How to Build a Contact-Based Marketing Strategy

Let’s get real: companies don’t read your blog, fill out your forms, or hop on a demo call. People do.

So why is so much B2B marketing still fixated on targeting accounts instead of the people inside them? Sure, account-based marketing (ABM) helps you focus your efforts on the right companies. But if you stop at the account level, you’re leaving your actual buyers in the dark (or worse, ghosting them entirely).

Enter contact-based marketing (CBM): a strategy built for the way B2B decisions actually happen. With CBM, you're not just aiming at logos. You're identifying, segmenting, and engaging the real humans who make decisions, raise red flags, champion tools, and sign contracts.

Let’s break down how to build a contact-based marketing strategy that drives real pipeline, and not just pageviews.

Why contact-based marketing needs account-based marketing

We’re not here to knock ABM as a strategy. It’s a solid start. You’ve got your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), you know which companies fit your target market, and you’ve mapped your outreach accordingly.

But once you've picked the right accounts, you need to find the right people.

 Here’s the difference between ABM and CBM in practical terms:

• ABM: Selecting accounts based on firmographics, tech stacks, and intent.
• CBM: identifying decision-makers, blockers, influencers, and end users within those accounts, and tailoring your outreach accordingly.

It’s not “ABM vs. CBM.” It’s ABM, then CBM. ABM gives you the map. CBM gets you in the door.

Start by defining your ideal contact profile

You've nailed your Ideal Customer Profile. Now let’s get granular. What does your Ideal Contact Profile look like?

“Marketing leaders” isn’t good enough. You have to get more specific:

• Are they Directors or VPs?
• Do they manage a team?
• Are they focused on brand, demand, or ops?
• What keeps them up at night?

The more precise you are, the more surgical your targeting becomes.  If you’re selling a platform built for RevOps teams, for instance, don’t treat a CMO and a Head of Sales Enablement the same way, even if they work at the same company.

CBM lets you slice beyond the org chart and speak directly to what each person actually cares about.

Build a database that doesn’t suck

CBM lives and dies by the quality of your contact data.

You can’t build a relationship if you don’t know who someone is or if your “contact” hasn’t worked at the company in two years.

To build a contact database that’s both current and actionable, you need to:

• Integrate your CRM with visitor identification tools
• Enrich records with platforms like Clay
• Capture first-party signals from gated content, chatbots, and webinars
• Use third-party intent providers that go beyond account-level insight

But the real gold is behavioral data.

You don’t just want names and job titles. You want to know who downloaded your case study, who visited your pricing page twice last week, and who bounced after 10 seconds. Contact + context = conversion.

Segment like a human, not a spreadsheet

Once you have solid contact data, it’s time to stop blasting generic nurture streams. Start talking to people based on what they actually care about.

Segmentation isn’t just about job titles. It’s about relevance.

Start by grouping contacts by:

• Role and seniority (CMO vs. Marketing Ops Manager)
• Behavior (pricing page visitor vs. blog skimmer)
• Funnel stage (cold, warming up, sales-ready)

Want your campaign to actually convert? Treat a “Head of Growth who watched your demo and downloaded your ROAS guide” differently than a “random analyst who read your blog six weeks ago.”

Spoiler alert: That first one is ready to talk.

Connect your tools (or lose your momentum)

CBM doesn’t work if your tech stack is siloed.

Your CRM, marketing automation platform, ad channels, visitor tracking, and intent tools all need to talk to each other, and fast.

Otherwise, your sales team is flying blind, your marketers are wasting budget, and your contacts are getting outreach that feels completely disconnected from their journey.

Set up integrations that:

• Keep contact records enriched and synced
• Push behavioral insights to sales in real time
• Allow for audience-building based on real engagement

Bottom line: CBM is only as good as the handoff between your tools and your teams.

Timing is everything: use intent to strike when it counts

Here’s the truth: Most people in your funnel aren’t ready to buy. Not yet.

That’s why intent signals are a CBM game-changer.

You want to know:

• Who just viewed your pricing page?
• Who downloaded a guide comparing you to a competitor?
• Who’s poking around third-party review sites?

When you can track both first-party signals (your own site) and third-party intent (external behavior), you can prioritize the contacts who are actually showing signs of purchase intent and act while the window’s open.

Intent isn’t just data. It’s direction.

Get sales in the loop (and keep them there)

Marketing might build the system, but sales closes the deal. That means establishing tight collaboration.

Here’s how you make that happen:

• Set clear criteria for what makes a contact “sales-ready”
• Build shared dashboards that surface contact-level activity
• Provide sales with context — not just a name and company

When a rep sees that Jane, the Director of RevOps, visited the pricing page twice and watched a product demo on Tuesday, they know exactly how to follow up and why now matters.

CBM isn't just about visibility. It’s about velocity.

Personalize your outreach like you mean It

“Hey {{FirstName}} 👋” isn’t personalization.

CBM-level personalization means relevance at every touchpoint:

• Tailored email sequences that speak to the contact’s actual challenges
• LinkedIn ads that change based on intent signals, job function, and funnel stage
• Chatbots that greet people by name and offer role-specific resources

If your contact downloaded a guide on scaling GTM teams, follow up with a case study that shows how another GTM leader hit their goals.

This isn’t creepy, it’s helpful. You’re meeting them where they are, with exactly what they need.

Measure what actually matters

Traditional ABM metrics won’t cut it here.

With CBM, it’s not about how many accounts saw your campaign,  it’s about which people engaged and what they did next.

Track:

• Identification rate (how many anonymous visitors are now known contacts)
• Engagement by contact type and segment
• Conversion rates by role, seniority, or funnel stage
• Contact-to-opportunity velocity

Want to know if your campaign worked? Ask a simple question: “Did it drive real people to take meaningful actions?”

CBM gives you the data to know and optimize.

Turn contact-based marketing into revenue, not just reach, with Vector

Here’s the twist: most ABM platforms stop at telling you which company is on your site. Vector tells you who: by name, by role, by behavior.

No more guessing. No more hoping that “someone” from a target account fills out your form.

With Vector, you can:

• De-anonymize high-intent contacts in real time
• Prioritize outreach based on role, behavior, and funnel fit
• Sync enriched contacts to your CRM or MAP automatically
• Equip sales with the context to close

 👉 Get started for free