Decoding ABM on LinkedIn with Justin Rowe

ABM has become increasingly popular over the years, with 70% of marketers now having an active account-based marketing program in place. 

However, if you want your ABM strategy to bring fruitful results, you must go beyond a singular channel. You must approach your target accounts from all angles – especially LinkedIn.

We spoke to Justin Rowe, the founder of Impactable, to understand how you can use LinkedIn for ABM. Justin launched Impactable in 2021, and it’s now the biggest LinkedIn ad agency in the US, providing various LinkedIn services to over 200 enterprises worldwide.

TL;DR:

• LinkedIn is valuable for ABM due to precise targeting options and the high intent of B2B professionals.
• Strategies differ for enterprises vs. early-stage companies, with a focus on combining channels for smaller LTV products.
• Use a "surround sound" ABM strategy with varied retargeting layers to maintain engagement.
• LinkedIn should be integrated with other channels like programmatic ads for a comprehensive ABM approach.
• LinkedIn is evolving by shifting focus to influencer marketing and enhanced targeting beyond cookies.

Without further ado, let’s dive in 🏊

Why LinkedIn Ads for ABM?

Most marketers might dismiss using LinkedIn for ABM since it’s primarily a job search platform where users just want to interact with their colleagues and peers. However, it’s a treasure trove of opportunities for B2B marketers.

Here are 2 main reasons why LinkedIn is the ideal platform for ABM:

Precise Targeting

LinkedIn offers detailed targeting options based on location, job roles, company size, and interests. You can use filters to focus on specific accounts and decision-makers, as opposed to platforms like Meta, where you end up advertising to a much broader audience. 

You can also use a third-party platform to create a target account list and leverage LinkedIn's native filters to ensure your targeting remains accurate over time, adapting to changes within targeted companies.

High Intent Buyers

LinkedIn attracts B2B professionals seeking business insights and industry updates, and this holds especially true for decision-makers. They don’t view LinkedIn as a typical social media platform for entertainment; it’s their source to learn new things and make buying decisions. Justin put it best when he said:

“I honestly think LinkedIn is one of those few platforms where B2B decision-makers purposely log on with the intent or desire to be influenced on buying decisions.” 

LinkedIn ABM for Enterprises vs. Early-Stage Companies

Many companies have begun considering running LinkedIn ads as a part of their ABM strategy. However, what works for large enterprises with $50K LTV will not work for smaller companies with an average LTV of less than $5K. 

LinkedIn as a standalone channel might be less effective for lower LTV products (e.g., less than $5,000), but it can still be used in combination with other channels. Combining Google paid search with LinkedIn retargeting can be effective for lower LTV products, as it allows for qualification and retargeting of high-fit traffic.

Here’s Justin’s advice based on his own experience while working at his startup:

“We’d leverage Google paid search, and then we would retarget and qualify that traffic with LinkedIn retargeting. We would try to get top of the funnel in an array of ways: SEO, paid search, and organic content.

Then, we would leverage LinkedIn retargeting as the main retargeting lever. I believe the main reason it worked is that LinkedIn is the only platform that natively lets you qualify all of your website traffic and just retarget the good fit traffic, unlike Meta and programmatic ads.”

On the other hand, mid-market and enterprise companies often fail to focus on retargeting and instead continually upload smaller lists with only the highest-value prospects. Since LinkedIn has a cap of 300 contacts, we recommend uploading a company list where you can retarget your ads to a larger audience. 

For instance, if you upload a list of 200-300 companies, you can spend a minimal amount of roughly 20-30$ a day and display your ads to 2000-3000 people. 

The “Surround Sound” ABM Strategy 

When you’re running a retargeting campaign, you wouldn’t want to repeatedly show the same type of ads over and over again. You need to mix things up and focus on intensity rather than repetition. You can do this by adding different retargeting layers with different ad formats, similar to how a surround sound system works. 

Here’s an example of how you can implement it ⬇️

Begin with setting up a cold ad campaign with a 60-second video, then retarget based on how much of that video they watched. For instance, if your prospects watch more than 50 percent of any of the videos in this campaign, you can retarget them with a separate campaign with videos that are 2 minutes or so. Once you see they’re highly engaged; you can redirect them into another campaign with a stronger CTA or a lead gen form. 

This approach can work for mid-market or smaller companies but may be more commonly used for higher ACV deals. Using this strategy allows you to maintain brand presence and increase engagement over time, wherein you can also adjust the intensity of ads based on prospect actions. 

You can use different ad copy and formats to execute this strategy, but we recommend using this opportunity to build trust and credibility by showcasing G2 badges, case studies, and customer testimonials. 

LinkedIn + Other Channels for ABM 

It’s important to note that LinkedIn ads never work in silos. While LinkedIn is great for the middle-of-the-funnel stage, you need to include other channels in your ABM strategy in tandem with LinkedIn ads. Including programmatic ads in the mix is a great way to increase your credibility and brand awareness. 

You can run these ads across high-value websites like Forbes and Entrepreneur.com to get organic traffic and remain top of mind. With a robust ecosystem that includes search and programmatic ads, you can set up the pixel to monitor your web traffic for 30 days and launch a retargeting campaign on LinkedIn directly instead of initiating cold campaigns. 

💡Also read: Pixel vs Account-based LinkedIn Retargeting

The best way to go about this is to use search and programmatic ads to make an initial impact and build awareness of your product and the problem you're solving, get them into the website, then use LinkedIn to retarget, use more credibility and trust actually to sustain that interest and convert into leads or pipelines.

💡Find out how you can build better LinkedIn Retargeting Audiences with Factors

LinkedIn Predictions: 2024 and Beyond

LinkedIn was once just a job search platform but is now one of the best marketing channels for B2B companies. Here are a few predictions on how LinkedIn will make changes to the platform to further refine B2B marketing: 

1. Rise of Influencer Marketing and Thought Leadership Ads

LinkedIn is rapidly gaining momentum as a creator+first channel. With a massive rise in the number of thought leaders and decision-makers on the platform, LinkedIn has introduced “thought leadership ads.” Now, CMOs and CEOs can leverage their LinkedIn presence and run ads while providing valuable insights to their audience.

2. Enhanced Targeting Capabilities Beyond Cookies

LinkedIn is making advancements in targeting capabilities independent of cookies. With these changes, you can retarget based on ad and company page interactions instead of website cookies.So when you have a single image ad and send traffic to the website, they don't have to land on your website and get hit by the cookie. For that to work for that person to be retargetable, LinkedIn now registers anyone who clicks on your ad. And you can retarget just based on that without the cookie coming into play.Wrapping UpLinkedIn ads are the cherry on top of your ABM strategy; it can be the ideal revenue generator when executed correctly. However, it’s also critical to have a data-driven approach instead of a spray-and-pray approach when launching LinkedIn ads. Speak to our team today to truly understand your LinkedIn ROI. 

Check out Justin Rowe on LinkedIn or visit Impactable to learn more about the nuances of LinkedIn advertising.