Scrappy Does Not Necessarily Mean Cheap: Less Is More in Early-Stage ABM (with Jess Martin from Metaphor Data) | Ep. 227

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.

ㅤ

Jess 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 Bio

Jess 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 Cover

• How 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 Mentioned

• Keyplay – 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.

ㅤ

If 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!