LinkedIn Ads are incredible for B2B marketers because it has the best business targeting of any platform on the planet. It's a challenging platform to get right though because the costs are higher than most others. Here's how to get it right so you can get the most performance for the least amount of investment. Presented in Milwaukee for the MKESearch event on 7/11/18 by AJ Wilcox of B2Linked.com

1. @wilcoxaj#MKESearch
LINKEDIN ADS
Scalable B2B Paid Social
@wilcoxaj
#MKESearch

2. @wilcoxaj
CHANNEL WOES
USING SEARCH BUT MAXED OUT SEARCH VOLUME?
USING FACEBOOK ADS FOR B2B BUT HIT THE LIMITS OF SCALE AND THE SALES
TEAM COMPLAINS ABOUT LEAD QUALIT Y?
LINKEDIN ADS IS PROBABLY YOUR ANSWER
#MKESearch

3. @wilcoxaj
I’m AJ Wilcox
TRIATHLETE, EXOTIC CAR
LOVER, SOULLESS GINGER
Years of PPC
and SEO
experience
Began heavy B2B
focus 7 years ago
Live in Lehi with
my wife and 4 kids
12+
#MKESearch

4. @wilcoxaj
LINKEDIN ADS PROS
B E S T
B U S I N E S S
T A R G E T I N G
U P - T O - D A T E
D A T A
B U S I N E S S
M E N T A L I T Y
L A R G E R
D E A L S I Z E S
#MKESearch

5. @wilcoxaj
LINKEDIN ADS CONS
$ 6 − $ 9
C L I C K S
N O D E V I C E -
L E V E L
B I D D I N G
N O
D A Y P A R T I N
G
N O V I S I B L E
R E L E V A N C Y
S C O R E
N O
L O O K A L I K E
S
#MKESearch

6. @wilcoxaj
High lifetime value of clients makes paying more for clicks worthwhile
WHO’S A FIT
HIGH- VALUE (LT V $15K+) B2B LEADGEN
WHITE-COLLAR RECRUITING
HIGHER EDUCATION RECRUITING
Target the professional qualifications of the position you’re looking to hire
Best targeting around education great for MBA/PhD programs
#MKESearch

7. @wilcoxaj
LOW VOL, GOOD AT BOTTOM -OF -FUNNEL
AD UNITS – TEXT ADS
50X50PX IMAGE
R I G H T R A I L
.03% CTR IS GOOD
25 CHAR HEADLINE, 75 CHAR ADLINE
DESK TOP ONLY
#MKESearch

8. @wilcoxaj
AD UNITS – SPONSORED CONTENT
1200x627px IMAGE
N E W S F E E D
.4% CTR IS GOOD
128 CHAR INTRO, 55 CHAR TITLE
80%+ MOBILE USERS
BEST FOR GATED CONTENT
#MKESearch

9. @wilcoxaj
AD UNITS – SPONSORED INMAIL
PAY PER SEND (~$0.35 -$0.85)
45 DAY FREQUENCY CAP
SEND FROM EMPLOYEE PERSONAL PROFILE
~50% OPEN RATES
GOOD FOR FOMO & EGO-STROKING
#MKESearch

10. @wilcoxaj
AD UNITS – LEAD GEN FORM ADS
PROSAVAILABLE ON SPONSORED CONTENT AND
SPONSORED INMAIL
BYPASS LANDING PAGE FOR HIGHER
CONVERSION RATES
INTEGRATIONS
 ELOQUA , MARKETO, LIVERAMP, SALESFORCE
 OTHER PLATFORMS THROUGH ZAPIER
HIGHER CONVERSION RATES
CONS
DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH
POOR TRACKING
NO RETARGETING
QUESTIONABLE LEAD QUALITY
#MKESearch

11. @wilcoxaj
LINKEDIN VIDEO ADS
$.06-.14 PER 3-SECOND VIEW
PLAY MUTED (HARDCODE SUBTITLES)
NO RETARGETING
#MKESearch

12. @wilcoxaj
BRING YOUR “AMO”
3 ELEMENTS NEEDED FOR SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL CAMPAIGN
A U D I E N C E M E S S A G E O F F E R
#MKESearch

13. @wilcoxaj
LINKEDIN TARGETING
P R O F I L E C O M P L E T E N E S S D E P E N D E N T
Job Title (Project Manager)
Job Function (Marketing)
Seniority (Manager)
Skills (Nunchuck, MySQL)
Group (Project Management R Us)
PROFESSIONAL
Category/Industry (Hi-tech, Consumer Goods)
Company Size (51 - 2000)
Company Name (Microsoft)
COMPANY
School Name (Stanford)
Degree/Field of Study
EDUCATION
Gender (M/F/Both)
Age (55+)
Geography (San Francisco Bay Area)
DEMOGRAPHICS
COMBINATIONS
& EXCLUSIONS
#MKESearch

14. @wilcoxaj
TARGETING APPROACH
T A R G E T I N G T H E P R O F E S S I O N A L
ACCURACY VOLUME EXPENSE
JOB TITLE
JOB FUNCTION
& SENIORITY
SKILLS &
SENIORITY
GROUPS &
SENIORITY
VERY PRECISE LOW $$$
VERY BROAD HIGH $
BROAD HIGH $$
VERY PRECISE LOW $$
#MKESearch

15. @wilcoxaj
WHAT CONTENT SHOULD I USE?
LOW FRICTION
HIGH FRICTION
SWEET SPOT!
Blog Post/
Infographic
Guide/
Whitepaper
eBook
Webinar
Trial/
Demo
#MKESearch

16. @wilcoxaj
2 HURDLES FOR ALL ADS
PERFORMANCE STRUGGLING AT ONE OR BOTH POINTS
LETS YOU KNOW WHERE TO CONCENTRATE YOUR EFFORTS
G e t p e o p l e t o c l i c k
o n y o u r a d s
O n c e c l i c k e d , g e t
t h e m t o c o n v e r t
#MKESearch

17. @wilcoxaj
RETARGETING DREAM TEAM
• 90-day Cookie Duration
• Cookie-only, no event or user ID
• Still pricey ($4ish per click)
• 300 minimum audience size
• Users don’t hang out
LINKEDIN RETARGETING IS WEAK
• FB Custom Audiences
• AdWords Remarketing
• Mimic Same Logic
RETARGET ALL LI TRAFFIC TO:
#MKESearch

18. @wilcoxaj
AJ@B2Linked.com @WilcoxAJ www.B2Linked.com
QUESTION AND ANSWER
#MKESearch

19. @wilcoxaj
BIDDING FOR PERFORMANCE
BIDS ARE YOUR LEVER TO BALANCE COST/SCALE
SET DAILY BUDGETS SKY-HIGH AND RAISE/LOWER
BIDS UNTIL IT NATURALLY SPENDS YOUR DESIRED
BUDGET.
IF YOUR BUDGET TRIPS BEFORE THE END OF THE
DAY, YOU PAID TOO MUCH FOR YOUR CLICKS.
#MKESearch

20. @wilcoxaj
ACCOUNT STRUCTURE
• BAD: “2018 Webinar” or “Whitepaper”
• GOOD: “SC | Marketing Manager Titles | US”
NAME CAMPAIGNS AFTER AUDIENCE & AD TYPE
MICROSEGMENTATION: WHEN IN DOUBT, BREAK IT OUT
• BAD: “Marketing Mgr-and-above”
• GOOD: “Marketing Mgr,” “Marketing Dir,” “Marketing VP,” “CMO” all separate campaigns
AUDIENCE SIZES
• BAD: LinkedIn’s recommendation of 300k+
• GOOD: 20-80k
#MKESearch

21. @wilcoxaj
ADVANCED TARGETING TACTICS
Exclude Sales/BizDev/Marketing Job Functions to keep out folks who are trying to
sell into these audiences.
WHEN TARGETING SKILLS OR GROUPS…
WHEN TARGETING SMBs…
Exclude larger company sizes rather than including the smaller.
USE SENIORIT Y INSTEAD OF AGE OR YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
Age and Yrs Exp are both guesses. Seniority is based on title/industry
AVOID “AUDIENCE EXPANSION” LIKE THE PLAGUE
Complete and utter garbage which is enabled by default
#MKESearch

22. @wilcoxaj
ADVANCED RETARGETING
Exclude ‘Converters’ and ‘Landing Page Visitors’ from campaigns
TARGET NET-NEW
• Create retargeting campaign of ‘Landing Page Visitors’
• Exclude this audience from campaign
2-STEP FUNNEL
#MKESearch

23. @wilcoxaj
ADVANCED ACCOUNT-BASED
MARKETING
SALES DREAM ACCOUNTS
EXCLUDE COMPETITORS
EXCLUDE CUSTOMERS
PRODUCT UPDATES TO CURRENT CUSTOMERS
FUNNEL ACCELERATION
#MKESearch

24. @wilcoxaj
TESTING METHODOLOGY
T H E H I G H E R U P T H E F U N N E L Y O U A R E ,
T H E S M A L L E R Y O U R L E V E R I S
5 - 1 5 %
1 - 2 x
TESTING AD MESSAGING
CAN IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
TESTING TITLE OF CONTENT
CAN IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
2 - 5 x
1 0 - 2 0 x
TESTING LANDING PAGES
CAN IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
IMPROVING SALES/NURTURE PROCESS CAN
IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
L o w I m p a c t
H i g h
i m p a c t
#MKESearch

25. @wilcoxaj
UTM TAGGING
U T M P a r a m ete r E x a m p l e R a t i o n a l e
u t m _ s o u rc e l i n k e d i n T h e p l a t f o r m
u t m _ m e d i u m
s p o n s o r e d c o n t e nt o r
s c
T h e t yp e o f a d
u t m _ c a m p a i g n I T d i r e c t or s + D e s c r i be t h e a u d i e nc e
u t m _ c o n te n t l i s c 0 4 1 7 1 8 0 1
I d e n t i f i e s t h e s p e c i f i c
a d
#MKESearch

26. @wilcoxaj
utm_content
lisc 041718 01
S h o r t v e r s i o n o f S o u r c e / M e d i u m :
‘ l i ’ i s s h o r t f o r L i n k e d I n
‘ s c ’ i s s h o r t f o r S p o n s o r e d
C o n t e n t
T h e d a t e t h e c o d e w a s c r e a t e d s e r v e s 2
p u r p o s e s :
1 . M a k e s e v e r y c o d e 1 0 0 % u n i q u e
2 . S i g n i f i e s w h e n t h e a d w a s l a u n c h e d
I n c r e m e n t a l d i g i t t o
d i f f e r e n t i a t e b e t w e e n
m u l t i p l e a d s c r e a t e d a t t h e
s a m e t i m e
#MKESearch