Scrappy ABM

Yann Sarfati, CEO and co-founder of Userled, dives into the complexities of account-based marketing (ABM). He reveals how his team spent months crafting a focused list of 1,000 ideal customers, emphasizing that true ICP definition is crucial for sales success. Discussions include using AI-generated content and small, targeted events to drive conversions effectively. Yann advocates for personalized outreach and doing non-scalable activities to win over key accounts and enhance customer renewals. He highlights the importance of selecting the right events and tracking engagement as critical sales signals.

Scrappy ABM brings together host Mason Cosby and Erika White Crutchlow from Resolver to walk through an event-focused ABM program that runs on tight alignment with customer success and sales, bold booth visuals, and simple giveaways like branded socks. Mason and Erika revisit a conversation that started at B2BMX in October and trace how a heavy event season turned into a structured approach to account selection, pre-event outreach, and on-site execution.ㅤErika explains how Resolver builds event-based target account lists, crawls LinkedIn, and uses historical lists to reach high-value customers and prospects before anyone steps on the trade show floor. She shares how tailored email, LinkedIn, and phone outreach, SDR calls two weeks before the show, and “after-hours” breakfasts, activities, and dinners with customers and prospects create real relationships, qualified accounts, and long-term brand awareness that show up in Salesforce long after the event ends.ㅤ👤 Guest BioErika White Crutchlow from Resolver builds and runs event-focused ABM programs across multiple divisions. She works very closely with customer success and sales to identify high-value customer accounts and prospect accounts, map them to the right events, and align on pre-event outreach, booth strategy, meetings, and after-hours activities. Erika tracks results through Salesforce, leans on historical event lists, and partners with local vendors for “cheap and cheerful” giveaways like popcorn, branded cookies, and socks that keep people coming back to the booth and to Resolver’s team year after year.ㅤ📌 What We CoverBuilding an event-focused ABM program that starts with high-value customer accounts and prospect accounts from customer success and sales.Deciding whether to go to events for specific accounts or use events to reach an existing target account list, and leaving room for “moments of serendipity.”Using LinkedIn crawling, hashtags, session topics, and historical lists to see which accounts will be attending and to fuel pre-event outreach.Running tailored, personalized outreach through email, LinkedIn, and phone calls that invite people to on-site meetings and custom demos tied to new features or products.Offering simple incentives like branded socks instead of expensive headphones, and using cost per opportunity and meetings per opportunity to guide budget and meeting targets.Training the booth team to ask qualifying questions, filter out swag-only visitors, and focus on people who are ready for a real conversation and demo.Comparing sponsored speaking sessions and thought leadership abstracts with booth investments, and why Resolver often prefers the booth over expensive sponsored slots.Designing after-hours breakfasts, activities, and dinners that pair target accounts with customers so they can talk about shared problems, risk, and tools without pressure.Tracking meetings, follow-up meetings, new leads, qualified accounts, and pipeline in Salesforce, while recognizing that many event touches pay off one or two years later.Testing two-week pre-event SDR calls to confirm meetings, ask pre-qualifying questions, and improve show rates with a simple “are we still good” follow-up.Partnering with local vendors for popcorn, branded cookies, and city-specific giveaways that reduce shipping costs and create a local connection.The ongoing importance of alignment between sales and marketing, rowing in the same direction, and not underestimating the ROI of those off-site, after-hours events.ㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedResolverB2BMXSalesforceScrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies.Connect with Mason Cosby on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM.ㅤIf you enjoyed today’s episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!

B2B marketing that makes you want to ram your head through a wall usually has the same pattern: the wrong people in the funnel, a light calendar, and an empty pipeline. On Scrappy ABM, host Mason Cosby calls out six specific reasons most B2B marketing programs are failing and walks through exactly how to fix them.ㅤInstead of chasing hundreds of thousands of leads and celebrating opt-ins, Mason pushes marketers to focus on targeting a very specific list of best fit customers—people who are super happy, highly profitable, send more friends, and stay for a long time. He shows how to speak the language of leadership by tying every program to named company objectives and real pipeline, and how to get sales to buy in by actually delivering the companies everyone agreed to go after.ㅤFrom lack of resources and unclear measurement to broken execution after the company all hands and strategy meeting, Mason lays out a simple way forward: eliminate what is not working, stick to a plan for three to six months, and use account-based marketing to go get the customers you really want.ㅤ📌 What We CoverWhy a lead generation approach that celebrates opt-ins instead of pipeline keeps you from going after the right people.How to define best fit customers (super happy, highly profitable, send more friends, stay for a long time) and use your marketing dollars to get more of them.How to stop leadership eyes from glazing over by dropping secret acronym language and tying programs to company initiatives, pipeline, and customers that close and stay.Why sales won’t buy in when the calendar is light and the pipeline is empty, and how agreeing on a list of companies and actually delivering those accounts changes everything.The lack of resources problem: being bombarded with ideas (email newsletter, event program, podcast, webinar program) and doing all of it poorly instead of a few things well.The three options for fixing the resource gap: automate, delegate (or hire), and especially eliminate the things that are not doing anything for the business.How to handle programs that are super hard to measure by deciding what success looks like, showcasing impact, and tying everything downstream to pipeline and revenue.Why execution falls apart right after the onsite or company all hands, and how eliminating old work, measuring success, and sticking to a new plan for three to six months changes your B2B marketing program.The simple fix that pulls everything together: stop trying to get everyone, build a very specific list of companies, and use account-based marketing to get those accounts to engage, enter the pipeline, show up on your website, engage in your email, and book meetings.ㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedAccount-based marketing (ABM) – Focusing on a very specific list of companies and best customers instead of general people.Channel dedicated to how to build out your ABM program – Content that shows how to build an ABM program that goes after the right people and gets them into your pipeline.Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies.Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABMㅤIf you enjoyed today’s episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!

Phil Pilalas, a content strategist specializing in empowering subject matter experts, discusses the challenges of getting buy-in from those who aren't used to being on camera. He emphasizes the importance of generating passion and confidence in SMEs, and suggests recording in comfortable settings to capture genuine conversations. Phil highlights the effectiveness of simple content over heavily produced pieces and shares strategies for aligning SME personalities with appropriate marketing stages. He also notes that even minimal time investment can yield impactful content.

Yadin Porter de León, Director of Customer Stories at Heroku, dives into effective strategies for engaging C-suite leaders. He emphasizes starting small by leveraging existing executive relationships and creating impactful proof points through web stories and webinars. Yadin highlights the importance of tailoring outreach via LinkedIn for warm introductions and discusses how podcasts can foster initial conversations. He also warns against mistakes that can lead to getting blacklisted, stressing the value of personalized engagement in building lasting trust.

Join Tyler Lessard, CMO at Technology Advice and a seasoned B2B marketing innovator, as he discusses the power of targeted ABM. He dives deep into segmenting broad audiences into specific groups, like cybersecurity vendors, backed by insightful data. Tyler shares strategies for in-person activations and creating compelling outreach reasons, transforming scrappy methods into effective tactics. He emphasizes empathy for audiences, the importance of original research, and starting small with one sales rep to test the waters. Engage, ask questions, and drive meaningful conversations!

Scrappy ABM brings practical playbooks that don’t break the bank to B2B teams who want more pipeline and revenue without wasting time and budget. In this conversation, host Mason Cosby sits down with Briana Manrique, head of marketing at Bench Prep, to walk through how a very small marketing team went from casting a wide net to getting more niche and seeing more impact.ㅤBriana shares how seven years at Bench Prep created space to take a hard, long look at who they serve and where they find success. The team moved away from trying to work with training companies and enterprise software companies and chose to go all in on nonprofit associations and credentialing organizations that serve professional learners with high-stakes learning and exam preparation.ㅤFrom doing completely away with paid ads to doubling down on webinars and conferences, Briana explains how channel mix, content, ABM, and brand awareness all had to shift. She talks about the mindset shift from quantity to quality, the slow burn of long sales cycles, the time it really takes to run one-to-one ABM, and why every piece of content now needs a defined objective, audience, and CTA.ㅤ👤 Guest BioBriana Manrique is the head of marketing at Bench Prep, where she has stayed for almost seven years and seen the evolution of casting a wide net and then getting a little bit more niche year over year. Leading a very small marketing team, she focuses on nonprofit associations and credentialing organizations that serve professional learners with high-stakes certification and exam preparation.ㅤA former demand gen marketer, Briana leans into one-to-one ABM, brand, and content that is created with intention and tied to clear objectives, pipeline, and revenue. She is always happy to talk about marketing strategy or ABM and loves learning from others. Connect with Briana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianamanrique/ㅤ📌 What We CoverHow Briana’s seven years at Bench Prep led from casting a wide net to getting more niche with nonprofit associations and credentialing organizations that serve professional learners with high stakes learning.The mindset shift required to niche down, intentionally work with fewer kinds of people, and focus on quality over quantity so the juice is worth the squeeze.Why Bench Prep decided to do completely away with paid search and paid social, then double down on webinars and an evolving conferences channel as one of their best performing channels.How an inflection point with new and exciting features and use cases outside of just exam prep is pushing the team to reconsider brand awareness channels and re-explore programs that didn’t work in the past.The importance of setting expectations that ABM and brand are a slow burn, especially with six- to eighteen-month sales cycles, seasonality, and buyers who may not even know you exist yet.How Briana measures success beyond pipeline and revenue, tracking engagement, responses, LinkedIn activity, and any type of win week over week to show traction.What it really takes to run one-to-one ABM: the surprising time commitment for account and contact research, ongoing content creation, daily engagement, and why weeks with less time invested lead to slower results.Lessons from the first pilot ABM campaign, including why 100 accounts was way too many for a one-to-one approach, how they filtered down to about 50 accounts, and how ABM tactics are now influencing more account based selling on the outbound side.ㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedBench Prep – Exam preparation software for nonprofit associations and credentialing organizations that serve professional learners with high-stakes certification and licenses.Connect with Briana on LinkedIn – Briana welcomes connection requests and is always happy to talk about marketing strategy or ABM.Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies.Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM.ㅤIf you enjoyed today’s episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!

Scrappy ABM brings together host Mason Cosby and Jess Martin, head of demand gen and former head of marketing at Metaphor Data, a new data catalog on the block. At a tiny seed round company trying to punch above its weight, ABM was not a nice-to-have; it was the go-to-market strategy to secure specific logos and move on to the next level.ㅤJess walks through how she built a really lean but scrappy program focused on hyper-targeted accounts from a reverse-engineered ICP, account prioritization, and a tightly validated target account list. The conversation covers personalized outreach, founder-led thought-leadership ads, tiny virtual events, cold calling, surveys, and a buying-committee-first approach. Mason and Jess highlight account penetration, alternative lists, and the idea that less is more, especially at an early stage. They close with “scrappy does not necessarily mean cheap,” testing, and using founder branding as a powerful part of ABM.ㅤ👤 Guest BioJess Martin is the head of demand gen who stepped in as head of marketing for Metaphor Data, a new data catalog on the block. She built a really lean but scrappy ABM program for a tiny seed round company trying to punch above its weight, where ABM was the go-to-market strategy to lock down more customers and get the right logos on the site. Jess focuses on hyper-targeted accounts from the ICP, personalized outreach, tiny virtual events, surveys, cold calling, and thought leadership ads. She loves early stage, demand gen, and ABM, and invites people, especially in early stage, to hit her up on LinkedIn to talk demand gen and ABM.ㅤ📌 What We CoverHow a tiny seed round company made ABM the go-to-market strategy to get specific logos on the site and secure a Series A round.Reverse engineering the ICP by looking at who they win with, who they lose to, and who they never want to waste time on again.Using Keyplay, Apollo, Sales Nav, and BuiltWith to build and enrich a two-tier target account list of about 170 accounts, plus internal validation with initials from sales and product.Setting tier one at 20 “white glove” accounts and tier two from 21 through roughly 150, and aligning this with limited headcount and bandwidth.Minimum viable list size thinking for LinkedIn and Meta audiences, and aiming for three to five contacts per account on the buying committee.Running thought leadership ads on LinkedIn with founders, focusing on impression share, awareness, branding, and targeted air cover rather than driving clicks.Tiny virtual events and round tables for specific verticals, using timely issues like compliance and new laws to pull three highly valuable attendees from the target account list.Filling the outbound gap by having marketing do cold calling with a simple Google Form survey, branding the company, complimenting senior data leaders, and proving the need for an SDR.Creating a custom ChatGPT “BDR” prompt to scan 10-K reports, press releases, and news for each account and generate study guides and personalized messaging for every member of the buying committee.Measuring success with account penetration, website visits, engagement with thought leadership ads, and swapping in an alternate list when accounts stay dark or become customers.Lessons learned: scrappy does not necessarily mean cheap, budget and time are both crucial, less is more on accounts and AEs, and founder branding can be more valuable than company branding for a long time.ㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedKeyplay – Used to get a little bit of intent-driven insight and account prioritization when building the target account list.Apollo – Main tool for getting actual contact information for the buying committee, building outbound lists, and cold calling from the survey.LinkedIn Sales Navigator (“Sales Nav”) – Used alongside Apollo to identify the right roles and understand how job titles differ across org sizes.BuiltWith – Helpful to figure out whether target accounts had the right tech stack before spending time on them.LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads – Founder-led, face-first ads to warm up the buying committee, drive awareness, and deliver targeted air cover before company ads and CTAs.Meta / Facebook Audiences – Referenced list minimums to guide the number of matched contacts needed for paid campaigns.Google Forms / Survey – Simple Google form survey used for cold calling outreach to senior data leaders, gathering input on X, Y, and Z in the industry.ChatGPT / Custom GPT BDR – A GPT of a BDR that reads 10-K reports, press releases, and company news, then explains why the product is a perfect fit and generates two-paragraph breakdowns for each role in the buying committee.Metaphor Data – Described as a new data catalog on the block and the company context for this first ABM program.LinkedIn (for Jess) – Jess Martin invites people, especially in the early stages, to hit her up on LinkedIn to talk demand gen and ABM.Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies.Connect with Mason Cosby on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM.ㅤIf you enjoyed today’s episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!

Scrappy ABM returns with host Mason Cosby and guest Liam MacCormack, founder and solopreneur at Growth by Liam, breaking down how real account-based marketing gets built when the ACV is high, the deals are complex, and shortcuts fail. Liam starts at the only place that matters: historical closed won accounts, not guesses. He walks through a massive breakdown of who books demos, who joins calls, who gets added into the product in PLG motions, and how that activity builds a clear picture of the buying group.ㅤThe conversation moves into where those personas actually spend time, why LinkedIn audience assumptions fall apart, how Reddit and niche communities come into play, and why talking directly to happy customers beats any ad platform pitch. Mason and Liam press into problem content versus solution content, high-intent measurement signals beyond revenue alone, and the scrappy, manual, “pain in the ass” direct mail and gifting-style plays that stand out in a world of ignored cold emails and identical ads.ㅤ👤 Guest BioLiam MacCormack is the founder and solopreneur at Growth by Liam, partnering with early and growth-stage companies on growth programs across channels. In this conversation, he shares firsthand experience building account-based motions for enterprise and high-ACV deals, grounded in closed won data, buying group behavior, and real-world engagement signals from digital and offline channels.ㅤ📌 What We CoverHow Liam starts ABM and targeting with a massive breakdown of closed won accounts, demo bookers, call participants, and product users.Why PLG signals—like who opens free trials, who gets added to the account, and when executives show up—reveal real buying committees and conversion windows.The ACV reality check: when a $10K deal should not trigger a heavy ABM program and why enterprise and high-ACV motions justify one-to-one or one-to-few plays.Using Sales Navigator, posting activity, and real behavior to confirm if target personas are actually active on LinkedIn instead of trusting audience estimates.Talking directly to customers and target personas to learn where they discover solutions, including subreddits and niche communities that never show up in generic targeting.Balancing problem content and solution content so target accounts recognize their pain, see new ways to solve it, and understand specific use cases by industry and persona.Early indicators that ABM is working: target accounts visiting the site, consuming content, booking demos, and moving into real sales conversations long before deals close.The challenge of digital ad fatigue, ignored cold outreach, and how thoughtful direct mail-style plays and personalized touches create excitement, word-of-mouth, and executive-level association.The biggest miss Liam sees: teams skipping deep upfront research, failing to map each member of the buying group, and only speaking to the initial contact instead of every decision-maker.ㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedMason Cosby on LinkedInLiam MacCormack on LinkedInGrowth by Liam website: mentioned as Liam’s site for learning more about his workLinkedIn & Sales Navigator: for building and validating target account lists and activityReddit & subreddits: as real communities where specific personas learn and shareDirect mail-style campaigns and custom postcards: tactile plays to stand out with target accountsScrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategiesConnect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABMㅤIf you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!

Scrappy ABM keeps the focus on practical playbooks that don’t break the bank, and this conversation stays locked on real-world execution. Host Mason Cosby sits down with Katerina Maerefat, who has repeatedly launched ABM at Quorum Software, OpenSesame, and Resilinc, shifting teams away from fully inbound spray-and-pray toward strategic account based marketing.ㅤAcross this breakdown of roughly sixteen industry-focused programs, Mason and Katerina walk through building an all ICP vertical play, centering on one unified account list, reliable targeting, predictive intent dials, and consistent execution across channels. They highlight how campaign infrastructure, a shared list across platforms, and full-funnel content tied to buying stages prevent random acts of marketing. Katerina shares specific examples of competitive displacement, partner marketing, all ICP programs, special reports, and field reports, then ties it all to pragmatic measurement, sales alignment, and account-based everything that actually reflects how revenue teams work.ㅤ👤 Guest BioKaterina has led ABM launches at her last three companies, including Quorum Software, OpenSesame, and Resilinc, where she shifted teams from spray-and-pray inbound to strategic account based marketing. She has built one-to-one, one-to-few, and one-to-many programs, along with closed-lost, competitive displacement, partner marketing, and all ICP industry plays. Katerina consistently centers her approach on predictive intent, named account lists, scalable campaigns across channels, and tight collaboration with sales.ㅤ📌 What We CoverHow Katerina launched ABM at three companies by moving from fully inbound spray-and-pray to strategic account based marketing.Building an all ICP, industry-focused program using one unified account list across platforms for list consistency and scalability.Using 6sense or similar ABM platforms to create account-based lists, layer predictive intent, and sync audiences into LinkedIn, Meta, Google, and other channels.Why vertical targeting starts with named accounts instead of broken native filters, and how constant list growth and buying stage changes shape campaign design.Structuring campaign infrastructure so maps, CRM, landing pages, and ads tie together for performance tracking and meaningful “tweak the dials” adjustments.Running integrated, multi-channel programs: organic social, paid social, paid search, communities, and testing channels like Microsoft/Bing based on how specific audiences behave.Full-funnel content for ICP plays: blogs, videos, case studies, podcasts, infographics, special reports, field reports, webinars, and clear bottom-of-funnel CTAs that match buying stages.Measurement using stages from anonymous web visits through MQL, opportunities, sourced vs. influenced pipeline, and revenue — plus the shift toward account-based everything and pre-created opportunities.The critical role of sales alignment: agreeing on account lists, handoff processes, regular communication, sales enablement, talking points, and follow-up that matches ABM plays.ㅤ🔗 Resources Mentioned6senseDemandbaseLinkedInMetaGoogleMicrosoft / BingHotjarMicrosoft ClarityQuorum SoftwareOpenSesameResilincSalesforceJMI roundtableSpecial reports based on supply chain disruption dataField reports comparing equipment performance on rigsScrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategiesConnect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABMㅤIf you enjoyed today’s episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!