A Proven Playbook to Increase Revenue with LinkedIn Ads

You’re reviewing your monthly report from LinkedIn ads and start to feel the frustration boil up. The Cost Per Result (CPR) is through the roof, and you have few (if any) qualified leads to close for the quarter. What went wrong? Why did LinkedIn take your money and offer you nothing in return? If you have found yourself in this scenario…you’re not alone. We have seen many businesses struggle with LinkedIn ads and have helped them get real results. We want to give you our step-by-step playbook that will turn your frustration into optimism.

Why LinkedIn Ads Haven’t Been Working

Before we can see a proven strategy to generate revenue, we need to understand the problem. The real reason LinkedIn ads fail is that businesses try to sell first without offering value. A hard truth that most business owners want to ignore is that only 5% of your target audience is ready to buy. That means that 95% of your audience is scrolling past your ads with a sigh because they don’t want to be sold something. Below are a few other reasons your LinkedIn ads may not be working. We’ll cover the reasons below more in-depth in the playbook.

• No one has heard of your business. Many people underestimate the power of brand awareness. Most competitors in your industry are already running ads and crowding the algorithm. If people haven’t heard about your business, they probably won’t buy from the first ad that they see from your account. They’re going to buy from a business that they’ve already seen and gained value from.
• Your budget is too low. I know…this is a hot topic. However, because the algorithm is crowded, you are fighting more competition in an auction format. This means that whoever has the higher bid will win the ad space. There is a lot that goes into finding a sweet spot for your budget, and I recommend checking out HubSpot’s ROI calculator as a good starting point.
• What you’re offering isn’t valuable. So many companies offer free estimates, quotes, whitepapers, etc., and 95% of your audience will see that offer and keep scrolling.

The Playbook

We have found the most effective social selling strategies for our clients is to follow this proven playbook. The great part is that you can tweak this to work for your niche and the content that you have at your disposal. Let’s dive in!

• Top-level ad:
  • Brand awareness ad (Recommended budget should be around $1,000/mo)
    • The objective of this ad is to increase your impressions, reach, and frequency. Again, most people want to buy from a business they already know and are comfortable with…this ad does that.
    • Your audience should be broad but not too broad where you’re losing money. A good size would be between 50,000 and 300,000.
    • Success metrics to watch for in this ad format are:
      • Impressions, reach, cost-per-impression (CPM), and frequency. Don’t focus on leads or website traffic at this stage.
• Mid-level ad:
  • Engagement ad (Recommended budget should be around $600/mo)
    • An objective for this ad would be to offer value through a Subject Matter Expert (SMEs). Some good examples are case studies, expert-led videos, webinar access, and blog posts. You’re just looking to get some interaction!
    • Your audience should be narrower (try to keep it under 100,000) and should retarget people who interacted with the top-level brand awareness ad.
    • Success metrics to watch for in this ad format are:
      • Reactions, comments, shares, link clicks, click-through-rate (CTR), and cost-per-click (CPC). Don’t sell yet! Remember to offer value first, then you can start asking for a sale.

• Bottom-level ad:
  • Conversion ad (Recommended budget should be around $400/mo)
    • The objective for this final ad would be to sell your product or service. Now that you have expressed who you are, you’ve offered real value with no strings attached; now is the time to ask for something in return. The offer for this ad should be of high value. A free hour webinar, an Amazon giftcard, 30% off, etc. The higher the value, the better lead quality you’ll receive. The audience you’re targeting here is very narrow. It should only be retargeting people who have interacted with your mid-level engagement ad. These people have shown interest; might as well ask them if they’re ready for the next step.
    • Success metrics to watch for in this ad format are:
      • Conversions, cost-per-lead (CPL), CTR, and CPC. Now you’re looking for real leads!

These ads should work together and run at the same time. They’re all a part of the bigger picture!

Common Mistakes to Avoid

There are a few common mistakes that I’ve seen too many marketers fall into when it comes to keeping to this playbook. It’s important to tailor it to your needs and your campaigns, however, you need to be careful that you don’t fall into these traps.

• Don’t skip the brand awareness campaign. A lot of people will want to skip this step to save money and try to get clicks and conversions first. This won’t work in the long run. This ad is building future retargeting opportunities and also gaining trust with the 5% that is ready to buy.
• The second common mistake is not using SMEs in the engagement ad level. SMEs are pivotal to your overall LinkedIn success. We have seen conversion rates triple when companies use SMEs over regular business pages. Why? Because people want to buy from people.
• The third common mistake I see often is when companies use the same message or offer at all three stages. This can be detrimental to your results. It’s important to start broad and then narrow the offer down to the point where the audience can’t say no. If you use the same messaging, your audience will get confused and toss you to the side with the other spam artists.

The real reason LinkedIn ads fail is that businesses try to sell first without adding value.

Start Getting Qualified Leads

When this playbook is done correctly, you will see an increase in lead quality and therefore an increase in revenue. We’ve seen this work for multiple B2B clients in multiple industries. Remember to stay consistent, don’t skip a step, and lead with value – not a sale. Now that you have the proven playbook, give it a try and message us on LinkedIn to let us know how it’s working and if you have any questions. We’d be happy to help!