Complete guide to LinkedIn ads: ad types, set-up, CRO, CRMs, tips, and more

Years ago —  when they were a much smaller company — digital marketing agency Directive found themselves with a dilemma. They were nearing the end of contract with their gifting platform, but hadn’t used all of their account credits. They had thousands of dollars worth of gift cards to use within a week with no possibility of rolling over.

As enticing as the idea of a giant order of office candy and new laptops for the whole team was, a team member proposed a solution that would serve clients instead. She said, “What if we offered a gift card to prospects as a motivation to take an intro call with us?”

Fast forward 18 months, and Directive had held intro calls to 68% of 10,000 targeted accounts and generated 15 million dollars of revenue. The play? They simply offered prospects the promise of a $100 gift card in exchange for thirty minutes of their time.

Within 18 months, the gift card incentive had generated 15 million dollars of revenue.

The tactic was such a phenomenal success that Directive began to use it in their client's strategies. Clients loved it so much that Directive launched a specialized LinkedIn-only agency, Abe (hey that’s us!) Now we’re here to tell you how you can use gift cards as a way to unlock LinkedIn as a revenue channel.

What are incentives in marketing?

In marketing, an incentive is used to encourage a behavior that wouldn’t have been done otherwise. They’re not a new phenomenon, though their application in LinkedIn advertising is. By 1995, the Harvard Business Review was reporting that customer rewards in marketing had already been around for “at least a decade” and cited airline frequent flyer programs as an example.

Most marketers are familiar with incentives as a way of building customer loyalty in a traditional business model (think hotel room reward collection programs or collecting points on a fast food chain app), but are less familiar with how they apply to the B2B world. And that makes sense.

When you’re selling to representatives at companies instead of to individuals, getting ROI on traditional marketing tactics like incentives gets complicated to the point where it almost seems not worth it. But unlocking digital is imperative for B2B marketers who want to grow in their careers. And gift card campaigns are your fastest way to unlock LinkedIn as a channel specifically. B2B customers are not making a personal purchase, but if you play your cards (get it?) right, you can use a personal incentive to get yourself in front of somebody with buying power within your target companies.

Unlocking digital is imperative for B2B marketers who want to grow in their careers. Gift card incentives are the fastest way to do that.

The psychology behind incentives

Humans are governed by incentives, where they are found to be especially effective in western, individualistic cultures. In general incentives come in two flavors:

• Intrinsic incentives, where somebody is motivated to act a certain way for their own personal satisfaction without any kind of external reward. An example of this could be a singer who is practicing for hours to sound better for their own enjoyment (and possibly unintentionally for their neighbor’s).
• Extrinsic incentives, where somebody is motivated to act a certain way because of external rewards or pressures. This could look like ruminative (financial) rewards, verbal praise, or moral recognition.|
  

Arguments against marketing incentives

The first is that, when somebody is offered too many extrinsic rewards, their intrinsic motivation decreases. In order to maintain momentum, constant incentives have to be provided. This can lead to overjustification or a transactional mindset with prospects who will expect a direct reward.

We’d counterpoint this by saying gift card incentives uniquely well-positioned for B2B marketing, as you have an opportunity to build off of extrinsic incentives (gift card) and intrinsic incentives (if your prospects brings on a great software or service, they will get a better performance review).

The second is that gift card incentives cheapen a company’s brand image and can come off as bribery.

Your gift card is not your value prop. Your value prop is what you do, who you do it for, and the outcomes you accomplish.The gift card is simply a way of manufacturing intent. In order to win, you still need to have a stellar product and/or service.

Your gift card is not your value prop. Your value prop is what you do, who you do it for, and the outcomes you accomplish.

Also, when you promptly deliver the gift card after the meeting, it’s a great way of building trust with your customers. You said you were going to do something and you did it.

How to use incentives in LinkedIn advertising

1. Build your TAM

Before launching your campaign, especially if you want to move upmarket, you need to understand your ideal customers. And we don’t mean in an abstract, marketing persona kind of way. We mean you need to understand the literal names, job titles, and company names of your ideal customers. 

To build your Total Addressable Market (TAM), you can use a tool like ChatGPT to run a regression analysis to identify the firmographic criteria of your most successful customers. A list as small as 100 customers can show statistical significance. You can build your Total Addressable Market by pulling a list of companies that match this profile from ZoomInfo.  

2. Set up lead routing

To set yourself up for a successful, no-hassle campaign, you will need to make sure your inbound flow is well-organized and that lead routing is properly set up. Make sure LinkedIn is connected to both a calendar booking technology (like Calendly or Chilipiper) and to your CRM.

At this point, you should also decide who on your sales team will handle these leads. Larger orgs might have a choice between SDRs and AEs, in which case we highly recommend the leads get routed to AEs. Incentivized leads usually perform better when handled by experienced sales pros (more on that in a bit).

3. Choose a gifting platform

Though you can buy gift cards yourself and have your sales team send them out manually, many clients will prefer to set up an automated gift card flow with an incentives platform that will also integrate with your CRM and other marketing tools. Whatever you do, sort this out before launching your campaign.

4. Train your sales team

There is a learning curve when selling to incentivized prospects. We recommend that sales team treat incentivized leads like outbound prospects. Even if they filled out the form it doesn’t necessarily mean they were looking for a solution.

This means the first call should focus on discovery, not pitch. Reps should aim to qualify the lead using frameworks like BANT and understand the problem before presenting a solution. The job of the sales rep is to make the interaction valuable beyond just the gift card.

Equip your AEs with a shared call deck, and train them to ask impactful questions like, “What made you feel like this was important enough to take time out of your day?” Review calls across reps to find what works and replicate those approaches. Always end by scheduling the next step.

5. Choose your ad type

We mostly run gift card incentives through conversation ads, which function like automated outbound SDR messages. But sponsored content is also a great investment, especially if your brand awareness is low or you want to warm up an audience. Using both in tandem will get you the most bang for your buck.

6. Choose (and test!) your offer

Different incentives will work on different audiences. You know your audience best. Scroll down to the common offer type section of this article to see which offers we've tested.

7. Adjust ad spend

When adjusting your ad spend, it’s important to understand how Convo Ads differ across platforms. On Google Ads, you're competing with other advertisers targeting the same keywords. However, on LinkedIn, competition is based on audience targeting (i.e., anyone advertising to the same audience is in the auction).

Although recommended bids for Convo Ads on LinkedIn are often just cents, investing more can help you secure a top spot in the auction. To maximize results, aim to balance your spend between Convo Ads and Sponsored Content, ensuring broad reach while maintaining competitive placement.

8. Monitor performance

We do this for our clients on a daily basis, but if you're running this solo you'll want to make sure you have some kind of communication channel with your teammates. Looker Studio works well for many teams.

9. Set up sequences

Not everyone will book a call immediately after receiving an incentive. You can give them more chances to convert by sending follow-up emails. On CRMs like Hubspot these can be automated as "sequences". You can include promotional materials — like hype videos of case studies — in your follow-ups to add legitimacy to your brand.

Examples of LinkedIn incentives

We talk a lot about our LinkedIn “gift card incentive”, but gift cards aren’t the only incentive that you can use. Gift cards just make good incentives because of their versatility and universal appeal. You know your audience best. Different ICPs might be drawn to different incentives. We’ve also experimented with: 

Airpods

Airpods out-perform gift cards for some ICPs. Prospects haven’t outwardly verbalized it, but we would guess that this is because airpods are fundamentally useful even if the prospect already owns a pair, as they’re commonly lost or getting worn out. 

Airtags

Airtags are useful, but they’re not exactly fun to shop for. They aren’t cheap, either. Some ICPs will be drawn towards a practical, nice-to-have incentive like Airtags, since that will be one less thing on their list to buy. 

Bespoke services

Depending on your business, you might have luck offering a free template, report, or audit. Just make sure you include an honest assessment of the value of the service.

Charitable donations

Charitable donations tend to appeal to more mission-aligned or impact-driven ICPs. These work best when the donation is meaningful in amount and aligned with a cause that resonates with your audience. Be specific about the charity and the contribution amount to make the gesture feel real and personal.

Free trials

SaaS companies might have some luck offering a free trial as an incentive, but it has to be an abnormal offer (i.e., customers can’t always have the option to have a free trial on your website at any time). A limited-time extended trial or a “VIP” version of the trial can help it feel more like a real gift and less like a default.

Product discounts

Nothing wrong with trying out a classic discount or percentage-off code. The key is to frame it as a limited-time or exclusive offer, rather than a perpetual sale. Discounts tend to work better when they’re paired with a clear CTA or bundled into a broader incentive strategy.

LinkedIn gift card incentive: frequently asked questions

Is there an industry that the gift cards won't work in?

In short….no.

When we do marketing, everything we ask for from our prospects is an exchange of value. When you give someone the option to use their email in a form, they are assuming that you are going to offer them something of value in exchange for them giving you this.

Gift cards lower the psychological friction that a prospect feels when booking a call with you.

Different ICPs may respond better to different types of incentives, so do some testing. Some industries, like healthcare and cybersecurity, might have regulations around accepting rewards and gifts from vendors, so look into that before you run an ad. But that’s the only industry-related limitation that we’ve come across.

How much should my gift card value be?

In our real-world application, we haven’t seen much luck with gift cards under $100, and we see the sweet spot to especially be between $105 and $130. Anecdotally, we’ve heard some founders have luck with smaller quantities around $50.  Your prospects might need a larger amount to feel incentivized.

What job titles should I target for the gift card incentive? 

In our tests, we've seen the most luck with director, VP, and C-Suite titles. We find manager titles underperform.

What makes LinkedIn a good platform for running gift card incentives?

LinkedIn is a strong platform for running gift card incentives because it offers precise firmographic targeting—something that search-based digital ads lack. While search ads allow you to capture intent, they don’t give you control over critical attributes like job title, industry, or company size. LinkedIn does.

How do I write good copy for my incentive campaign?

We recommend copy that's conversational. We've seen better success with an empty subject line than any subject line. Mention the incentive in your hook, and again in the call to action. We generally use charm timing and charm pricing (like 29 min vs 30 and $105 vs $100).

Can I run a LinkedIn incentive campaign towards a cold audience?

You can and you should! Ideally, your audience will be aware of your brand in passing, but they don't have to be deeply familiar. We recommend running Sponsored Ads in conjunction with your incentive ads to build that brand familiarity.

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LinkedIn advertising is daunting. It's almost too perfect of a platform. Billions of people are on LinkedIn and millions of them login daily, ready to ingest work-related materials. Can't say people who log into other social channels are exactly in that mindset!

But despite its popularity, LinkedIn advertising is misunderstood, leaving many to feel burned by the platform and/or avoid it completely. Here's how to find success.

What makes LinkedIn different?

We created Abe because we believe LinkedIn is the most valuable online advertising channel. As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of people on it, and they show up in a professional mindset. But LinkedIn also offers: 

• Dynamic targeting (instead of relying on a platform's innate targeting which, by nature, wants to get you to spend money) 
• A uniquely B2B audience (because pretty much every single person working in B2B is on there daily) 
• One of the few places online you can actually get the attention of decision-makers
• Simple set up between CRMs and LinkedIn (more on this later) 

Our internal benchmarks, shown below, show LinkedIn as the most cost-effective platform after only Bing, which doesn't offer the same audience relevance.

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Common LinkedIn ad objectives

Top of the Funnel / "Awareness"

This objective is perfect for all of your top of the funnel (TOFU) ad content. The objective of awareness content is to get your brand noticed by the right people. It’s to push yourself to the front of your prospects’ consciousness and show them what you know.

Awareness campaigns are usually impressions-based and designed to increase views, inspire engagement, and grow your LinkedIn audience. Ads that tell a personal story, talk about a trending topic that relates to your industry or aggravate a specific pain point are all powerful ways of driving awareness on LinkedIn.

Best ad formats for brand awareness:

• Text-based ads
• Single image ads
• Carousel ads
• Video ads

Middle of the Funnel / "Consideration"

Conversion ads exist to help you seal the deal. It's bottom of the funnel (BOFU) messaging. Here, your content and intent is based on persuading warm leads to invest in what you have to offer.

Use conversion ads when you want  people to sign up to your email newsletter, book a demo, register for your webinar, earn more subscribers or sell a particular service or product. You can also use conversion-based ads to attract the right applicants if you’re recruiting for a new job role.

Best ad formats…

• Document ads
• Job ads
• Text ads

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Bottom of the Funnel / "Conversion"

Conversion ads exist to help you seal the deal. It's bottom of the funnel (BOFU) messaging. Here, your content and intent is based on persuading warm leads to invest in what you have to offer.

Use conversion ads when you want  people to sign up to your email newsletter, book a demo, register for your webinar, earn more subscribers or sell a particular service or product. You can also use conversion-based ads to attract the right applicants if you’re recruiting for a new job role.

• Conversation ads
• Lead gen forms

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LinkedIn ad types explained

LinkedIn ads come in many shapes and sizes. At Abe we advise on all of them. The exact mix will always depend on business goals, advertising budget, and brand popularity. We advise on that too.

Here are ad types based on location: 

Ads that show up in the sidebar

LinkedIn text ads contain few visuals, save for a brand logo or other small image. They show up in the sidebar of a user's LinkedIn page on desktop only. You might hear them called "right rail ads". These ads work on a pay-per-click (PPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis and have a simple format:

• A short headline
• A concise description (the main body messaging)
• A hyperlink

These ads are ideal for targeting a precise audience when you’re promoting an email newsletter, an exclusive piece of content or an event (in-person or webinar, for instance).

Ads that show up in the user feed

Sponsored content shows up within the LinkedIn feed, the only thing differentiating them from organic social posts is a small "promoted" label in the top left hand corner.

These types of ads are perfect for promoting your brand in a way that’s non-sales-y, demonstrates your authority, and offers actual value to your prospects. There's no pressure, just good old fun.

You might think of feed ads as a static image, but they actually take many different shapes and forms: 

• Document ads
• Carousel ads
• Video ads
• Static image ads
• Thought leader ads

Ads that show up in the inbox

LinkedIn also gives you the option to slide into your prospects' DMs with targeted messaging about your brand, products or services. When use wisely, these are highly effective. Generally there are two types: 

Message ads

‍These ads look and feel like regular DMs. You can add external links and a CTA to these ads to encourage your recipient to take a specific action.

Conversation ads

This format is slightly more interactive (and has a little more pizazz) than a classic message ad. With a conversation ad, you can target users when they’re most active on the platform and spark an interaction. You can also add multiple CTAs to give your prospects a choice of potential actions to take based on your interactions.

Off-platform ads

Not everyone knows this so consider yourself the chosen few. You can actually use LinkedIn to run ads that show up before somebody streams a video on channels like YouTube, Hulu, Hoopla, and more. They're called CTV ads and they're unmatched for brand awareness, as humans are visual creatures.

How to create a LinkedIn ad campaign

💡Tip: You can only use one ad type per LinkedIn campaign. If you want to test different formats, you'll need separate campaigns, even if the goal and audience is the same.

1. Surf on over to LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager.

2. Set up and label a new Campaign Group.
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3. Within your Campaign Group, create a campaign. When selecting "Campaign", you'll be prompted to either use "Streamlined campaign creation" or "Classic".

In LinkedIn, a Campaign Group is for organizing ad initiatives. A Campaign is an initiative within the Campaign Group. An Ad is the single ad within the Campaign working towards this initiative.

💡Tip: At Abe, we usually use "Classic", but it's really a personal preference! 

4. (In Classic Mode), you'll be asked to name your Campaign and set your target audience.

💡Tip: Instead of relying on the list that LinkedIn auto-populates, we highly recommend that you use your own audience. At Abe, we build all of our customer's audience list by hand, verifying that each account we're targeting is actually a good fit.
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5  (Optional) If you use UTMs, you can enter them here.

6. Choose whether you'd like your ads placed on only LinkedIn, or also on LinkedIn Audience Network.

💡Tip: We typically don't recommend expanding reach beyond LinkedIn, but it will depend on the individual campaign or goals.
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7. Set your ad budget.

💡Tip: LinkedIn will recommend a minimum daily budget based on your audience size and campaign goals. However, we recommend setting your own budget based on financial modeling and expected ROI.
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8. Review, tweak, and hit the publishing button.

9. Track your results, analyze them (see the next paragraph), and iterate upon them! 

How to measure LinkedIn ads

You can see basic performance metrics in LinkedIn's Campaign Manager, but for more in-depth analysis you'll want to connect to your CRM.

For awareness campaigns:

Focus on Impressions, Reach, and Engagement Rate (likes, shares, comments divided by impressions).

These numbers tell you how visible your brand is and whether your content is actually resonating.

For consideration campaigns:

Prioritize Clicks, Click-Through Rate (CTR), and Landing Page Views (you’ll need the LinkedIn Insight Tag installed on your site to track this).

If you're using video, look at View Rate, Completion Rate, and Views at 50%/75%/100% to understand drop-off points.

For conversion campaigns:

Use Lead Gen Form Opens and Submissions (built directly into Campaign Manager).

Or, if you're sending traffic to your site, track Conversions, Cost Per Conversion, and Conversion Rate via the Insight Tag and your CRM/analytics tool.

How to connect LinkedIn with your CRM 

Hubspot

LinkedIn ads

1. Connect Your LinkedIn Ad Account to HubSpot
2. In HubSpot, go to Marketing > Ads.
3. Click "Connect Account" and choose LinkedIn. You’ll be prompted to log into your LinkedIn Ads account and grant permissions.
4. Select the ad accounts you want to link. Done.
5. Enable Auto-Tracking

Once connected, HubSpot automatically adds tracking parameters (UTMs) to your LinkedIn ads, so clicks are attributed to the right campaigns inside your CRM. Make sure auto-tracking is toggled ON for every campaign.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms

1. Go to Marketing > Ads > Lead syncing.
2. Under "Lead Syncing," enable sync for LinkedIn.

HubSpot will now automatically pull in any leads submitted through LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. These leads will show up as new contacts, complete with ad campaign metadata (ad name, form name, campaign, etc.).

Zoho

LinkedIn Ads

1. In Zoho Marketing Automation, go to Lead Generation and then LinkedIn Ads.
2. Click "Connect" and sign into your LinkedIn Ads account. Grant the necessary permissions.
3. Select the ad account you'd like to sync.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms

1. In Zoho Marketing Automation, go to Lead Generation and then Lead Forms.
2. Click "Manage Forms" and enable sync for LinkedIn.
3. Choose the form(s) you want to sync and map the fields to Zoho CRM.

Leads submitted through LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms will now flow into Zoho CRM automatically. 

Looking for Salesforce?

If you're using Salesforce as your CRM, you'll need a connector like Zapier to connect LinkedIn Ads and Lead Gen Forms with Salesforce. The platforms don't natively integrate.

How to A/B test on LinkedIn

If your ads aren't performing:

On LinkedIn, an ad that isn't performing typically has high impressions but low clicks or conversions. If this is happening to you, something’s likely off with the intent or mechanics of your ad. Try testing one of the following:

→ Audience
→ Offer

How to read your A/B test findings: 

If you test a new audience and your Click-Through-Rate (CTR) improves but conversions stay low, your offer might be the issue. Test that next.

If you test a new offer and conversions improve, you’re on the right track. The problem was in the value prop, not the targeting.

If your ads are under-performing: 

An underperforming ad on LinkedIn gets some impressions, clicks, and conversions, but in general is more expensive and less effective than LinkedIn benchmarks.

The good news is that if you are seeing some performance, there are small things you can test that take less of a lift than ads that aren't performing. You could test one of the following:
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→ Hook / headline
→ CTA
→ Creative
→ Audience segmentation

What you’re aiming for is a more efficient, less costly campaign. If none of these tweaks improve performance, it might be time to revisit your offer or audience targeting.

12 LinkedIn advertising tips from Abe

1. Don't use LinkedIn's built-in targeting. Instead, manually build and verify your own list (we promise it's worth it, we do it for every client at Abe)
2. Avoid sending users to external landing pages by taking advantage of LinkedIn's native Lead Gen Forms.
3.  Provide an incentive with your Conversation Ads. This gives prospects that extra push to show up for the initial meeting with your sales team, who can then work their magic!
4. Don't just rely on one ad type. Instead, focus on a mix of content that spans the entire funnel, weighted for your brand maturity.
5. Be honest with yourself about your brand awareness. When in doubt, invest in ad types that help foster your brand recognition.
6. Don't become over-reliant on industry targeting. This is self-reported on LinkedIn and can be inaccurate.
7. Be uniform with your brand creative. Your audience should be able to recognize an ad as yours upon first glance.
8. Use a number of personas that is relevant to your ad spend. If you're spending $20k or less per month, you can use one persona at a time.
9. Focus on building the symbiosis between your sales and marketing teams. The more they know about what each other is up to, the more they can work together to coordinate sales call techniques and ad language.
10. Refresh your list of target accounts on the regular to keep things fresh with your audience.
11. If you're sending leads to a landing page, iterate upon it and see if your changes improve performance. A/B testing doesn't stop at the ad!
12. Sync up your ad campaigns with your product roadmap. The best time to tell customers about new features is when they're hot off the press! 
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Abe is the top LinkedIn advertising consultancy

Abe was created with one vision in mind: to run the best possible LinkedIn ad campaigns for B2B companies. We've given you a lot of information here, but you're not in it alone. Book a call and we can chat about how we can turn your vision into measurable growth.

LinkedIn ABM marketing is the best way to target the enterprise accounts on your "most-wanted" list.

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Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has become a go-to strategy for B2B companies looking to drive revenue by focusing on high-value accounts. Instead of casting a wide net, ABM narrows the focus to the accounts that matter most—aligning marketing and sales for maximum impact.

What is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?

ABM is a highly targeted B2B marketing strategy that treats individual accounts as markets of one. It involves personalized campaigns tailored to specific companies, leveraging data and insights to engage decision-makers and accelerate deal velocity.

Unlike traditional marketing strategies that prioritize volume, ABM focuses on quality. The goal is to build meaningful relationships with high-value accounts, ensuring marketing and sales efforts are strategically aligned to drive revenue growth.

ABM vs. Conversation Ads

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and LinkedIn Conversation Ads both focus on targeted outreach, but they take different approaches. ABM is a long-game strategy — highly personalized, multi-channel, and built around nurturing key accounts with tailored content and engagement. It’s about precision and relationship-building at scale.

Conversation Ads, on the other hand, are a more immediate, interactive way to engage prospects in real time. They create a chat-like experience in LinkedIn’s messaging inbox, guiding users through a decision tree of responses. While ABM is about sustained influence across a buying committee, Conversation Ads offer a quick way to qualify leads and drive action.

Ideally, the two should work together. Conversation Ads can be a high-impact touchpoint within a larger ABM strategy, helping warm up decision-makers and drive engagement at key moments.

ABM specs

In contrast to other LinkedIn ad types, ABM (Account-Based Marketing) doesn't have the same specific technical requirements. However, audience targeting is crucial for ABM's success.

Tailoring your approach to high-value accounts and leveraging detailed segmentation is key. With Abe's TAM production process, we emphasize precise targeting — refining your ideal customer profile (ICP) and prioritizing key accounts based on factors like industry, company size, and specific pain points. This ensures you're investing resources in the most impactful segments, maximizing ROI and driving stronger engagement from your most promising prospects.

ABM + B2B = made for each other

B2B sales cycles are long and involve multiple decision-makers, making effective engagement crucial. ABM helps align marketing and sales teams to target the right people at the right time, which can shorten sales cycles and increase deal sizes. It is especially effective in industries like Enterprise SaaS, Financial Services, Cybersecurity, and Healthcare Tech, where personalized outreach drives results.

ABM works for B2B by fostering better sales and marketing alignment, with both teams focusing on the same high-value accounts. This leads to higher close rates and increased deal sizes as personalized engagement boosts conversion and targets high-value prospects.

Dos and Don'ts of ABM

Do align marketing and sales teams

ABM works best when everyone is on the same page. Get your marketing and sales teams to sync up, share data, and collaborate on strategy. It’s a partnership, not a competition.

Do personalize your outreach

Stop sending generic messages. Use data to speak directly to the challenges and needs of your target accounts. The more personalized, the better the results.

Do use data to inform your strategy

ABM isn’t a gut-feeling game. Use firmographic data, intent signals, and account activity to guide your strategy and targeting. The more insights you have, the sharper your aim.

Don't treat ABM like traditional demand gen

ABM is not just about generating leads. It’s about building deep relationships with your target accounts. Don’t think of it as “filling the funnel”—it’s about quality, not quantity.

Don't forget about existing accounts

Don’t just chase new logos. Account expansion is key. Upsell and cross-sell within your existing customer base to drive growth and deepen relationships.

Don't underestimate the power of multi-touch engagement

One email won’t cut it. Engage with your accounts across multiple channels and touchpoints — social, email, content, direct mail. The more consistent your outreach, the better your chances.

Abe's tactics for...ABM

1. Focus on defining and targeting your ideal customer profile (ICP) to the point where you're absolutely certain you know what they care about
2. Personalize all of your outreach to make it feel less "cookie cutter" 
3. Align marketing and sales teams to ensure shared commitment to the strategy from every angle
4. Use data to identify when target accounts are actively researching solutions and engage them at the right time
5. Engage with target accounts across multiple channels, not just LinkedIn!
6. Foster a culture of "first party data" into your business to reduce your reliance on third-party sources
7. Create value-driven content that speaks to your ICP's JTBD (you can use this both as a download incentive and as sales enablement) 
8. Segment your accounts based on how good of a fit they are for your brand, not based on how badly you want them as a customer
9. Involve all internal stakeholders in the KPI setting process so that you can all agree on what success looks like
10. Treat ABM as a relationship-building strategy, not just a lead generation approach
11. Optimize and iteration on a more frequent basis than you would with other ad types
12. Double, triple, and quadruple check copy — you never want to make the mistake of mentioning the wrong company name!
13. Nurture multiple stakeholders within an account, not just a single decision-maker
14. On that subject, be very sure about who your decision-maker is (it's not always who you think)
15. Be patient with ABM — it’s a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort and engagement to see significant results.

How to measure ABM peformance

Awareness KPIs

Awareness KPIs evaluate how well your ABM campaigns grab attention and establish brand recognition within your target accounts. A solid awareness strategy ensures that when prospects are ready to buy, they already know your brand and trust it. This leads to reduced acquisition costs and improved conversion rates as prospects move through the sales funnel.

Engagement KPIs

Engagement KPIs track how effectively your content keeps prospects interested and prompts them to interact with your brand. High engagement signals strong account interest and can lead to deeper connections, while poor engagement may suggest a need for refined targeting, messaging, or user experience.

• Scroll Depth
• Time on Page
• Bounce Rate
• Completion Rate

Lead Generation KPIs

Lead generation KPIs measure how well your ads are capturing high-intent prospects. A low Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) indicates cost-effective customer acquisition, while an increase in qualified leads and form submissions shows that your targeting and messaging are on point. Optimizing these KPIs ensures your ad spend is driving meaningful engagement with prospects who are more likely to convert into customers.

• Cost-Per-Lead (CPL)
• Qualified Leads
• Form Submissions

Conversion KPIs

Conversion KPIs assess how well your ads turn engaged prospects into customers. A high conversion rate reflects strong ad performance and audience alignment, while a low Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) indicates efficient spending. Assisted conversions reveal the importance of multiple touchpoints throughout the buyer's journey, showing how your ads contribute beyond just last-click attribution.

• Conversion Rate
• Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA)
• Assisted Conversions

How much does Account-Based Marketing (ABM) cost?

The cost of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can vary widely depending on factors like your target market, campaign scale, and the tools you use. For smaller businesses or highly targeted campaigns, ABM can cost between $5,000 and $25,000 per year. This typically includes advertising spend, content creation, and basic marketing automation tools. For mid-market companies, costs can range from $50,000 to $100,000 per year, with more advanced targeting, personalized content, and a more robust tech stack.

It's important to think of ABM in terms of Return-On-Investment (ROI). It's only worthwhile to spend a large amount of money on ABM if you can expect to get more in return.

ABM demystified

Ready to take your B2B marketing to the next level? Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is the game-changer you’ve been waiting for. At Abe, we specialize in turning targeted accounts into loyal customers with personalized, high-impact strategies. If you're looking to scale faster, build stronger relationships, and drive real revenue, let’s talk. Contact us today and discover how ABM can transform your business.

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