[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/linkedin-paid-ads-for-prospecting-and-lead-generation\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/linkedin-paid-ads-for-prospecting-and-lead-generation\/","headline":"LinkedIn Paid Ads for Prospecting and Lead Generation","name":"LinkedIn Paid Ads for Prospecting and Lead Generation","description":"LinkedIn Paid Ads: Target Your Audience on LinkedIn. (If you’re looking for a more in-depth summary, check out our detailed guide here) The latest stats according to LinkedIn is there are more than half a billion professionals worldwide who gather on LinkedIn to stay connected and informed, advance their careers, and work smarter. 63 million … Continue reading LinkedIn Paid Ads for Prospecting and Lead Generation<\/span><\/a>","datePublished":"2019-11-21","dateModified":"2026-04-16","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/author\/jana-legaspi\/#Person","name":"Jana Legaspi","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/author\/jana-legaspi\/","identifier":8,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba3039ce7c5eedb92f315518b69aea1d90d5c2076ce893d078c6f29cf6ddd032?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba3039ce7c5eedb92f315518b69aea1d90d5c2076ce893d078c6f29cf6ddd032?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AOK Marketing","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AOK-Marketing-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AOK-Marketing-Logo.png","width":126,"height":53}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Blog_LinkedinNetwork_Audience_04-source-Rawpixel.com_.png","url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Blog_LinkedinNetwork_Audience_04-source-Rawpixel.com_.png","height":560,"width":780},"url":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/linkedin-paid-ads-for-prospecting-and-lead-generation\/","about":["LinkedIn","Lead Generation"],"wordCount":1544,"keywords":["LinkedIn","LinkedIn for business","LinkedIn Marketing"],"articleBody":"LinkedIn Paid Ads: Target Your Audience on LinkedIn.(If you’re looking for a more in-depth summary, check out our detailed guide here)The latest stats according to LinkedIn is there are more than half a billion professionals worldwide who gather on LinkedIn to stay connected and informed, advance their careers, and work smarter.63 million decision-makers17 million opinion leaders90 million senior-level influencers10 million C-level execs and more.Using LinkedIn\u2019s Paid Ads, Sponsorship, and Premium Tools for Prospecting and Lead GenerationWhile there\u2019s almost no organic reach on Facebook anymore, LinkedIn is one of the few social platforms that actually encourages users to create and publish content on its site and assures that it will be seen and shared.\u00a0 To really make a difference, you have to use LinkedIn Ads to extend that reach even farther.Businesses That Should Consider LinkedIn AdsIf you\u2019ve got a B2B product or service with a high price tag\u2014think business coaching, exclusive communities, masterminds, etc.\u2014then you can do really well on this platform.Who Shouldn\u2019t be Advertising on LinkedInB2C companies (with the exception of recruiting and education. Particularly higher education such as an MBA program looking to recruit new candidates. LinkedIn\u2019s education targeting is amazing).Smaller deal sizes (<$10K)Broad targetsE-commerceAd agenciesCommoditiesTips for Creating Effective LinkedIn Paid AdsThe very first thing in your ad should be, \u201cHere\u2019s why you should pay attention.\u201d The second thing should be a call to action that\u2019s quick and to the point.Strong copy is perhaps the most important indicator of how successful an ad will be.LinkedIn recommends that you create at least three ads per campaign, but gives you the ability to create as many as 15 different variations.LinkedIn considers a CTR of 0.025 percent to be good. Types of LinkedIn adsEach type of LinkedIn ad has its own benefits and approaches. They come in two flavors: Self-Service ads and LinkedIn Advertising Partner Solutions.According to LinkedIn, including an image with humans in your sponsored content post can increase your CTR by 160% (versus an image without humans).LinkedIn text adsSponsored InMailVideo adsLinkedIn Display AdsDynamic ads LinkedIn Ads Best PracticesSponsored ContentUse custom or at least, non-stock-looking imagesAdd URL tracking codes to measure site visits or conversionsKeep the copy under 150 charactersStay focused on the people interacting with you the mostUse a \u201c\u2018hook\u2019 within the first 35 characters of your post to engage the mobile users. (Ads will show up differently depending on the device the user is using).Keep your character count under 140.Use images and shareable visuals to stand out.Make sure you have a call to action! (This goes for all ads, of course.)Text AdInclude a strong, clear, and specific call to actionWrite a headline worth readingWrite from the reader\u2019s perspective, not yours. Because it\u2019s about them, not you.Sponsored InMailUse the recipient\u2019s name, maybe twice, evenKeep it concise, under 1000 charactersState a clear and specific action you want them to take nextWrite a subject line, stating what problem you\u2019re solvingHere are my main dos and don\u2019ts for using Sponsored InMail in LinkedIn:DO narrow the scope and use your customer data for targeting. Just like any campaign, the more tightly targeted your campaign is, the better your response rate will be.DON\u2019T be formal. Be conversational, and people will be more likely to read and engage with your message.DO include a clear call to action. Ask people to \u201cTry\u201d your solution, \u201cRegister\u201d for your webinar, \u201cReserve\u201d a copy of your product, \u201cJoin\u201d your community, \u201cConfirm\u201d whether they meet your specifications, or \u201cDownload\u201d a whitepaper or other online resource.DON\u2019T have just anyone send the message. You can choose who to use as your \u201cFrom\u201d profile, so choose someone high up in your organization whose message would carry the most weight and credibility with your target audience. And make sure that person has a dynamite LinkedIn profile, because anyone interested in your message will almost certainly check out the sender\u2019s profile.DO plan for mobile. Remember that a lot of people will see this message on mobile, so keep it to about 1,000 characters to avoid overwhelming people with too much text. Some LinkedIn Paid Ads Resources and On-Demand TrainingThe Definitive Guide for Marketing on LinkedInOn-Demand TrainingMaster the fundamentals of marketing on LinkedIn with these on-demand video courses.Available courses:Get Started with LinkedIn AdsContent Marketing on LinkedInMeasuring and Optimizing Campaigns on LinkedInAchieving Your Marketing Goals on LinkedInDemystifying Targeting on LinkedInProgrammatic and LinkedInFundamentals of Advertising on LinkedIn On-Demand WebinarThe LinkedIn Secret Sauce: Extra Hot Edition! This is where LinkedIn’s latest A\/B tests and real results using LinkedIn Sponsored Content, InMail, Dynamic Ads, and Lead Gen Forms Tactical tips on campaign naming, bidding and budget management and targeting tactics we\u2019ve developed to maximize recently unveiled tools like LinkedIn Matched Audiences, Website Demographics and Conversion Tracking. How to Write a Great Ad for LinkedInWrite from the reader\u2019s perspective. Because\u2026 people don\u2019t care about what you do. They only care about what they can get from what you do.Use relevant images.Write personalized content by segmenting your audience. For example, by job title, function, industry, company size, and seniority. Tailor your message accordingly.Test frequently using variations of your ads. See what works best. Do more of those. LinkedIn Advertising Best PracticesThink carefully about the customer journeyTarget effectivelyLayering multiple LinkedIn targeting options is the only way to do this.Don\u2019t layer your LinkedIn advertising targeting options too much. If you go too far, you\u2019ll target an extremely narrow audience and miss some valuable opportunities.Glean insights from other advertising platformsFrom a tactical standpoint, that means repurposing the ad copy and targeting parameters that work really well on other platforms.Use a Relevant Landing PageMessage match.If your ad says \u201cFree Stuff,\u201d your landing page should say, \u201cFree Stuff.\u201d Targeting StrategiesUnlike Facebook or Google AdWords, LinkedIn does not have a built in conversion tracking code, so you will need to add tracking parameters to the end of your ad\u2019s URL and\/or have the ability to capture lead source on the landing page your ad points to.Quick tip: Always make sure un-check enable audience expansion because it is absolute trash.Targeting By Job TitleJob title is a pretty weak form of targeting on LinkedIn for two reasons. Number one, it is the place that most marketers go to \u2014 to start off with \u2014 because we tend to understand job titles pretty well and that pushes competition up meaning that you are going to pay more for that audience.Number two, job title is a free-form field so you can write whatever you want.Because of that, if you are using job titles, you only have access to probably 40% of your audience instead of 80% of 90% that you might get through another targeting option. Higher cost and smaller audience sizes mean that this is going to be a low volume and a more expensive type of campaign.Targeting By GroupGroups tend to create very precise audiences, very small audiences. They tend to be the most active users on LinkedIn and generally have pretty good lead quality. If you add a seniority layer on top of a group about marketing, you can say it is a marketing group, and I am going to add a VP or a C level of seniority, and that is going to get me marketing VPs and CMOs.Multiple Campaigns For Every Top Level CampaignIn most campaigns we would actually create four separate campaigns for about every persona out there so that we can try job title, job function, skill, and group. The reason why is because there absolutely will be some overlap between these audiences, but at the same time, we know over time we are going to get data on each type of targeting, and we might learn something like, skills cost per conversion is lower, but lead quality is also lower so we should bid down there.Long Tail Keyword TargetingNow, what I don’t want you to do is just select something so broad as marketing because sales folks can add that, students can add that. It is just too broad.Let’s go for more of a long tail approach to the keyword of marketing; how about digital marketing, online marketing, social media marketing…those are good.Basically, anything that has two words is probably okay.If I have a small budget, I am probably going to go to really specific two-word keywords or even a three-word keyword. Bonus Tip: Retarget LinkedIn Connections on FacebookYou\u2019ve learned a few masterful tactics, but this one is the best.All you need to do is get your LinkedIn connections\u2019 emails to retarget them on Facebook with engaging content. I’d love to hear how you use LinkedIn paid ads, and as always, feel free to connect with me there!"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"LinkedIn Paid Ads for Prospecting and Lead Generation","item":"https:\/\/aokmarketing.com\/linkedin-paid-ads-for-prospecting-and-lead-generation\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]