🎯 How to build your target account list in Demandbase

You can have the best content and the best campaigns, but if you're not targeting the right accounts, your efforts will fall flat.

That's the whole point of an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy: focusing on companies that really have business potential, not on the volume of leads.

In this first episode of the Demandbase Tips series, I'll show you how to create your Target Account List directly in Demandbase — the starting point for any successful ABM approach.

Why the Target Account List is the cornerstone of your ABM strategy

In ABM, we no longer seek to attract as many contacts as possible to fill a funnel.

We do the opposite:

🎯 we choose the strategic accounts to target and stick with them throughout the customer journey.

This approach has three major advantages:

• It aligns marketing and sales on the same target.

• It eliminates “off-target” actions and improves ROI.

• It increases the average transaction size and speed of signing.

Step 1 – Start with your existing accounts

The first source of truth is your CRM.

Import your already identified accounts into Salesforce or HubSpot: they form your working base.

Demandbase automatically synchronizes this data and enriches it to facilitate your targeting.

Step 2 – Define your ideal customer profile

Once your accounts have been imported, refine your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) using the available firmographic filters:

• Company size

• Industry

• Location

• Revenue

These criteria allow you to isolate the companies that best match your target market.

Step 3 – Prioritize with the Qualification Score

This is where Demandbase makes the difference.

The Qualification Score is a predictive score calculated by AI, ranging from 0 to 100, which measures how similar an account is to your best customers.

For example, a score of 80 means that the account shares most of the characteristics of your current customers—and therefore has a high probability of purchasing.

Filter accounts above a certain threshold (e.g., 70 or 75) to focus your efforts where the potential is strongest.

Step 4 – Identify accounts “in the market” with intent data

Another strength of Demandbase is its intent data.

It allows you to identify accounts that are currently actively researching your topics.

For example, if you sell a marketing automation solution, you can detect companies that are reading articles about Marketo, ABM, or Lead Scoring.

These accounts are your hot opportunities: they show real and immediate interest.

Step 5 – Save, share, and track your list

Once your list is ready, save it as a dynamic list.

It will update automatically as soon as an account meets (or no longer meets) your criteria.

Then, share this list with sales directly from Demandbase, or sync it with Salesforce for perfect alignment.

Finally, subscribe to the list to receive weekly updates on your accounts.

Best practices

✔️ Update your list of key accounts every quarter.

✔️ Always work with sales to validate the relevance of accounts.

✔️ Combine firmographics, predictive, and intent data to get a complete view of your market.