The Modern ABM Tech‑Stack & Process Behind It
TL;DR – In a world where inboxes are flooded by AI‑generated noise, ABM/ABX is the fastest way to cut through the clutter. The secret isn’t more automation – it’s smarter targeting, and Marketing‑to‑Sales alignment (SOS). The Toolset that lets you scale personal outreach, not spam, is an important addition to that.
Why This Matters
Signal vs. Noise: B2B buyers receive a big amount of emails & messages on LinkedIn per day, many of the emails going to spam. ABM focuses effort on the few accounts that truly matter, so every touch feels human.
Platform Risk Is Real: Remember when LinkedIn quietly wiped the company pages of Apollo and Seamless.ai? Tools come and go, so building a resilient stack matters more than chasing shiny objects.
Today we’ll walk through how a modern ABM/ABX motion starts and the tech that makes each phase work.
The Three‑Phase ABM Process
Before we get into the gritty details of each tool, it helps to orient everyone around the flow your teams will actually run.
For one of my ABM projects, I have create a Figma Diagram on the first 3 phases. ABM is a live project which evolves and changes over time depending on the company. No single ABM approach is the same.
Continuous Alignment
Marketing ↔ Sales feedback loops fire weekly, this is probably the most important part of an ABM/ABX process. Keeping data, messaging, and pipeline reality in sync.
Phase 1 – Planning
Clean & standardize CRM fields,
Decide on ICP/TAM,
Prepare the GTM story.
Output is a single target list and shared definitions.
Preparation is half of the project’s success!
Consider your GTM as a buffet of several great activities, take what works for your organization and build a motion that works well. Here are some things you can include in a marketing strategy for ABM GTM.
Phase 2 – Execution
Marketing delivers:
ads,
content,
battlecards,
sequences,
events, etc.
… while Sales launches personal outreach with enrichment and intent signals delivered to their inboxes.
Real‑time intent data, enrichment, and alerts fuel every touch.
Marketing delivers, but weekly huddles keep both sides aligned and running!
Phase 3 – Measure & Optimize
Attribution, feedback, and repeat loops is the process here.
While you should build the dashboards along the way, here is the time to give a hard look at what works and what not.
Don’t be afraid to go back and rebuild the process if it’s needed.
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The Core ABM Toolset
Below isn’t an exhaustive list, but if you’re assembling a tech‑stack from scratch these are the usual suspects and what each really does for you.
Clay - The Connector
What it solves: Clay connects all your tools into a single automated process, and with a premium cost can do most of the enrichment and intent signal you want.
Best moment to use it: When Ops wants to prototype enrichment/segmentation rules in hours, not sprints.
Pro Tip: Clay is complex, and may be a budget-killer, you may not need Clay in the beginning or for smaller ABM growth loops. Use it if you grow too much and need to introduce automation in scale.
RB2B - US‑Centric Intent Radar
What it solves: Surfaces accounts showing in‑market signals across US media properties, then pipes them straight into your CRM or ad audiences.
Best moment to use it: Mid‑market teams selling into North‑America who need fresher intent.
Pro Tip: RB2B is the fresher alternative, good starting price but jumps sharply once you cross higher intent tiers; coverage outside the US is thin.
6sense - Enrichment & Intent Insights
What it solves: Uses AI to spot buying‑stage movement, recommends next‑best actions, and syncs everything to Salesforce / HubSpot.
Best moment to use it: Enterprises that need marketing, SDR, and AE teams singing from one data sheet at scale.
Pro Tip: 6sense is a big boys’ league tool. Prepare for a 3–6‑month rollout and a six‑figure commitment, worth it only if you have the volume.
ZoomInfo - Enrichment & Intent Insights
What it solves: Fills the gaps on org charts, direct dials, email signals, and TAM analysis.
Best moment to use it: When SDRs burn hours hunting correct personas and phone numbers.
Pro Tip: Same as 6sense, it’s a powerful but expensive tool you expect to spend time to setup and use correctly.
Demandbase - One Stop Solution
What it solves: Combines firmographic + intent + engagement data to run personalised ads, web personalisation, and analytics in one window.
Best moment to use it: When you need omnichannel air cover that automatically adapts creatives per account.
Pro Tip: Expensive, but can take care of your whole omnichannel ABM.
Metadata.io - ABM To Ads Audiences
What it solves: Creating ABM audiences for your Ad platforms and automatically monitor and updating these audiences.
Best moment to use it: Lean teams that want to punch above their weight on paid social without a dedicated media buyer.
Pro Tip: Works perfectly if you combine it with Meta “Similar Audiences”, but might not be needed if you only do LinkedIn Ads.
Apollo - Enrichment + Sequences
What it solves: Combines a B2B contact database, email verification, and multichannel sequencing (email, phone, LinkedIn) in a single UI.
Best moment to use it: Early‑stage sales teams that need prospecting and outreach without buying three separate tools.
Pro Tip: It’s relatively cheap for smaller volumes, but can quickly get very expensive if you have big volumes.
Lemlist - The Cheaper Alternative
What it solves: It comes much cheaper than the bigger tools, but is not as advanced or all-inclusive (e.g. does not have intent signals).
Best moment to use it: Startups with small budgets for ABM or just want automated outreach with some additional enrichment.
Pro Tip: Comes with a free email warmer and is pretty easy to use. Just a bit clunky in my opinion, they have not ironed our the bugs and some UX.
Your First Steps in ABM
ABM is the golden grail of B2B Sales right now, and rightly so.
But, don’t treat it as spam outreach.
Consider out-of-the-box real engagement with your leads, and how to add human touches in the process, including in-person events, dinners, meet-ups, and gifting.
It sounds stupid if you say that to a person above 40, as those were consider normal processes before we all went digital.
In-person, and face-to-face always wins.
Use technology as a tool to support you, never use it to replace real communication in ABM motions.