If you’re tired of spray-and-pray marketing and want to actually get your message in front of the right companies, this guide is for you. Maybe you’re in B2B sales, or you run marketing at a small SaaS. Either way, you don’t have time (or budget) to waste on vague campaigns that don’t move the needle.
Account based marketing (ABM) sounds fancy, but at its core, it’s about focusing your outreach on a tight group of companies—ones you actually want as customers. The catch? Doing it right takes more than a spreadsheet and a Mailchimp blast.
This guide will walk you through creating a targeted ABM campaign using Magicallygenius, a tool that claims to make ABM a lot less painful. Here’s how to cut the fluff and actually get results.
Step 1: Get Clear on Who You Want to Target
Before you even open Magicallygenius, do this. ABM only works if you’re picky. Not every company is worth your time.
- Start with your best customers. Look at your existing clients. What do they have in common? Industry, company size, tech stack, geography?
- Build an ideal customer profile (ICP). Don’t overcomplicate it. Three to five key traits is enough. If you need a template, try:
- Industry: e.g., SaaS companies
- Size: 100–500 employees
- Pain point: Struggling with managing remote teams
Pro Tip: Don’t chase whales if you’ve never sold to them. Target companies similar to your current wins first.
Step 2: Create Your Target Account List
This is where most ABM campaigns fall apart. If your list is junk, your campaign will flop—no matter how slick your messaging is.
- Pull your list from reliable sources. LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, even old-fashioned research. Magicallygenius can help automate some of this, but you still need to sense-check the list.
- Upload your list into Magicallygenius. The platform accepts CSVs, or you can connect your CRM directly if you trust the integration.
- Clean up duplicates and junk. Look for mismatched data, missing emails, or companies outside your ICP. Don’t let garbage in.
What to ignore: Don’t rely on generic “recommended accounts” from any tool. They’re rarely aligned with your actual ICP.
Step 3: Map Out Decision Makers and Influencers
ABM isn’t just about companies—it’s about the people inside them who’ll actually care.
- Use Magicallygenius’s enrichment tools to identify relevant contacts at each company—think buyers, champions, and blockers.
- Don’t just grab the CEO’s email. Get a few contacts per account: someone who feels the pain, someone who controls the budget, and someone who could say no.
Honest take: Automated enrichment is helpful, but always double-check against LinkedIn. Tools get titles and roles wrong more often than you’d think.
Step 4: Segment and Prioritize Your Accounts
Not all accounts are equal. Some are “must-wins,” some are nice-to-haves.
- Tag and score accounts in Magicallygenius based on fit and potential value.
- Break your list into tiers. For example:
- Tier 1: Top 10 dream clients
- Tier 2: Good fits, but not “must-have”
- Tier 3: Long shots or low-value
Focus your best effort (and resources) on Tier 1. It’s better to do a great job with a handful of accounts than a mediocre job with a hundred.
Step 5: Build Hyper-Relevant Messaging
This is where most generic campaigns fall flat. Your emails, ads, and LinkedIn messages should sound like you did your homework—because you did.
- Use Magicallygenius’s personalization tools to pull in company news, recent product launches, or shared connections.
- Write like a human. No one wants to read “We help innovative companies leverage solutions to drive synergy.” Be direct: “Saw your team just rolled out remote onboarding. We help SaaS orgs avoid the usual chaos that follows—here’s how.”
- Test your messaging. Don’t guess—send a few test emails to yourself and your team. Would you reply? If not, fix it.
Skip the fluff: Automated “AI-powered” personalization often spits out cringey, off-topic lines. Edit before you send.
Step 6: Choose Your Channels and Outreach Sequence
Don’t spread yourself too thin. Pick a couple of channels you can actually manage.
- Email: Still king for B2B. Magicallygenius lets you set up multi-step email sequences, but don’t make them obnoxious. 3–4 emails per contact, max.
- LinkedIn: Great for connection requests and follow-ups. Just don’t send a pitch in your first message.
- Ads: If you have budget, Magicallygenius can sync your list with LinkedIn or Facebook for targeted ads. These can warm up accounts, but they rarely close deals on their own.
Real talk: Phone calls still work for some industries but can backfire if you don’t have a warm intro or context.
Step 7: Launch Your Campaign and Monitor Results
Time to hit send. But don’t just walk away—ABM is about tight feedback loops.
- Use Magicallygenius’s dashboard to track opens, replies, meetings booked, and pipeline generated.
- Watch for real engagement, not just opens. If people are clicking links or replying—even to say “not interested”—that’s a signal.
- Pause and adjust. If your campaign is falling flat after 2–3 weeks, don’t double down. Change your list, rewrite your messaging, or switch up your outreach.
What doesn’t work: Blindly following the “recommended” sequence length or number of touches. You know your audience better than an algorithm.
Step 8: Hand Off to Sales (Without Dropping the Ball)
If your campaign is working, someone’s going to ask for a demo or more info. Make sure there’s a clear process.
- Sync Magicallygenius with your CRM so your sales team sees everything—emails, replies, notes.
- Set up alerts or notifications for hot leads so no one falls through the cracks.
- Debrief regularly. What’s working? What’s not? Share feedback between marketing and sales.
Pro Tip: The fastest way to ruin ABM momentum is for sales to follow up with a generic pitch. Make sure they know what messaging resonated.
Step 9: Learn, Tweak, Repeat
The best ABM campaigns get better over time. Don’t treat this as a one-off project.
- Review your results honestly. Which accounts moved down the funnel? Which never replied? Why?
- Update your ICP and target list as you learn more about who bites and who ignores you.
- A/B test new messaging and sequences. Magicallygenius lets you run variants—just don’t test so many things at once that you can’t tell what worked.
Ignore the hype: There’s no “set it and forget it” in ABM, no matter what the vendors say.
Wrapping Up
Account based marketing isn’t magic, and no tool—including Magicallygenius—will do the thinking for you. The good news is, if you keep your target list tight, your messaging real, and your process simple, you’ll see better results than 99% of marketers chasing the latest fad.
Start small, pay attention, and tweak as you go. The fancy dashboards and AI bells and whistles are nice, but the basics—right accounts, right message, right people—still win.