# ABM Ads: The Complete Guide to Account-Based Marketing Ads on LinkedIn

> This guide covers everything I have learned about ABM ads on LinkedIn – both from running my own campaigns for 2+ years, and from analysing 211 companies ZenABM users with over 160k ads and $5.5 million in LinkedIn ad spend – as well as some consulting gigs.

Author: Emilia Korczynska
Published: 2026-02-12
Updated: 2026-02-12
Categories: Campaign Structure & Strategy
Source: https://zenabm.com/blog/abm-ads

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![ABM Ads: The Complete Guide to Account-Based Marketing Ads on LinkedIn cover](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/ABM-Ads-The-Complete-Guide-to-Account-Based-Marketing-Ads-on-LinkedIn.png)

This guide covers everything I have learned about ABM ads on LinkedIn – both from running my own campaigns for 2+ years, and from analysing 211 companies [**ZenABM users** ](/)with over 160k ads and $5.5 million in LinkedIn ad spend – as well as some consulting gigs. I’m covering which ABM ads  formats work, which ones drain your budget, how to structure your ABM ads campaigns, and the benchmarks you should be comparing against. All backed by real data – which we published in the [ZenABM 2026 LinkedIn ABM Performance Benchmarks Report earlier this year. ](/blog/linkedin-abm-performance-benchmarks-report-2026)

## Key Takeaways: What You Need to Know About ABM Ads

If you only have two minutes, here is what matters:

- **Thought Leader Ads are the best-performing ABM ad format** – 2.68% CTR, $3.06 CPC to landing page, 9.5 efficiency score. They deliver 4.3x more LP clicks per dollar than single image ads.
- **Video ads are the biggest budget drain** – 0.24% CTR, $15.61 CPC, 1.5 efficiency score. They get 31.72% of budget but should get 5-8%.
- **Top [ABM performers run](/blog/what-is-zenabm) fewer ads but spend more per ad** – 114 ads vs. 312 median. Quality over quantity wins.
- **Pipeline per dollar is the true north star metric** – not CTR, not CPC. Top performers actually have worse ad metrics (lower CTR, higher CPC) but 3x better pipeline efficiency.
- **Most companies have their budget allocation backwards** – TLAs should get 40-50% of budget. Right now they get 7-10%.
- **Impression capping is critical for ABM** – small audiences burn out fast. Without frequency management, you will waste budget showing ads 50+ times to the same people.

## Types of ABM Ads on LinkedIn: Every Format Ranked

LinkedIn offers **six ad formats.** Each one has a different role in an [ABM campaign](/blog/abm-strategy-types). I am going to rank them by their efficiency score – a composite metric that accounts for CTR, CPC, and overall cost-effectiveness from the [ZenABM benchmarks dataset](/blog/linkedin-abm-performance-benchmarks-report-2026).

### 1. Thought Leader Ads (TLAs) – The Star Performer

Thought Leader Ads are the single best ad format for [ABM on LinkedIn](/blog/how-do-linkedin-ads-work). The data is not even close. Here are the numbers: 2.68% CTR, $3.06 CPC to landing page, 9.5 efficiency score. That efficiency score is more than double the next best format. TLAs deliver 4.3x more landing page clicks per dollar compared to single image ads. Why do they work so well? Because they look like organic posts from real people. LinkedIn users engage with content from humans, not brands. When your CEO or head of marketing shares a story about a problem they solved, it does not feel like an ad. It feels like a post from someone in their network. From our analysis of top-performing TLAs:

- **65% use first-person “I” voice** – “I spent 6 months testing this…” beats “Our team discovered…” every time
- **75% place links in the bottom 25% of the text** – lead with the story, save the CTA for last
- **Personal narrative storytelling works best** – 45% of top performers use this approach
- **Problem-solution frameworks are second** – 30% of top TLAs follow this structure
- **Customer [success stories round out the top](/blog/real-world-examples-of-abm) three** – 15% of winning TLAs share client results

The irony is that TLAs currently get only 7-10% of the average [ABM budget](/blog/how-to-estimate-how-much-budget-you-will-need-for-your-abm-campaigns). That needs to be 40-50%. I have written a full breakdown in the [LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads Guide](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-ultimate-guide).

![ZenABM's top performing TLA examples](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/ZenABMs-top-performing-TLA-examples-scaled.png)

### 2. Single Image Ads – The Workhorse

Single image ads are the default [LinkedIn](/blog/how-to-analyze-linkedin-ads-with-claude-code) ad format, and for good reason. They are reliable, straightforward, and get the job done. The numbers: 0.42% CTR, $13.23 CPC, and they currently receive 61.87% of the average [ABM budget](/blog/abm-strategy-guide). That budget share is too high. Single image ads should get 30-35% – not because they are bad, but because TLAs and carousels deserve more of the pie. What separates winning single image ads from losers? Our analysis of top performers found clear patterns:

- **Specific offers (65%)** – “Download our 2026 [ABM playbook”](/blog/saas-abm-strategy) beats “Learn more about ABM
- **Strong CTAs (59%)** – Direct, action-oriented language
- **Real people in the creative (47%)** – Photos of actual team members or customers
- **Humor and memes (35%)** – Surprisingly effective for engagement, though not always for conversions

For a deeper dive, check out the [LinkedIn Single Image Ads Best Practices](/blog/linkedin-single-image-ads-best-practices-for-abm) guide.

### 3. Carousel Ads – The Hidden Gem

Carousel ads are underrated and underfunded. They get only 2.73% of the average [ABM budget](/blog/abm-marketing-strategy-guide), but they deserve 12-15%. The headline numbers – 0.32% CTR and $13.30 CPC – look similar to single image ads. But the engagement data tells a different story. Carousel ads generate a 4.56-second average dwell time, which is 25% higher than single image ads. Card 2 gets 2.3x the CTR of Card 1, meaning users who swipe past the first card are deeply engaged.This makes carousels ideal for educational [content in ABM campaigns](/blog/abm-content-examples). Use them to walk target accounts through a framework, share multiple proof points, or tell a sequential story. Users who swipe through all cards are signaling genuine interest – and that is gold for ABM.

### 4. Document Ads – For Educational Content

Document ads let you share PDFs, presentations, and other downloadable content directly in the LinkedIn feed. They [work well for middle-of-funnel ABM content](/blog/track-the-roi-of-linkedin-ads) – think industry reports, benchmark data, or tactical playbooks. The advantage over [lead gen forms](/blog/linkedin-ads-hubspot-integration-steps) is that users can preview the content before committing. This attracts higher-quality leads who are genuinely interested in the material, not people who clicked “Download” reflexively and will never open the file.

### 5. Text Ads – For Building General Brand Awareness and…Website Visitor Deanonymization

Text ads are the cheapest format on LinkedIn – around $2 CPM. Most people ignore them for traditional advertising, and they are right to. The click-through rates are terrible. But this is not the reason why you should use them. One reason is that you can treat the horrible click-through rates as a feature not a bug – and use them as a practically FREE, always-on brand awareness banner. But text ads have a hidden superpower for ABM: [free website visitor deanonymization](/blog/free-b2b-website-visitor-deanonymization-with-linkedin-ads). When you run text ads targeted at your ABM list and send them to your website, [LinkedIn’s matched audience](/faq/push-linkedin-ad-leads-into-marketo) pixel can identify which companies visited your high-intent pages. At $2 CPM, this is the cheapest way to build a list of engaged accounts without paying for expensive third-party deanonymization tools.

### 6. Video Ads – The…(most often) Budget Drain

I know this will be controversial, but the data does not lie. Video ads are the worst-performing ABM ad format by efficiency score. The numbers: 0.24% CTR, $15.61 CPC, 1.5 efficiency score. That efficiency score is the lowest of any format. And yet video ads receive 31.72% of the average [ABM budget](/blog/b2b-abm-strategy-the-ultimate-guide). That is a massive misallocation. Video ads have two problems. First, they are expensive to produce. Second, [LinkedIn auto-plays video](/blog/linkedin-video-ads-best-practices) with sound off, so most users scroll past without engaging. The data shows video should get 5-8% of your [ABM budget](/blog/best-abm-tactics), not 31%. The one exception: retargeting. Video ads can work for warm audiences who already know your brand. A 30-second customer testimonial shown to accounts in the “Considering” stage can push them toward conversion. But for cold [ABM audiences](/blog/abm-for-hard-to-reach-audiences)? Save your money. One more thing from our ABM Bootcamp – Ishaant Shakunt shared a finding that stuck with me: “The GIF beat the video by a big margin.” GIFs load faster, play automatically, and do not require sound. If you want motion in your ads, try a GIF first.

## ABM Ads Benchmarks: What Good Looks Like (2,828 Ads, $5.5M Spend)

These benchmarks come from the ZenABM dataset – 2,828 [ads](/blog/linkedin-document-ads-guide-with-examples) across 211 companies with a combined $5.5 million in LinkedIn ad spend. This is real [ABM data](/abm-campaign-analytics-dashboards), not general LinkedIn advertising data. The distinction matters because ABM audiences are smaller and more targeted, which changes every metric.

### Performance Benchmarks by Ad Format

| Ad Format | CTR | CPC to LP | Efficiency Score | Current Budget % | Recommended Budget % |
| **Thought Leader Ads** | 2.68% | $3.06 | 9.5 | 7-10% | 40-50% |
| **Carousel Ads** | 0.32% | $13.30 | 4.56 | 2.73% | 12-15% |
| **Single Image Ads** | 0.42% | $13.23 | 3.8 | 61.87% | 30-35% |
| **Video Ads** | 0.24% | $15.61 | 1.5 | 31.72% | 5-8% |
| [**Lead Gen Forms**](/blog/how-to-set-up-linkedin-campaign-manager-hubspot-integration-and-why-theres-a-smarter-way) | Varies | Varies | Varies | \~2% | 0-3% |

### The Counter-Intuitive Finding: Worse Ad Metrics, Better Pipeline

Here is the most surprising finding from the data. Top-performing [ABM accounts – the ones generating](/blog/abm-vs-traditional-marketing) the most pipeline – have worse ad-level metrics than the median. Lower CTR. Higher CPC. Fewer total clicks. How is that possible? Because they are running [ABM the right way](/blog/running-abm-on-linkedin-the-ultimate-guide). They target smaller, more specific audiences. They invest in quality creative that speaks to specific pain points. They measure pipeline per dollar, not clicks per dollar. The top performers in our dataset have 3x better pipeline efficiency than the median. They achieve this by running fewer ads (114 vs. 312 median) but spending more per ad and targeting more precisely. Pipeline per dollar is the true north star metric for ABM ads. If you are still [reporting on CTR in your ABM dashboards](/blog/abm-tactics-that-drive-results), you are measuring the wrong thing.

## ABM Ads Budget Allocation: Current vs. Recommended

This is where most ABM teams are leaving money on the table. The gap between current budget allocation and what the data recommends is significant.

| Ad Format | Current Allocation | Recommended Allocation | Direction |
| **Thought Leader Ads** | 7-10% | 40-50% | Increase significantly |
| **Single Image Ads** | 61.87% | 30-35% | Decrease |
| **Carousel Ads** | 2.73% | 12-15% | Increase |
| **Video Ads** | 31.72% | 5-8% | Decrease significantly |
| **Lead Gen Forms** | \~2% | 0-3% | Keep or reduce |

The biggest shift: moving budget from video (31.72% down to 5-8%) and single image (61.87% down to 30-35%) into TLAs (7-10% up to 40-50%) and carousels (2.73% up to 12-15%). I realize this is a big change. You do not need to do it overnight. Start by shifting 10-15% of your video budget to TLAs and [measure the impact](/blog/track-the-roi-of-linkedin-ads) over 30 days. I guarantee you will see better cost-per-landing-page-click numbers within the first two weeks.

## ABM Ads Best Practices: Campaign Structure and Creative

![LinkedIn Campaign Manager campaign groups split by persona, such as CXO and Marketing, for ABM ads](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Linkedin-ad-campaigns-split-by-persona.png)

### Campaign Structure

The most common mistake I see in [ABM campaign structure](/blog/structure-linkedin-abm-campaigns) is organizing by audience. Teams create one campaign for “C-suite” and another for “Directors” and dump all ad formats into each one. This makes it impossible to control budget by format. Instead, organize by campaign type: one campaign group for TLAs, one for single image ads, one for video, one for carousels. Within each group, you can segment by audience or funnel stage. This gives you direct control over how much budget goes to each format – and makes it easy to implement the allocation shifts I described above. Gabriel Ehrlich shared a recommendation during our [ABM Bootcamp](/blog/abm-campaign-template) that I now follow: run 4-5 ads per campaign. Fewer than 4 does not give LinkedIn enough creative to test. More than 5 spreads your budget too thin and makes it hard to identify winners.

### Matching Ad Formats to Funnel Stages

Different ABM ad formats work at different stages of the buyer journey. Here is how I structure it:

| Funnel Stage | Goal | Best Ad Formats | Creative Approach |
| **Cold / Awareness** | Engagement and brand recognition | TLAs, Carousels | Educational content, personal stories, industry insights |
| **Warm / Consideration** | Clicks to landing pages | Single Image Ads, Document Ads | Specific offers, case studies, comparison content |
| **Hot / Retargeting** | Conversions | Single Image Ads, Video Ads | Direct response, demos, customer testimonials |
| **Deanonymization** | Identify engaged accounts | Text Ads | Simple brand presence, link to high-intent pages |

Cold audiences need engagement first. Do not hit a cold list with a “Book a demo” ad. They do not know who you are yet. Start with TLAs that share genuine insights. Once they engage, move them into consideration with targeted [single image ads that offer something specific](/blog/linkedin-single-image-ad-specs). Save the hard sell for retargeting. Btw. [**ZenABM** ](/)automatically sorts all your target accounts into stages of the funnel – allowing you to easily move companies between different relevant ABM ad campaigns based on the most relevant funnel stage the company is currently in:

### Quality Over Quantity

This was one of the most eye-opening findings from our benchmarks. [Top ABM performers](/blog/linkedin-abm-performance-benchmarks-report-2026) run fewer ads. The median company in our dataset runs 312 ads. The top performers run 114. Less than half. But they spend more per ad and invest more in creative quality. Each ad is better targeted, better written, and better designed. The result is 3x better pipeline efficiency. If you are running 300+ ads and seeing mediocre results, try cutting your ad count in half and doubling your investment in each remaining ad. Better creative for a smaller, more targeted audience beats average creative sprayed at everyone.

## ABM Ad Creative Best Practices: What the Data Shows

![ZenABM findings table ranking visual elements by LinkedIn single image ad click-through rate](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Linkedin-abm-ads-visual-pattern-summary.png)

### Visual Patterns That Win

We analyzed the visual patterns of top-performing ABM ads across our dataset. Here is what the winners have in common:

- **Specific offers (65%)** – The creative makes a clear, concrete promise. Not “Learn about ABM” but “Download our 47-point ABM checklist”
- **Strong CTAs (59%)** – The call to action is visible, direct, and action-oriented
- **Real people (47%)** – Photos of actual team members, founders, or customers. Not stock photos
- **Humor and memes (35%)** – Used strategically, humor grabs attention in a sea of corporate content

### Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Equally important are the patterns that consistently underperform. If your ads look like this, it is time for a creative refresh:

- **Generic minimalism (45%)** – Clean design is fine, but bland design disappears in the feed
- **Text-heavy creatives (40%)** – If your ad image needs a paragraph to explain itself, the image is not working
- **Stock photos (35%)** – LinkedIn users can spot a stock photo instantly. It signals inauthenticity
- **Logo-centric design (25%)** – Your logo is not a value proposition. Lead with the offer, not the brand

For more on what not to do, see [LinkedIn Ads Mistakes to Avoid](/blog/linkedin-ads-mistakes).

### TLA Text Patterns

Since Thought Leader Ads are the top-performing format, it is worth looking at what makes TLA copy work. The three dominant patterns among top performers:

- **Personal narrative (45%)** – “When I started [running ABM campaigns](/blog/ai-for-abm-linkedin), I made every mistake in the book. Here is what I learned after burning through $50k…”
- **Problem-solution (30%)** – “Most B2B teams waste 30% of their LinkedIn budget on video ads. Here is what the data says you should do instead…”
- **Customer success (15%)** – “One of our clients went from $400/month to 80% of their [marketing budget on LinkedIn](/blog/best-linkedin-marketing-tools). Here is how…”

Notice the common thread: all three patterns lead with a specific, relatable hook. They do not start with “Excited to announce” or “Thrilled to share.” They start with a story or a data point that makes you want to keep reading.

## Impression Capping and Frequency Management for ABM Ads

Here is a problem that is unique to ABM advertising: large accounts hogging all your ad impressions + audience fatigue. When you are targeting a list of 500-2,000 companies, and only a handful of them are activce on Linkedin, the same people see your ads over and over. Without frequency management, I have seen accounts hit 80+ impressions per person in a single month. This is wasted budget. So you need to implement impression capping – you can do it [natively on LinkedIn Campaign manager (read the post how to do it here) ](/blog/linkedin-ads-impression-capping)or through tools like Factors.ai (more expensive – $10,000 – but more feature rich) or ZenABM (cheaper – from $59)

### Why Frequency Management Matters for ABM

ABM audiences are small by design. A typical [ABM list has 200-1,000 target accounts](/blog/measure-linkedin-ad-engagement-target-accounts). On LinkedIn, that might translate to 5,000-50,000 people depending on your job title targeting. With standard campaign settings and decent budgets, LinkedIn will exhaust this audience fast. The symptoms of ad fatigue in ABM are predictable: CTR drops week over week, CPC climbs, and your target accounts start associating your brand with that annoying ad they keep seeing. None of that helps your pipeline.

### How to Manage Frequency on LinkedIn

LinkedIn does not offer native frequency capping at the account level, which makes this harder than it should be. Here is what works:

- **Rotate creatives on a 2-week cycle** – Fresh ads reset attention. Keep the message consistent but change the visual and hook
- **Use exclusion audiences** – In [ZenABM](/pricing), you can create dynamic audiences that exclude companies once they hit a specific impression threshold. Add these as exclusions to your ad campaigns
- **Spread budget across formats** – Instead of spending $5,000/month on one single image campaign, spread it across TLAs, carousels, and images. Different formats feel different even to the same audience
- [**Monitor company-level impression data** – Track](/blog/track-the-roi-of-linkedin-ads) impressions per company, not per campaign. You need [company-level engagement data](/faq/see-companies-engaging-with-linkedin-ads) to catch fatigue early

### Tools for Impression Capping

A few tools can help with frequency management:

- [ZenABM – Tracks impressions](/blog/track-linkedin-ad-impressions-for-abm) at the company level and lets you create exclusion audiences based on impression thresholds. This is the approach we use for our own campaigns and what I recommend
- **Factora ai** – Focused specifically on [impression capping for LinkedIn](/blog/linkedin-ads-impression-capping) ABM
- **Manual exclusion lists** – You can export company-level data and manually create LinkedIn exclusion audiences, but this gets tedious at scale

## Tools for ABM Ads on LinkedIn

Running ABM ads effectively requires more than LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Here are the tools I use and recommend:

| Tool | What It Does for ABM Ads | Why It Matters |
| [**LinkedIn Campaign Manager**](/use-cases/linkedin-campaign-management-optimization) | Native ad management, audience creation, bid management, conversion trackingThe foundation. | Every ABM campaign starts here. But it only shows campaign-level data – you need additional tools for account-level visibility |
| **ZenABM** | Company-level analytics, ABM benchmarks, impression capping, CRM sync, funnel stage tracking | Turns [LinkedIn Campaign Manager data into account-level insights](/linkedin-ad-campaign-insights). Shows which companies are [engaging with which ads](/blog/linkedin-ad-engagement-analytics-zenabm) and tracks them through the buying journey |
| **Crayon** | Competitive intelligence, ad monitoring | See what ads your competitors are running. Useful for creative inspiration and positioning |
| **Factors** | [Campaign Management](/blog/track-companies-engaging-with-linkedin-ads), Impression capping for LinkedIn | Controls ad frequency at the account [level](/blog/linkedin-ad-engagement-account-level) to prevent audience fatigue + manages campaigns centrally. |
| **Clay** | List building, data enrichment, account research | Build and enrich your [ABM target account](/blog/signal-based-outbound) list before uploading to LinkedIn |

  If you are serious about ABM ads, the minimum stack is [LinkedIn Campaign Manager](/blog/linkedin-campaign-manager-crm-integration) plus one analytics tool that provides company-level data. Without account-level visibility, you are flying blind – you can see that 50 people clicked your ad, but you have no idea which of your target accounts they came from.

## ABM Ads Step-by-Step: How to Set Up Your First Campaign

For teams getting started with ABM ads on LinkedIn, here is the process I follow. This is the same framework covered in more detail in the [Running ABM on LinkedIn guide](/blog/running-abm-on-linkedin-the-ultimate-guide). **Step 1: Build your** [target account list. Start with 200-500 companies](/blog/rollworks-for-abm). Use your CRM data, sales input, and tools like [Clay to build and enrich the list](/blog/clay-for-target-account-list-building-abm). Quality matters more than quantity – a focused list of 300 well-researched accounts beats a scraped list of 3,000. **Step 2: Upload your list to LinkedIn.** Create a matched audience in LinkedIn Campaign Manager using your company list. Give it 24-48 hours for LinkedIn to match the companies. Expect 60-80% match rates for mid-market and enterprise companies. **Step 3: Set up your campaign structure.** Create separate campaign groups by ad format: one for TLAs, one for single image, one for carousels. Within each group, create campaigns segmented by funnel stage or persona. Use the [ABM campaign template](/blog/abm-campaign-template) to get started fast. **Step 4: Create your ads.** Start with 4-5 ads per campaign. For TLAs, identify 2-3 internal thought leaders and promote their best organic posts. For single image ads, lead with specific offers and use real photos. For carousels, create educational sequences. **Step 5: Set budgets using the recommended allocation.** TLAs: 40-50%. Single image: 30-35%. Carousels: 12-15%. Video: 5-8% (retargeting only). Adjust based on your own data after 30 days. **Step 6: Monitor at the account level.** Do not measure success by campaign-level CTR. [Track which target accounts are engaging](/blog/crm-integrations-linkedin-ad-tracking), how they are progressing through the funnel, and how many are converting to pipeline. This is where tools like [ZenABM](/company-buyers-intent) make the difference.

## Frequently Asked Questions About ABM Ads

### What is the best LinkedIn ad format for ABM?

Thought Leader Ads are the best-performing format for [ABM based on the ZenABM](/) dataset of 2,828 ads and $5.5M in spend. TLAs deliver a 2.68% CTR, $3.06 CPC to landing page, and a 9.5 efficiency score. They [generate 4.3x more landing page](/blog/best-abm-tools-linkedin-advertising) clicks per dollar compared to single image ads. The key is using first-person voice from real people within your company – 65% of top-performing TLAs use “I” voice.

### How much should I spend on ABM ads on LinkedIn?

There is no universal answer, but the data suggests that how you allocate your budget matters more than the total amount. Most companies spend 61.87% on single image ads and 31.72% on video – both too high. The recommended split is: TLAs 40-50%, single image 30-35%, carousels 12-15%, video 5-8%. For total budget, start with $3,000-5,000/month for a list of 200-500 target accounts. Scale based on pipeline results, not ad metrics.

### How do I prevent ad fatigue in ABM campaigns?

Ad fatigue is the biggest operational challenge in ABM advertising because audiences are small. Three tactics work: rotate creatives every 2 weeks, use exclusion audiences to cap impressions per company, and spread budget across multiple ad formats. Tools like [ZenABM and Fibbler can automate](/blog/linkedin-lead-capture-automation) impression capping at the account level. Without frequency management, a $5,000/month budget targeting 500 companies will burn through your audience within weeks.

### Should I use video ads for ABM?

Only for retargeting. Video ads have the lowest efficiency score in our dataset (1.5) and the highest CPC ($15.61). They currently get 31.72% of the average ABM budget but the data says they should get 5-8%. The exception is warm audiences – a 30-second customer testimonial shown to accounts already in the “Considering” stage can be effective. For cold audiences, Thought Leader Ads and carousels deliver better results at lower cost. Also consider GIFs as an alternative to video – they load faster and do not require sound.

### What metrics should I track for ABM ads?

Pipeline per dollar is the north star metric for ABM ads. This is the counter-intuitive finding from our data: top [ABM performers have worse ad metrics](/blog/abm-results-reporting) (lower CTR, higher CPC) but 3x better pipeline efficiency. They achieve this by targeting smaller, more precise audiences and investing in quality over quantity. Beyond pipeline per dollar, [track company-level engagement](/blog/measure-linkedin-ad-engagement-target-accounts) (which accounts are engaging with which ads), funnel progression (how accounts move from Aware to Considering), and impression frequency (to prevent fatigue). Stop reporting on campaign-level CTR as your primary success metric.

## Final Thoughts: Shift Your ABM Ads Budget Before Your Competitors Do

The data from our user research (211 companies and $5.5M in spend) paints a clear picture. Most ABM teams are over-investing in video and single image ads while under-investing in Thought Leader Ads and carousels. The top performers are already making this shift – running fewer, better-targeted ads and measuring pipeline instead of clicks. The companies that figure this out first will have an unfair advantage. ABM audiences are finite. When your competitor is burning through their target account list with 80+ impressions of mediocre video ads, and you are running engaging TLAs at the right frequency with impression capping – you win the attention of those accounts. Start with one change: shift 15% of your video budget to Thought Leader Ads. Measure it for 30 days. Then come back and tell me I was wrong. I am betting you will not. If you want to see these benchmarks for your own campaigns and get company-level tracking for your ABM ads, [try ZenABM free for 37 days](https://app.zenabm.com/signup).

## Images

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