Account-based Advertising (ABA) zeros in on high-value accounts with laser focus, keeping wasted spend on low-fit prospects out of the picture. Instead, ABA directs your marketing resources right where they matter most: decision-makers within top accounts.
And it works—ABA drives a 60% higher win rate and boosts customer engagement by 72%. With B2B digital ad spending on the rise, ABA is quickly becoming a go-to strategy for ramping up engagement and shortening sales cycles in 2025.
As ABA adoption grows, so does the pressure to stretch budgets smarter. In 2025, more marketers are tackling tighter budgets and feeling the challenge of finding the right accounts and proving ROI, with 40% saying that ROI measurement is their biggest hurdle.
But ABA’s targeted approach changes the game. Focusing spend on high-fit accounts cuts down wasted resources and achieves stronger results with less. ABA takes budget allocation to the next level, putting resources where they’ll drive maximum ROI.
Marketers using ABA report a 67% increase in conversion rates when targeting high-intent accounts, showing how strategic spending can drive more engagement and pipeline growth.
With RollWorks, making data-driven decisions that squeeze more from your budget gets easier. RollWorks provides buyer insights, journey tracking, and automation to fine-tune your spending, making every dollar work harder.
Start with data: how insights drive smart spending
B2B marketers often lose budget targeting accounts that aren’t ready to buy, leading to low conversion rates and higher costs. Data-driven insights are the key to shifting this trend.
RollWorks taps into over 4.6 billion intent signals each month, helping you spot the accounts most likely to convert. With these insights, your ABA strategy gains focus, directing your budget toward high-value targets instead of low-fit prospects.
Invest in data and insights
Effective budget allocation starts with knowing who’s genuinely interested. Investing in data and insights lets you pinpoint accounts already showing intent, so your focus lands on those ready to engage. RollWorks delivers a real-time view of in-market accounts, building a strong foundation for a strategy that maximizes ad spend and improves conversion rates.
A great example is Bombora’s success with intent-based targeting through RollWorks, which boosted its click-through rate (CTR) by 17%. This outcome shows how targeting engaged accounts with intent signals can elevate both engagement and efficiency.
Predict buyer behavior with journey stages
To further refine your spending, track each account’s place in the buying journey. Knowing where an account stands allows you to adjust ad spend to match their interest level. Early-stage accounts often benefit from awareness campaigns, while those nearing a purchase decision are ready for more targeted, conversion-focused outreach.
Here’s a sample budget breakdown that shows how journey segmentation can make an impact:
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Top-Funnel Awareness Ads: $10K for display ads introducing your brand to high-fit accounts.
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Mid-Funnel Nurturing: $20K to nurture accounts in the consideration phase through retargeting, LinkedIn, and native ads.
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Bottom-Funnel Conversion Outreach: $15K for targeted outreach, using intent data to reach high-intent accounts with conversion-focused ads.
Aligning budget with journey stages drives higher engagement and optimizes every dollar spent. RollWorks’ data-driven insights keep your ABA strategy focused, effective, and aligned with buyer behavior from start to finish.
Hot contacts & their role in your budget allocation
Reaching the right people within target accounts is critical to making ABA work. Marketers risk missed opportunities and wasted resources on low-intent prospects without insight into which contacts are ready to engage.
Identifying hot contacts—the key individuals within accounts showing strong buying intent—allows you to focus your budget on top prospects, increasing conversion potential and maximizing efficiency.
Identify hot contacts
RollWorks’ Contact Discovery surfaces 100-500 high-intent contacts per month, spotlighting individuals with solid buying signals. Targeting these hot contacts means your budget goes toward the prospects most likely to convert, driving impact where it counts.
Bombora saw this firsthand: focusing on high-intent accounts through RollWorks led to a 10x increase in the influenced pipeline.
Budgeting for hot contacts
To fully leverage high-intent contacts, allocate part of your budget for personalized, highly targeted outreach campaigns. This can include custom LinkedIn ads, direct mail, or programmatic platforms crafted to reach hot contacts precisely.
In a $50K quarterly budget, consider dedicating $15K to direct outreach and account-based retargeting aimed at high-intent contacts. Concentrating resources on prospects with clear buying signals boosts your campaign’s impact and drives conversions.
Automated workflows: making every dollar count
When marketing and sales teams lack alignment or timely data, budgets and time easily slip through the cracks. Misaligned efforts mean missed opportunities, cutting down on the impact of ABA campaigns. Automation smooths out these challenges, making it possible to time and align actions strategically for maximum results.
Automate workflows for precision
RollWorks’ Command Center provides next-best-action recommendations that let marketing and sales act on real-time insights. With automated workflows in place, teams target the right accounts at the best possible moments, boosting both efficiency and focus.
Automating key actions like sequential messaging and retargeting keeps attention on engaged, high-fit accounts and reduces spend on less promising prospects. These workflows sharpen campaign timing and targeting, driving better results with cost-effectiveness in mind.
Streamline your spending
Automation amplifies each dollar spent by dialing in better targeting and perfect timing. RollWorks’ automated workflows enable faster responses to intent signals, al
igning follow-up strategies and refining ad targeting based on real-time engagement data. This level of precision stretches every dollar and saves valuable time and resources.
For example, dedicating $10K to automated workflows and $5K to CRM integrations can establish a seamless account-based outreach system, improving timing and coordination between marketing and sales. With these workflows in place, your budget works harder, keeping ABA campaigns efficient and right on track.
Budget breakdown: sample plan for 2025
A structured budget is key to getting the most out of your ABA efforts. Here’s a sample breakdown of a $100K quarterly ABA budget to guide your allocation:
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Data and Insights ($20K): Investing in platforms like RollWorks opens up access to real-time data on journey stages, intent signals, and hot contacts. This foundation supports precise targeting and focuses the budget on accounts ready to engage.
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Top-Funnel Awareness Ads ($10K): Use display and video ads to introduce your brand to high-fit accounts in the early stages of their journey. These ads spark initial interest and set the stage for future engagement.
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Mid-Funnel Nurturing ($20K): To move accounts through the consideration phase, allocate $20K to native ads, LinkedIn, and retargeting. This nurturing approach keeps your brand top of mind, preparing accounts for conversion-focused messaging.
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Bottom-Funnel Direct Outreach ($15K): When it’s time for conversion, direct outreach becomes essential. Use intent data to target hot contacts with personalized ads and coordinated sales outreach, building engagement with prospects ready to make a buying decision.
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Part of the budget supports automated engagement workflows, creating timely and consistent outreach to high-fit accounts. These workflows capture more opportunities and maintain momentum with key accounts.
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Sales Alignment and CRM Integration ($5K): Syncing marketing and sales teams fosters cohesive account engagement. This allocation makes sure each contact is reached at the right time, maximizing impact across both teams’ efforts.
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Measurement and Optimization ($10K): Consistent tracking is vital for showing ABA’s ROI. RollWorks’ Command Center monitors campaign performance in real-time, enabling adjustments that keep campaigns effective and budgets optimized.
This budget plan dedicates each dollar to high-impact activities, driving conversions and building pipeline growth.
Prove ROI: track, measure, and refine
Proving ROI is critical to showcasing the impact of your ABA strategy. RollWorks gives you powerful tools to measure campaign effectiveness, helping your investment consistently deliver results.
Track your impact
Metrics like pipeline progression and conversion rates are reliable indicators of ABA success. On average, ABA leads move 234% faster through the pipeline, thanks to data-driven targeting and precise timing that engages accounts at key stages.
With RollWorks’ Command Center, you can track essential metrics in real-time—pipeline progression, engagement rates, and conversion rates—helping to address common ROI measurement challenges and continually reinforce the value of your ABA strategy.
Refine as you go
Keeping an ABA strategy effective calls for regular adjustments to budget allocation. Tracking metrics such as engagement rates, ad performance by funnel stage, and conversion costs each quarter allows you to realign based on account engagement levels, sales cycles, and ROI.
This data-driven approach supports adapting to shifting needs, helping your strategy stay sharp and impactful. RollWorks provides the insights needed for these real-time adjustments, helping you refine campaigns and maintain strong results across all accounts.
Regular tracking and thoughtful refinement keep your ABA budget flexible, allowing you to capture new opportunities as they emerge. Consistent ROI measurement also keeps stakeholders in the loop, showcasing the ongoing value of your ABA efforts.
Wrap up
ABA offers a high-precision, high-impact approach to B2B marketing. ABA maximizes ROI and supports business growth by focusing on high-fit accounts and using data to drive budget allocation. Investing in key areas—data insights, targeted outreach, automated workflows, and measurement—creates a streamlined budget that drives meaningful outcomes.
RollWorks delivers the tools and insights that help make every dollar work toward your marketing goals. From tracking journey stages to identifying hot contacts and automating workflows, RollWorks empowers you to run an ABA strategy that achieves high engagement and conversion rates.
Embrace ABA to allocate your budget effectively, make smarter marketing decisions, and set the stage for success in 2025 and beyond.
