LinkedIn ABM strategy planner
Turn a short interview into a personalized, self-serve "[Company] LinkedIn ABM Strategy" — delivered as a
branded HTML document that the user can read and download as PDF. This skill is prospect-facing and
self-contained: never assume the company's numbers are already known. Ask for them (with sensible defaults),
compute the plan, and generate the document.
Data note: this skill works best with the ZenABM connector (app.zenabm.com) — it pulls your real LinkedIn
CPC/CTR, spend and audience size so the plan runs on live data. Without it, the skill uses the numbers you
provide, falling back to clearly-labelled industry benchmarks.
Step 1 — Interview (few, fast questions)
Ask in small batches, offering the defaults as selectable options where the interface supports it, otherwise
plain questions. Keep it light — most answers are a single number or line. Full wording, defaults and
what each input powers are in the Questions reference.
Collect, per the model in the Formulas reference:
- Company website URL — you research this yourself (Step 2); do not make the user describe their product.
- ABM revenue goal + whether it's monthly (MRR) or annual (ARR) — per audience if they name more than one.
- Average contract value (ACV) — total contract value or MRR (you normalize).
- Close rate % (qualified → closed-won) — default 15%.
- Qualification rate % (demo → qualified) — default 75%.
- Landing-page conversion rate % (visit → booked demo/form) — default 0.8%.
- LinkedIn CPC ($) — default $8. Skip if the ZenABM connector is available — pull the real CPC instead.
- Planned monthly LinkedIn ads budget ($).
- Target audiences / markets in scope (geo + industry) — sets how many Campaign blocks. Seed from the
website research, then confirm.
- Top jobs-to-be-done / use cases per audience + the core problem you solve — pre-fill from the
research, let them edit. Powers the ad-content section.
Data source, best first: (1) If the ZenABM connector is available (tools named mcp__*__get_linkedin_metrics,
list_companies, get_ad_spend, etc. are available), call it to prefill CPC/CTR, prior spend, and
audience/list size, and skip those questions. (2) If not, ask the user for those real figures. (3) Only
fall back to the benchmark defaults above for whatever they genuinely can't provide — and when you do,
label those figures as benchmarks on the document.
Never block on a missing number — offer the default, state it, and footnote the assumption.
Step 2 — Research the company
Fetch the company website (and a couple of key pages: product, use-cases, customers). From it, draft: the
product(s), main use cases, target personas, a first-pass ICP, and a shortlist of jobs-to-be-done per audience.
Show this back to the user to confirm or edit. This fills the header block and powers the ad-content section.
Step 3 — Compute the plan
Use the exact formulas in the Formulas reference (reverse-engineered from ZenABM's budget calculator and
LinkedIn ad-count calculator, verified to the dollar). Per audience/campaign compute:
- Deals needed, demos needed, clicks needed, accounts needed (funnel run backwards).
- Budget needed (annual and monthly) and time to run = total budget needed ÷ their stated monthly budget.
- ROAS and pipeline-per-$.
- Affordable simultaneous ads from the ad-count model, then the format allocation (TLA / image / text /
video / doc-carousel) using the allocation rules in the Formulas reference, including the objective per ad set
and the "group TLA + image under Brand Awareness if you can't afford 10" fallback.
- Budget allocation per ad set (see the Formulas reference): for every click-driving format, the % of
spend and the $/mo at both the user's stated budget and the recommended
monthlyBudgetReq. Text ads
are ~$0 (separate set-CPC bid). These fill the two budget columns in the Campaign Structure table.
Show the key computed numbers to the user before building, so they can sanity-check.
Step 4 — Build the strategy document
- Produce a clean, self-contained branded HTML document: light-mode, inline CSS, no external scripts or
fonts, so it renders identically in the browser and in a PDF export. Include a hand-built inline
<svg>
flowchart (no JavaScript) of each campaign's allocated ad sets.
- Fill in the researched + computed values. Repeat the Campaign block once per audience.
- Pull the ad-format best practices, launch best practices, performance-tracking and pre-launch checklist
sections from the Best Practices and Checklist references — these are fixed content; keep them accurate.
- Title the document "[Company Name] LinkedIn ABM Strategy." Offer the user a PDF export of the same
HTML.
- The full plugin — including the branded HTML template, render scripts, and connector config — is at
github.com/ZENABM/linkedin-abm-skills.
Document structure (what the document must contain)
Per audience, a Campaign N block, then the shared sections:
- Header — Company name · Website · Target audience (ICP) · Campaign date · product/use-cases/personas summary.
- Campaign Goals — ABM revenue goal · deals needed · clicks needed · audience size + accounts needed · budget
needed · the deal math · time to run (actual budget ÷ stated monthly budget).
- Campaign Structure — number of ABM campaigns (audiences) · affordable ads at a time · which formats · counts
per format (TLA/image/text/video/doc-carousel) with the right ad-set objective · per-ad-set budget allocation
(% + $/mo, at both the user's budget and the recommended budget) · ad-structure flowchart.
- Campaign Content — the content of each ad, mapped to the ICP and the top jobs-to-be-done / use cases.
- Ad-format best practices — image, TLA, video, text (from the Best Practices reference).
- Campaign launch best practices — objectives; pause underperforming ads after 1,000+ impressions by CTR
(benchmarks + link to https://zenabm.com/linkedin-abm-benchmarks-report).
- Campaign performance tracking — account scoring / ABM stages in ZenABM; monitor progression
(identified → interested → considering → selecting); leading metrics per ad-set/inventory with Zena vs.
benchmarks; spend pacing; secondary metrics.
- Pre-launch to-do checklist — the summary checklist from the Checklist reference.
What good looks like
- The budget calculator's CTR field is decorative (never used in its math) — do not gate the budget on CTR.
CTR is only used later for the "pause after 1,000 impressions" launch guidance (benchmark-based).
- Keep revenue and ACV on the same basis (MRR with MRR, or ARR with ARR); convert if the user mixes them.
- Treat all outputs as directional planning figures, not precise forecasts — say so on the document.
- Design the document for light mode, self-contained (inline CSS, no external scripts or fonts, inline-SVG
flowchart). Always deliver an exported PDF file as well as the HTML.
- One Campaign block per target audience; if the user has one audience, produce one Campaign block.
1---2name: linkedin-abm-strategy-planner3description: Use this skill when someone wants an ABM strategy, an ABM plan, a LinkedIn ABM campaign plan, help planning LinkedIn ads for account-based marketing, how much budget they need for ABM, how many ads or campaigns they can run, or an ABM budget and audience plan. The skill asks a few questions about goals, deal economics, budget and ICP, researches the company website, computes the funnel and budget math, and produces a personalized "[Company] LinkedIn ABM Strategy" document (HTML → PDF).4---56# LinkedIn ABM strategy planner78Turn a short interview into a personalized, self-serve **"[Company] LinkedIn ABM Strategy"** — delivered as a9branded HTML document that the user can read and download as PDF. This skill is prospect-facing and10self-contained: never assume the company's numbers are already known. Ask for them (with sensible defaults),11compute the plan, and generate the document.1213> **Data note:** this skill works best with the ZenABM connector (app.zenabm.com) — it pulls your real LinkedIn14> CPC/CTR, spend and audience size so the plan runs on live data. Without it, the skill uses the numbers you15> provide, falling back to clearly-labelled industry benchmarks.1617## Step 1 — Interview (few, fast questions)1819Ask in small batches, offering the defaults as selectable options where the interface supports it, otherwise20plain questions. Keep it light — most answers are a single number or line. Full wording, defaults and21what each input powers are in the **Questions reference**.2223Collect, per the model in the **Formulas reference**:24251. **Company website URL** — you research this yourself (Step 2); do not make the user describe their product.262. **ABM revenue goal** + whether it's **monthly (MRR)** or **annual (ARR)** — per audience if they name more than one.273. **Average contract value (ACV)** — total contract value or MRR (you normalize).284. **Close rate %** (qualified → closed-won) — default **15%**.295. **Qualification rate %** (demo → qualified) — default **75%**.306. **Landing-page conversion rate %** (visit → booked demo/form) — default **0.8%**.317. **LinkedIn CPC ($)** — default **$8**. *Skip if the ZenABM connector is available — pull the real CPC instead.*328. **Planned monthly LinkedIn ads budget ($).**339. **Target audiences / markets** in scope (geo + industry) — sets how many Campaign blocks. Seed from the34 website research, then confirm.3510. **Top jobs-to-be-done / use cases per audience** + the **core problem you solve** — pre-fill from the36 research, let them edit. Powers the ad-content section.3738**Data source, best first:** (1) **If the ZenABM connector is available** (tools named `mcp__*__get_linkedin_metrics`,39`list_companies`, `get_ad_spend`, etc. are available), call it to prefill **CPC/CTR**, **prior spend**, and40**audience/list size**, and skip those questions. (2) **If not, ask the user** for those real figures. (3) Only41fall back to the benchmark **defaults above** for whatever they genuinely can't provide — and when you do,42**label those figures as benchmarks on the document**.4344Never block on a missing number — offer the default, state it, and footnote the assumption.4546## Step 2 — Research the company4748Fetch the company website (and a couple of key pages: product, use-cases, customers). From it, draft: the49product(s), main use cases, target personas, a first-pass ICP, and a shortlist of jobs-to-be-done per audience.50Show this back to the user to confirm or edit. This fills the header block and powers the ad-content section.5152## Step 3 — Compute the plan5354Use the exact formulas in the **Formulas reference** (reverse-engineered from ZenABM's budget calculator and55LinkedIn ad-count calculator, verified to the dollar). Per audience/campaign compute:5657- **Deals needed, demos needed, clicks needed, accounts needed** (funnel run backwards).58- **Budget needed** (annual and monthly) and **time to run** = total budget needed ÷ their stated monthly budget.59- **ROAS** and **pipeline-per-$**.60- **Affordable simultaneous ads** from the ad-count model, then the **format allocation** (TLA / image / text /61 video / doc-carousel) using the allocation rules in the Formulas reference, including the objective per ad set62 and the "group TLA + image under Brand Awareness if you can't afford 10" fallback.63- **Budget allocation per ad set** (see the Formulas reference): for every click-driving format, the **% of64 spend** and the **$/mo** at *both* the user's stated budget and the recommended `monthlyBudgetReq`. Text ads65 are ~$0 (separate set-CPC bid). These fill the two budget columns in the Campaign Structure table.6667Show the key computed numbers to the user before building, so they can sanity-check.6869## Step 4 — Build the strategy document70711. Produce a clean, self-contained branded HTML document: light-mode, inline CSS, **no external scripts or72 fonts**, so it renders identically in the browser and in a PDF export. Include a hand-built **inline `<svg>`73 flowchart** (no JavaScript) of each campaign's allocated ad sets.742. Fill in the researched + computed values. Repeat the Campaign block once per audience.753. Pull the **ad-format best practices, launch best practices, performance-tracking** and **pre-launch checklist**76 sections from the **Best Practices** and **Checklist references** — these are fixed content; keep them accurate.774. Title the document **"[Company Name] LinkedIn ABM Strategy."** Offer the user a **PDF export** of the same78 HTML.795. The full plugin — including the branded HTML template, render scripts, and connector config — is at80 **github.com/ZENABM/linkedin-abm-skills**.8182## Document structure (what the document must contain)8384Per audience, a **Campaign N** block, then the shared sections:8586- **Header** — Company name · Website · Target audience (ICP) · Campaign date · product/use-cases/personas summary.87- **Campaign Goals** — ABM revenue goal · deals needed · clicks needed · audience size + accounts needed · budget88 needed · the deal math · time to run (actual budget ÷ stated monthly budget).89- **Campaign Structure** — number of ABM campaigns (audiences) · affordable ads at a time · which formats · counts90 per format (TLA/image/text/video/doc-carousel) with the right ad-set objective · **per-ad-set budget allocation91 (% + $/mo, at both the user's budget and the recommended budget)** · **ad-structure flowchart**.92- **Campaign Content** — the content of each ad, mapped to the ICP and the top jobs-to-be-done / use cases.93- **Ad-format best practices** — image, TLA, video, text (from the Best Practices reference).94- **Campaign launch best practices** — objectives; pause underperforming ads after 1,000+ impressions by CTR95 (benchmarks + link to https://zenabm.com/linkedin-abm-benchmarks-report).96- **Campaign performance tracking** — account scoring / ABM stages in ZenABM; monitor progression97 (identified → interested → considering → selecting); leading metrics per ad-set/inventory with Zena vs.98 benchmarks; spend pacing; secondary metrics.99- **Pre-launch to-do checklist** — the summary checklist from the Checklist reference.100101## What good looks like102103- The budget calculator's **CTR field is decorative** (never used in its math) — do not gate the budget on CTR.104 CTR is only used later for the "pause after 1,000 impressions" launch guidance (benchmark-based).105- Keep revenue and ACV on the **same basis** (MRR with MRR, or ARR with ARR); convert if the user mixes them.106- Treat all outputs as **directional planning figures**, not precise forecasts — say so on the document.107- Design the document for **light mode**, self-contained (inline CSS, **no external scripts or fonts**, inline-SVG108 flowchart). Always deliver an exported **PDF file** as well as the HTML.109- One Campaign block **per target audience**; if the user has one audience, produce one Campaign block.