Hey ,

It’s an open secret that most B2B companies struggle to get good results from their LinkedIn ABM strategy.

Generally, here's what they think LinkedIn lead gen looks like: 

• Send 500-1000 spammy inmails - get 1-5 meetings booked.
• Display ads routing to a landing page - get 1 demo request.

And of course, this can be frustrating. 

So, in today’s newsletter, we took it upon ourselves to share with you some proven tactics that can help you improve your LinkedIn ABM results.

Before we dive into it, here is a listing from our job board that might interest you or someone around you.

TRENCHES JOB BOARD

COMPLIANCEPOINT IS HIRING A CONTENT MARKETING MANAGER

Job responsibilities:

• Facilitate ongoing content planning and manage day-to-day content creation;
• Coordinate with subject matter experts, freelance writers, graphic designers, and internal team members to create, edit, and review all content to ensure consistent messaging and branding;
• Build and execute an effective editorial calendar by staying up to date with customer challenges and the latest industry news and trends

Learn more about the job and apply here.

Now, let's get to the meat of the matter.

How do most B2B companies do ABM on LinkedIn? 

Generally, they create a huge list of accounts purely and solely based on firmographic data (descriptive attributes that are used to segment target accounts: the niche, the size, the structure and status, the number of customers, the geographic location, and the likes.)

Then they start warming up these accounts with gated content (ebooks, whitepapers, templates, webinars, checklists, etc.) with the aim of getting additional information that will be passed to the sales team. 

But let’s face it. More often than not, these contacts have no buying intent. 

If somebody downloads an ebook or signs up for a webinar about a given topic, the only thing it says is that they’re interested in learning more about that specific topic. Not that they are ready to buy. 

So, your #1 goal should be to make sure that you deliver your promises.

Put in another way, you should make sure your content is worth it. It should be as insightful as you said it is. It should serve the purpose of educating the person who downloaded it. Because at the end of the day, giving away value-packed content is one of the surefire ways to showcase your expertise and create demand.

How to do ABM on LinkedIn instead?

The strategy we use to generate tremendous results on LinkedIn is the 20/80 framework. 

Experimentation works, GRANTED. But if you are in a “Less traffic, More qualified prospects” type of scheme, then you should consider spending 80% of your time on 20% of activities that generate 80% of results. 

Here are those: 

1. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: share content that demonstrates you have expertise in a given domain, field, or topic.

Why:

- Generating demand for your product.

- Proving niche expertise.

- Position yourself as a trusted advisor.

- Nurturing target accounts.

2. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 on other niche experts posts

Why:

- Create awareness & attract attention.

- Show your expertise.

- Repurpose comments into posts.

3. 𝐀𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭.

Why: Seep p.1

4. 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 (𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦).

Why:  

- Regular appear in the newsfeed of the target accounts.

- Build a strong brand & a real relationship with the target audience.

- Generate and capture the demand.

- Educate & nurture the target market

5. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬.

Why:

- A higher acceptance rate

- Opportunity to build a real relationship

6. 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬.

Why:

- Stay top of their mind & nurture the audience.

- Capture demand.

7. 𝐀𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬/𝐁𝐎𝐅𝐔 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬.

Why:

- Generate demand.

- Generate inbound opportunities.

8. 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡.

Why:

- Higher response rate.

- Opportunity to get customer insights and see if there is a fit.

- Build a relationship.

- Capture the demand and generate a sales opportunity.

RECAP 

We leveraged the 80/20 framework to grow Fullfunnel.io, and so can you

Here is how.

1. Define 20% of market segments that generate 80% of revenue and adapt your marketing to these segments. 

This includes: 

- leveraging the channels where the buyers from these segments hang out and run research

- tailoring your marketing message & content to resonate with the needs and goals of these segments

2. Not all customers were created equal. 

Spend 80% of your time serving your best and learning from 20% of customers who generate 3x-4x more than your ACV. 

Leverage the insights from customer interviews to refine your marketing and sales.

3. Not all prospects are created equal. 

Spend 80% of the time marketing to a few Tier 1 accounts with highly-personalized campaigns (ABM) that can drastically increase your revenue while focusing on demand gen to nurture 80% of your market and create awareness and demand.

4. Spend 80% of your time on 20% of activities that generate 80% of results. 

Define leading indicators and the timeline for an experiment, then spend no more than 20% of your time, budget, and resources (team members) on it. When it gets traction, add it to your core marketing plan.

5. 20% of channels and demand gen campaigns generate 80% of results.

Instead of blindly following the GareeVee framework and trying to do everything and be everywhere, double down on a few channels and activities where you leverage the compound interest.

6. You don't need more content. You need less, but higher quality content that showcases your expertise and covers in detail the questions your target audience is genuinely interested in.

For high ACV B2B, keyword volume is useless. Instead, focus on a few hot questions and challenges that bother your target buyers and cover them in-depth to create demand for your product.

E.g. instead of writing one more article on "What is ABM", focus on detailed and practical ABM case studies.

Less traffic, but more qualified prospects.

7. 20% of partnerships will drive 80% of results. 

Few smaller partners might be more engaged than bigger clients that don't really care about the partnership.

Too long, so you didn’t read? Here are the main takeaways:

1. You don't need more marketing activities, you need a few of them that actually drive pipeline.
2. You don't need more marketers, you need fewer but more skilled people who can generate revenue.
3. You don't need more leads, you need more clients and revenue.

80/20 is everywhere. If we leverage that same strategy to grow Fullfunnel.io, then you can too.

NOTE: This webinar has been condensed and edited for clarity. You can watch the full webinar here.

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Adechina D. Odjo,

Content Editor @Trenches