The Rise of ABM

Despite seeming like a recent trend, ABM has been around since the late 90s. However, it didn’t go mainstream until 2016, and I’ll tell you why: the LinkedIn boom.

Up until that point, LinkedIn was more of a job-hunting website than a true social media or content creation platform. But as it became more widely adopted, it transformed into a goldmine for marketers, allowing them to gather data, track company updates, and engage with decision-makers.

Think about it. You could instantly access company information, get real-time updates not only from the company page but also from its employees, and even connect directly with key stakeholders. (You had to be there.)

Those were the golden years because:

1. LinkedIn wasn’t oversaturated.
2. The approach felt fresh and innovative.

 

The Shift: Remote Work and the Digital Boom

Then came the pandemic, and everything accelerated 10x.

Companies became remote-first, businesses went digital, and the B2B SaaS industry exploded. Suddenly, it wasn’t just about targeting local accounts. You could now sell to any company in the world.

Sounds like a dream, right? Well, this honeymoon phase didn’t last long.

 

AI Enters the Chat (And the Problem Begins)

Fast forward to 2023, and AI changed everything. At first, it was a game-changer; reducing manual work, automating tasks, and making data insights instantly accessible.

But now? AI-generated content has flooded LinkedIn feeds and inboxes, creating an ocean of robotic, uninspired, mass-produced content.

I cannot stress enough how many times I’ve read words like “unlock” or opening sentences like “in today’s fast-paced world…”. Please, stop.

 

ABM is at Risk of Becoming the Boy Who Cried Wolf

And here is my main argument: If we don’t start using AI properly, ABM will die.

Why? Because 1:1 personalization will be dead.

It’s like The Boy Who Cried Wolf; maybe we’ll still be writing and reaching out to people personally, but no one will believe it’s actually written by a human because AI-generated content has become the default.

 

The AI Personalization Dilema

Now, please don’t misunderstand my point. I’m not saying we should stop using AI. On the contrary, this article is a wake-up call for marketers and founders trying to find the best ways to scale their ABM efforts without losing authenticity.

The message is simple: USE AI, BUT USE IT WISELY.

If not, the core of this precious strategy that we all love in the B2B ecosystem will fail because we’ll become The Boy Who Cried Wolf and no one will believe in our messaging anymore.

 

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

• Are you using AI to write content and emails from scratch?
• Are you blindly trusting AI-generated data, or are you actually reviewing it?
• Are your email open rates declining, even though your messaging seems written by Shakespeare?
• Do your LinkedIn posts look identical to everyone else’s?
• How many LinkedIn posts do you actually engage with daily? If very few, ask yourself why.
• Are you annoyed by irrelevant marketing drip campaigns? If yes, so are your prospects.
• Does your brand have a distinct voice, or does it sound like another AI-generated copy?
• Is your account list truly curated, or just a massive generic database?
• Are you doing any outreach that is 100% human?

Maybe we’re all part of the same problem; we hate AI-generated content, yet we keep creating it.

 

Strategies to Keep ABM Effective

• Use AI for efficiency, not as a crutch. Keep writing emails and content manually and refine them with AI. You’ll see how much it improves engagement and open rates.
• Use AI to gather insights and leverage data rapidly, then use this information to execute hyper-personalized outreach.
• AVOID at all costs mass automation for ABM. it will dilute your brand and lower engagement (worst case scenario: you’ll get flagged as spam).

Live by this statement: People connect better with humans than with brands. Your content should not feel like it was written by an AI perfectionist—it should be crafted by a H U M A N with opinions and arguments. It should spark discussions and position

 

A New Era: Account Personalization Marketing

Just as I was finishing this draft, I came across Sam Jacob’s LinkedIn post (Pavilion’s CEO), where he wrote: ‘ABM is dead. Long live PBM.’ The timing was perfect.

PBM, as he calls it, stands for Person-Based Marketing. He explains how we can now use data enrichment to segment audiences and analyze ICPs, knowing exactly what they are looking for; while keeping hyper-personalization at the core.

So, joining the discussion, I want to create my own term: Account Personalization Marketing (APM) which basically aims to portray the evolution of ABM in 2025 and how to leverage AI to actually boost this strategy instead of killing it.

I truly believe this will be the next evolution of ABM; if not its resurrection.

We are stepping into an era where less is more, and the phrase “quality over quantity” has never been more relevant.

Let’s not sacrifice personalization for mass production.

If we do, we’ll all become The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and ABM will be dead for good.