How to Identify Your Ideal Target Accounts

In the world of B2B marketing, trying to be everything to everyone is the fastest way to burn through your budget with nothing to show for it. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) flips the script: instead of casting a wide net and hoping for a nibble, we’re going spearfishing for the exact clients that will grow your business.

Identifying your Ideal Target Accounts (ITAs) is the foundation of everything we do at Local Marketing Group. If you get this bit right, your sales team will love you because you’re handing them leads that actually fit; get it wrong, and you’re just making noise in a crowded market. Let’s get stuck into how you can identify the big fish in the Australian landscape.

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Prerequisites: What you’ll need before we start

• Your CRM data: Or at least a list of your top 10 most profitable clients from the last two years.
• Access to LinkedIn Sales Navigator: (Optional, but highly recommended for Australian B2B research).
• A clear understanding of your margins: Not all revenue is created equal.
• A coffee: This is the deep-thinking part of marketing, so settle in.

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Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Before we look for specific company names, we need to build the 'blueprint' of what a perfect client looks like. This is where most people get stuck—they think an ICP is just 'small businesses in Brisbane.' That’s too broad.

We need to look at 'firmographics.' Think about:

• Industry: Are they in Mining and Resources? Aged Care? Professional Services?
• Company Size: Is it a 20-person engineering firm in Pinkenba or a 500-employee corporate in the CBD?
• Geography: Are you only looking at South East Queensland, or do you have the capacity to service nationally?
• Annual Revenue: (Don't worry if you don't know the exact number; you can usually estimate this based on headcount).

Step 2: Analyse Your Historical Data

Open up your accounting software (Xero or MYOB) and your CRM. We’re looking for patterns.

• List your top 20% of clients by lifetime value (LTV).
• Identify the 'Common Thread': Do they all use the same software? Are they all governed by the same Australian regulations (like NDIS providers or AFSL holders)?
• Calculate the 'Time to Close': If a certain industry takes 18 months to make a decision and you need revenue now, they might not be your 'Ideal' account today, even if they are big.

Step 3: Identify 'Trigger Events'

An ideal account isn't just a company that can buy from you; it’s a company that needs to buy from you right now. In the Australian market, certain 'triggers' make a company a prime target:

• Office Relocations: If you sell office fit-outs or IT managed services, a company moving into a new floor in a Queen St high-rise is a hot lead.
• Key Hires: Did they just hire a new Operations Manager? New leaders often want to shake things up and bring in new vendors.
• Legislative Changes: For example, new payroll tax rulings in QLD might make a company desperate for new accounting software.

Step 4: Build Your 'Seed List' Using LinkedIn

Now we move from theory to actual names. LinkedIn is your best friend here because it’s the most up-to-date database of Australian professionals.

• Go to LinkedIn Sales Navigator (if you don't have it, the 30-day free trial is worth it just for this exercise).
• Use the Account Filters.
• Filter by Geography (e.g., "Greater Brisbane Area").
• Filter by Industry and Headcount based on the ICP you built in Step 1.
• The 'Technographics' Trick: If you sell a Shopify plugin, search for companies that use Shopify. This is a game-changer for relevance.

Step 5: The Tiering System (The 10/40/100 Rule)

This is where the interface of most CRMs fails you, so I recommend doing this in a clean spreadsheet first. You cannot treat every target account the same way. We use a three-tier system:

• Tier 1 (The Top 10): These are your 'Whales.' If you landed just one of these, your year would be made. These get 1-to-1 bespoke marketing (think custom videos, physical gifts, or deep-dive audits).
• Tier 2 (The Next 40): High-value targets that get '1-to-few' marketing. You might group these by industry (e.g., a specific campaign just for Brisbane-based Law Firms).
• Tier 3 (The Next 100): These get '1-to-many' automated but highly targeted outreach.

Step 6: Verify Business Health (The 'ABN Check')

Before you spend money marketing to a company, make sure they are actually a viable business.

• Check the ABN Lookup (abr.business.gov.au). Does the entity name match their branding? Are they GST registered?
• Visit their website. Does it look like they are investing in their business, or is it a 'ghost town' blog last updated in 2018?
• Check their 'People' tab on LinkedIn. Have they had a mass exodus of staff lately? That’s a red flag for budget freezes.

Step 7: Map the Decision-Making Unit (DMU)

In Australian B2B sales, it’s rarely just one person saying "yes." You need to identify the three key roles within your target accounts:

• The Champion: The person who loves your product but might not have the budget (e.g., the Marketing Coordinator).
• The Decision Maker: The person who signs the cheque (e.g., the CEO or CFO).
• The Blocker: The person who might feel threatened by your solution (e.g., an internal IT manager if you’re an external IT agency).

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Troubleshooting Common Issues

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Summary & Next Steps

Identifying your target accounts is the hardest part of the process, but it’s also the most rewarding. Once you have your list of 150 accounts (10/40/100), you can stop 'shouting' at the whole internet and start having meaningful conversations with people who actually need your help.

• Export your last 12 months of sales data.
• Highlight the 10 most profitable clients.
• Find 5 more companies that look exactly like them using LinkedIn.

If you're struggling to build this list or you want a hand with the technology to automate your outreach to these accounts, we can help. The team at Local Marketing Group specialises in connecting Brisbane businesses with their ideal clients through data-driven ABM strategies.