Work·Case study 03

Enterprise ABM, built on a $500K budget

How a technology services firm replaced broad-market marketing with a named-account ABM motion its own team could run: redefined ICP, executive communications, and direct mail.

Company
Technology services firm
Annual marketing budget
$500K
Engagement
Consulting, full-lifecycle ABM build
My role
Fractional marketing lead

01 · Situation

The starting point

A custom software services firm selling large engagements to enterprise buyers, with roughly $500K a year to market on. At that budget there's no room for volume plays: every dollar has to land on accounts that can buy, and the executives who sign those deals don't respond to volume campaigns anyway.

The engagement: build the account-based marketing engine, end to end.

02 · The build

The engine

The ICP, redefined first

01

Before any campaign spend, a rebuilt definition of the accounts worth pursuing, so the program targeted a named enterprise account list instead of a broad market.

A full-lifecycle ABM program

02

Account selection, engagement, and nurture designed as one connected system across the funnel, not a sequence of disconnected campaigns.

Executive communications as a channel

03

Enterprise deals close on relationships and authority, so the program reached the executive buyer directly instead of relying on email volume.

Content strategy rebuilt around the ICP

04

Every asset spoke to the named accounts' problems rather than the general market's.

Direct mail, launched as a working motion

05

A physical channel that cuts through inboxes enterprise executives don't open, aimed at the named account list.

03 · Results

What they kept

The firm went from broad-market marketing to a repeatable named-account motion its team could run: a defined ICP and account list, lifecycle stages with content mapped to each, and executive-facing channels (direct mail, executive communications) that fit how their buyers make decisions. The budget didn't grow; the precision did.

04 · Why it matters to you

The relevant part

A small budget forces the discipline that big budgets let you skip: define exactly who you sell to, pick the channels their executives respond to, and connect every asset to a named account. That's the same shape as any business with six-figure contracts and a finite list of institutional buyers, where one right account is worth more than a thousand impressions.

Client engagement through my consulting practice; name withheld. References available in conversation.