Account-Based Marketing on LinkedIn: A Complete Guide for SaaS Companies

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) flips traditional marketing on its head. Instead of casting a wide net, you pick exactly which companies you want as customers and focus all your energy on winning them.

LinkedIn is perfect for this. Here's how to do it right.

What Is ABM and Why Use It for SaaS?

Traditional marketing: Create content, run ads, see who responds, qualify leads.

ABM: Decide which companies you want, then do whatever it takes to win them.

This works especially well for SaaS companies when:

• Your product costs $10,000+ per year

• You have a defined ideal customer profile

• You're targeting mid-market or enterprise companies

• Deals involve multiple decision-makers

• Your sales cycle is 3+ months

If you're selling a $49/month tool to anyone with a credit card, ABM probably isn't for you.

Step 1: Build Your Target Account List

Start with 50-200 companies. Not 2,000. You need to be focused.

How to pick your target accounts:

Look at your best current customers. What do they have in common?

• Industry

• Company size

• Tech stack

• Growth stage

• Geographic location

Then find more companies that match that profile.

Use these tools:

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator (filter by company attributes)

• Your CRM data (look for patterns in closed deals)

• Industry databases (Crunchbase, Built In, etc.)

• Intent data providers (if you have budget)

Export this list. You'll need it for targeting.

Step 2: Identify the Decision-Makers

For each target company, you need to know who actually makes buying decisions.

For most SaaS products, you're looking for:

• The economic buyer (who controls the budget)

• The technical buyer (who evaluates the solution)

• The end users (who will actually use it)

In a 500-person SaaS company, that might be:

• VP of Sales (economic buyer)

• Sales Operations Manager (technical buyer)

• Sales Reps (end users)

Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find these people at your target accounts. Save them to a list.

Step 3: Create Company-Targeted Ad Campaigns

LinkedIn lets you target specific companies with Matched Audiences.

How to set it up:

1. Go to Campaign Manager → Audiences → Create Audience

2. Select "Company List"

3. Upload your list of target companies

4. LinkedIn will match them to company pages

Now you can show ads only to people who work at those exact companies.

Budget considerations:

With only 50-200 companies on your list, your audience is small. Budget accordingly:

• Minimum $1,000-2,000/month for ABM campaigns

• Higher bids to ensure delivery (you're competing for a small pool)

• Focus on frequency over reach

Step 4: Personalize Your Ad Creative

Generic ads don't work for ABM. You need to make it obvious you're talking directly to them.

Levels of personalization:

Industry-level (easiest): "SaaS CFOs: See how companies like yours cut month-end close time in half"

Company-size level: "For fast-growing Series B startups: Your finance team needs this"

Company-specific (most effective): Create custom ads mentioning the company name or referencing their specific situation.

"[Company Name] is scaling fast. Is your support team keeping up?"

Yes, this means creating multiple ad variations. That's ABM.

Step 5: Target Multiple Roles at the Same Company

Don't just target one person. You need to reach everyone involved in the buying decision.

Create separate campaigns for each role:

Campaign 1: Target VPs and Directors (economic buyers)

• Focus on ROI, business outcomes, strategic benefits

• "Increase revenue per customer by 35%"

Campaign 2: Target Managers (technical buyers)

• Focus on implementation, integration, ease of use

• "Integrates with your existing stack in under an hour"

Campaign 3: Target Individual Contributors (end users)

• Focus on day-to-day benefits, time savings

• "Stop wasting 10 hours a week on manual data entry"

All three groups see different messages tailored to what they care about.

Step 6: Layer in Retargeting

Someone from your target account visited your website? Hit them with retargeting ads immediately.

Retargeting strategy for ABM:

Create a custom retargeting campaign specifically for people from your target account list. Show them different messaging based on what they looked at:

• Visited pricing page? "See how [Company Type] saves with our pricing model"

• Watched a demo video? "Ready to try it yourself? Book a personalized demo"

• Read a case study? "See why [Similar Company] chose us"

This keeps you top of mind while they're evaluating solutions.

Step 7: Coordinate With Your Sales Team

ABM only works if marketing and sales are aligned.

What your sales team needs to know:

• Which accounts you're targeting (share your list)

• What messages you're showing them (share your ads)

• When someone engages (set up alerts)

• When to reach out (define the trigger points)

When someone from a target account clicks your ad, fills out a form, or visits your site multiple times, your sales team should know within hours.

Step 8: Track the Right Metrics

ABM metrics are different from regular campaign metrics.

Don't obsess over:

• Cost per click (your audience is small, CPCs will be high)

• Total leads (you're being selective, volume will be lower)

Do track:

• Percentage of target accounts engaged (aim for 60%+)

• Number of contacts engaged per account (need multiple)

• Pipeline created from target accounts

• Deal velocity (do ABM leads close faster?)

• Account penetration (reaching multiple roles?)

Common ABM Mistakes on LinkedIn

Mistake #1: List is too big If you have 1,000+ companies on your list, you're not really doing ABM. Narrow it down.

Mistake #2: Generic messaging If your ABM ads look like your regular ads, you're wasting money.

Mistake #3: No sales coordination Marketing runs ads, sales has no idea. Nobody follows up. Money wasted.

Mistake #4: Giving up too soon ABM takes 6-12 months to show real results. It's a long game.

Mistake #5: Only targeting one person You need to reach multiple stakeholders. One person rarely makes buying decisions alone.

The Bottom Line

ABM isn't for everyone. It requires more work, more coordination, and more patience than regular lead generation.

But when you're targeting high-value deals and specific companies, it's the most efficient way to use LinkedIn ads.

Pick your accounts carefully. Personalize your messaging. Coordinate with sales. Be patient.

Ready to launch your ABM campaign? Stirling can generate personalized ad variations for each target account segment, making ABM execution faster and more effective. Try it at TryStirling.com