Best of LinkedIn: Account-based Marketing CW 22/ 23

00:00:00: Provided by Thomas Olguyer and Frenis, based on the most relevant posts on LinkedIn about account-based marketing in CW-twenty two and twenty three.

00:00:08: Frenus is a B to D market research company working with enterprises to optimize their campaigns with research grade account profiling an insights.

00:00:17: you can find more info.

00:00:18: description

00:00:19: Welcome to the deep dive we are.

00:00:21: We're really thrilled.

00:00:22: you're here with us because today.

00:00:23: We are going to unpack The absolute top ABM trends, we've seen across LinkedIn over the past two weeks.

00:00:30: Yeah and our mission for you Today is to basically cut through all the fluff right?

00:00:34: We wanted to distill the latest insights into three core themes.

00:00:37: So we're looking at strategy in focus data and targeting And finally AI and automation.

00:00:42: Exactly, because you know when most people think about outbound marketing they tend to picture this massive net being thrown into the open ocean.

00:00:49: You drag it blindly through water, haul back up and just sort of hope that you caught more actual fish than like old boots in seaweed.

00:00:56: Right!

00:00:56: It's a classic volume game – you have to widen ed count catch…and justify your budget.

00:01:01: Yeah, and it feels highly productive strictly because the net is heavy.

00:01:05: It's totally but I mean when you step into the world of complex B to B sales in twenty-twenty six that massive net becomes a complete liability The accounts are looking for.

00:01:15: they aren't swimming in giant schools near the surface waiting To be scooped up.

00:01:19: no not at all.

00:01:20: its an environment That demands you just put away the net entirely And start spearfishing In the dark.

00:01:25: which brings us to our first theme right?

00:01:28: strategy & focus.

00:01:30: We're seeing the end of The Volume Playbook.

00:01:32: Yeah, the absolute death of it and specifically...the Death Of The Traditional MQL, the Marketing Qualified

00:01:38: Lead.

00:01:39: Yes Alejandro A Alcacer T recently pointed this out And he had some pretty brutal framing for it.

00:01:46: He argued that operating sales and marketing as separate silos, which just chase MQLs is well the most expensive financial mistake of a decade.

00:01:53: A most expensive mistake?

00:01:55: And you know we really need to look exactly why the MQL model fails so spectacularly at the enterprise level.

00:02:01: Right because the whole premise for an MQL it's fundamentally flawed isn't

00:02:05: It is!

00:02:08: Downloading a white paper or attending a webinar is this definitive buying signal, but an enterprise software purchase.

00:02:15: Is it consensus decision?

00:02:17: One mid-level manager reading and ebook does not equate to one hundred thousand dollar budget allocation.

00:02:23: Yeah And Melissa workin thin shared a brilliant diagnostic for this exact problem.

00:02:28: She noted that if you walk into a boardroom and the executive dashboard still revolves around MQL volume.

00:02:34: That company doesn't actually have an ABM strategy.

00:02:37: What do they have instead?

00:02:38: where she called it lead gen with expensive intent data.

00:02:41: Oh,

00:02:41: wow!

00:02:42: Yeah that is such a common trap.

00:02:43: teams buy this really expensive software to track buyer intent but they just bolted on their old volume-based machine.

00:02:50: Right because changing the softwares easy But change in underlying models is actually hard work.

00:02:54: Exactly and Petrus Trotsinas echoed this dynamic too.

00:02:58: He noted we constantly see BtoB tech companies failing Because try apply broad consumer level btc marketing tactics.

00:03:05: complex enterprise buyers.

00:03:06: You can't market a half million dollar cybersecurity platform the same way.

00:03:12: you'd market like direct-to-consumer sneakers.

00:03:14: No,

00:03:14: The mechanics are entirely different which is why Jen's Oliverius frames this so beautifully.

00:03:20: he said ABM Is not just a tactic it's a commercial operating model.

00:03:24: It shifts the entire conversation from volume to relevance

00:03:28: and the upside there is massive.

00:03:30: I mean Matias Lino highlighted that Companies with aligned sales and marketing see a two hundred eight percent increase in revenue.

00:03:37: It's not hype, it's just pure focus.

00:03:39: Two hundred and eight percent that is a structural advantage!

00:03:42: It really is.

00:03:43: but let me push back on this for a second.

00:03:46: what does this focus actually look like?

00:03:47: On the ground.

00:03:48: because isn't modern ABM Just sending a cold email With a hyper personalized first line about someone's latest LinkedIn post?

00:03:55: I am so glad you brought That up Because that Is where The industry is deeply confused.

00:03:59: Tala F shut that down completely, saying congrats on the funding isn't an ADM strategy.

00:04:04: It's

00:04:04: just a personalized opener.

00:04:06: Exactly!

00:04:07: Real ABMs start long before email.

00:04:10: Tala says it starts with hypothesis like we believe this account has problem because of this specific trigger.

00:04:16: Oh right not just hey I saw your post but proving you understand their actual operational pain.

00:04:23: Spot on!

00:04:24: And Dave Gerhart and Snowflake's Casey Patterson added to this, they pointed out that true focus means working backwards from your sales team's actual bandwidth not your total addressable market.

00:04:36: So wait let us do the math of it.

00:04:37: If a true target account requires custom collateral or deep committee mapping A sales rep can physically only manage What?

00:04:45: A handful of accounts at a time.

00:04:46: Exactly!

00:04:47: If your reps can only handle fifteen accounts-a-quarter, you're marketing target list shouldn't be ten thousand companies wide.

00:04:53: You let sales bandwidth dictate the list size.

00:04:55: Okay but that brings up massive downstream challenge.

00:04:58: if you are restricting your lists that severely Your data has to be flawless and you cannot execute high level ABM on broken data.

00:05:05: Seamless transition is a theme too...you absolutely right..You CANNOT build skyscraper on a swamp.

00:05:10: Right, and this perfectly sets up a concept Alak Mishra shared called the Rifle Test.

00:05:15: Oh!

00:05:15: The rifle

00:05:16: test?

00:05:16: Yeah.

00:05:16: So he explains that if a startup says their target is hospitals with two hundred plus beds That's a census not a Target...the rifle test asks Can you name your first ten target accounts by Name?

00:05:29: If You can't..you need to stop marketing And start researching.

00:05:32: I love that, and that connects directly to what Adam Kay was saying about ideal customer profiles or ICPs.

00:05:37: He points out that relying on basic demographic data like SaaS, two hundred employees, Series B is deeply flawed-.

00:05:44: Is it just a structural reality not abiding trigger?

00:05:47: Exactly!

00:05:47: Adam's insight is that true targeting relies on specific business signals.

00:05:51: Like does their website have a demo request form That indicates the sales led motion?

00:05:55: Or uh... Have they grown headcount by twenty percent in last year?

00:06:04: He argues that marketing is playing poker, not chess.

00:06:25: poker not chess.

00:06:27: That's

00:06:27: brilliant!

00:06:28: Yeah, he says it is magical thinking to assume we have god-like omnations that perfectly map all nine point four members.

00:06:35: So how do we build relevance if were playing with hidden cards?

00:06:38: Well,

00:06:39: you acknowledge that you don't have omissions and play the odds.

00:06:41: You use tiering in signals.

00:06:43: Geistetal broke down a great framework for this.

00:06:46: Oh!

00:06:46: How does his tiering work?

00:06:47: Tier one accounts to perfect fit With full signals.

00:06:50: they get white glove One-to-one manual plays But tier three counts.

00:06:54: They just get automated volume.

00:06:55: Ah

00:06:56: okay so you dont need know every hidden card.

00:06:58: Just align your budget And your manual effort The best intense signal you actually have

00:07:03: Precisely.

00:07:04: Which brings us to the final piece of the puzzle, theme three AI and automation.

00:07:09: Now that we have a focus strategy in a tiered list how are the best teams deploying AI right now?

00:07:15: Yes

00:07:15: scaling intelligence versus scaling noise.

00:07:18: And We Have To Start With A Massive Warning From Orla Murphy & Debjit Seng Here.

00:07:22: DebjIT noted That ninety percent Of BDB Marketers Use AI But Orla warned That AI Won't Drive A Successful ABM Program On It's Own

00:07:31: Right, because if your underlying data is broken AI just scales a bad list faster.

00:07:36: It accelerates the garbage in-garbage out cycle

00:07:39: totally but when applied to the right lists AI genuinely revolutionizes the workflow.

00:07:44: I mean, we saw major product updates this week.

00:07:47: Andrew Riesenfeld and Blaine Browning both posted about Zoom info running natively inside OpenAI Codex.

00:07:53: Oh

00:07:53: that is huge for go-to market teams!

00:07:55: Teams can map committees find signals and score pipeline directly in their workspace using verified data.

00:08:01: And then Blake Davidson announced Warmley's new API and MCP.

00:08:05: For Claude code

00:08:06: The model context bird call, the velocity that adds is staggering.

00:08:09: Right.

00:08:09: Blake says teams can build custom scripts now like pinging an account executive in Slack.

00:08:14: at the exact moment a target account visits a pricing page twice.

00:08:17: Real-time pipeline velocity.

00:08:18: and Johnny Brancic and Fibos Resti were breaking down how to use cloud code and AI agents for that last mile of workflow.

00:08:25: Yeah, what do they suggest

00:08:26: for that?

00:08:26: Well Johnny outlined seven specific AI agents That can kill eighty percent of repetitive sales work like sourcing buying signals and routing LinkedIn replies.

00:08:37: It doesn't fire SDRs it empowers them!

00:08:39: It

00:08:40: lets them focus on actual human relationship building.

00:08:43: But you know Bridget Winston brought up a point I want you to reflect On.

00:08:46: she asked if everyone has these same AI Agents volume stops being in competitive moat.

00:08:53: If Everyone is loud at scale How do you actually win?

00:08:56: That is the defining question of twenty-twenty six.

00:08:59: and Umprakash Krupan delivered a mic drop answer.

00:09:02: He argues AI has actually made top of funnel outbound worse

00:09:05: because everyone just sounds the exact same.

00:09:07: now

00:09:07: exactly The real edge in twenty-two six.

00:09:10: Is midfunnel deal health?

00:09:12: Omprakash says the best teams use AI to ingest every sales call recording, webinar Q&A and email thread to catch stalled deals early.

00:09:19: Wow!

00:09:19: And define hidden stakeholders that never made it into CRM?

00:09:22: Right, AI is useless for contextual human judgment but its an absolute superpower finding repeatable patterns in your pipeline.

00:09:29: So you stop screaming at top of funnel...and start listening better mid-funnel.

00:09:33: That's incredible.

00:09:34: If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:09:38: Also check out our other editions on account-based marketing field marketing channel and partner marketing.

00:09:43: AI in B to be more tech.

00:09:44: go to market and social selling.

00:09:46: And just before we sign off, I do want to leave you with one final highly provocative thought to mull over.

00:09:53: Building on insights from Ari Oster and Char A., We've spent this entire deep dive talking about how you can use AI to target buyers.

00:10:01: but remember your buyers are now using AI agents like ChatGPT To silently research and build their vendor shortlist Before even know they're in the market.

00:10:10: Oh wow That flips a whole script

00:10:12: It really does.

00:10:13: As we move from account-based marketing to agent based marketing, ask yourself is your brand educating the algorithms or are you only

00:10:29: talking?