LinkedIn Ads

Should you invest in LinkedIn Spotlight Ads? 

In this article you'll learn: 

• The pro's and con's of LinkedIn Spotlight Ads
• How much LinkedIn Spotlight ads cost 
• Examples of LinkedIn Spotlight ads
• 3 LinkedIn Spotlight ad strategies 

By the end of this article you’ll know if this ad type makes sense for you.

Let’s dive into it! 👇

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Contents

• What are LinkedIn Spotlight Ads?
• LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Specs
• 4 Reasons to Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads 
• 4 Reasons You SHOULD NOT Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads 
• 3 LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Strategies Worth Testing

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What are LinkedIn Spotlight Ads?

Spotlight ads are only seen on desktop devices and use a combination of your audience's LinkedIn profile data such as photo, company name, and job title to dynamically change based on the user. 

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LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Specs

When creating a spotlight ad you’ve got the following options:

• Ad headline = 50 characters 
• Company name = 25 characters
• Company Image = logo or image in JPG or PNG that is < 2 MB 
• Background Image (optional) = 300x250 in JPG or PNG 

I’d personally recommend not adding a background image as it removes the ad description, and the users profile photo will not be shown, which defeats the purpose of this ad type 😅

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4 Reasons to Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads 

Reason 1: 74% Lower Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM)

After reviewing $1,726,264.56 in spend by ad type for our B2B SaaS clients, we found linkedin spotlight ads have an average CPM of $5.23, 74% lower than single image ads. 

Reason 2: Increased Ad Recall

Spotlight ad placements are very “low key” and unintrusive. 

They only appear on Desktop and are served on the right side of the newsfeed. 

Given an average CPM of $5.23 and subtle placement you can rack large frequencies > 20 without negatively impacting your audience’s experience. 

The combination of high frequency and low impression costs = greater potential ad recall 

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Reason 3: Low Creative Effort

Spotlight ads only require an image that is < 2MB making it an EXTREMELY low creative effort. 

Compare this to formats like single image, carousel, or even video ads. 

If you want more exposure without a ton of effort they’re an easy addition. 

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Reason 4: Flexible Bidding Strategies

Spotlight ads allow you to multiple bidding strategies depending on your campaign objectives. 

• Maximum delivery = LinkedIn will automatically adjust your bids for the most exposure
• Cost cap = set a target cost per landing page click 
• Manual bidding = set a specific bid per landing page click

With each of these bidding strategies you have flexibility to test and leverage the one that allows you the greatest exposure for the lowest cost. 

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4 Reasons You SHOULD NOT Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads 

Reason 1: 83% higher average CPC prices

After reviewing $1,726,264.56 in spend by ad type for our B2B SaaS clients, we found linkedin spotlight ads have an average cost per click of $7.93, 83% higher than single image ads. 

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Reason 2: You want to generate the most conversions 

Spotlight ads have horrible engagement rates compared to other LinkedIn ad types. 

If your primary objective is to drive conversions then spotlight ads are not the ideal ad type to use. 

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Reason 3: You’re trying to drive the most traffic to your site 

Spotlight ads have below average clickthrough rates compared to other ad types which makes using them to drive site traffic a poor use case of budget. 

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Reason 4: You’re not already investing in other ad types

Spotlight ads are not a game changer ad type. They should be used in support alongside other more dominant ad types such as (image, video, or conversation). 

The best use of spotlight ads is remarketing, allowing you to stay top of mind at a low cost in front of the audiences that already know/like/trust you. 

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3 LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Strategies Worth Testing

In no particular order, here’s 3 strategies worth testing with spotlight ads.

Strategy #1: Remarketing

The real advantage of spotlight ads are low distribution costs with an average CPM of $5.28.

This in combination with the fact that spotlight ads are a non-intrusive ad type on desktop devices and limited right-hand placements makes them great for remarketing. 

You can leverage spotlight ads to remarket: 

• All website visitors
• Company page visitors 
• Past event attendees
• Contacts of customers, and  leads in nurture

If you want to learn more about building a LinkedIn remarketing strategy check out our in-depth article on How to Build a Multichannel B2B Retargeting Strategy (Step-By-Step). 

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Strategy #2: Company Page Growth

Another potential strategy to test spotlight ads is growing your LinkedIn company page. 

You can leverage this ad type to drive visitors to view your page (which will then hopefully lead to a follower), check out this example from Aurora who is using a CTA of “Follow”. 

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Strategy #3: Job Recruitment

Spotlight ads are available with the Job applicants campaign objective and given it’s dynamic element (automatically pulling the photo of the user) you can create personalized recruitment ads. 

I hope you found this article useful!

And as promised, now know if this ad type makes sense for you.

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