Account-based marketing (ABM) continues to grow in popularity because it’s one of the easiest and most effective strategies for B2B companies. 84% of businesses agree that ABM offers a higher ROI than any other form of marketing.
That’s because ABM allows businesses to target and reach the right kinds of customers from the beginning. Instead of just casting a wide net, sales and marketing collaborate and take the time to identify what their ideal customer profile (ICP) looks like, and create a target account list.
Getting started with ABM can feel like a huge undertaking, but using the right tools can make it easier. And LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities are one of the best tools available for ABM.
Once the foundations of ABM are in place, it will be much easier to create a successful LinkedIn campaign. Having your target account list and ICP set up will massively improve the results of your B2B LinkedIn marketing strategy.
5 Steps to Build Your B2B LinkedIn Marketing Strategy
For anyone interested in giving ABM a try, LinkedIn is going to be one of your most useful tools. Here are five ways you can take advantage of LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities for your next ABM campaign.
1. Come up with a list of target accounts
The first place to start is making sure you have your list of target accounts. A target account list is much more specific than any other type of 'persona'; it starts with the profile of companies you should be going after..
From there, you can build a list of high-fit companies that match that set of firmographic or technographic 'fit' criteria. It is a crucial first step in your LinkedIn marketing strategy.
Once you have your target accounts, LinkedIn allows you to import this list and use it in your advertising campaign. LinkedIn will match the information you provide with similar accounts on the platform, and you can begin targeting these companies through paid advertising.
2. Define your target audience
If you aren't working with a specific target account list, you will at least want to work with the filter of your ideal profile. LinkedIn will match the information you provide, but the results they give you are still going to be pretty broad. For that reason, you’re going to want to narrow your target audience down even further.
Here are some of the factors you’ll want to target for:
- Geographic location
- Company size
- Company revenue
- Job title
- Job seniority
For instance, if you’re targeting a certain type of company, you probably want to reach decision-makers within that company. So when you’re choosing the job titles you want to focus on, you might want to select Manager, Director, and Vice President.
3. Choose the ad format for your campaign
LinkedIn gives you a lot of options when it comes to your ad format. The format you choose will depend on the type of audience you want to engage. Here is an overview of the different types of ad formats you can choose:
- Sponsored content: Sponsored content involves promoting a blog post your company wrote or a presentation you did. Sponsored content ads are one of the easiest ways to get started with LinkedIn advertising. It’s also one of the best ways to engage your prospects.
- Text ad: A text ad is exactly what it sounds like -- it’s all text, so there are no images to draw your prospects in. These types of ads are easy and less expensive to get started with.
- Dynamic ads: Dynamic ads are personalized ads that are generated based on your prospect’s LinkedIn activity. This is a great way to create a personalized advertising campaign, and you’ll likely have a higher response rate.
- Video ads: Video is one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. For that reason, LinkedIn video ads may be a good choice as well.
- InMail: And finally, you can utilize LinkedIn InMail to contact your prospects directly. If you know your audience and have the right CTA in your message, InMail messages can be highly effective.
4. Continue to test and track your ads
Getting results from LinkedIn marketing won’t happen overnight, and it’s going to take a lot of testing to see what works. You’ll want to continue to A/B test your ads and see which versions are performing the best.
And tracking the ad’s engagement will help you determine if there are additional people you should be targeting within each account. You can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to see what target accounts are engaging with your ad.
This will show you which accounts are engaging with your ads, and which ones aren’t. It can also help you identify new opportunities that you might have otherwise overlooked.
5. Leverage retargeting campaigns
One of the best ways to make your company stand out is by leveraging retargeting campaigns. Retargeting campaigns allow you to create personalized content for prospects that have already engaged with your brand. It enables you to engage with your prospects at every point in the buyer journey.
The most common type of retargeting campaign is advertising to individuals that have already visited your website. You do this by placing the LinkedIn Insight Tag on your website. This is a piece of code that tracks everyone who visits your site.
Then you’ll place a JavaScript code onto every page of your website. From there, you can select a matched audience and create your retargeting campaign.
Next Steps
Most business professionals are already using LinkedIn to network and share their knowledge with other industry leaders. That makes it the perfect tool for your next ABM campaign.
Before setting up your B2B LinkedIn marketing strategy, make sure you have all the ABM elements in place. This includes things like your target account list and ICP. Having these foundational elements in place will make your next LinkedIn campaign much more effective.
If you don’t have either of these elements in place, RollWorks can help. You can utilize our ABM platform to build your target account list and measure the effectiveness of your next ABM campaign.
