Believe it or not, account-based marketing (ABM) has been around for more than 15 years. One of the B2B tech marketing pioneers, the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), introduced the concept in 2004.
In its early years, ABM was primarily limited to large enterprises with big budgets and lots of resources.
However, marketing automation, along with its customization technologies, leveled the playing field. Companies of all sizes can easily scale their marketing. Combine that with a powerful platform such as LinkedIn, and you have a recipe for ABM success.
What is account-based marketing?
Today’s savvy consumers expect personalization, even in their business transactions.
In addition, purchase decisions are often driven by a complex layer of buyers, influencers, and thought leaders from across an organization.
ABM is a scalable strategy for delivering a relevant message to the critical stakeholders at your most important target accounts.
While this may sound daunting, especially for marketing departments who already feel the pressure to do more with less, getting started is easy.
Use ABM to target your top accounts on LinkedIn
As a B2B marketer, you’re likely aware that your target audience is on LinkedIn. While you may maintain an active company page to connect with individuals, there are also ways to reach your ideal customer at the accounts you want to sell into with a targeted message on LinkedIn — even on a monthly budget.
Following are some of the ways that you can easily identify and reach your target audience on LinkedIn:
- Segment and target based on LinkedIn’s extensive demographics including industry, job function, and size of the organization
- Upload your target list of accounts
- Create a matched audience profile based on your targeted list of companies
As an example, if a pharmaceutical company is pursuing a particular therapy, you can target the research scientists who work at that pharma company with educational content and information around a particular protocol. Leveraging LinkedIn for ABM enables marketers to get the right message in front of the right people at your ideal customer accounts.
Learn more about reaching the buyers and influencers at your top accounts using LinkedIn.
Engaging ABM creative
While your inside sales team may spend hours sending LinkedIn InMail requests to your targeted prospects, a marketer’s job is to convert as many qualified leads as possible.
Running direct sponsored content campaigns that drive traffic to customized landing pages on LinkedIn is an efficient use of your marketing resources.
According to ITSMA, 84% of companies using an ABM strategy say it offers higher ROI than other campaigns.
Here are some examples of LinkedIn direct sponsored content campaigns that convert:
Results: 30-50% higher click-thru rates on ABM ads as compared to other LinkedIn placements.
Get started with your ABM strategy
Getting your ABM strategy off-the-ground is easier than you think. Here are some additional tips to plan the right account-based marketing strategy for your organization.
