Downloaded your content? Track engagement across all channels to build and inform the wider picture.
Keep Sales in the loop: Maintain alignment with regular reviews to avoid missed moments, and engage with the right message, in the right place, at the right time.

With optimization, you want to review often, but not adjust before you actually have enough data to back that decision up. Otherwise you’ll just waste time and effort. For example, say you’ve worked to personalize three or four content pieces, and built a nice journey. But, after one week, you throw the baby out with the bath water and say: “This isn't working!” Well, what was the point in putting all that effort in?

Josh Weale, Director of ABM, strategicabm

Final thought?

In ABM, you don’t need personalization that makes everything hyper-personal. You just need to know when and where to elevate the message, invest the resource, and adapt!

ABM Plays personalization checklist:

Is this truly personalized ABM? Ask yourself: