B2B-Linkedin

If you think that account-based marketing is just another buzzword or gimmick, think again. A survey of over 800 B2B marketers showed that around 56% of the respondents used account-based marketing (ABM). Moreover, 80% of B2B marketers planned to increase their ABM budget.

So, what is ABM anyway? Account based marketing essentially focuses on creating a personalized approach for acquiring high value customers. This is quite different from the general approach of trying to acquire as many customers as possible, hoping one of them will move down the funnel. ABM helps provide better customer engagement, team collaboration, and ROI. In fact, 87% of marketers who used ABM said it outperformed all other marketing methods.

If you are considering deploying this approach on LinkedIn, here are 7 steps for you:

1 – Build a Target Account List

The first step in AMB is to identify your ideal accounts. It is the biggest challenge for ~30% of marketers. Segment customers who are:

  • A great fit for your company – Map out past buyer behaviors, titles, job descriptions
  • Fits the vertical that would need your product or service
  • May use your solutions for a long time – Have a strong understanding of how valuable your service or product is to the longevity of that business

Also, focus on accounts that have recently discussed expanding their footprint with your organization.

2 – Identify Key Individuals

35% marketers feel that identifying decision maker profiles is the most important data to track to acquire an account. 

With B2B account based marketing, your sales and marketing teams will need to create consensus among the main stakeholders. For this, you need to:

  • Identify individuals with the power to make the final decision
  • Engage with them
  • Persuade them to take favorable actions

3 – Develop Your Campaigns

To create your personalized marketing campaign:

  • Identify the beliefs of the stakeholders
  • Create a strong case for your services and products

The most important information for personalizing your campaigns are:

  • Lifetime customer value (41%)
  • Financial information (41%)
  • Engagement history (40%)
  • Strategic partnerships (27%)

4 – Figure Out the Right Channels

~50% marketers feel social media is the best channel for account-based marketing. You can:

  • Identify which channels are used most frequently for researching solutions and trends by the main stakeholders and the target accounts
  • Adopt a multi-channel approach (Search, retargeting, social, email)

5 – Create a Playbook

Creating a playbook that outlines the roles and responsibilities for all involved in the campaign is also helpful. It should specify the tactics used by sales and marketing teams for:

  • Engagement
  • Education  / Storytelling
  • Creating actions

6 – Campaign Execution

The sales and marketing teams need to connect with the accounts on a personal level. For this, the campaign can use multiple tactics, including:

  • Calling
  • Special events
  • Emails
  • Direct mail
  • Personal Ads

It is recommended to keep the number of contacts low in ABM:

  • ~45% of marketers find keeping the number below 50 to be profitable.
  • 40% of marketers like to keep it between 50 and 500. 

7 – Optimize Your Campaigns

Finally, you need to measure and optimize your campaign. According to marketers, the most important metrics you need to measure are:

You may not always need to wait till the end of the campaign to optimize it. Optimization can be done at the beginning, as well as throughout the process. For this, you can use A/B testing or split testing. It compares the performance of two or more versions of your campaign, helping you decide which one performs better. Apart from these, you can also monitor tally opportunities created, account engagement, and closed-won deals to improve your campaign.

Resources

Erin McDonald
Business Development Strategist

Erin McDonald is a Business Development Strategist with a degree in Communications from Rutgers University. Fostering effective teamwork to drive results, she is able to solve tough problems and implement solutions that require strong intellectual abilities and rigor. In her free time, you can find her spending time with friends and family or at the gym.