Organic LinkedIn ABM Campaigns with Bhardwaj Giridhar

In our previous live, we discussed using LinkedIn Ads for ABM, but can you also get positive results organically? Of course! In fact, you can generate 90 leads in 90 days without spending a single penny 👀

We spoke to Bhardwaj Giridhar, founder of Inbox Pirates, who explained how you can use LinkedIn organically for your ABM campaigns. 

TL;DR:

• LinkedIn is an excellent channel for ABM, but make sure it can bring results for your specific niche and industry.
• The 3 pillars of organic LinkedIn ABM are: conducting cold outreach, hosting webinars, and engaging with people’s content.
• Focus on building your personal profile reach to get maximum ROI from organic ABM. 
• Businesses that want to start building a presence on LinkedIn should focus more on creating value-driven content rather than targeted outreach. 

Let’s dive in 🏊

What does Organic ABM Entail?

Before you begin with organic ABM on LinkedIn, you must ensure that LinkedIn is the right platform for your business. While SaaS companies can benefit from using LinkedIn for organic ABM, the same cannot be said for other industries like catering. 

Here’s why Bhardwaj believes LinkedIn is the ideal ABM platform:

“LinkedIn is a great platform for ABM as opposed to anything else, mainly because you get relevant data about your buyers and you can approach them more easily than other platforms. Beyond sales, you can also post content and interact with others meaningfully.” 

Here’s his breakdown of how he executes organic ABM for his business:

1. LinkedIn Cold Outreach

You can use LinkedIn sales navigator to create a targeted list and reach out to your ICP by sending an invitation note with your connection request. But it’s important to not “pitch slap” them. As Bhardwaj says:“Nobody wants to be sold all the time. It needs to seem natural. It's like meeting someone in person. You just don't go ahead and ask for their phone number. You have a conversation, mention an interest, and then it converts into something beautiful. So social selling is an important aspect of doing organic ABM, by all means.‍So you just have to mention that you're just making yourself heard, and this is what we do. This is what we're able to do. That's, that's always a better narrative.”Here are a few cold outreach tips by Bhardwaj:

1. Make sure they are active on LinkedIn
2. Create a list of relevant people based on industry, job titles, and location
3. Include a connection note without any intention to pitch
4. Educate your prospect without sounding salesy
5. Send in helpful content assets before the pitch
6. Leverage other cold outreach channels as well (e.g., Email)
7. Follow up 8-12 times at spaced-out intervals (it’s okay to reach out after 3 months, too)

2. Meaningful Engagement

Engage with their posts meaningfully by liking and commenting regularly (without using AI 👀).

You can set a target of engaging with 20 posts per day by researching and sharing relevant insights in comments. This becomes a foundation for further conversations where you can talk business and introduce your products/services. 

3. Host Online Events

You can also invite industry experts and host webinars/ LinkedIn lives. Many people believe that webinars have a lower conversion rate than PPC, SEO, etc., but it’s important to note that if someone attends an hour-long session you hosted, they have a higher intent to buy. 

Check out Bhardwaj explaining his tactics to target and invite high-quality attendees:

Should You Focus on Profile Growth or Company Growth?

It’s always advised to post from your own profile instead of the company page because the reach of the company page is far lesser. Sure, if you post through your company page, you can get a couple of website visits, but if you regularly post through your own profile, you can get up to 8-10 sales calls/per month. 

Here’s why Bhardwaj recommends focusing on personal profile growth:

“What you can do right now with a company page is conduct a webinar, post, comment, and invite people to like your company page from your personal profile. These are the only four actions you can do. The amount of actions that you can take from your personal profile is just a thousand times more than in terms of reach.”

Posting Strategies on LinkedIn

Many people set a target of having >10K LinkedIn followers and go on to post for the sake of increasing follower count. It is important to ask yourself here:

“Would I rather have a large following or build an audience interested in my product?” When you choose the latter, you open the doors to attracting qualified leads for your business instead of just improving on vanity metrics like comments and likes. 

For example, if you’re selling a software product to sales teams, first connect with SDRs and sales managers. Create content about their pain points, such as repeated follow-ups or note-taking during sales calls, and how they can overcome their problems with a CTA to DM you for further details. 

Here’s how Bhardwaj recommends you create your posting schedule:

Tips for Early-Stage Startups

We’ve been talking about founder-led marketing on LinkedIn, but what do you do if you're just starting on LinkedIn? Here’s what you need to know when building your brand as a founder on LinkedIn:

1. Optimize your profile by writing a clear headline and enabling creator mode
2. Don’t focus heavily on only connecting with your ICP in the beginning
3. Share some personal stories and milestones to show the human side of your company 
4. Launch mini lead magnets like templates or playbooks
5. Reach out to people with a greater following and request collaborations 

For people new to LinkedIn posting, the goal shouldn’t be targeting accounts or building lists. It should mainly focus on connecting with new people and providing value in their niche. 

Wrapping Up

ABM doesn’t always have to mean spending a ton on ads. You can also grow organically on LinkedIn and build meaningful relationships with your network. 

Check out Bhardwaj on LinkedIn and his work at Inbox Pirates. If you want to learn more about how you can boost your ABM efforts with account intelligence and analytics – speak to our team today.