How to Run an Account-Based Advertising Campaign: LinkedIn, Display, and Retargeting
Account-based advertising means showing targeted ads to the specific accounts you’re trying to close.
Traditional digital advertising casts a wide net: “show this ad to all marketers, age 25-45, interested in SaaS.” Hoping someone clicks.
Account-based advertising is precise: “show this ad to the 50 people at Acme Corp who are VP Sales, Sales Manager, or Sales Ops.” You’re targeting specific people at specific companies.
This precision reduces wasted spend and increases conversion. Instead of reaching 1,000 people to get 10 interested prospects, you reach 50 people and get 8 interested prospects.
This guide walks you through planning, setting up, and measuring account-based advertising campaigns.
Why Account-Based Advertising Works
Three reasons:
1. Precision targeting reduces waste - Traditional ads: 1,000 impressions, $500 spend, 10 qualified leads = $50 cost per lead - ABM ads: 50 impressions, $50 spend, 8 qualified leads = $6.25 cost per lead
2. Personalized messaging increases response - Generic ad: “Improve sales efficiency” appeals to no one specifically - Targeted ad: “Close 20% faster with better forecasting” appeals to sales ops teams - Response rate: 2-3x higher for personalized messaging
3. Orchestration amplifies message - A single LinkedIn ad = noise - A LinkedIn ad + email + content + follow-up call = signal - Coordinated multi-touch improves response rate dramatically
Step 1: Choose Your Advertising Channel
Option 1: LinkedIn Account-Based Ads (Best for B2B)
What it does: - You provide a list of companies or contacts - LinkedIn shows your ads to those people - You only pay when they click (CPC) or engage
Cost: $5-15 per click typically
Best for: - B2B SaaS - Complex buying committees (multiple stakeholders) - Long sales cycles (6+ weeks) - Decision-makers as target audience
Limitations: - Limited budget reach (only LinkedIn users at target companies) - Expensive per impression - Competitive (CPC rising)
Setup: - LinkedIn Campaign Manager - Minimum spend: Usually $5,000/month to get meaningful impressions - Best with: Partner with LinkedIn account manager (waived minimums sometimes)
Option 2: Display Network Retargeting (Good for Awareness)
What it does: - Shows banner ads on websites across Google Display Network - Targets people who visited your website or fit a specific audience - Remarketing: “We saw you, here’s a reminder”
Cost: $2-5 per click
Best for: - People who already engaged with you (visited website, opened email) - Building frequency (reaching someone multiple times) - Longer funnel plays
Limitations: - Requires pixel on your website - Ad fatigue (seeing same ad too many times) - Lower conversion rates than LinkedIn
Setup: - Google Ads + Google Display Network - Minimum spend: Usually $500-1,000/month - Works with: Audience lists from CRM or website
Option 3: Intent-Based Advertising Platforms (Most Precise)
What it does: - Combine account targeting with intent signals - “Show ads to companies searching for ‘sales engagement platform’” - “Retarget companies with high propensity to buy”
Platforms: - 6sense - Demandbase - Terminus (ABM platform with ads) - Ironpaper (intent + ads)
Cost: $20K-100K/month typical
Best for: - Companies with larger budgets (mid-market+) - Sophisticated ABM programs (30+ account list) - Combining purchase intent with account targeting
Limitations: - Expensive - Requires strong ABM program (not just ads) - Complexity (more setup, more tuning)
Recommendation
Start with LinkedIn ads if you have: - 20+ target accounts - $5K-10K/month budget - Decision-maker audience
Start with display retargeting if you have: - Website traffic (500+ visitors/month) - Small budget ($500-2K/month) - Existing customer or website visitor audience
Step 2: Build Your Account List
This is critical. Bad list = bad results.
List Building Checklist
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Define your target accounts - Use your Target Account List (TAL) from ABM planning - Start with 20-50 accounts for first campaign - Quality over quantity
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Enrich company data - Ensure company names are correct and match LinkedIn/Google data - Get company URLs - Get headquarters location - Identify HQ vs. branch office (you want HQ location)
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Identify target contacts - Who are the decision-makers at each account? - Job titles: VP Sales, VP Marketing, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, etc. - Seniority level (Director+, avoid coordinators) - Get contact email addresses or LinkedIn profile URLs
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Create lists in your ads platform - LinkedIn: Upload to “Matched Audiences” (contact emails or company list) - Google: Create custom intent audiences - Confirm upload matches companies correctly
Example account list structure:
Company | HQ Location | Target Job Title | Contact Name | Contact Email | LinkedIn Profile
Acme | San Francisco | VP Sales | John Smith | john@acme.com | linkedin.com/in/...
Beta | New York | Sales Director | Jane Doe | jane@beta.com | linkedin.com/in/...
XYZ | Chicago | VP Marketing | Bob Lee | bob@xyz.com | linkedin.com/in/...
Step 3: Create Targeted Ad Creative
Your ad needs to speak directly to your target account and buyer.
Ad Messaging Framework
Typical mistake: Generic value prop ad - “Increase sales efficiency with our platform” - Speaks to everyone, means nothing to someone specific
Better: Account and role-specific messaging - “VP Sales at Series B SaaS companies: Close 30% faster with better forecasting. Join 200+ companies.” - Specific to who is seeing it
Best: Account-specific messaging - “Acme Corp: Reduce sales cycle from 4 months to 2.5 months with better deal visibility. See how [Customer Similar to Acme] did it.” - Specific to the account (includes company name or implied)
Creative Variations to Test
Create 3-4 variations per campaign:
Variation 1: Problem-focused - Headline: “Is your sales cycle too long?” - Body: “Close deals faster. See how.” - CTA: “Watch case study”
Variation 2: Outcome-focused - Headline: “20% faster closes” - Body: “That’s what [Customer Name] achieved. You can too.” - CTA: “See how”
Variation 3: Social proof-focused - Headline: “Trusted by 500+ B2B companies” - Body: “Join leading SaaS and FinTech companies closing deals faster.” - CTA: “Request demo”
Variation 4: Specific use-case-focused - Headline: “For VP Sales at Series A & B SaaS” - Body: “Build processes that scale without adding headcount.” - CTA: “Learn more”
Ad Design Best Practices
LinkedIn ads: - Use square (1:1) or horizontal (1200x628) image - Clean, simple image (not cluttered) - Contrasting colors (text readable on any background) - Include your logo - Font should be large and readable even at small size
Display ads: - Standard sizes: 300x250, 728x90, 160x600 - Simple design, clear headline - One CTA button - Strong contrast
Retargeting ads: - Remind, don’t repeat (if they’ve seen 5x already, show different message) - Frequency cap: Max 3x per day per person - Rotate creative every 2 weeks
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See the demo →Step 4: Set Up Campaign Structure
Organize campaigns for trackability and optimization.
Campaign Structure
Campaign level: Channel + account segment + goal - Example: “LinkedIn - Tier 1 Accounts - Webinar Reg”
Ad group level: Persona + message - Example: “VP Sales - Efficiency”
Ads level: Specific creative variations - Example: “Ad 1 - Problem angle”, “Ad 2 - Outcome angle”
Landing pages: Match message in ad - Ad says “See case study” -> Landing page is case study, not homepage
Budget Allocation
Per campaign: - Start: $500-1,000/week per campaign - Scale: Increase 20-30% if converting well - Kill: Pause if no conversions after 1,000 impressions
Across campaigns: - 40% budget to top-performing account tier (Tier 1) - 35% to secondary tier (Tier 2) - 25% to testing new creative or segments
Monthly budget example: - Total: $10,000/month - LinkedIn Tier 1: $4,000 - LinkedIn Tier 2: $3,500 - LinkedIn Tier 3: $2,500
Step 5: Configure Tracking and Measurement
You can’t optimize what you don’t measure.
What to Track
At ad level: - Impressions (how many people saw it?) - Clicks (how many people engaged?) - Click-through rate (CTR) = Clicks / Impressions - Cost per click (CPC)
At account level (more important): - How many people from each target account clicked? - Did they visit your website? - Did they engage with subsequent content? - Did they become a lead? - Did the account progress in pipeline?
At campaign level: - Total spend and ROAS (return on ad spend) - Cost per lead - Cost per qualified lead - Cost per opportunity - Influenced pipeline ($)
Implementation
Step 1: UTM parameters on all ad links
Base URL: https://yoursite.com/webinar
With UTM: https://yoursite.com/webinar?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=tier1_2026q2
Step 2: Pixel on your website - LinkedIn Insight Tag (LinkedIn) - Google Conversion Tracking (Google Ads) - Facebook Pixel (if using Facebook) - Segment or Mixpanel (for deeper tracking)
Step 3: Account mapping in CRM - When someone clicks your ad, capture the account they work at - Log in CRM as touchpoint - Track account engagement score
Step 4: Monthly reporting - Ads performance dashboard - Attributed pipeline and revenue - Cost per opportunity and cost per deal
Step 6: Execute and Optimize
Launch your first campaign. Run for 3-4 weeks minimum before optimizing.
Launch Checklist
- [ ] Account list finalized and uploaded
- [ ] 3-4 ad variations created and approved
- [ ] Landing page ready and matches message
- [ ] UTM parameters set correctly
- [ ] Pixel installed and firing
- [ ] CRM is set up to track account engagement
- [ ] Budget allocated and approved
- [ ] Campaign scheduled to go live
Weekly Optimization
Week 1: Monitor daily - Are clicks coming in? (If not in 48 hours, diagnose: bad targeting? bad creative? bad landing page?) - What’s CTR? (Industry avg: 0.5-2% for LinkedIn) - What’s CPC? (Industry avg: $5-15 for LinkedIn)
Week 2-3: Optimize mid-flight - Kill underperforming ads (pause if CTR < 0.3%) - Increase budget on winners - Pause audiences not converting (if one job title converts, others don’t) - Refine targeting if too narrow or too broad
Week 4: Evaluate full picture - Which account tiers converted best? - Which personas engaged most? - Which creative performed best? - What was cost per qualified lead? - Calculate ROAS (revenue influenced / spend)
After Campaign (Month 2+)
Measure true impact: - Which accounts became opportunities? - Which accounts moved forward in pipeline? - Did ad-exposed accounts have faster sales cycles? - What was revenue influenced (not just leads)?
Example post-campaign analysis:
Campaign: LinkedIn Tier 1 Q2
Spend: $4,000
Clicks: 120
Cost per click: $33
Leads generated: 8
Cost per lead: $500
Qualified leads (ICP fit): 6
Cost per qualified lead: $667
Opportunities created: 2
Cost per opportunity: $2,000
Deals closed (attributed): 1
Cost per customer: $4,000
Influenced pipeline: $500K
ROAS: 125:1 ($500K influenced / $4K spend)
This is a winning campaign. Scale it.
Common Account-Based Advertising Mistakes
Mistake 1: Targeting too broad - LinkedIn targeting: “VP Sales, US, SaaS” - That’s 50,000+ people - You get generic responses, no account specificity
Fix: Target your 20-50 specific accounts by company name, not job title.
Mistake 2: Wrong landing page - Ad says “See ROI calculator” - Landing page is homepage - 80% bounce rate
Fix: Ad message = landing page message. One to one.
Mistake 3: Not coordinating with outreach - You’re running ads to Acme Corp - Sales doesn’t know, doesn’t mention the ad in email - Account sees ad and email but no connection - Signal is diluted
Fix: Coordinate. AE mentions: “Saw you may have visited our site. Let’s talk about [pain point].”
Mistake 4: Setting budget too low - You run LinkedIn ads with $200/month budget - Only reach 5,000 impressions, 0 clicks - Declare ABM advertising doesn’t work
Fix: Minimum budget: $2,000/month for meaningful scale.
Mistake 5: Not running long enough - You launch campaign Monday - By Thursday, no conversions - You pause it - You didn’t give it time
Fix: Run minimum 2-3 weeks, 1,000+ impressions before judging.
FAQ: Account-Based Advertising
Q: What’s a good cost per click for LinkedIn ABM ads? A: $8-15. If higher, your targeting is too broad or your creative isn’t resonating. If lower, you might be targeting too narrow or low-intent audience.
Q: Should we use LinkedIn matched audiences or LinkedIn intent audiences? A: Start with matched audiences (upload your account list). Intent audiences come later if you have budget for more advanced segmentation.
Q: How many impressions do we need to see a conversion? A: For ABM accounts, you might get conversions on 50-100 impressions total. For broader awareness, you need 1,000+ impressions to see patterns.
Q: Can we run ABM ads to existing customers? A: Yes, for upsell or expansion campaigns. Different campaign, different messaging. Message: “Add team members” not “get started.”
Q: What’s the difference between ABM ads and retargeting? A: ABM ads target specific accounts (even if they haven’t visited you). Retargeting targets people who already visited you. Both useful, different goals.
Q: How do we measure if ads influenced a deal? A: Track: 1) Which accounts saw ads 2) Which accounts entered pipeline 3) When did they enter (if before or after ad) 4) What’s the deal size? Account-level measurement, not individual-level.
Next Steps
- This week: Finalize your target account list and enrich company/contact data.
- Next week: Create 3-4 ad variations and landing pages.
- Week 3: Set up LinkedIn Campaign Manager or Google Ads account, configure tracking.
- Week 4: Launch campaign with 2-3 week minimum test period.
- Week 5: Review performance, optimize underperforming ads.
- Week 6: Measure account-level impact and ROI.
Account-based advertising is precise, measurable, and scalable. Start small, measure everything, scale what works.
