How to Run LinkedIn Ads That Will Generate Leads
- Lee'Ann Burgess
- Aug 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 27
The Importance of LinkedIn for B2B Marketing
LinkedIn stands out as the premier platform for B2B marketing, with over 1 billion members globally. Its unique ability to connect with decision-makers directly, by job title, seniority, skills, and company certainly sets it apart. However, many businesses run through resources by mismanaging their campaigns. To run LinkedIn Ads that truly generate leads, you need more than just a boosted post. You need to understand your objectives, use precise targeting, and fully understand the platform's nuances - and trust us, there's plenty. Partnering with an agency that specializes in LinkedIn Ads, led by one of LinkedIn’s Certified Marketing Experts, can help you avoid common pitfalls.
Understanding LinkedIn’s Campaign Objectives
LinkedIn Ads operate on an objective-based system, categorized into three main areas:
Awareness: Focused on building brand recognition and reach.
Consideration: Aimed at driving website visits, engagement, or video views.
Conversion: Targeted at generating leads, website conversions, or job applicants.
If your goal is to generate leads, opt for a Conversion objective. This choice ensures that LinkedIn optimizes your campaign for users most likely to take action.
Getting Your Targeting Right
One of LinkedIn's greatest strengths is its precision targeting. However, many businesses fall short here. The key is not to cast a wide net but to connect with those who matter most.
Use job titles, seniority, and company size to reach decision-makers.
Incorporate filters like skills or groups to target niche audiences.
Companies Tab: Create custom company lists to target specific accounts or exclude those you don’t want to reach.
Maintain a manageable audience size.
A sweet spot often lies between 50K and 250K people, depending on your budget. LinkedIn allows for hyper-focused targeting, a capability unmatched by other platforms.
Navigating the Platform Nuances
Understanding the platform's settings and tactics can significantly impact your campaign's success:
Disable LinkedIn Audience Network (LAN): Keep your ads on LinkedIn until you gather sufficient data.
Avoid Audience Expansion: Enabling this too early dilutes your targeting precision.
Budgeting: The minimum is $10/day. Start conservatively, but prioritize understanding your bidding costs over overspending initially.
Manual Bidding: Begin with manual bidding to control costs, then experiment with automated methods later.
Max Delivery: Avoid this option at the start. Allow LinkedIn time to learn before relinquishing full control.
Matched Audiences: Upload customer or prospect lists to reach known accounts.
Retargeting Audiences: Set up retargeting for website visitors, lead form opens, and video views. This often-overlooked tactic is one of the most effective ways to lower your cost per lead and engage an audience that is already interested.
Thinking Full Funnel
To maximize LinkedIn's potential, consider the entire funnel, not just lead capture:
Top of Funnel (TOFU): Focus on awareness and consideration through thought leadership, content promotion, and video ads.
Middle of Funnel (MOFU): Engage your audience with webinars, events, or in-depth guides.
Bottom of Funnel (BOFU): Drive conversions with lead gen forms, demos, or consultations. Warming up your audience first can enhance conversion rates and lead quality.
Think About Your Offer
People are unlikely to share their contact information just to "Learn More." Instead, provide them with something valuable:
A comprehensive guide or whitepaper
An engaging webinar or event
A free consultation
Relevant research or data
The stronger your offer, the stronger your leads.
Streamlining Lead Forms
LinkedIn forms auto-fill from user profiles. Typically, asking for just a name, email, and company is sufficient. Overloading your forms with questions can decrease conversion rates. You want to remove points of friction, especially in your lead forms.
Testing and Optimizing Creatives
Start with 4–5 ad variations. Pause what doesn’t perform well and create more around what does. Here are some ad formats to consider:
Single Image Ads: For clear messaging.
Document Ads: For direct downloads.
Carousel Ads: To highlight multiple benefits.
Video Ads: To tell your story. Video content is particularly effective on this platform right now and LinkedIn has invested heavily into this.
Creative fatigue is real. Keep testing and refreshing your ads regularly.
Measuring What Matters
Clicks and impressions alone don’t provide the full picture. Focus on metrics that truly matter:
Cost per lead
Lead quality
Pipeline generated
LinkedIn reaches millions of decision-makers worldwide. This scale is significant, but only if you optimize your campaigns and track the right metrics.
Why Work With a Certified Expert
Social Vibe Marketing is led by the only LinkedIn Certified Marketing Expert on Long Island and one of fewer than 80 worldwide. This credential was earned through LinkedIn’s selective program in London. We understand the platform's intricacies, from building company lists and avoiding wasted spend to implementing effective bidding strategies and matched audiences.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool, but it can be complex to navigate. It requires hands-on expertise. If you want LinkedIn Ads that genuinely generate leads or if your team needs training, we are here to help.
Feel free to download this guide and keep it handy for future reference!
