Tips to Improve Abm Campaign Results

I analyzed 12 months of ABM campaigns that actually worked. Here's the data: Most Account-Based Marketing fails before it starts. After analyzing 12 months of successful ABM campaigns (and plenty of failures), I've identified the patterns that consistently drive pipeline. Here's what the data shows: 1. Timing matters just as much as content Accounts that received 3+ touches within 48 hours of showing buying intent converted 4x better than those that received the same content a week later. 2. The magic number is 6.2 (for this brand at least) The average closed-won deal had 6.2 stakeholders involved. Yet most ABM campaigns only target 1-2 personas per account. Expand your reach. 3. The "champion experience" is everything The accounts where we delivered a memorable experience to a single champion (personalized video, custom research, direct exec outreach) had 3x higher conversion rates. 4. Sales and marketing misalignment kills ABM Our most successful campaigns had sales activity within 24 hours of marketing touches. When this alignment slipped to 72+ hours, conversion rates dropped by 48%. 5. Personalization at scale actually works But not how most people do it. We tested 4 levels of personalization: - Generic (18% engagement) - Industry-specific (27% engagement) - Company-specific (42% engagement) - Individual + company-specific (63% engagement) 6. Direct mail isn't dead But swag is worthless (or at least it didn’t work for this audience 🤷♀️). Our highest ROI direct mail: Personalized research reports addressing the account's specific challenges. $250 spend → $45K in pipeline (average). 7. The "Double-Down Effect" When an account engages with ANY marketing touch, immediately increasing the frequency and personalization level produces a 3.5x lift in conversion rates. The companies getting ABM right understand it's not a campaign—it's a complete go-to-market strategy. P.S. I'm working on a new episodic ABM show in collaboration with Clay, so stay tuned 🤗

Most B2B teams suck at marketing to technical IT buyers. Here is why: They try to replicate what works to sell to economical buyers: Linkedin Ads → personalized outreach → semi-custom landing pages paired with content. But what if your buyers aren't on LinkedIn? What if they ignore every cold email? What if they give exactly zero f*ck about your "streamlined solutions"? We generated multiple enterprise deals with senior IT buyers, and I can say for sure - these audiences are notoriously skeptical of "traditional" marketing. Here is what works based on our case studies: Testrail: https://lnkd.in/dgmAxcuf Postindustria: https://lnkd.in/dKMiy-DN Glorium Tech: https://lnkd.in/dwJ6APG9 1. STOP SELLING. START PROVING. Technical buyers don't respond to "here is your challenge - here is our solution" message . They research on their own, read documentation, and test products before talking to anyone. Before launching any ABM program to IT buyers: - Make sure your product documentation is crystal clear - Offer a trial or sandbox environment - Validate your messaging with actual technical users - Ensure you have POC as a part of the sales process 2. LEVERAGE SPONTANEOUS ADVOCACY. Engineers trust their peers 100x more than your case studies. We found our customers already talking about the product in technical forums, YouTube, and niche communities. We amplified their voices instead of drowning them out with our own. Result: peer-driven recommendations that actually moved deals forward. 3. USE INTERNAL SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTS. Your solution architects and technical leaders used to be your buyers. Put them front and center. What worked for us: - Educational webinars led by SMEs (not sales pitches) - Community roundtables addressing real technical challenges - Enabling technical experts to share lessons learned 4. FORGET LINKEDIN. GO WHERE THEY ACTUALLY ARE. Senior IT buyers might not engage on LinkedIn, but they're active somewhere. We targeted them through: → Niche communities → Direct mail with relevant, personalized research → Content collaborations with industry peers they already trust 5. INVOLVE THEM IN CONTENT CREATION. The fastest way to build credibility with technical audiences? Make them the experts. We invited target buyers to: - Contribute to market research - Participate in podcasts - Co-create educational content This gave us an excuse to reach out, built genuine relationships, and created peer-to-peer content that was 10x easier to distribute. My honest take: Most B2B teams will never run these playbooks. Too manual. Too much effort. They'll keep blasting automated outreach at technical buyers who will continue ignoring them. But that's good news for you. It means there's a massive opportunity to stand out by actually doing the work of understanding your technical buyers and engaging them on their terms—not yours.

This LinkedIn ad strategy from last year still drives high-quality leads for 83% of the cost for one of my clients. It's been so successful, my Linkedin rep called me to ask questions. 👀 It's now part of our holistic demand gen playbook. The experiment? Running impactful ABM ads. It's not an earth-shattering concept. But a ton of marketers struggle to make LinkedIn ABM ads work. You’re not alone. Many marketers find themselves: ❌ Targeting the wrong accounts. ❌ Using generic messages that don’t resonate. ❌ Creating audiences that are way too small to make an impact. It doesn’t have to be this way. With this focused ABM approach, my client saw: 🔥 Decreased cost per lead by 83%  🔥 2.5x higher form conversion rate (3.50% vs. 1.41%) 🔥 4% higher lead quality leads Here are 5 tactics (with real examples!) that helped achieve these results: 1. 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐑𝐎𝐈 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬. Focus on accounts with high revenue potential and strategic GTM alignment. Margins need to make sense.  2. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 1:1 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬. For this motion, make sure each campaign is targeting only one account.  3. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞. Focus on targeting 300 min contacts matched, but ideally 1,000+ contacts. Using skills OR job titles helped us unlock more scale without sacrificing lead quality.  4. 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠. Everyone says this, but actually do it. Go beyond just adding the account logo in your ads. Try using specific messaging, pain points, & stats that are unique to each target account.  5. 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟. Build trust and credibility fast with each account by using testimonials from similar users. Or, if you're expanding users on an account, use testimonials from existing users! Check the full guide below to help you create ABM campaigns that convert. Have you experimented with ABM ads? What's worked for you?

Most GTM teams aren’t short on signals.   They’re drowning in them.   We kept seeing the same issue across teams: - Accounts were showing intent in different places. - Someone would visit the site. - A company would engage with a newsletter. - Another team would start researching competitors.   Individually, none of these meant much. Together, they usually give us a lot of data about our ICP.   So instead of treating these as isolated activities, we built an ABM system that treats them as account-level signals.   Here is the step by step flow.   📌 Step 1: Detect account-level signals   We start by identifying companies that are already showing signs of interest.   👉 Buying intent 👉 Website visits 👉 Competitor, Ad & Newsletter engagement    📌 Step 2: Pull all signals into one system   Every detected account is pushed into Clay as the central workspace.   👉 One place for all signals 👉 One timeline per account 👉 No fragmented context across tools   Decisions only work when everything is visible in one place.   📌 Step 3: Qualify accounts against ICP   Not every active account is a good fit.   We qualify every account inside Clay using clear rules and blocklists.   👉 ICP match 👉 Company size and geography 👉 Industry relevance 👉 Existing customers or active opportunities   If an account does not fit, it stops here. That is intentional.   📌 Step 4: Enrich qualified accounts   For accounts that pass qualification, we add the context needed to act.   👉 Company and firmographic data 👉 Relevant contacts 👉 Missing fields required for outreach / routing   Enrichment is purposeful, not bulk. We only add what the next step requires.   📌 Step 5: Generate signal-based messaging   Messages are generated based on the exact signal that triggered the account.   👉 Different messaging for intent vs website visits 👉 Different framing for competitor research vs newsletter engagement   Every message is tied to something to the action.   📌 Step 6: Activate outreach across the right channels   Outreach is activated based on account value and signal strength.   👉 Email 👉 LinkedIn 👉 Cold calls 👉 Personalized videos 👉 Voice notes   This is selective and deliberate.   📌 Step 7: Personalised landing pages (optional)   For high value accounts, we sometimes add domain-level personalised landing pages.   👉 Used only when deal size justifies it 👉 Keeps post-click experience consistent 👉 Supports deeper ABM plays 📌 Step 8: Custom ABM plays (optional) When needed, we design custom plays aligned to GTM strategy. 👉 Bespoke signal combinations 👉 Creative outreach logic 👉 Tight alignment with sales motion    📌 Step 9: Book meetings   When an account shows interest, meetings are routed automatically.   👉 Booking flows 👉 Sales calendars 👉 Clean handoff with context   📌 Step 10: Update CRM and attribution   Finally, everything syncs back to the CRM.    Sales can see when and why a meeting took place. All in 1 cohesive ABM signal loop!

I've audited 200+ ABM programs The biggest predictor of ABM success isn't your ICP, messaging, or your team. It’s a financial issue The first question I always ask: “Walk me through the math. What are we actually buying here?” Maybe 5 had a defensible answer. The ABM programs that get renewed are decided before launch, not after. Here’s how to set it up correctly: STEP 1 // BUILD YOUR COST MODEL Total ABM investment breaks into 3 buckets: A. Media spend ↳ LinkedIn, CTV, programmatic, direct mail ↳ Budget $150-300 per target account per month for air cover ↳ 100 accounts = $15K-$30K/month minimum B. Tech stack ↳ Intent data, ABM platform, enrichment tools ↳ Annualize and divide by # of programs C. People cost ↳ % of SDR, marketing, ops time dedicated to ABM ↳ Burdened salary × time allocation Add all three = Total Program Cost STEP 2 // MODEL YOUR EXPECTED PIPELINE Formula: Target Accounts × Expected Engagement Rate × Meeting Conversion × Opp Conversion × Avg Deal Size = Expected Pipeline Example with real math: ↳ 100 accounts ↳ 25% engagement rate (25 engaged accounts) ↳ 40% meeting conversion (10 meetings) ↳ 70% opp conversion (7 opportunities) ↳ $75K avg deal size = $525K in pipeline STEP 3 // CALCULATE PROGRAM ROI Pipeline ROI = Expected Pipeline / Total Program Cost If your program costs $50K and generates $525K in pipeline: ↳ Pipeline ROI = 10.5x But leadership cares about closed revenue, not pipeline. Revenue ROI = (Expected Pipeline × Historical Close Rate) / Total Program Cost ↳ $525K × 30% close rate = $157.5K expected revenue ↳ $157.5K / $50K = 3.15x revenue ROI STEP 4 // BUILD THE SENSITIVITY TABLE This is what separates amateurs from operators. Show leadership 3 scenarios: ↳ Conservative: 20% engagement, 25% close rate ↳ Base case: 25% engagement, 30% close rate ↳ Aggressive: 35% engagement, 35% close rate Map each scenario to pipeline and revenue ROI. When leadership asks "what if it doesn't work?" you already have the answer. STEP 5 // TIE TO EXISTING BENCHMARKS Pull your historical data: ↳ What's your current cost-per-opportunity from other channels? ↳ What's your average CAC payback? ↳ What's your LTV:CAC ratio by segment? Show how ABM compares. If your current CPO is $8K and ABM delivers at $7.1K, that's the story. The pitch isn't "ABM is cool." The pitch is "ABM delivers pipeline at a lower CPO than our current mix." Programs that launch with this model don't get cut at month 9. They get expanded. What did I miss?

It’s been exactly 3 months since we launched our first ever ABM campaign, and the results are in: over $650,000 in pipeline in 90 days, with a nice $12 in pipeline per $ spend. If you‘re considering getting into ABM next year - I have a few learnings to share: 1) It’s brutal. There are no playbooks. Most ABM resources are very high level (‘strategic’) - there’s a painful lack of tactical resources on how to set the campaigns up, from whom to target and which channels to choose, how to set up the campaigns stages and account scoring, how to pick the right goals and metrics (so you can evaluate how the campaigns are doing and if you are on the right track), set the right budgets, and how to monitor the results. There are to benchmarks to measure against (ad CTR/CPM benchmarks are a vague leading metrics, and are so industry-specific you’ll be comparing apples to oranges.) We had to come up with nearly everything ourselves. One thing that helped us at the beginning was Kyle Poyar’s article “Your guide to GTM metrics 2.0” featuring “ABX benchmarks” (link in the comments). We used them (and tweaked) to set up our stages, benchmarks of how many accounts we’re expecting to move from one stage to another, and then - by combining that with our historical qualification rates, close rates and expected ACV - we got our revenue goals per 1000 accounts. Then working out was from the top-down revenue goals - that gave us an idea how many accounts we need to target. And then - based on the CPMs for the target personas in those accounts - we are able to come up with a budget. That’s theory, of course - and we’re already seeing how ‘real data’ diverges from the benchmarks, esp. for some stages/conversion points. We may need to adjust our forecasts based on real data to make them more realistic. But you need start somewhere. 2) Don’t start if you don’t have extremely strong MarketingOps (ideally - a dedicated MOps person). So far we’ve spent 80% on the campaign ops, and 20% on the creatives. SADLY. Even with ABM tools - there’s a ton of setup you need to do. 3) You need some tech stack to score your accounts, but you don’t need these expensive “ABM tools”. After evaluating tons of ABM tools (with platform fees of $30k - $160k per annum 🤯) we realised we don’t want to use display as our main channel for reaching target accounts. We used only ZenABM (from $59 - for de-anonymizing LinkedIn ad engagements, getting intent based on those engagments, account scoring --> and pushing it all to the CRM + providing revenue attribution) + Hubspot Marketing (~$1700 in our case - for audience building and management). TBC - I hit the character limit 😉

ABM will never be dead, but the old-school way of approaching ABM is definitely dead (as a doornail). Most "ABM" programs still look like what I was doing in my late 20s and early 30s (circa 2015-2017) >> Static target lists >> One-size-fits-all nurture tracks >> Months of manual personalization That doesn’t work when buyers self-educate, switch channels mid-cycle, and bring 10+ stakeholders into every deal. Lucky for me, I have a Tofu guide that helps define different plays you can run to pull your ABM out of 2015: Competitive Displacement → Go on offense. Target competitor accounts with comparison content, peer proof, and coordinated blitzes. Customer Lookalike Campaign → Take your best wins and mirror them. Use AI to find accounts that look like your top customers and show them proof they can’t ignore. Tier 1 Omnichannel Blitz → Don’t wait for signals. Surround your most strategic accounts with personalized microsites, direct mail, and peer-led content. Competitive Intent Intercept → When a target account shows interest in a competitor, move fast. Counter-pages, battlecards, and rapid-response ads flip the narrative. Signal-Qualified Web Visitors → Pricing page traffic isn’t noise. De-anonymize, personalize, and act before your competitor gets the next meeting. Customer Expansion Campaign → The highest ROI play isn’t new pipeline. It’s expansion. Use product and CS signals to spot growth opportunities inside your base. The shift is pretty simple, and something we should all remember. You need to move from campaigns you launch and cross your fingers.... to systems that listen and adapt in real time. ABM done right isn't just account-based, it's contact-based AND it orients around signals.

It's easy to fall into the "doing things just to do them" trap in demand gen and ABM.  👉🏾 Launching campaigns because "it's our typical approach." 👉🏾Creating content because "we have to."   👉🏾 Chasing every lead with the belief that "more is always better." But with AI and automation making it easier than ever to produce generic content, it's even more crucial to pause and ask, "Why?" ✔️Why this campaign? ✔️Why this content? ✔️Why this account? ✔️Does it truly align with our ideal customer profile (ICP)? ✔️Does it resonate with their needs and challenges? ✔️Does it get results on our goals? Generic #ABM is just...marketing. And generic #demandgen is a waste of resources. 👉🏾 To break the autopilot cycle, be specific about your ideal customer. Use tools like 6sense or ZoomInfo to gather rich data, going beyond basic demographics to understand their firmographics, technographics, and psychographics.  👉🏾 Then, map your content to the buyer's journey. Don't just create content for content's sake. Use tools like HubSpot or Marketo to address their pain points and provide real value at each stage. 👉🏾 Analyze intent data. Tools like Bombora or G2 Buyer Intent can tell you which accounts are actively researching solutions like yours, allowing you to focus your ABM efforts on those showing high intent. 👉🏾 Don't forget to make it a personalized experience. Use AI-powered platforms like Persado or Phrasee to tailor your messaging to individual accounts and show a deep understanding of their needs. 👉🏾 Finally, measure what matters. Track metrics that align with your goals, not just vanity metrics. Tools like Google Analytics or Bizible can help you measure the true impact of your ABM and demand gen efforts. 👉🏾 And most importantly, find someone to challenge your thinking. A colleague, a mentor, even a (kind!) competitor. Someone who asks: ✔️Why are we targeting this account? ✔️Will this content truly resonate? ✔️Does this campaign align with our overall strategy? Break free from autopilot, be intentional, and be strategic. Then, watch your ABM and demand generation results grow. What tools or strategies do you use to focus on the "why" behind your marketing? #b2bmarketing #marketingstrategy

You attract better customers when your message has direction. Most companies rush into campaigns without doing the one thing that matters most: Defining their positioning. Before you talk to the market, you must know what you stand for — your promise, your value, and the exact space you occupy. Because positioning is the compass. It guides your messaging, branding, and every touchpoint your customer sees. It answers the fundamental questions: • Why do we exist? • What value do we bring? • Who exactly is this for? Without that clarity, every campaign becomes guesswork. With it, every message carries purpose and lands with the right people. When your positioning and value proposition are sharp, your entire growth engine aligns: Marketing, branding, advertising, even sales conversations. Even leading ABM frameworks make one thing clear: Account-Based Marketing begins with a tight ICP and strong positioning. That’s what maximizes relevance and eliminates wasted spend. So before your next marketing push, pause. Write down your positioning and your ICP on paper. A Simple 5-Step Framework to Strengthen Your Positioning 1. Define Your Core Promise → State the outcome you deliver in one clean sentence. 2. Identify Your ICP → Industry, size, challenges, budgets, buying triggers to go precise. 3. Clarify Your UVP →Why you win over alternatives example : faster, better, safer or smarter. 4. Map Your Differentiators → List the 3 things you do uniquely well. 5. Craft Your Positioning Statement → Who you help, what problem you solve, how you solve it and why you’re the best choice. This one exercise determines whether your marketing connects… or completely misses. Agree?

I used to hate not knowing where our next client would come from. So we started launching these creative ABM campaigns every quarter. The aim was simple: Sign more ideal clients. And that’s exactly what happened. Within the first few months, those campaigns got us in the room with brands we’d never been able to reach before. New markets. Big logos. And most of all, great clients. Now we launch one every 6 weeks and follow this 3-step process every time ⤵️ 1/ We made a list of our DREAM clients There are 2 tiers to this list: Tier 1: Major Global Brands These are brands that we know might be a tad out of our reach, but we still shoot our shot. Tier 2: High Chance Brands Brands we know there’s a high probability we’ll sign if we pitch them. We split our efforts 60/40. 60% targeting the global brand. 40% adapting campaigns for our wider ICP. —— 2/ Map Out Creative Campaigns We’ll then brainstorm campaign ideas where we can: A) Add value to them B) Get their attention A great example of this is our Monzo campaign that went viral on LinkedIn… 🏦 Monzo - Created a full Monzo UK campaign strategy - Explained it on a custom-built landing page - Created fake paper wallets with QR code to page on - Mailed them to Monzo HQ in wax-sealed envelopes Value: they received a fully mapped out creative ABM campaign strategy including forecasted impact Attention: It was delivered in wax sealed black envelopes inside paper wallets —— 3/ Use Multiple Channels To Distribute There is no “Silver bullet” marketing channel. They all work. But they also work much better if you use them cohesively. What often doesn’t work is: Day 1: Cold email Day 2: Cold email Day 3: Cold email What does is: Day 1: Cold email Day 2: Get sent a physical letter Day 3: LinkedIn DM Day 4: Cold email (NOTE: this is just an example) You want to increase touch points and use multiple channels. —— It’s very easy to get caught up in the technicalities and intricacies of marketing. But we’ve been able to sign dream clients and have a consistent flow of new customers by going back to the fundamentals. Step 1: Deeply understand your ICP Step 2: Find creative ways to get in front of them Repeat that cycle and you’ll never worry about new customers again.