This report serves as an in-depth guide for ABM practitioners to reference

when selecting an agency.

The 2024 Strategy Guide and Landscape of B2B Agencies with ABM Capabilities

By Matt Steffen

Contributors: Chandler Martin, Davis Potter

This report serves as an in-depth guide for ABM practitioners to reference when selecting an agency. It evaluates the state of B2B agencies in the context of ABM, offers strategy guidance, and presents a comprehensive landscape of B2B agencies with niche capabilities to support ABM.

03

This report articulates why outsourcing ABM

to agencies that specialize in this specific

GTM function is superior to adding ABM to

the list of functions that a large, integrated

agency of record supports. It then provides

guidance for how to select the best-fit

agency partner(s) to meet the unique needs

of an organization. Finally, it identifies key

categories of B2B agencies that operate in

the ABM space, providing a framework for

the reader to build their own shortlist of

agencies to consider working with around a

subset of unique parameters. It also links to a

directory featuring a comprehensive list of

carefully screened agencies deemed to have

adequate capabilities to support ABM.

This report is needed now more than ever. In

the current economic climate, organizations

are reducing hiring and instead choosing to

outsource more work to agencies. In fact, the

majority of the agencies we surveyed for this

report state that their leadership anticipates

demand for ABM services from its clients and

eithe

Report Overview

02LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.

Increasing Significantly

Remain About the Same

Increase Somewhat

Decrease Somewhat

2% 9%

51%

38%

prospects to either increase significantly or

increase somewhat in 2024.

In 2024, your agency’s leadership

anticipates demand for ABM services from its

clients and prospects to*:

*45 of the 47 agencies surveyed responded to this question. Survey participants also had the option to select “decrease significantly”

or “unsure”. 0% of respondents selected either of these two options.

0303

Most B2B marketing agencies are largely

unversed in and/or underequipped to handle

the nuances of ABM. Even worse, many

agencies claim to support ABM but fall short.

Additionally, an agency may support ABM in

certain scenarios, but not as it is practiced

within your organization. Successfully

selecting an agency to partner with for ABM

requires a firm understanding of your

organization's distinct ABM strategy and an

ability to discern the nuanced capabilities of

prospective ABM agency partners to ensure

alignment. This report is here to help.

If ABM is being piloted or the scope of an

organization’s ABM program is limited to

online programmatic advertising, partnering

with an agency may not be necessary. More

specifically, if a program revolves solely

around the use of one of the major ABM

platforms - Anteriad, Demandbase, Madison

Logic, TechTarget Priority Engine, Terminus,

or 6Sense - leveraging the support of the

solution provider’s managed and

professional services team is often sufficient.

The managed and professional services

offered by these organizations typically

include creative, data management and

analysis, campaign planning and execution,

reporting, and more.

However, if an organization chooses to

execute Growth ABM outside the digital

channels supported by ABM platforms or any

form of Enterprise ABM, which ABM platforms

fail to adequately support, working with a

qualified agency is essential. (See page 4).

analysis

Do Your ABM Efforts Demand a Dedicated Agency?

So, You Do Need an ABM Agency. Now What?

Before setting out to evaluate agencies,

determine your high-level strategy. Most

importantly, and as a first step, establish a

firm understanding of the two major ABM

subtypes, Enterprise ABM and Growth ABM,

and whether your organization will deploy

just one of the two or both. Each is a very

distinct strategy, requiring adherence to

distinct frameworks.

If there will be a focus on Enterprise ABM,

drill down further to its distinct subcategories:

1:1 ABM, 1:Few ABM, and deal-based ABM

(AKA pursuit marketing). Not all agencies will

be able to support all three of these distinct

ABM motions.

Once a foundation of the deployment models

is established, there are many other

questions you should be asking within your

own organization, including but not limited to:

? What human and technological

resources will be available within our

own organization? What resources are

lacking and must be provided by the

agency?

?

? Will we primarily leverage existing

campaign assets or content or need to

build from scratch?

What outcomes are expected?

? Will the ABM program be digital-first

or dependent on manual processes?

LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.

04LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.

Enterprise ABM encompasses both the 1:1 and 1:Few

approaches, requiring a distinct go-to-market (GTM)

strategy supported by extensive multi-touch

campaigns tailored to a single account or small

cluster of accounts.

Growth ABM operates as a 1:Many framework,

specifically designed for engagement of the

entirety of a target account list. This

methodology involves scoring and prioritizing

accounts, and then segmenting accounts into

tiers, often three in number.

The assigned tier dictates the extent of

personalization and tactical eligibility an

account receives, thereby optimizing

resource allocation and ensuring the most

tailored efforts are made where they matter

most.

Once you can answer most or all the

questions listed above, draft an ABM charter.

With the ABM charter in hand, you will be

ready to screen potential agency partners.

A note of consideration: some agencies may

propose delegating the initial development of

your strategy. While collaborating with an

agency to lay the groundwork for your ABM

program may be convenient, it comes with a

potential drawback. Agencies may be

inclined to suggest a strategy aligned with

their expertise, rather than necessarily the

optimal fit for your organization. Doing the

work to define your high-level strategy before

approaching potential agency partners is a

proactive step to ensure your organization’s

needs are at the forefront and your ABM

program is set up for success.

If you need help with defining the high-level

strategy and preparing an ABM charter, work

with a separate and independent consulting

firm specializing in ABM, such as the Inflexion

Group.

Once your high-level strategy and basic

requirements are defined, partner with an

agency that can offer ongoing strategic

support. Fortunately, 87% of the agencies we

interviewed claimed to support their clients

with strategy “very frequently.”

05

?

?

? Which channels will the agency need

to support?

Will it be a global effort requiring

localization support?

Is expertise in specific industry

verticals important?

Beware of the Behemoths

Especially within larger organizations, there is

often a push to consolidate vendors,

including agency partners, to achieve

economies of scale. This leads to signing

with one or two agencies of record (AOR),

usually global conglomerates. These

behemoth agencies are almost always ill-

equipped for ABM.

Most mega-size agencies underprioritize

ABM since large brand campaigns, media

buys, and events are much more profitable

and fall within their comfort zones.

This report emphatically advocates against

outsourcing ABM to the vast majority of

conglomerate-size agencies (e.g.,

Wunderman Thompson, Doremus, Publicis).

Denstu, however, through its acquisition of

Merkle in 2021, offers one notable exception

to this rule. Havas, with its acquisition of

Ledger Bennett in February 2024, may offer

a second exception if it keeps Ledger

Bennett’s ABM team in place.

According to our research, within the full

landscape of B2B marketing agencies that

support ABM globally, 91% have 500

employees or fewer.

Selecting the wrong agency can be

detrimental. Even an award-winning agency

with glowing reviews might be a great choice

Every ABM Program is Unique. Thankfully, There is An Agency Out There For Every Use Case

LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.

06

9% of the agencies we surveyed focus

solely on the Enterprise ABM

deployment models.

34% of the agencies we evaluated

focus solely on the Growth ABM

deployment model.

for many organizations, but not yours.

An agency must execute on your

organization’s distinct strategy, have

experience and resources to support the

flavor of ABM your organization favors, excel

in the proper channels and geographies, and

understand the buyers you target. There is

no “best ABM agency”, but rather the best-fit

agency to meet your goals. In fact, chances

are, there are multiple agencies that could

adequately meet your needs. Sifting through

the abundance of options is a challenge.

Thankfully, we did much of that work for you.

We conducted extensive desk research to

identify a list of B2B agencies that

demonstrated an ability to support ABM. If the

agency demonstrated adequate capabilities,

we then invited it to complete a survey. While

only 19% of the agencies we surveyed focus

exclusively on ABM, all consider ABM their

primary competency or a significant

competency, even when it’s not their sole

focus. The information gathered from this

survey facilitated the categorization of the

agencies and the identification of each

agency’s unique differentiators as they align

to common use cases.

ACCESS THE AGENCIES DIRECTORY

57% of the agencies we analyzed

support both Enterprise ABM and

Growth ABM.

68% of the agencies we reviewed

focus almost exclusively on executing

ABM in digital channels.

26% of the agencies we evaluated

claimed that they use AI in service to

their customers very frequently.

21% of the agencies that completed

the survey claimed that they support

their clients with purpose-driven ABM

very frequently.

Two of the agencies we assessed

focus solely on account research and

insights for Enterprise ABM.

A decision on an agency partner is typically

multi-dimensional. To dig deeper into the full

directory of 47 agencies we evaluated in

depth for the purposes of this report, click

below.

Additional agencies are also listed by name

only that did not participate in the survey but

do demonstrate sufficient capabilities to

support ABM.

LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. ALL

RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.

https://research-hub.forgex.ai/agencies

SCHEDULE A GUIDANCE SESSION

07

Need More Help? Book a Guidance Session with a ForgeX Expert

The ForgeX team is available to help you

translate your unique requirements into

strategic decisions. Work with us to:

The report was developed using

research methods reflecting standard

best practices of an analyst firm,

involving extensive desk research by

ABM experts, interviews with agency

leadership, and/or the review of survey

data collected directly from the agencies

listed in the report.

Develop a shortlist of best-fit

agencies

Evaluate RFP responses

Draft RFPs

Agencies Who Participated in the Survey Include:

2X

ABMA

Agent3

Alcamo Marketing

Apparent

The Axle Agency

BOL

BrightVision

Business Brainz

Clarify

Digital Litmus

Elevated Third

GNW Consulting

Gravity Global

Green Hat

Green Thread

Harte Hanks

Heinz Marketing

Hunter & Bard

Infinityn International

InsideUp

Invalshoek

Inverta

Just Global

Khronos

Ledger Bennett, a Havas Company

Man Digital

The Marketing Practice

Merkle, a Dentsu Subsidiary

Metia Group

MOI Global

Park and Battery

Pipeline IQ

Punch! B2B

Quarry

S2M

(In alphabetical order on pages 7 & 8)

LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL

TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION,

CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.

https://meetings.hubspot.com/davis42?uuid=da4d9fc2-baba-45e9-99cd-aa22b320764b

07

Agencies Who Participated in the Survey Include:

SeeResponse

Spear Marketing Group

Strategicabm

Transmission

TwoGether

UviaUs

Winbound

Wob AG - BBN Germany

xGrowth

XPROMOS Marketing Mastery

Zubia People & Business

08

LICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTION. © 2025 FORGEX LLC. ALL

TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION,

CITATION, OR DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED.