LinkedIn ads can be a powerful way to reach business decision makers and generate leads for B2B companies. With over 810 million members worldwide, LinkedIn provides access to a massive professional network. However, simply creating LinkedIn ads is not enough. You need an effective LinkedIn ad strategy optimized for your target B2B audience.
Definition of B2B
First, let’s clarify what B2B means. B2B stands for “business to business.” It refers to businesses that market and sell products or services to other businesses and organizations. This is different from B2C (business to consumer), which involves marketing and selling directly to individual consumers.
Some examples of B2B companies include:
- Software companies selling to other businesses
- Manufacturing companies selling equipment to other manufacturers
- IT service firms providing services to corporations
- B2B ecommerce platforms facilitating transactions between businesses
The B2B landscape tends to deal with higher value transactions, longer sales cycles, and more complex decision making compared to B2C. Key decision makers are often C-level executives, managers, IT staff, operations professionals, etc. Rather than targeting a mass consumer audience, B2B marketing is more focused on niche professional audiences.
Benefits of LinkedIn Ads for B2B
Here are some of the core benefits of using LinkedIn ads for B2B marketing:
- Targeted audience – LinkedIn provides professional demographic data, job role, company details, and other attributes to target ads to the right B2B decision makers.
- Buyer intent – You can target members based on activities indicating they want to buy B2B services or products.
- Quality leads – LinkedIn members are largely professional working adults more likely to convert versus teens or stay-at-home parents on other social platforms.
- Multiple ad formats – Options like sponsored content and Message Ads help drive leads and increase awareness.
- Analytics – Detailed campaign reporting provides insights to optimize your ads and improve performance.
In short, LinkedIn ads let you connect with real professionals that influence or make B2B purchasing decisions. Now let’s look at tips to maximize your B2B ads on LinkedIn.
Tips for Targeting B2B Ads on LinkedIn
Here are powerful targeting strategies for B2B LinkedIn ads:
1. Leverage accurate job titles
Using specific job titles that represent your ideal customers is a foundational targeting tactic. For example, if you sell cloud CRM software, you can target titles like Chief Information Officer, VP Technology, Director IT Operations, CRM Manager, etc. The available job titles go very deep thanks to LinkedIn’s profile data.
2. Layer company attributes
Combine targeting by job title with filters for company size, industry, geography, and other attributes relevant to your audience. For example, you may want to target Directors at large financial services firms or VPs at technology companies.
3. Retarget website visitors
You can install LinkedIn’s Insight tag on your website to then retarget ads to people who already visited specific pages or took desired actions. This targets warmer leads with higher conversion potential.
4. Engage known accounts
Upload a targeted account list to engage contacts at key customer businesses you want to acquire or retain. This allows you to scale personalized outreach to entire companies.
5. Identify buyer intent
Target members based on activities indicating they want to buy B2B offerings. For instance, target people searching for terms related to your products, viewing competitor pages, following relevant companies, etc.
6. Connect with your audience
Further filter your audience based on whether they follow your LinkedIn Company Page, engage with your content, or have existing relationships with your sales organization.
7. Promote gated assets
Drive leads by promoting free gated assets like eBooks, whitepapers, or webinars to implement a content offer strategy. Target people likely to trade some contact info for your gated asset.
8. Personalize messaging
Use LinkedIn Matched Audiences to tailor messaging to Website Visitors, Existing Leads, Account Lists, and more. Personalization boosts engagement.
9. Analyze conversion funnels
Leverage LinkedIn’s reporting to understand your conversion funnel from awareness to lead to customer. Continuously optimize targeting and messaging to improve results.
10. Retarget past site visitors
Build remarketing lists in LinkedIn Ads based on people who previously visited your website pages. Retarget these users to drive conversions.
B2B LinkedIn Ad Targeting Options
Now let’s explore the various ad targeting categories and options available on LinkedIn to reach B2B audiences.
Demographic Targeting
- Job Title
- Job Function
- Industry
- Company Name
- Company Size
- Geography
Interest Targeting
- Group Membership
- Skills
- LinkedIn Page Follows
- Interests
Behavior Targeting
- Job Seeker Status
- Page Engagement
- Content Engagement
- Matched Audiences
- Website Retargeting
- Lead Gen Forms
- Account Lists
Combine multiple targeting options to reach your ideal customers on LinkedIn. You can further personalize ads using Matched Audiences based on website engagement, existing leads, contacted accounts, and more.
Optimizing B2B Ad Creative on LinkedIn
In addition to targeting, your ad creative also greatly impacts B2B LinkedIn ad results. Use these best practices to optimize ad creative:
- Video Ads – Video ads have the highest engagement. Produce professional videos focused on educating your B2B audience.
- Thought Leadership Content – Syndicate long-form posts on LinkedIn to build brand authority and capture business leader mindshare.
- Company Follower Targeting – Engage people already following your brand by promoting new content, events, and offers.
- Clear Calls-to-Action – Such as “Download eBook”, “Register for Webinar”, “Start Free Trial”, etc. directly linked to conversion destinations.
- Concise Ad Copy – Quickly communicate your value prop and call-to-action without overloading on text.
- Professional Visuals – Use authentic images depicting business professionals and your solution to attract B2B audiences.
Frequently A/B test different combinations of creative elements and messaging to boost engagement and conversion rates.
B2B LinkedIn Ad Examples
Now let’s look at a few examples of effective B2B LinkedIn ad campaigns:
HubSpot – Thought Leadership
HubSpot runs sponsored long-form posts to share ideas and educate their B2B audience. This builds brand awareness and establishes their thought leadership.
Drift – Account-Based Marketing
Drift targeted ads specifically to people associated with a list of 100 target accounts they wanted to acquire as customers. This enabled personalized outreach at scale to key companies.
Canva – Lead Gen Offer
Canva promoted a free graphic design eBook to professionals interested in graphic design software. Interested prospects could download the asset by trading their contact information.
Shopify – Video Views
Shopify created an engaging video ad telling real merchant success stories. Targeting professionals interested in ecommerce, the ad generated nearly 1 million video views.
Slack – Website Retargeting
Slack retargeted LinkedIn ads to professionals who had visited their pricing page, but hadn’t yet requested a demo. This targeted follow-up boosted conversions.
Key Takeaways
Here are the key tips covered for running effective B2B LinkedIn ad campaigns:
- Leverage accurate job titles and company attributes in your targeting
- Identify intent signals like researching products or following competitors
- Retarget website visitors with tailored messaging to capture leads
- Promote gated assets like eBooks and webinars to generate qualified leads
- Analyze conversion funnel data to continuously optimize campaigns
- Produce authentic, educational video ads that engage B2B audiences
- AB test ad variations to improve performance
With the right targeting, compelling creative, and continuous optimization – LinkedIn ads provide a powerful channel for B2B lead generation and brand building.
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn offers exceptional capabilities for B2B marketers to reach professional audiences. Start by identifying your ideal customer personas and their associated job titles, companies, interests, and intent signals. Combine this strategic targeting with compelling creative optimized for the LinkedIn feed. Continuously analyze campaign analytics to refine your B2B LinkedIn ads and improve results over time. Implemented effectively, LinkedIn ads can become a primary channel for cost-efficiently driving new business opportunities.