How to Create Effective LinkedIn Ad Campaigns

Published: 16 February 2021

Updated: 29 January 2024

Author Image
Victoria is a leading digital advertising expert @Viden with years of marketing experience, using a data-driven approach to identify growth opportunities and deliver value for brands across all paid channels.
How to Create Effective LinkedIn Ad Campaigns

LinkedIn is a great tool for acquiring new customers: 760 million active users speak for themselves.

Source: Kinsta: Mind-Blowing LinkedIn Statistics and Facts (2021)

It’s incredibly valuable in terms of generating leads primarily because it’s a professional network. Let’s have a quick look at the main steps needed to create an effective Ad Campaign on the #1 B2B platform.

Step 1. Study the tool

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Platform is what you need to explore when starting with Ad Campaigns. Updated in summer 2019, Campaign Manager Tool provides a customized approach supplemented with objective-based campaigns that help to fulfill complex unique goals. The service is intuitive and easy to follow.
After creating a Campaign Manager Account you can launch campaigns, define the pricing, manage the budget, and monitor the performance.

Step 2. Determine your campaign goal

Being fully aware of the goal is half of the success. The desired result should be defined as specifically as possible. Depending on your needs, there are three available objectives:
Brand awareness. This objective is aimed at high-level brand building and promotion. You as an advertiser pay for the number of impressions.
Consideration option provides engagement – views, clicks, visits, shares, followers increase, etc. You pay for the number of desired actions.
Conversion is about interaction with the website – leads generation and downloads. In this case, you pay for clicks.

Step 3. Select your target audience

Analyze your potential customer and create a precise description of your buyer persona – location, age, gender, education, occupation and work experience, group membership, and more. Here is an insight: combined targeting proved much more effective than aiming at a large group of more or less eligible professionals. It’s important to strike a balance and avoid hyper-targeting: there is no point in attracting everyone. The optimal target audience for sponsored ads – 50k, messages – 15k. One more tip: it’s more effective to stay specific about the professional skills and more general about demography, e. g. you can include location facets + 1-2 more demographics.
Audience expansion option enlarges the reach of the campaign by showing the ads to the audiences with attributes similar to the target audience.
Matched audience and Lookalike audience match user’s first-party data (e-mail lists or website visitors) with LinkedIn users. It’s a good way to target the existing audience in new locations.

Step 4. Create relevant content

After studying your target audience it’s necessary to specify what content is engaging for them and tailor messaging to every audience segment. That’s the homework you have to prepare by conducting your own research and reveal what type of content engages your audience the most.

Step 5. Launch the campaign

Once the previous steps have been mindfully completed, it’s the right time to start launching the campaign. However, before that make sure to decide on the types of ads Linkedin is offering and pick the most appropriate for you.

Read Now: LinkedIn hook: create ads that hit your target audience

Step 6. Track the performance and test the audience

After the setup of the campaign, it’s all about analysis and flexibility. The very moment the campaign is launched, it’s crucial to start tracking the performance and make changes once needed. Here are the tips from Linkedin about tracking your campaign progress.
Even though the campaign may perform well, testing on targeting is rather non-negotiable – it’s the key to find the most effective formats that work for your business the best. Just duplicate the campaign and slightly alter targeting parameters. By doing it over time, it’s possible to learn how to reach the right target.

Step 7. Analyze and learn

After finishing the campaign it’s time to perform a post-mortem – overall analysis of the results to understand the gaps and avoid them in the future.
If you need more guidance and support while creating efficient LinkedIn Ad Campaigns, you are always welcome to contact us.

Get in touch

Got a question? We'd love to hear from you. Send us a message and we'll respond as soon as possible.



    By clicking submit, you agree to our Privacy Policy

    Latest Insights

    Get the tips from our experts to optimize and scale your campaigns

    14 March 2024

    Google Consent Mode V2: Why and How to Implement It

    According to Cisco Consumer Privacy Survey, 81% of users believe a company’s treatment of their personal data reflects its view of them as customers, 63% of users believe most companies aren’t transparent about how their data is used, and 48% have stopped online shopping due to privacy concerns. When privacy policy questions are at the […]

      Learn more

      5 March 2024

      How to Enhance Easter Day Digital Marketing Campaigns

      69% of consumers in the US plan to celebrate Easter this year. For businesses, it’s a good chance to boost sales. Crafting a successful Easter campaign can be quite a task. However, with the proper groundwork, you’ll be poised to capitalize on this seasonal opportunity while engaging your target audience effectively. We will guide how […]

      Learn more

      27 February 2024

      How To Choose an Advertising Agency for Your Business to Make Your Projects a Success

      Nearly 90% of small businesses use digital advertising. Medium-sized companies allocate 2.5% to 5% of their revenue to digital marketing efforts. Digital ad spending worldwide was estimated at 627 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.  The success of advertising campaigns hinges heavily upon the strategic prowess of the chosen digital advertising agency. A well-aligned agency can […]

      Learn more

      22 February 2024

      St. Patrick’s Day Marketing Ideas to Boost Online Sales

      St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide. It’s a big deal for the Irish diaspora in many countries, particularly in the United States, where many people have Irish ancestry. People worldwide wear green clothes, buy food, and use decor for the lucky holiday. Brands have a great opportunity and potential to boost online sales during the […]

      Learn more

      10 January 2024

      How Much Do Google Ads Cost in 2024?

      Discover the true cost of Google Ads for your business. Learn how to budget and determine if it's worth it. Average costs per click and more.

      Learn more

      6 January 2024

      How Much Do Facebook (Meta) Ads Cost in 2024?

      Discover the average cost of Facebook ads in 2024, including cost per click and impressions. Learn how to reduce your Facebook ad spend and win big.

      Learn more

      2 January 2024

      How to Boost Your Pet Shop Sales with Effective Marketing Strategies

      Discover how to succeed in the pet industry by leveraging digital marketing. Boost your online presence and sales with these pet eCommerce marketing tips and strategies.

      Learn more

      1 January 2024

      Ramadan Advertising Guide: Crafting Effective Ramadan Ads to Reach Muslim Consumers

      Ramadan spending booms to $2.1 TRILLION! Discover innovative advertising ideas, culturally relevant strategies, and tips for creating promotions that connect with Muslims.

      Learn more