Learning from the Pros

With so many different tools available for competitor research it can be a bit overwhelming. 

I’ve lived and breathed paid ads over the past eight years, and in this article I’m going to share with you 10 tips on how to conduct competitor research for free using ad libraries. 

Grab a notebook and let’s dive in!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Tip #1: Familiarise yourself with all the available ad libraries
• Tip #2: Leverage time and location filters
• Tip #3: Estimate platform demand by volume of creatives
• Tip #4: Build a swipe folder of ad inspiration
• Tip #5: Research brands in adjacent industries 
• Tip #6: Build a matrix to document your competitors’ movements
• Tip #7: Build a checklist to uncover strategic insights
• Tip #8: Review the ad formats being used 
• Tip #9: Clickthrough to review landing pages in use
• Tip #10: Review your competitors’ UTM string

Tip #1: Familiarise yourself with all the available ad libraries

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The first step is to know what options you have available.

Here are the primary ad libraries available for the top 3 ad platforms: 

LinkedIn Ad Library

Meta Ads Library

Google Ads Transparency Center

Within each library you can study creatives for your competitors and relevant brands. 

Using them on a quarterly basis to spy on your competitors is a key habit to develop. 

Tip #2: Leverage time and location filters

You can filter by time and location within each ad library to understand: 

• Which markets are my competitors investing in?
• How many creative variations are my competitors testing?
• Are they testing localised campaigns outside of english?

You won’t know exactly how much your competitors are investing but you can use the volume of ads as a proxy to estimate the level of investment, and interest for a given market. 

If you spot certain markets where you’re finding organic traction AND you see your competitors have gone through the commitment of localising these regions,these are great signals for you to consider running a pilot campaign. 

Tip #3: Estimate platform demand by volume of creatives

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We touched on using the volume of as a proxy to estimate the level of investment for a market.

The same logic applies to also understanding the demand for a specific ad platform. 

Let’s use a hypothetical example, imagine you see the following for your competitor:

• LinkedIn Ads = 20 active ad variations in the past month
• Meta Ads = 10 active ad variations in the past month
• Google Ads = 5 active ad variations in the past month

Based on the volume of ads you can assume LinkedIn could be their primary platform followed by Meta, and finally Google. Look up your competitors and take note of their volume of ads by platform.

You’ll never know with 100% certainty but it’s a good approximation for at least the effort they are expending on each channel, if not their level of success.

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Pro tip: get buy-in from leadership to test new ad platforms by showing them how active your competitors are within those channels, this creates FOMO which is quite powerful. 

Tip #4: Build a swipe folder of ad inspiration

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A swipe folder is a simple collection of screenshots of ads, landing pages, and offers that stand out.

As you’re going through the ad libraries take note of the ads that catch your attention from competitors, relevant brands, and from scrolling through social platforms.  

Inspiration comes from all sources and by building this swipe folder you can:

• Better communicate and share guidance with your creative team
• Avoid reinventing the wheel with tested concepts
• Reduce the time to produce new creatives

This can be as simple as a folder in a Google Drive, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

If you want to be organised about it you can also group ads by concept, such as:

• Social Proof
• Thought Leadership
• Product Marketing

The most important piece to takeaway from this is you have some sort of folder to refer to. 

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Pro tip: create a shared slack channel for people across teams to upload examples of great ads they come across to crowdsource inspiration. 

Tip #5: Research brands in adjacent industries 

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Oftentimes your competitors might be behind the ball when it comes to advertising. 

In these instances researching them won’t be very helpful or worthwhile. 

Instead what you can do is research brands in adjacent industries, for example:

• eCommerce 
• E-learning
• Retail 

You can take what works in other industries and adjust it to fit in yours. 

Creativity is often taking what works from one sphere and applying it to another. 

Tip #6: Build a matrix to document your competitors’ movements

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If you want to take your competitors’ research to the next level, build a documented matrix. 

This can be as simple as:

• Competitor Namesome text
  • Month/Year
  • Channel
  • Ad Count

It will take a bit of work to put this together but the primary benefit is you can now monitor your competitors’ activity by ad platform on a quarterly basis. 

Here’s a simple example of what this can look like in Google Sheets: 

Pro tip: if you’re looking for a role in paid media, do a competitor research analysis on the brand you’re applying for. It's a great way to differentiate yourself against other candidates. 

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Tip #7: Build a checklist to uncover strategic insights

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When reviewing your competitors’ ads in the library you’ll want to think deeper than just the surface level of the styles and examples of ads in front of you to uncover strategic insights. 

Create a simple checklist to remind yourself to think about: 

• Are the ads running to gated or ungated content?
• Is there a mixture of content that focuses on demand creation or capture?
• What stage of the funnel are their ads focused on? (ex: ToFu, BoFu)
• What mixture of offers are they testing? (ex: Conferences, Webinars) 
• Are they driving to a landing page or lead form? 

Compare the insights you uncover against your current approach.

If you notice 3 of your competitors are promoting events and you’re not then it’s worth testing. 

Tip #8: Review the ad formats being used 

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This was touched on slightly before but it deserves to be in its own tip. 

As you’re reviewing competitors in the library take notes of the ad formats being used. 

For example, when it comes to LinkedIn are they testing: 

• Image 
• Video
• Spotlight
• Carousel
• Document
• Conversation

If you notice a large volume of a certain ad format it’s safe to say it must be working. 

Compare the formats they are using against your own to inspire future experiments. 

For videos take special note of aspect ratio, short vs long form, and other nuances like humour. 

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Pro tip:assign your competitor research tasks to an intern or junior person as pulling these insights is quite time-consuming and  can be done by an entry level team member.

Tip #9: Clickthrough to review landing pages in use

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The remarkable thing about these libraries is that you can click through on the ad and view the landing pages your competitors are using. This insight is  not otherwise easily discoverable. 

This all of sudden opens up a lot of homework for you to perform landing page teardowns. 

• What are the calls to action on the landing page?
• How is the page structured compared to yours?
• Do they have better social proof than you?

Now suddenly your swipe folder can be filled with print screens of their entire landing pages. 

Which can be shared with your team to test new page variations. 

Pro tip:

If you’re using Google Chrome you can use the extension called GoFullPage to take screenshots of entire pages with the click of a button. 

Tip #10: Review your competitors’ UTM string

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To close out on our final tip, I wanted to share a more advanced approach.

When you’re clicking through to the landing page of your competitors’ ads take note of the UTM string in place to potentially uncover insights on how they’ve set up their campaigns. 

By reviewing the URL structure I might gather the following information:

• Network = g | they’re advertising on Google Search
• Device = c | they’re running ads on Desktop devices
• Keyword = crm software | they’re bidding on crm software
• Matchtype = e | they’re using exact match 

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Hope you found this article helpful! 👏

Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s keep the conversation going. 

‍

Resources for mastering B2B advertising

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

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‍

Do you need to scale your paid search campaigns and find new ways to increase demand capture?

As the head of Marketing at Catalyst, I build and mentor teams to maximize ROI in paid ad channels including Google.

Here’s my top 10 tips & tactics to scale your Google ads efforts.

(In no particular order, they all matter) 

‍

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Tip #1 - Leverage Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)
• Tip #2 - Tap into Device & Location Bid Modifiers
• Tip #3 - Shift Towards Smart Bidding ASAP
• Tip #4 - Sync Your CRM with Google Ads
• Tip #5 - Steer Away From Broad Match As Much As Possible
• Tip #6 - Take Advantage of the Google Ads Editor
• Tip #7 - Lean on Google Ads Script & Rules
• Tip #8 - Exclude Search Partners & Display Network
• Tip #9 - Install Behavioral Analytics Tools for Landing Page Optimizations 
• Tip #10 - Consider Bing as a Second Demand Capture Channel

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Tip #1 - Leverage Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)

‍

DKI is a powerful method to improve the relevancy of your ads based on user search terms. 

When managing ad groups with multiple keywords on a similar theme, this technique ensures that you are displaying ads that closely align with users' query terms.

How Dynamic Keyword Insertion Works:

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DKI automatically updates the ad’s headline to include the exact keywords that triggered the ad. 

This way, the ad's first impression is highly relevant to the user's search, which improves overall engagement.

Even a slight increase in click through rate (CTR) can impact the performance of a campaign by driving more traffic to the landing page.

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Best Practices for Using Dynamic Keyword Insertion:

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Prioritize the First Headline: Always aim to have the first headline of your ad matches as closely as possible to the user’s search query. 

Group Keywords by Theme: Make DKI more effective by grouping your keywords by themes.

There are generally 6 buckets of themes for search ads:

• Brand
• Non-brand
• Competitive
• RLSA (Search Remarketing)
• Content
• Dynamic Search Ads

With this organization, DKI can create more coherent ads that display the most relevant headline for each bucket.

Tip #2 - Tap into Device & Location Bid Modifiers

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A critical aspect often overlooked in Google ads is the optimization of device and location modifiers. 

For most B2B SaaS campaigns, the quality of traffic can vary significantly across different devices.

‍

Desktop vs. Mobile vs. Tablet: 

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Typically, desktop traffic yields the highest quality in terms of conversion rates and user intent. 

Users on desktops are generally more engaged and possibly in a professional setting, compared to mobile users who might be multitasking or browsing casually. 

Tablets often perform the worst in terms of conversion rates and traffic quality, which is why many advertisers choose to exclude them entirely from campaigns.

‍

Strategic Use of Location Modifiers:

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If you target several states or countries, you should modify your bids based on the areas that perform best.

This could mean adjusting bids upward in high-performing regions to capture more traffic or decreasing bids in lower-performing areas to conserve budget. 

In extreme cases, you can exclude low-performing regions altogether.

Pro Tip:

Start with a conservative approach focused on proven strategies. As results come in and budget allows, gradually introduce new variables and expand your focus to optimize the overall campaign performance. Maintain detailed records of campaign performance across different devices and platforms. This data will be invaluable for making informed decisions about where to allocate resources most effectively.

Tip #3 - Shift Towards Smart Bidding ASAP

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Smart bidding strategies can help improve campaigns’  performance by focusing on conversions rather than clicks. 

The Maximum Conversion strategy is particularly effective, as it lets Google optimize your bids to meet a specific CPA target, ideal for campaigns with regular conversions.

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Key Considerations for Smart Bidding:

‍

Google recommends having at least 30 conversions per month to effectively utilize Target CPA. 

However, for campaigns with lower conversion rates, setting a minimum threshold of 10-15 conversions can still be sufficient.  

Ensure that your conversions are properly set up and that Google receives clear signals about which conversions to prioritize by setting specific values for each conversion action. 

This is crucial for smart bidding algorithms to function properly, as mixed signals can dilute the focus of your campaign optimization.

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Pro Tip:

For businesses, especially in B2B sectors where conversion volumes are low, it's important to track higher funnel events. These can include engaged visits, interaction with forms, and even form abandonment. Each of these steps can be set through Google Tag Manager (GTM), providing richer data for optimization. Apply a structured conversion funnel that captures various stages of user engagement. From initial website interaction to form submissions or CRM entries, each stage should be defined and tracked as separate conversion events. You can then design custom goals and bundle your conversion actions together to add them to your campaigns.

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Tip #4 - Sync Your CRM with Google Ads

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Performance marketers thrive on optimizing for meaningful conversions. It will take emotions out of the decision-making process.

Integrating CRM lifecycle stages into Google Ads can profoundly impact your ad optimization and overall marketing strategy. 

By linking stages such as MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead), SQL (Sales Qualified Lead), opportunities, and customer status directly from a CRM platform like HubSpot, you enable a more nuanced and powerful approach to ad targeting and bid adjustments.

‍

How to Implement Your CRM Sync:

‍

Depending on your CRM system, various tools and plugins can facilitate this integration. Ensure that the tool you choose can sync data reliably and in real-time to maintain accuracy in your campaigns.

Define which CRM milestones are important for your campaigns and set Google Ads to track these as conversions

Use the data from your CRM to set up automation rules in Google Ads. For example, you could decrease bids or pause campaigns if the cost per SQL exceeds a certain threshold, ensuring you maintain profitability.

Regularly review the data flow and synchronization between Google Ads and your CRM to ensure accuracy. Adjust your strategies based on new insights and continually refine your approach to improve outcomes.

Tip #5 - Steer Away From Broad Match As Much As Possible

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Broad match can drive a high volume of traffic due to its extensive reach. This can result in a large number of conversions, which initially might seem cost-effective. 

However, the quality of these conversions often needs to be revised when scrutinized more deeply in the sales funnel.

Despite lower upfront costs, the conversions from broad match often fail to convert into valuable leads or sales. 

They may also attract clicks from irrelevant queries, leading to wasted ad spend and diluted performance metrics.

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Best Practices for Keyword Match Types:

‍

Phrase match offers a balance by allowing your ad to show only when a searcher's query includes the exact phrase or close variations of the phrase, in the same order. This strikes a better balance between reach and relevance, providing more control than Broad match type.

Exact match targets queries that are much closer to the keywords. 

While this reduces reach, it increases the relevance and quality of traffic, making it ideal for targeting high-intent users and optimizing conversion rates.

Regardless of the match type used, a comprehensive negative keyword list is crucial.

Finally, test different match types to see what works best for your specific campaigns. This could mean comparing the performance of Phrase match versus Exact match or testing different variations of your keywords.

Tip #6 - Take Advantage of the Google Ads Editor

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Google Ads Editor is an indispensable tool for marketers aiming to streamline their campaign management processes. 

This desktop application allows users to manage their Google Ads campaigns offline, offering robust functionalities for bulk editing and optimization.

Google Ads Editor is particularly advantageous for managing large accounts with numerous campaigns and extensive lists of keywords.

‍

Best Practices for Using Google Ads Editor:

‍

Develop a standardized template with predefined columns and settings that align with your campaign's requirements. 

This setup ensures that you can quickly import data from spreadsheets directly into Google Ads Editor without compatibility issues.

Always synchronize Google Ads Editor with your online account to ensure all changes are up-to-date and to avoid discrepancies between offline edits and online status.

Before uploading changes to the live environment, use the review function to ensure accuracy and prevent potential errors from impacting your campaigns.

While Google Ads Editor is incredibly powerful, it does have a learning curve.

 Invest time in learning its features and shortcuts. 

Tip #7 - Lean on Google Ads Script & Rules

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Automation is a key component in optimizing campaigns. Google Ads scripts and rules offer powerful tools to automate routine tasks and strategic operations.

Scripts allow for advanced, customized automation that can modify bids, pause ads, or adjust budgets based on specific conditions. 

Rules can be set to trigger based on performance metrics such as CTR, conversion rates, or cost per acquisition.

For example, automatically increasing the budget for high-performing campaigns or reducing bids for underperforming keywords helps maintain efficient spending.

Utilize scripts to automatically apply a tracking template across all campaigns, incorporating dynamic elements like campaign and ad group names.

This will detach personal bias from campaign management. Scripts and rules operate based on data, not preference, enabling objective decisions that focus solely on performance metrics.

You must regularly review the outcomes of automated actions. Automation is powerful, but it requires oversight to ensure it aligns with changing campaign goals and market conditions.

Tip #8 - Exclude Search Partners & Display Network

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When managing Google Ads, especially for substantial budgets, it's crucial to ensure that every dollar spent is driving quality traffic and conversions. 

A common oversight is not excluding search partners and the display network from search campaigns. 

While these features can increase visibility, they often compromise the quality of traffic and the overall effectiveness of your campaigns.

‍

Understanding the Impact by Network:

‍

Including Search Partners and Display Networks can inflate your impressions without a corresponding increase in clicks. 

This dilution of CTR can harm your campaign's overall performance metrics, misleading you about its effectiveness.

Google's quality score is a critical metric in determining your ad rank and the cost per click (CPC) you pay. 

A lower CTR resulting from irrelevant impressions on search partners and display networks can decrease your quality score, leading to higher costs and reduced ad placement.

Pro Tip:

Conduct regular audits of your Google Ads accounts to identify any inefficiencies or overlooked settings that could be draining your budget or diminishing your campaign’s effectiveness. While Google may provide recommendations, always assess them critically in the context of your specific campaign goals and historical data.  Consider experimenting with settings on a smaller scale before applying them broadly, especially when dealing with large budgets. This cautious approach allows you to gather data and make informed decisions based on actual performance metrics.

Tip #9 - Install Behavioral Analytics Tools for Landing Page Optimizations 

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One of the most effective strategies for enhancing landing page effectiveness is to implement behavioral analytics tools, such as Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity. 

These tools provide deep insights into how users interact with your page, allowing for data-driven improvements.

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The Importance of Behavioral Analytics:

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Most of these tools offer features like heatmaps, scroll tracking, and session recordings that reveal how users interact with your landing page. 

You can identify which parts of the page attract the most attention and where users lose interest.

You can make informed decisions about layout adjustments, content placement, and calls to action. 

For instance, if users frequently abandon a form, you might simplify it or adjust its placement on the page to increase completion rates.

Use the insights gathered to A/B test different versions of your landing page.

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Pro Tip:

Before implementing any changes based on behavioral data, be clear about what you’re trying to improve. Having specific goals will guide your optimization efforts, whether it's increasing time spent on the page, reducing bounce rate, or boosting form submissions. Combine quantitative data from analytics tools with qualitative feedback from user surveys or feedback forms. Keep a detailed record of all changes made and the results they yield. This documentation will help you understand what works, what doesn’t, and how future landing pages can be designed for maximum impact.

Tip #10 - Consider Bing as a Second Demand Capture Channel

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To extend the reach of your successful Google Ads campaigns without significantly increasing your budget, consider importing your best campaigns into Bing Ads. 

Bing, while smaller than Google, still captures a unique audience segment that may not overlap completely with Google users. This can increase your campaign's overall reach and exposure.

Generally, competition on Bing is lower than Google Ads, leading to lower cost-per-click (CPC) rates. 

Hope you found these 10 tips helpful! 

For more tips or to connect, please reach out via LinkedIn.

Resources for mastering B2B advertising

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)

Want to drive qualified pipeline and revenue from your LinkedIn Ads campaigns? 

I’ve worked with 50+ startups, and managed 7-figure LinkedIn ads budgets for B2B SaaS.

My goal with this article is to show you ten proven tips for improving your LinkedIn ads ROI. 

Irrelevant of the order, all of these tips have equal importance.

Let’s jump into it! 🚀

‍

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Tip #1: Use auto bidding for the first 7 days of a new campaign
• Tip #2: Never use the Audience Network
• Tip #3: Penetrate your audience with the reach objective
• Tip #4: Leverage exclusions for focus
• Tip #5: Job functions give you best visibility and reach
• Tip #6: Always start with even rotation upon launch
• Tip #7: Check your demographics report weekly
• Tip #8: Target mobile devices exclusively with 628 x 1200
• Tip #9: Review your performance by device
• Tip #10: Use LinkedIn’s bulk import and export feature

‍

Tip #1: Use auto bidding for the first 7 days of a new campaign

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When launching a new LinkedIn Ads campaign start with automated bidding for the first week. 

The thought process behind this is it will give LinkedIn’s algorithm enough time to learn and give you an average bid of what it takes to win auctions for your target audience. 

After the first week switch to manual bidding and set the bid amount 20% lower than your average. 

This works almost 99% of the time allowing you significant cost per click reductions. 

Once you make the switch keep an eye on your daily spend over the next five days, if you set your bids too low it can negatively impact your visibility. 

The key is to find the optimal bid between cost and maximum visibility (ex: impressions, views). 

Give it a shot and send me a DM on LinkedIn with how much money you save! 🤑

This tip applies to traffic and conversion campaigns. 

Tip #2: Never use the Audience Network

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This one might be a bit controversial, but no matter what you LinkedIn reps say this is a no no.

If you’re not familiar, the LinkedIn audience network is a conglomerate of website partners. 

 This allows you to distribute your content outside of LinkedIn and on their websites. 

Sounds amazing in theory but in practice the problem with the audience network is:

🔴90-95% of your ENTIRE LinkedIn Ads budget is spent on websites outside of LinkedIn 

Which completely destroys the point of running LinkedIn ads in the first place 😂

The LinkedIn algorithm always prioritizes the audience network because it’s cheaper and it’s trying to optimise for the greatest number of impressions for the lowest cost with your budget. 

I’ve personally tested the audience network over multiple quarters with the same exact campaign and the only difference is one is using the audience network and other isn’t. 

The campaign using the audience network had a CTR of 0.03% compared to 1% without. 

You also have no ideas which websites placed your ads as it’s a black box. 

Save your budget and improve your ROI by turning it off.  

Tip #3: Penetrate your audience with the reach objective

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If you’re trying to reach a large audience (ex: target account list) and want to do so in the most cost effective way, leverage the reach campaign objective. 

Obviously if you’re trying driving the most clicks then this tip wouldn’t be applicable. 

Instead in that case you should focus on using the website visits objective. 

The caveat here is if you truly know:

• Your ideal customer profile
• That your content resonates with them 

Then you can make the case that these people will click through anyways regardless of objective,

Through testing I’ve found that if you have great content using reach you’ll actually serve towards more people and generate more net new clicks given the reduction in CPM costs. 

The major benefit of reach is that it is optimised for driving more unique impressions per viewer. 

Pro tip:

Contact your LinkedIn Ads rep to send you a report on audience penetration on a monthly and quarterly basis to see how many unique users you’re reaching in your target audience. 

Tip #4: Leverage exclusions for focus

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Most LinkedIn advertisers underestimate the power of exclusions.

It’s one of those things most  leveraged  but not to its fullest capability. 

Everyone knows you need to exclude the obvious things like competitors, students, customers, etc…

But they haven’t built the habit of checking LinkedIn Demographics Report once per week to find irrelevant titles for exclusion. 

It’s really important to be mindful of multiple current roles when excluding as you can accidentally block your ads from being visible from high value audience members. 

For example, let’s say you only help businesses with more than 1,000 employees. 

Conventional logic would be exclude people who work at companies with < 1,000 employees but what happens when your perfect prospect:

• Volunteers at a nonprofit organization with < 100 employees 
• Started a side hustle that only has with a size of “myself only” 

The answer is, they won’t see your ads. 

Remember that exclusions are always prioritised over inclusions.

When excluding focus on using job titles to refine your audience and prevent accidental conflicts. 

Tip #5: Job functions give you best visibility and reach

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This point is a bit controversial but from my own testing I’ve found job functions give you better visibility and reach than job titles. 

This doesn’t mean you should never use job title targeting, I’ve actually found for certain personas titles work better than functions but if you’re in the following scenario: 

• Targeting a high value account list 
• Promoting ads that speak to a general pain point/benefit
• Your ideal audience has a million variations of the same title

Then you’re better off using job functions to reach as many relevant audience members. 

Here’s some great combinations of job function targeting to test:

• Job functions AND seniority
• Job functions AND  seniority AND member skills OR interest

Make sure you’re checking your demographics report on a weekly basis to find all the irrelevant job titles you’re reaching and exclude them on an ongoing basis. 

This process can take up to two and half months but the goal is to eventually get to the point where you only see relevant titles inside of the demographics report. 

Highly recommend excluding unpaid, training, and entry seniority as a starting point. 

Pro tip:

Study LinkedIn profiles of your best prospects and take note of the member skills, certifications, and schools they’ve listed to find commonalities for targeting. 

Tip #6: Always start with even rotation upon launch

When launching your new campaigns you have the option to choose how to serve your ads.

The thought process behind this is you want to understand which ad will perform the best by receiving enough budget for proper testing. 

Unfortunately if you start with optimising for performance LinkedIn will prematurely assign 40-50% of your budget to one variation of ad while the others only receive what’s remaining. 

In order to avoid this, start with rotating ads evenly for the first 7-14 days when launching a new campaign to serve budget equally and then switch to optimise for performance. 

Tip #7: Check your demographics report weekly

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I’ve hinted at this multiple times across all these tips but it’s so important to driving a return on investment with LinkedIn Ads that it deserves to be its own tip. 

You need to know what’s happening across your account. 

Review your demographics report for:

• Ad performance
• Campaign performance
• Campaign group performance 

This will ensure your budget is going towards reaching the right people and companies. 

Pro tip:

LinkedIn has reporting minimums when using the demographics report in platform, get around this by using a third party data connector to push the data into G-Sheet or Looker. 

Tip #8: Target mobile devices exclusively with 628 x 1200

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LinkedIn has a 628x1200 image ad spec that allows you to only appear on mobile devices. 

If you know that your audience performs well for you on mobile devices you can set up a campaign leveraging this specific image ad dimension to serve exclusively on LinkedIn mobile. 

The same is true for targeting desktop devices with text or spotlight ads. 

Learn more about your audiences device behaviour with Google Analytics 4: 

Tip #9: Review your performance by device

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You can review your performance in LinkedIn by clicking on Breakdown > Impression by Device Type

The AdConversion team analysed 10,000,000+ impressions and found: 

• 85.1% of impressions serve on Mobile App
• 9.6% of impressions serve on Desktop Web
• 5.3% of impressions serve on Mobile Web

That’s 90.4% of total impressions serving on mobile devices! 🤯

Pro tip:

Use the LinkedIn Ads preview to see what your ad will look like when displayed on mobile and optimise your copy to best fit this device over desktop. 

Tip #10: Use LinkedIn’s bulk import and export feature

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This tip is one that even my most savvy marketing friends aren’t aware of. 

Changing bids, and creating campaigns on LinkedIn is a REAL pain. 

You don’t need to suffer this pain and instead can use LinkedIn’s bulk import and export feature. 

You can simply just export your ads, campaigns, or groups to make bulk changes. 

Voila, a task that would take hours has been cut down into minutes. 

Learn more about bulk actions  in this article by LinkedIn. 

Hope you found these 10 tips valuable! 👏

Implement the ones that resonate most with you to improve your ROI from LinkedIn Ads.

Connect with me on LinkedIn, if you have any questions or want to connect!

‍

Resources for mastering B2B advertising

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)

Do you need to find out if ABM is the right approach for you & how you can get the most out of your efforts? 

I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandon Alisoglu who’s  achieved a 300% increase in demo bookings for B2B companies while maintaining a 50% SQL rate from ABM campaigns. 

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Here’s Brandon’s top 10 tips & tactics to maximize return on effort (ROE) for your ABM ads.

(In no particular order, they all matter)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Tip #1 - Assessing the Suitability of ABM for Your Business
• Tip #2 - Embracing the Long Game in Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
• Tip #3 - Create a Dossier of Information
• Tip #4 - Breaking Content to Audience Segmentation
• Tip #5 - Focusing on Outcomes: The "So What?" Factor in ABM
• Tip #6 - Drilling Into Personas & Messaging
• Tip #7 - A/B Testing Value Propositions
• Tip #8 - Set Aside Time to Ideate
• Tip #9 - Streamlining the Process with Templates
• Tip #10 - Don’t Skip Google
• Conclusion
• Resources for mastering B2B advertising

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Tip #1 - Assessing the Suitability of ABM for Your Business

When evaluating ABM for your business, consider the nature of your target accounts and the practicality of a personalized marketing approach.

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ABM is particularly effective for targeting large organizations or "whales" where the potential return justifies the extensive effort and resources required for highly tailored campaigns.

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Challenges with ABM in Smaller Companies

In smaller companies, the lack of numerous distinct roles and seniority levels may limit the effectiveness of ABM strategies that rely on granular targeting and personalized messaging. 

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If a company is too small to segment effectively based on these criteria, the impact of a tailored ABM approach may be diminished.

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ABM often involves high-ticket offerings and significant investment in marketing resources.

If the target account does not have the financial capacity or the organizational complexity, the return on investment might not be worth it.

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Strategic Considerations for ABM

Evaluate potential accounts not just by their immediate size but by their strategic importance and the potential lifetime value they offer. 

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Consider more generalized targeted advertising strategies for smaller accounts that do not justify a full ABM approach. 

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These can still be effective by focusing on industry-specific pain points and solutions but do not require the level of customization and operational complexity associated with traditional ABM.

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Identifying the Annual Contract Value (ACV) Benchmark

An ACV of around $20,000 is generally seen as a threshold where ABM becomes viable. 

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This benchmark suggests that the deal size is significant enough to warrant the detailed and personalized marketing efforts required in ABM.

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Another practical measure is whether the contract value requires CFO approval. 

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The involvement of a CFO generally indicates that the deal is substantial enough to require careful consideration and alignment with strategic financial goals.

Tip #2 - Embracing the Long Game in Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Unlike traditional demand generation tactics that may prioritize immediate results, ABM focuses on building engagement through a more deliberate and personalized approach.

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The idea here is to build a meaningful relationship with key accounts.

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In the same way, you wouldn't ask for a hand in marriage on the first date, successful B2B marketers shouldn’t ask prospects to talk to sales unless they've had some interaction before.

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The Importance of Educating and Engaging

The early stages of ABM should center around education and awareness. 

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Allow targeted accounts to familiarize themselves with your brand and value propositions.

This foundational phase is important for setting the stage for deeper engagement.

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Jumping directly to aggressive sales tactics like pushing for demos with accounts that have minimal interaction with your brand, is less likely to yield positive results. 

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Instead, nurturing relationships over time fosters trust and increases the likelihood of conversion when the account is ready.

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Balancing Immediate Needs with Long-Term Strategy

While the emphasis on the long game is important, we realize the need to meet short-term sales targets is a pressing reality for most B2B marketers. 

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In such cases, employing a robust account scoring system can help identify which accounts are most ready to engage based on their behaviors such as:

• Website visits (specially high-intent pages)
• Ad engagement 
• Email interactions
• Webinar attendees

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For accounts that show clear signs of being in-market or closer to the decision stage, tailor your approach to convert these opportunities. 

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This can involve more direct calls to action, such as personalized demo invitations and running incentivized offers.

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If your company is product-led, this would be a good time to offer free trials.

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Sample of free trial ad by Plauti:

Tip #3 - Create a Dossier of Information

Understanding your prospects' interests, pain points, and engagement history comprehensively is the key to crafting personalized and effective ABM strategies.

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This information equips sales teams with the required data to personalize their outreach effectively and accelerate the sales process.

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Building & Targeting Prospect

Compile data on prospect activities, including the specific ads they clicked, pages they visited, or any communications they have sent. 

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This dossier should act as a dynamic document that sales teams can use to personalize their approaches. 

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By understanding what content the prospect has engaged with, the sales team can address specific interests or pain points, making their pitches more relevant and compelling.

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Marketers can also use this data to launch 1:1 campaigns featuring social proof and objection handling.

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If the list of accounts is not large enough for a 1:1 approach, then gather the top 3-5 most common objections that resonate with the majority of the accounts.

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You can reduce the overall cost by dynamically excluding any account that has contacted sales.

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Implementation Tips for Effective ABM

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1. Identify in-market accounts by using advanced analytics and account scoring to determine which of your target accounts are actively engaging with your content.
   Tools like HubSpot or Marketo can help streamline the process. 
   ‍
2. Once these engaged accounts are listed, segment them for targeted campaigns that address their specific stages in the buyer’s journey. 
   
   This segmentation allows you to apply more aggressive sales tactics appropriately while continuing to nurture less-ready accounts with educational content.
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3. Distribute content that educates and engages at various stages of the customer journey. 
   
   This tactical approach ensures that when you invite accounts to a demo or free trial they are informed and more likely to be receptive.
   
   Successful ABM is a blend of patience and strategic agility, tailored to meet both the immediate and long-term goals of your business.

Tip #4 - Breaking Content to Audience Segmentation

The purpose of this step is to develop and deliver content that addresses specific pain points and interests identified in your prospect dossiers.

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Strategies for Deepening Prospect Engagement

As you gather more data on your prospects' behaviors, such as the ads they click or the pages they visit, use this information to guide them through a personalized buyer's journey. 

This involves crafting content that speaks directly to their needs and leading them to web pages that provide further value and deepen their engagement with your brand.

Regularly update and refine your ads to keep them in line with your audience's changing interests and needs.

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Creating a Content "Buffet"

Offer a Variety of Content Options.

Imagine setting up a buffet of content options tailored to different tastes and preferences within your target accounts. 

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By providing a range of topics and formats—from whitepapers and case studies to webinars and interactive tools—you allow prospects to self-select the content that most resonates with them.

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Use the insights from observed interactions to refine your understanding of what each prospect cares about. 

This personalized approach not only enhances the relevance of your outreach but also increases the likelihood of a prospect's deeper engagement with your content.

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Integrating Technology for Efficiency

While managing this level of personalized engagement can become complex, employing an ABM platform can streamline the process. 

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These platforms can help organize and automate content delivery based on user behavior, keeping track of interactions across different channels to maintain a cohesive and personalized marketing approach.
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Pro tip:
Before fully investing in an expensive ABM tech stack, validate your strategy with simpler tools or minimal setups to prove its effectiveness. 

A simple way is to use LinkedIn's demographic reporting to see which companies have been exposed to impressions, and which ones are actually engaging.
You can take it a step further and leverage a third-party data connector like data slayer to pull the demographic data from LinkedIn through API.

Tip #5 - Focusing on Outcomes: The "So What?" Factor in ABM

A critical aspect of effective ABM is ensuring that every piece of data, every content interaction, and every campaign has a clear and compelling answer to the question: "So what?" 

Every action should educate, nurture, or capture leads, to bring you closer to revenue.

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The Importance of Outcome-Based Messaging

In ABM, it's not enough to highlight the features of your product or the hours it can save a potential client’s team. 

The key is to articulate what these benefits mean in the context of the customer’s specific business challenges and goals. 

When discussing a product feature, such as "saves your engineering team 20 hours a week," it's essential to connect this benefit to tangible business outcomes. 

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For example, what does saving 20 hours a week mean for the company?
Could it lead to faster project completions, cost savings, or better resource allocation? 
These outcomes are what will truly capture the interest of decision-makers.

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By consistently focusing on the "so what?" of your actions and messaging, you can lift your ABM efforts from functional to transformational.

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Pro-tip:
Establish Leading Indicators to Measure ABM Progress:

By establishing clear leading indicators across your marketing funnel, you can quantify progress and tie every action back to tangible business outcomes.

From initial awareness through engagement to conversion, each stage can be monitored and analyzed to ensure marketing efforts move potential clients closer to a sale.
These indicators provide a roadmap that justifies the investment by showing how specific activities contribute to moving accounts through the sales pipeline.

If you want to learn more about creating leading and lagging indicators along with actionable free templates check out the AdConversion Paid Media Program course; Module 2, lesson 1.

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Tip #6 - Drilling Into Personas & Messaging

Within any given company, different levels of management and seniority have distinct priorities and challenges. 

For example, C-suite executives might focus on strategic growth and scalability, directors on operational efficiency, and managers on tactical execution.

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Tailoring your messaging to address these specific concerns can dramatically increase the relevance and impact of your communications.

Beyond role-based customization, consider the particular needs and pain points of the industry or vertical your target accounts might operate within. 

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Strategies for Effective A/B Testing

Implement continuous A/B testing across your campaigns to determine which messages resonate best with each persona. 

Segment your target audience by role and seniority, and tailor your messages accordingly. 

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For example, test different value propositions with managers versus C-suite executives to determine which messages drive more engagement or conversions from each group.

Understand that the preferences and behaviors of your audience can evolve, and your ABM strategy should be agile enough to adapt to these changes.

Tip #7 - A/B Testing Value Propositions

By testing two to three variations of each message, you can discover appeals and incentives that resonate with distinct groups within the same role and seniority level.

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In cases where the target company might not be large enough to segment by job titles or seniority due to LinkedIn’s filtering limitations, marketers need to think creatively about how to approach personalization and segmentation.

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Alternative Segmentation Strategies:
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• Use Broad Segments:
  Instead of job titles, consider using job function and seniority or even adding member skills into the mix.
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• Focus on Common Pain Points: 
  Leverage the common challenges or objectives identified in smaller organizations. 
  
  For example, if most employees are likely involved in decision-making due to the company's size, tailor messages that address broad business benefits that resonate across multiple roles.

As discussed earlier, knowing the top objections by vertical can guide the creation of content and ads that preemptively address concerns. 

This is particularly useful when precise job title segmentation is not feasible.

Tip #8 - Set Aside Time to Ideate

In the fast-paced environment of account-based marketing, it's imperative to carve out dedicated time for creative thinking and experimentation. 

By blocking out time on your calendar, preferably during quieter hours like Friday afternoons, you ensure that you have the space to think deeply and creatively about your ABM strategies.

Regular ideation sessions allow you to review current insights and performance data, enabling you to develop new approaches and refine existing ones.

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Pro tip:
Leverage Experimentation and Documentation:
Incorporate a structured approach to experimentation. 

Try out new ideas on a small scale to assess their effectiveness before rolling them out broadly. 

Keep detailed records of your experiments, including:
- Hypotheses
- Execution details
- Outcomes. 

This documentation enables you to capitalize on effective strategies and avoid past mistakes.

Tip #9 - Streamlining the Process with Templates

Keeping detailed and organized documentation of ABM activities, such as experiments, outcomes, and insights will save you lots of time & effort in the long run. 

It can be as simple as using Google Docs with structured headings and a table of contents.

Consistent documentation helps in creating a reliable record that can be referenced in reports and strategy meetings. 
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Leveraging Design Templates

Design templates allow marketers to quickly generate new versions of ads or content without starting from scratch each time. 

By standardizing the design elements, teams can focus on tweaking the messaging and content to better align with the target audience’s evolving preferences.

Using templates also ensures that all materials produced are aligned with the brand’s visual identity and messaging guidelines.

Effective Use of Templates and Documentation

Develop a range of design templates for different types of content and ads. 

This library should include templates for social media posts, email campaigns, and other marketing materials that are frequently used in ABM campaigns.

Regularly update the documents with the latest results from A/B tests, data analysis insights, and feedback from sales and marketing teams to maintain accuracy and relevance.

Confirm that all team members are trained on how to use the chosen documentation and templates effectively. 

With the design templates in place, focus on iterating on the creatives frequently.

Especially in smaller audience segments where ad fatigue can set in quickly.

Tip #10 - Don’t Skip Google

While (ABM) often focuses on direct and personalized communication channels like LinkedIn, incorporating Google Ads into your Demand Gen strategy can heavily reduce the overall cost per acquisition (CPA).

The Strategic Use of Google Ads

Google Ads allows you to address specific queries and pain points that your prospects are actively searching for. 

By focusing on these queries, you can position your company as a solution provider right at the moment of need, effectively answering potential customers’ questions through targeted ads.

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Often, niche or less competitive keywords related to specific industry questions or problems can be much cheaper than more general, high-intent keywords. 

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For example, targeting a specific industry debate or a lesser-known feature comparison can capture relevant traffic at a significantly lower cost.

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This, not only increases brand awareness but also positions your company as an authoritative and helpful resource.

Creating content that addresses these queries and promoting it through Google Ads can drive highly targeted traffic to your website, increasing the chances of conversion.

Practical Tips for Implementing Google Ads 

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1. Work with your sales and customer service teams to pinpoint the questions and topics that commonly arise during the sales process.
    
2. Use these insights to guide your keyword and content strategy for Google Ads.
   Develop content that answers these questions comprehensively. 
   This could be in the form of blog posts, FAQs, or educational articles. 
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3. Use the identified keywords to set up Google Ads campaigns. 
   Start with a lower budget to test the effectiveness of your keywords and ads. 
   Monitor the performance and adjust your strategy based on the results.

Conclusion:

In this article, we discussed the significance of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies through 10 practical tips and tactics to get the most out of your marketing efforts.

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We explored the value of a long-term engagement strategy, emphasizing the need to build relationships through educational content and gradual interactions, rather than taking a direct approach.

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Effective ABM involves understanding target accounts' specific needs and behaviors, employing analytics for better targeting, and continuously iterating on creative content to maintain relevance and combat ad fatigue. 

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Bookmark this blog as your comprehensive guide for your next ABM efforts to make sure your strategies align with the overall company goal.

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If you’d like to reach out or get more weekly tips, please connect with Brandon via Linkedin.

Resources for mastering B2B advertising

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

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Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

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✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

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We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

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Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

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Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)

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Looking to increase your return on ad spend (ROAS) on LinkedIn?

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Your bidding strategy and campaign objective play a critical role.

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Here’s my 10 tips from over $10 million investment in LinkedIn paid ads.

(In no particular order, they all matter) 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Tip #1: The Power Behind Manual Bidding
• Tip #2: Fine-Tuning Your Bids
• Tip #3: Aligning Ad Type & Offer with Objectives
• Tip #4: The Optimal Objective for Thought Leader Ads
• Tip #5: When to Leverage Video Views Objective
• Tip #6: Match Your Content to the Most Suitable Objective
• Tip #7: Take Advantage of Document Ads
• Tip #8: Scale Conversions with Conversation Ads
• Tip #9: Top 3 Objectives for Single Image Ads
• Tip #10: When to Avoid Reach Objective (Brand Awareness)
• Conclusion:
• Resources for Mastering B2B Advertising

Tip #1: The Power Behind Manual Bidding

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Unlike automated bidding, which leaves bid amounts at LinkedIn's discretion, manual bidding allows advertisers to set clear cost boundaries. 

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This ensures that your campaign expenses align with your budgetary constraints and campaign goals, offering a level of precision that automated bidding simply can't match.

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By specifying the maximum amount you're willing to pay for clicks, the manual bidding places you in the driver's seat.

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The LinkedIn algorithm, while powerful, may not always allocate your budget most economically when given full control.

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Start collecting data quickly for your new campaign by bidding above the minimum threshold recommended by LinkedIn.

When to Consider Automated Bidding:

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Automated bidding can be the best choice for specific situations, such as focused Account-Based Marketing (ABM) or retargeting campaigns with small audiences. 

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Once the campaign starts spending and there’s a benchmark, you can switch to manual bidding to regain full control. 

Tip #2: Fine-Tuning Your Bids

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A successful manual bidding requires daily checks on your spending against your budget to avoid overbidding or underbidding.

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This is a straightforward yet insightful process, comparing the previous day's spend against the current daily budget to adjust your bids for optimal performance.

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The Process of Bid Adjustment:

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By subtracting your daily budget from the previous day's total spending, you gain clear insights into your bidding strategy's effectiveness. 

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A negative result suggests underbidding, where you're not fully utilizing your daily budget

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While a positive result indicates overbidding, where you're potentially overspending.

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Previous day spent - allocated budget = + number indicated bid is too high

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The previous day spent - allocated budget = - number indicated bid is too low”

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One challenge of manual bidding is finding the sweet spot where your bid is high enough to consume your daily budget fully but not so high that it leads to inefficient spending. 

Side note:
If your audience size is too small, even a high bid will not cover the campaign’s full budget. 

Tip #3: Aligning Ad Type & Offer with Objectives

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LinkedIn ad campaigns' success deeply depends on the alignment between the chosen ad type and the content you're promoting.

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Understanding the nuances of each ad + offer and matching it to the applicable objective is key to maximizing engagement and conversion rate. 

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Selecting the Right Ad Type for Your Objective:

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Video Ads: 

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When promoting video ads, gravitate towards the Video View or Engagement objectives. 

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These objectives are designed to maximize viewership and interaction with your video content, making them ideal for capturing and retaining audience attention.

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Example of a video ad:

Document Ads:

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The Engagement objective tends to yield the most success for document ads, which include PDFs, presentations, and other downloadable content. 

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Keeping document ads ungated and focusing on engagement allows your content to reach a broader audience, enhancing brand visibility and thought leadership.

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Example of a document ad:

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‍Single Image Ads:

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Engagement and Website Traffic objectives can be effective when using single-image ads.

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Your choice depends on whether your primary goal is to foster interaction with the ad or drive traffic to your website or landing page

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Example of a single image ad:

Tip #4: The Optimal Objective for Thought Leader Ads

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If you're looking to boost your presence and authority on LinkedIn, thought leader ads present an attractive option.

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These ads turn organic content from individual profiles into sponsored messages, maintaining the authentic voice and personal touch that resonates with audiences. 

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These campaigns can achieve lower costs per engagement by leveraging the engagement objective, enhancing their effectiveness and reach.

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Understanding Thought Leader Ads:

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Personal Touch: 

Unlike standard ads that originate from company pages, thought leader ads come from personal profiles, offering a humanized approach to advertising. 

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This method harnesses the inherent trust and relatability of individual thought leaders, amplifying their messages across targeted audiences on LinkedIn.

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As of March 2024, businesses can promote content from any connected user on LinkedIn with Thought Leader posts, as opposed to just verified employees.

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Seamless Integration: 

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To the audience, thought leader ads appear as regular posts but with the added benefit of targeted reach and visibility. 

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This seamless integration into the newsfeed portrays a natural engagement experience, hence fostering higher engagement rates compared to traditional ad formats.

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Implementation and Best Practices

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The success of thought leader ads hinges on selecting organic content that has already demonstrated shares and engagement. 

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By sponsoring high-performing posts, you capitalize on proven interest and ensure your ad budget is allocated to content with the highest potential return.

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Pro tip:
When creating a new single-image campaign, you can click “browse existing content” to find the post by searching for the LinkedIn member and sending a request for approval. 

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Since these ads will not be sent to a landing page, it’s best to place the intended page link in the first comment and pin the comment.

Tip #5: When to Leverage Video Views Objective

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When promoting video ads, selecting the Video View objective will increase the likelihood of getting the highest percentage of videos watched at the lowest cost. 

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This objective is designed to maximize the number of views your video receives, optimizing for visibility and engagement among your target audience.

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Creative Specifications: 

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For video creatives, the recommendation is to use a square format (1080x1080 pixels) and include captions. 

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This format is not only visually appealing but also takes up the most space in the feed property.

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Cost Efficiency and Performance:

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The cost for video views on LinkedIn typically ranges from 10 to 15 cents per view. 

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While this might be higher compared to other platforms like YouTube, which has been gaining traction in B2B sectors for its cost-effectiveness, LinkedIn's targeted audience can justify the investment.

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Best Practices for Video Campaigns on LinkedIn:

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Starting with the lowest feasible cost per view (CPV) in your bidding strategy can help manage costs while assessing the content's performance. 

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Adjustments can be made based on initial results to find the optimal balance between reach and budget efficiency.

Tip #6: Match Your Content to the Most Suitable Objective

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Understanding the type of content you're promoting determines the most effective objective and ad type for your campaign. 

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For event promotions, for example, certain ad formats have proven to yield higher results and drive registrations at a lower cost. 

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Let’s break down what type of assets yield the highest results for this example:

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Lead Generation Forms (LGF): 

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The premier choice for driving event registrations. 

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Lead-gen forms provide a seamless and streamlined user experience, with pre-populated forms making the conversion process as frictionless as possible. 

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The convenience of instantly filling out forms within the LinkedIn platform significantly increases conversion rates for registrations.

Pro tip:
To improve the performance of LGF, it's best to keep the number of custom fields below three. 
While leveraging pre-populated fields can maintain high conversion rates, adding more than two custom questions or actions can deter completions. 

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Event Ad Format: 

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This is one of the most effective ad types for event registries, but it is important to note that it cannot be combined with any of the conversion objectives. 

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Unique to this type of ad is the inclusion of social proof directly within the ad, such as the number of people who have shown interest or are planning to attend the event. 

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While its conversion rate may not match that of Lead Generation Forms, the added visibility and credibility from social proof make Event Ads a valuable tactic.

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To learn more about promoting events, dive into these articles below:

• 4 Unique LinkedIn Ad Strategies to Drive More Webinar Registrants
• 10 Insider Tips on Event Promotion From $1M+ In Ad Spend

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Website Conversion: 

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Directing users to a landing page for event registration is generally less preferred due to higher costs and lower conversion rates compared to previous tactics. 

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Exceptions exist, such as directing traffic to a calendar link or for specific targeting scenarios, but overall, this method is seen as less efficient for event promotion.

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Design and Copy Considerations:

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For campaigns opting to use landing pages, prioritizing copy over design is key. 

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The hero section, or above-the-fold content, is critical in capturing user interest. 

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Ensuring message consistency between your ads and landing page, alongside efficient conversion tracking, will set you up for success.

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To learn more about landing page best practices, dive into the article below by Pedro Cortés:

10 Proven Landing Page Tips To Boost Your Conversion Rates

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Pro-tip:
Streamlining Campaign Tracking with Dynamic URL Parameters:
‍LinkedIn's introduction of dynamic URL parameters at the campaign level presents a major leap forward in simplifying and enhancing tracking capabilities. 

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This feature allows marketers to set up the tracking once for the entire campaign, eliminating the tedious process of manually tagging each ad with unique UTM parameters. 

Tip #7: Take Advantage of Document Ads

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Document ads have proven highly effective for marketers looking to deepen engagement and build a robust retargeting pool. 

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They typically have impressive click-through rates, often reaching 6-7% or higher. 

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The best results from document ads are seen when paired with the engagement objective. 

Users who interact with this ad type demonstrate a clear interest in your content, making them ideal candidates for subsequent, more targeted marketing efforts.

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For more information on setting up your first document ads, check out this guide provided by LinkedIn

Tip #8: Scale Conversions with Conversation Ads

Conversation ads offer a unique, direct method of engaging with your target audience by delivering messages right into their LinkedIn inboxes. 

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These ads are billed on a cost-per-send basis, making it crucial to manage bids effectively to maximize both reach and budget efficiency. 

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Start your bid as low as possible and make adjustments depending on how well it’s pacing.
A good starting point is a $1 bid. 

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Due to LinkedIn’s second-price auction model for convo ads, they typically keep the actual cost close to the average historical cost per send. 

This model charges you just enough to outbid the next highest bidder, not the maximum amount you're willing to pay.

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Adaptation to Platform Changes: 

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Despite recent updates like the focus inbox change on LinkedIn, conversational ads have continued to perform well. 

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The direct nature of these ads keeps them effective, maintaining their status as a top-performing ad type.

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Best Practices for Conversational Ads:

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Because convo ads are more intrusive than other ad types, it’s important to ensure your targeting is precise. This precision prevents user annoyance and increases the likelihood of engagement.

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The content of your conversation ads should be compelling and offer clear value to a specific job function.

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Pro-tip:
The sender should resonate with the target audience for the highest credibility. 
Choosing someone with a similar job function or an industry expert/influencer can immediately boost credibility.

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For additional tips on convo ad’s best practices, check out this post by AdConversion

Tip #9: Top 3 Objectives for Single Image Ads

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Single-image ads are versatile and can be tailored to meet various objectives, but understanding which objective to prioritize can have a noticeable impact on the effectiveness of your campaigns.

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Lead Generation: 

The primary objective for many single-image ad campaigns is lead generation.

LinkedIn’s Lead-gen focuses on gathering user information through forms that are pre-populated with LinkedIn profile data, making it easier for users to submit their information without leaving the platform. 

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Engagement: 

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The second most common objective for single-image ads is engagement. 

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This objective aims to maximize interactions such as likes, comments, and shares. 

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It's particularly useful for increasing brand visibility and engagement within your target audience. 

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Fostering interactions also enhances the organic reach of your ads through the network effects of user engagement.

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The visual appeal and message of your single-image ad should resonate with your audience and encourage interaction. 

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Regular testing and adaptation of your ad creatives can help maintain high engagement levels.

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Website Visits:

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The third objective focuses on driving traffic to your website or specific landing pages to achieve conversions. 

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Whether your goal is to increase sign-ups, sales, or another conversion action, directing users to your website allows for more detailed tracking and nurturing of potential leads in your sales funnel.

Tip #10: When to Avoid Reach Objective (Brand Awareness)

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Brand awareness, which prioritizes impressions and broad visibility, often comes under scrutiny due to its cost implications and lower engagement metrics compared to other objectives.

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The reach objective operates on a cost-per-impression (CPM) model, where you are charged each time your ad is displayed, regardless of user interaction. 

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This can lead to higher expenditure without the guarantee of equivalent engagement or conversions. 

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The inherent nature of paying for mere visibility rather than actionable engagement makes this objective less appealing for many advertisers seeking tangible returns on their investment.

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This objective is also inefficient for retargeting. 

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Building retargeting audiences requires not just impressions but meaningful interactions that signal interest or intent. 

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The reach objective's focus on maximizing views rather than fostering engagement makes it less effective for gathering a meaningful contribution toward the retargeting pool.

Conclusion:

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In this article, we covered 10 actionable tips for matching the most suitable objectives and bidding strategies to your LinkedIn campaigns.

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Whether it’s choosing manual bidding to control costs, aligning ad types with your marketing objectives, or understanding when to leverage specific ad formats, each tip offers a pathway to better performance.

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By implementing these top 10 tips, you can navigate through the complexities of LinkedIn paid ads with greater precision and efficiency.

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I hope you found this article insightful and that it leads to successful outcomes for your future campaigns.

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If you’d like to reach out or get more tips, please connect with me via LinkedIn.

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Increase your SaaS landing page conversions with strategies you can apply today.

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I’ve had the pleasure of crafting more than 100+ landing pages for top SaaS brands.

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Here are my top 10 tips and landing page best practices for increasing conversion rates. 

(In no particular order, they all matter) 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Tip #1 - Showing the “Aha Moments” in the Hero Section
• Tip #2 - Switching from “Call to Action” to “Call to Value”
• Tip #3 - The Art of Showcasing True Value
• Tip #4 - Contrast: The Psychology Behind Decision-Making in SaaS
• Tip #5 - The Art of Show vs Tell
• Tip #6 -  Increase Conversion by Selling Indirectly
• Tip #7 - Showcasing the Crucial 20% That Truly Resonates
• Tip #8 - Minimizing Risk to Maximize Conversion
• Tip #9 - How to Find Those “Aha Moments”
• Tip #10 - The Three Pillars for an Effective Landing Page
• Bonus Tip: Enhance Your Mental Reference
• Conclusion
• Resources for Mastering B2B Advertising

Tip #1 - Showing the “Aha Moments” in the Hero Section

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Unlike traditional approaches that cram the hero section with exhaustive product details, the most effective strategy is to spark curiosity.

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The hero's purpose transcends mere product selling; it's about unveiling those 'aha' moments that resonate deeply with the audience, compelling them to explore further.

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'Aha' moments are those instances of sudden insight or discovery that leave a lasting impression on the audience.

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In the hero section, showcasing these moments effectively can be the difference between a visitor bouncing off the page and one who stays to learn more.

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For example, rather than just stating that a product simplifies a complex process, demonstrating this transformation through a brief, engaging visual or interactive element can be far more compelling.

The Case for Clarity and Creativity:

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Consider a tool that converts audio instructions into a polished presentation.

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A straightforward statement like "You talk, we'll write" paired with a generic AI-themed image does little to convey the true potential of the product. 

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A more effective strategy would involve a dynamic display of an audio clip evolving into a complete slide deck right within the hero section. 

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This visual demonstration not only clarifies the product's purpose but also instantly showcases its efficiency and innovative approach, making the value proposition clear and compelling from the outset.

Tip #2 - Switching from “Call to Action” to “Call to Value”

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A compelling call to action (CTA) is effective not just because it tells users what to do, but because it clearly shows the value they'll get from taking action.

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This principle is particularly relevant when discussing how to entice potential users to engage with a SaaS product, whether through booking a demo, signing up for a trial, or merely exploring the features of a tool.

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The Strategy of Value-Driven CTAs:

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A common misstep in crafting CTAs is the assumption that a straightforward directive—such as "Sign up for free" or "Book a demo"— suffices to motivate action.

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However, this overlooks the critical need to communicate the unique benefits that await the user.

We need to shift from a generic call to action to one that vividly presents a 'value proposition'.

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For instance, rather than merely inviting potential customers to "book a demo," a more effective approach would illustrate what they can expect to gain from that demo, such as “Book a 30-Minute Demo & Walk Away With 5 Tailored Tips”

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Tailoring Experiences to Overcome Skepticism:

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Marketers need to ensure that CTAs are not just gateways to product features but also to experiences that address the visitors' needs and concerns. 

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Particularly in industries where customers are overwhelmed with choices, standing out requires demonstrating immediate and tangible value.

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Practical Example:
A service offering insights into optimizing YouTube ad placements might offer a "Free consultation to uncover 10 high-impact ad placements you're missing." 

This approach directly speaks to the user's desire to gain an advantage and assures them of receiving valuable insights regardless of their decision to commit to the service.

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Leveraging Trust Through Transparency and Results:

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Trust plays a major role in converting users from interested observers to active participants. This trust can be significantly bolstered by transparency and evidence of potential results.

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A case in point involves a service that automates customer feedback collection, where the CTA emphasizes the realistic outcomes users can expect, such as "Join our trial and see how businesses gain 10+ new reviews in just a week." 

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Such a statement not only sets clear expectations but also addresses common concerns around efficacy and value for time spent.

Tip #3 - The Art of Showcasing True Value

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The debate between emphasizing features versus benefits has long been a topic of discussion. 

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However, a more profound approach focuses on selling outcomes—a strategy that transcends the traditional split by aligning a product's capabilities directly with the customer's success.

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This method does not just highlight what the product can do or the advantages it offers but rather, it shows the tangible impact it will have on a user's objectives, such as enhancing profitability, efficiency, or operational insights.

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For example, instead of stating that an analytics tool provides comprehensive data analysis (a feature) or delivers actionable insights (a benefit), outcome-based selling would focus on how it enables businesses to identify and rectify inefficiencies in their ad spend, ultimately increasing ROI.

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Crafting an Indirect Promise:

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One of the critical nuances of this approach is the subtlety of the promise being made.

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Directly stating that a product will lead to more revenue or savings might trigger skepticism. Thus, the art lies in painting a scenario that leads the customer to reach these outcomes naturally. 

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By detailing the insights or efficiencies a tool provides, customers begin to see the path to increased profits or reduced costs themselves, making the conclusion feel like their discovery rather than a bold claim from the company.

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Practical Example:
‍Consider a service that offers AI-driven call answering for small businesses. Rather than simply stating it answers calls, the marketing message could focus on the outcome:
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"Never miss a sale again with our AI receptionist, ensuring you capture every opportunity, 24/7." 
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Such framing not only addresses the immediate feature but also connects it to a desirable business outcome—increasing sales by capturing every call.

Tip #4 - Contrast: The Psychology Behind Decision-Making in SaaS

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Mastering the subtle technique of drawing contrasts does more than just emphasize a product's strengths;

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It vividly contrasts the potential customers' current challenges with the brighter prospects that the right solution can offer. 

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Fundamentally, selling through contrast means outlining the challenges or limitations customers currently face and comparing these with the transformative benefits the product can provide.

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The effectiveness of this strategy lies in its ability to magnify the perceived value of a solution, making the switch or become not just logical but, essentially, inevitable.

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Crafting Compelling Contrasts:

Creating compelling contrasts requires a deep understanding of the customer's current struggles and how they align with the unique capabilities of the SaaS solution. 

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This involves asking probing questions that uncover pain points and limitations of current tools or processes and demonstrating how the product not only addresses these issues but also offers additional, unforeseen benefits

Tip #5 - The Art of Show vs Tell

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Transcend beyond the superficial allure of adjectives like "fast," "easy," or "better," which, while enticing, often fall short of conveying the true essence and capability of a product.

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Demonstrating Value Through Evidence:

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The key lies in demonstrating value through clear, undeniable evidence. 

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For instance, showcasing a time-lapse video of creating a 25-email sequence in 15 minutes delivers a powerful, visual affirmation of the tool's efficiency.

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This method not only captures attention but also dispels doubts by providing a visual benchmark for the tool's capability.

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The Synergy with Earlier Strategies:

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"Show, don't tell" beautifully complements earlier discussed strategies like focusing on outcomes and creating contrast. 

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It provides the tangible proof that underpins these approaches, ensuring that the marketing message is not just heard but felt and understood.

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The landing page below has a short video demonstrating the value to prospects.

Tip #6 -  Increase Conversion by Selling Indirectly

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The ability to sell outcomes indirectly is not just a tactic; it's an art form. 

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The essence of this approach lies in the subtle but powerful shift from telling prospects about the benefits of a product to showing them the tangible impact it can have on their operations, revenue, or efficiency. 

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Direct claims often invite skepticism, whereas indirect suggestions inspire imagination and belief.

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The Power of Indirect Selling:

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Direct selling, especially when it involves bold claims like being the "number one CRM for a niche," tends to be met with skepticism.

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Prospects are bombarded with similar claims daily, making them numb to such assertions. 

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The challenge, therefore, is to engage their imagination and lead them to the conclusion that your product is the superior choice without explicitly stating it.

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This involves painting a picture of the outcomes in a way that the prospect can see themselves achieving these results with your product.

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Practical Example:
Consider the scenario of a dental practice missing calls—and thereby potential business—outside of office hours.‍ 

Instead of merely stating that an AI receptionist tool can save them money and time, the narrative is constructed around the loss incurred when calls go unanswered.

By quantifying the potential loss (e.g., "every missed call could cost you a thousand dollars"), the message effectively highlights the cost of inaction. 

‍‍This approach leverages the fear of loss, a potent motivator, making the solution offered by the product not just desirable but necessary.

‍Another innovative approach is using analytics and user feedback mechanisms within the product itself to remind users of the value they're missing by not upgrading.

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Tip #7 - Showcasing the Crucial 20% That Truly Resonates

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The effectiveness of a landing page can significantly influence a company's conversion rates. 

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Simplicity is one of the most important components of a successful landing page, yet it is often overlooked.

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Rather than bombarding potential customers with every detail and feature of the product, present just enough information to pique interest and guide visitors to the next step.

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The primary goal of a landing page is not to sell the product in its entirety but to entice visitors with a compelling overview that encourages them to explore further.

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Say more with less:

• Show, Don't Overwhelm: overloading a page with information can deter potential leads.
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• Simplify the Decision-Making Process: by offering a snapshot rather than a deep dive, companies can make it easier for prospects to decide and engage further with the product. 
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• Address Key Objections Proactively: incorporating elements that address key objections can transform a passive viewer into an active lead.

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Every potential customer comes with a set of preconceived notions and concerns that could hinder their willingness to engage with a product. 

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Successful landing pages anticipate these objections and address them upfront.

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 This proactive strategy serves two purposes: 

• Reassures visitors that their concerns are recognized 
• Positions the company as attentive and customer-centric.

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For instance, if a common objection is the perceived complexity of integrating a new software tool into existing workflows, a landing page might feature testimonials from users who found the process straightforward and supported. 

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This kind of social proof can alleviate concerns and motivate visitors to take the next step.

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Practical Example:
‍Consider a SaaS product designed to enhance project management. 

Instead of listing every feature and tool available, focus on showcasing how it simplifies project tracking, enhances team collaboration, and leads to better project outcomes.

Use visuals and brief case studies to demonstrate the benefits. 

This method not only captures interest but also sets the stage for visitors to discover more by trying the product themselves.

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The Role of the Landing Page in the Sales Process:

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The landing page itself is not the end goal but a means to an end. 

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The ultimate objective is to guide visitors toward making a decision. 

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So, the landing page should be designed with this goal in mind, ensuring that the call-to-action (CTA) is clear, compelling, and aligned with what visitors are seeking.

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This concept extends to product-led growth companies, where even free products require a degree of selling. 

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In this context, the landing page must convincingly communicate the value of trying the product, addressing any barriers to action, such as time investment or skepticism based on past experiences with similar tools.

Tip #8 - Minimizing Risk to Maximize Conversion

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Removing perceived risk is often more straightforward and impactful than detailing the outcome. 

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This approach centers on simplifying the decision-making process for potential users by alleviating their concerns and highlighting ease of use.

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The Challenge of Clarifying Outcomes:

Clarifying the outcome a product or service offers can be a complex task, requiring precise language and a deep understanding of the audience's needs and expectations.

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It involves not just stating what the product does, but also communicating its value in a way that resonates with potential users. 

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This can be particularly challenging when dealing with innovative or complex solutions where the benefits are not immediately apparent.

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Easing the Path to Conversion:

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Contrary to the complex process of defining outcomes, mitigating risk for the user often follows a more straightforward path.

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It involves clear, actionable steps that directly address common concerns and barriers to entry. 

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Possible actions include:

• Enhancing Call to Actions
• Addressing Objections Proactively
• Showcasing Practical Examples

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Removing risk transforms the decision-making process from a calculation into an opportunity.

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When potential users feel that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain, the barrier to taking the next step lowers significantly. 

Tip #9 - How to Find Those “Aha Moments”

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Identifying “ Aha Moments” requires a deep understanding of the user experience, often achieved through collaboration with teams directly interacting with customers, such as sales and support.

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Once identified, these moments should be prominently featured on the landing page.

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This could involve detailed case studies, interactive demos, or succinct bullet points that directly address common questions or concerns.

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For instance, if a product offers unprecedented ease of use, showing a quick video of someone setting up a complex task in minutes can be incredibly persuasive.

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Practical Example:
Illustrating how a product can solve a problem in a way that no other can, such as automating a task that typically takes hours into just a few clicks, can instantly communicate its value.

Practical examples not only aid in understanding but also help potential users envision themselves benefiting from the product.

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Tip #10 - The Three Pillars for an Effective Landing Page

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Creating an effective landing page is like constructing a building.

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It requires a solid foundation and supportive pillars to ensure stability and function. 

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There are three critical pillars that, when thoroughly crafted and harmonized, can significantly enhance the page's effectiveness and conversion rates. 

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These pillars are: 

• Results: the promise of value
• Perceived Superiority: standing out from the competition
• Risk Mitigation: lowering the barriers to adoption

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This approach ensures that every element of the landing page works in harmony to support the ultimate goal:

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Driving conversions and achieving business objectives.

Bonus Tip: Enhance Your Mental Reference 

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Just as artists draw from a vast mental library of images and concepts to create something novel and breathtaking, landing page designers and copywriters must build their own collection of inspirational references. 

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This mental database enables them to recognize and apply successful elements from various sources, combining them in innovative ways that resonate with their specific audience.

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How to build your mental reference: 
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• Curate Examples: actively seek out and save examples of landing pages, ads, copy, and designs that catch your attention. some text
  • Tools like Pinterest or dedicated design inspiration websites can be invaluable.
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• Analyze What Works: don't just collect examples; study them.some text
  •  What makes a particular landing page effective?
  •  How does it engage its audience?
  •  How are the visuals and copy aligned to convey a compelling message?
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• Learn from Various Industries: broaden your horizons by exploring successful landing pages across different sectors.
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• Stay Updated: the digital landscape is ever-evolving, and so are the trends in landing page design and copywriting. Keeping up-to-date with the latest trends ensures your mental reference is not only vast but also relevant.

Conclusion:

In crafting effective landing pages, the key lies in simplicity, clarity, and focusing on the product's true value.

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By enticing users with outcomes rather than overwhelming them with features, addressing their concerns upfront, and demonstrating the tangible benefits they stand to gain, companies can significantly boost conversions.

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This holistic approach, from spotlighting product essence to leveraging contrast and indirect selling, transforms landing pages from mere entry points into powerful catalysts for customer engagement and success.

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