LinkedIn Ads Specialist | B2B Youtuber/Blogger | Rooftop Cinema Owner

I've been running B2B ads for 9 years, diving deep into LinkedIn Ads in 2020—that’s 5 years of laser-focused expertise on the platform. Since then, I’ve managed millions in ad spend for 150+ clients, helping businesses scale their demand generation, lead gen, and revenue strategies.

💡 What I do:
👉 I run Kiin, a niche LinkedIn Ads agency working with budgets up to $100K/month
👉 I help B2B companies own their demand, lower CPLs, and convert more pipeline
👉 I design and execute high-performing LinkedIn campaigns that drive real ROI

🔹 Want to scale your LinkedIn Ads profitably? Let’s chat. Book a call: https://calendly.com/phil-kiin/30min
🔹 Learn more at www.kiin.co

Philip Ilic

LinkedIn Conversation ads have been some of our best-performing ad formats for a bunch of my clients. 

They are getting demo requests for as little as $120 to $350.

I used to say they were hit or miss. 

50% of the time they would work. 
50% not.

but i am finding more like 75% of the time they do if done right.
 
Cool thing is they also work really well to a cold audience. 

If you think about it they are just a cold message sent to your ICP at scale (like outbound) but with no spam filters. 

I made a deep-dive loom playbook video covering:
+ How to set them up
+ What to write in them
+ How to approach bidding (opposite of what you’d normally do)
+ When and how to use them
+ How to use incentives effectively alongside them

If you want it...
Comment 'convo' down below💪

And i'll send dm you a link. 

p.s. make sure you are connected with me otherwise i can't send it!

LinkedIn Ads Specialist | Dm Me To Access My full LinkedIn Ads Playbooks👇 | Rooftop Cinema Owner🍿

If I've got a list of 1,000–5,000 companies… 
And the budget to properly hit them… 
I don't run a normal funnel. 
I go all in on content distribution. 

Here's exactly how I do it.

1️⃣ Upload the company list.
Then I layer it with job titles.
Make sure the list is super tight. 

If you can add a layer which is more of a signal then that is great,

Now we've got a tight, high-value audience. 
No broad targeting. 
Just the accounts we actually want.

2️⃣ Create up to 10 Thought Leader Ads.

Some video. 
Some image posts. 
Different angles. 
Different people from the company if possible.
Founder content. 
Product content. 
Educational content. 
Social proof. 
Contrarian takes.

The goal is that every time someone from that company logs into LinkedIn… they see us. 
Not once. 
Repeatedly.

3️⃣ Control frequency properly.

This part matters.

I'm looking for minimum 5–10 impressions per post. 
Each person seeing at least 5 different posts, ideally closer to 10. 
Strong penetration across the list.

Post getting tired? 
Frequency too high? 
Engagement dropping? 
Swap it out. 

Rotate creative every few weeks.

4️⃣ Let familiarity build. Then convert.

After a few weeks you start seeing direct inbound. 
Branded searches. 
Website visits from those accounts. 
Random demo bookings.

One way to see this 'influenced pipeline' is using Fibbler, a super great tool for this.

They've seen you 20+ times. 
You're not a stranger anymore.

That's when we layer in Lead Gen Forms, BOF campaigns, Conversation Ads, direct demo messaging, and warm outbound to the same list.

You're not introducing yourself. They should have some brand and personal awareness. 

There is no classic TOF → MOF → BOF. 
We're not building tiny retargeting pools. 
We're hitting the entire list consistently.

This flips the traditional funnel on its head.

It works when the list is under 5k, LTV is strong, you've got enough budget to dominate, and you actually monitor frequency and penetration.

Most companies massively under-invest in frequency. 
But frequency builds familiarity. 
And familiarity builds pipeline.

---
p.s. want us to build this for you, send me a dm to discuss 💪

Most people’s LinkedIn ads fail because they don’t know how to report on influenced pipeline.

If you can only see the directly attributable things such as leads + demos, then you are missing out on major superpower of LinkedIn ads.

this is the content delivery/ demand gen / how pipeline is influenced part. 

But without a way to see that the pressure to focus on demos and leads gets super high. 

And that kind of pressure pushes marketers to lean heavily on bottom-of-funnel tactics...
Things like lead gen forms and incentive ads.

These do work super well. 

but without focusing on the nurture (180 day retargeting content delivery) part, the lead gen part will flatline… and then fail.

demos = pipeline = revenue, right?
Kind of.

In my opinion LinkedIn ads’ true super power lies more in its ability to deliver content at scale to a really high value ICP.

This is the demand gen part.

We push (mostly thought leader ads) to your ICP.

We work hard on multiple bits of content so we deliver a full message.

This all delivers our message, things like…
+ what does your product do
+ why is it awesome
+ why is it different
+ how did people used to tackle this problem before your solution
+ Who have you worked with before
+ what amazing things are they saying about you
+ why do they think you are awesome
+ how do they use you and get massive results
+ what is your position in your general market
+ do you have an opinion on the general topic you work in

This builds trust and teaches your ICP about your product.

And then often they fill out a form or come inbound through…
branded search
or through “direct”
or unknown
or even a lead gen ad

but when you dig deeper you see they actually engaged with your thought leader ads 7 times…
clicked 4 times to your site
and had 200 impressions over the past couple months

This is 'influenced pipeline'.

The LinkedIn ads do the heavy lifting.

before the companies tab on LinkedIn there was no way to really report on this.

And this is why Fibbler is an essential tool for us at Kiin.

If we can’t report on influenced pipline we are missing out on reporting on LinkedIn’s most important metric.

How much pipeline and revenue has LinkedIn influenced.

And then when the lead gen ads fail, which eventually they do, if all your budget is focused on that, then people end up switching off their LinkedIn ads.

They say it failed. 
that LinkedIn ads suck.

Honestly this is why I love Fibbler
It has made my job to tell a compelling story about why LinkedIn ads work much easier.

When a client can see a dashboard (see pic) with the number which states the influenced pipe / revenue it is easy to see why linkedin ads are so powerful.

P.S. This is exactly why Fibbler exists. It connects your LinkedIn ad impressions, engagements, and clicks directly to your CRM so you can finally see the influenced pipeline most marketers are missing. Try it free for 30 days at https://www.fibbler.co/

There is a huge discrepancy between LinkedIn ad landing page clicks and what clients see in GA4. Here is why:

A client yesterday pointed out they were seeing around 5% of clicks to landing page in GA4 vs what we report in LinkedIn.
(If you're reading this 👋)

So I went deep. 
LinkedIn docs, ad fraud studies, GA4 consent mode research, every thread I could find.

Here's what's actually happening:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆

Even perfectly configured, a 15-30% gap between Landing Page Clicks and GA4 sessions is normal.

Some advertisers report only 1 in 3 clicks becoming a session. 
The documented range is 5-40%.

𝟭. 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀

LinkedIn counts the click the instant someone taps.

GA4 only counts after the page loads, JavaScript executes, and a cookie is set.
On mobile there's a multi-second delay. Users hit back or close the app.

Facebook's data shows GA tracking fails on 10-80% of mobile clicks. LinkedIn behaves the same way.

𝟮. 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀

"Deny Cookies" = invisible to GA4.
A normal banner reduces recorded traffic by 10-15%. Misconfigured? The drop can hit 95%.

One study found a $1M+/quarter company underreporting by 25% because their cookie platform was blocking Google Tag Manager entirely.

If your clients are in Europe or the UK, this is likely your biggest culprit.

𝟯. 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸

AJ Wilcox (B2Linked) analysed LAN traffic with ad fraud expert Dr. Augustine Fou.
63% was bot or suspicious. Only 37% confirmed human.

2,000 clicks paid for. ~1,000 real people showed up.

Headless bots don't process JavaScript, clicks in LinkedIn, invisible in GA.

𝟰. 𝗚𝗔𝟰 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
If a user grants cookie consent after browsing a few pages, GA4 resets the session and marks it as "Direct."
Your LinkedIn traffic is there. 
Just under the wrong label.

𝟱. 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀 + 𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀
Click, back, click again = 2 LinkedIn clicks, 1 GA session.
Bad bots made up 37% of all web traffic in 2024. Ad blockers block GA but don't stop LinkedIn counting.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱:
→ Mobile bounce: 10-20% lost 
→ Cookie denial: 10-15% invisible 
→ GA4 misattribution: 5-10% 
→ LAN bots (if on): up to 63% 
→ Ad blockers: 5-10% 
→ Repeat clicks: 3-5%

Stack a few and 50-80% of clicks vanish before GA4 sees them.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼:
→ Turn off LAN unless there's a reason 
→ Audit cookie consent (GTM must load BEFORE the banner) 
→ Enable GA4 Consent Mode v2 Advanced + behavioural modelling 
→ Speed test landing pages — under 1 second on mobile 
→ Honest benchmarks: 15-20% = normal. 30%+ = investigate. 50%+ = broken.

LinkedIn Ads work. 
We see the pipeline. 
We see the revenue.
But tracking is always a pain in the ass.

A few months back I had a client who was pushing me hard to put $50k a month into bottom of funnel ads.

It actually worked well for a while.

They were over the moon with the amount of leads coming in.

The CMO had super aggressive targets given to him.

 And that pressure got pushed onto me.

For a while it worked really well.

We were getting a ton of demo requests each month.

Things looked bright.
Until they didn’t.

What happened next is the CPL started to rise — not slowly, but really quickly.
It went from $200–300 per demo request to $600–800 in a matter of weeks. 

Then 1000 + a couple of weeks later. 

+ We refreshed creatives.
+ Tried different targeting types.
+ Expanded the ICP slightly.

But nothing kept the price down.

I kept recommending a demand gen strategy.

I could see we needed to invest a lot more in content distribution. 
Nurture. Retargeting. Education.

But they were fully on the lead gen bandwagon.

They were addicted to these leads.

I also pushed hard to get them to analyse actual pipeline and revenue generated, not just demo volume.

They never helped us get the right data for this. Or wanted to.

I have a sneaky suspicion they knew this was a downward spiral and preferred to live in ignorance.

Long story short…
The leads ended up costing $1,200+.

To be fair, their ACV was around $40–60k, so on paper it was still “doable”.

Once we eventually dug into it, after hundreds of thousands spent, the ROI was negative.

Many of the leads were low quality.
Very few converted into real pipeline.

Now I refuse to work with companies that don’t get behind the recommended strategy.

I even introduced a clause that once we present our go-to-market strategy, if we’re not aligned at the strategy level, either side can walk away risk-free. 

Money back.

It’s not worth pushing something we know will fail eventually.

p.s. If you wanna do LinkedIn ads properly, I’ll drop our full funnel strategy playbook video in the comments.

I see people doubting AI will completely take over many marketing jobs in the next 18 months.

I believe it.

I've been building our own internal Kiin Intelligence Agent and it's performing tasks at a level most people can't.

Is it better than the best specialist for each individual task? Maybe not.
But it's better than most.

For example I trained it to do 90% of the work around LinkedIn Ads strategy.

It researches the company, the product, the ICP... ...goes on Reddit, G2, and other places to find both positive and negative reviews.

It analyses messaging.

It looks at how much the company is posting organically and gives a full report.

It literally does 95% of the strategy work for me.
I just add the final recommendations (which it also attempts... and gets a lot right).

We also used to need 2 people at Kiin spending all day Friday building weekly client reports.

Now those reports (releasing this next week to the team) come 95% prepared. 

We just review and refine.

I can clearly see much of my job will be automated.

Not all of it. But a lot.

In the short run it makes us way more efficient internally.

In the long run it means fewer people handling more accounts.

I'm both terrified and excited at the same time.

LinkedIn Ads are easy.
All you have to do is...

- Know your demand gen vs demand capture budget split
- Understand influenced pipeline and how to track it
- Know whether to optimise TLAs for engagement or brand awareness
- Know the difference between CPC and clicks to landing page
- Know which TLA content bucket to use and when
- Know when to promote an organic post vs create something new
- Know your convo ad open rate benchmark, and what to do when you're under it
- Know what each drop-off in the convo ad funnel means
- Know when to use lead gen forms vs landing pages
- Know whether low pipeline is a targeting, message or speed-to-lead problem
- Know when TOFU isn't building retargeting pools
- Know how to design MOFU for influenced pipeline
- Know when BOFU is burning budget on the wrong audiences
- Know how to set up retargeting windows and how to layer by engagement depth
- Know when and how to run incentive ads on convo ads
- Know how to bid on conversation ads and why it matters
- Know how to calculate budget against audience size and CPM
- Know whether audience expansion is helping or hurting you
- Know what exclusions to set and why
- Know the benchmarks for each ad format so you know how to optimise
- Know when creative is fatiguing
- Know when an account is broken at the ad level vs the strategy level
- Remember to connect CRM data back to your LinkedIn Ads
- Remember to pass engagement signals from ads to the sales team
- Remember to align with sales so ads and pipeline actually connect
- Remember to set up self-reported attribution from day one
- Remember to track lead → SQL → opportunity → revenue, not just CPL
- Remember that LinkedIn video views are 2 seconds, and what to track instead
- Remember to follow up on lead gen form leads instantly
- Remember that account historical performance affects current campaigns
- Remember that audience expansion is a LinkedIn revenue feature, not a targeting feature
- Remember that LinkedIn ≠ Google
- Know how to use TLAs to warm up outbound before the first touch
- Know your ICP tightly enough to actually build an account list

Easy, right? 😰

#LinkedInAds #B2B #DemandGeneration

I just hit over 4,000 subscribers on my newsletter.

It’s always been a side project. I’ve neglected it more times than I’d like to admit… sorry 😅

But when I look at it properly, it’s responsible for a really meaningful part of how I bring in new clients.

Email marketing is actually incredibly powerful.

We get 50%+ open rates on pretty much every send, even on the 8th, 9th, 10th email in a sequence. 

It means people genuinely care about what I write.

I don’t write often. But when I do, it’s usually:
• an A/B test
• real performance data
• insights from the hundreds of thousands we spend on LinkedIn ads each month

These aren’t recycled blog posts. 
They’re things we’re actively testing inside client accounts.

Maybe that’s why people keep reading, even though I’m painfully inconsistent.

Here’s why email is worth the effort:

1. You own your media

I have direct access to everyone who subscribes.

There’s no algorithm that can throttle my reach overnight.

For me, a newsletter subscriber is infinitely more valuable than a social media follower.

2. You build an actual relationship

Email, especially if you’re consistent, builds long-term trust with your ICP.

It keeps you top of mind.
+ It nurtures the 97% who aren’t in market yet.
+ It shows expertise.
+ It builds social proof over time.
+ It compounds.

3. It’s mostly free
Yes, I use LinkedIn ads, YouTube and organic LinkedIn to grow it.

But once someone subscribes, I can reach them in their inbox for free.

And if you’re anything like me, you check your inbox more than you check social media.

If it costs me $16 to acquire a subscriber who’s a VP of Marketing and they:
• read my emails
• click the links
• watch the videos

Then I can reach that person indefinitely, as long as I keep delivering value.

And from what I’ve seen, a percentage of those subscribers eventually become customers.

4. It’s a serious conversion engine

I’ve been digging into our data and comparing newsletter subscribers with sales calls and closed clients over the past year.

A large proportion of clients had, at some point, subscribed and read my emails.

Some booked calls directly from a newsletter link.

Email is massively underrated.

It’s powerful.

But it’s also a grind to build.

Still, 4,000 subscribers later, I’m very glad I stuck with it.

P.S. Why not sign up (link in the cmments)
Inside you’ll get:
• Real A/B test results from campaigns we’re actively running
• Deep-dive playbooks on LinkedIn Ads and GTM
• Loom walkthroughs breaking down strategy and performance
• A bunch of high-quality freebies, including 68 LinkedIn Canva ad templates

Honestly, I think one of the best strategies I know, which very few ppl do with LinkedIn ads, is saturation over retargeting.

What I mean by this is if you have a limited account list, then just make sure the audience size matches your budget.

Then the goal is NOT to go broad. 
Then do middle of funnel 180 day retargeting. 
Then bottom of funnel retargeting of the middle.

This works. but what i am talking about here is different. 

What I have been testing instead is saturating a limited cold audience with content.

Making sure the penetration rate is high. 
Decent frequency. 
Enough bits of content. Enough impressions etc.

The goal is to hit up as many ppl on that list as possible with at least: 5-10 bits of content (mostly TL ads) 
With 5-10 frequency on each bit of content. 
Work on penetration rate.

The point is that we get as many ppl on this list to receive content which communicates...
+ who you are
+ what you do
+ why you are amazing
(withh enough impressions and content each)

Then when we launch the bottom of funnel plays (LinkedIn lead gen / to demo page ads + warmbound)

These ppl will already be super primed.

The point is also to be in front of these ppl for a good period of time, as we all know someone might not yet be in market but might be in 6 months.

Its a little different but I see this working super well over the full funnel strategy.

Both work. 
But this is especially powerful if you have a list you want to target and hit up for the next 3-6 months.

Or if you have limited TAM (account-based targeting).

#linkedinads #demandgen #leadgen

We tried Linkedin ads and it didn't work...
I hear this all the time. 

But when I look under the hood, I see a massive mess. 
+ no structure
+ bidding off
+ LAN on
+ no strategy
+ no thought leader ads
+ no attribution 
+ no clue if ads are influencing pipeline (and not using Fibbler to check)
+ 100% of budget in lead gen
+ all the budget in 2 TL ads 
+ $300 spent, then they panicked and decided it doesn't work

Ppl jump straight to 'ads aren’t working' when the issue is buried way deeper.

So I built this mental model I run through every single time 👇

Layer 0: Attribution
Can we even trust the data?
Half the time… we can’t. Tags broken, UTMs missing, CRM a mess. No way to looking at influenced pipeline/revenue.

Layer 1: Account setup
Bidding wrong. Audience expansion on. LinkedIn Audience Network secretly taking 98% of the budget.

Layer 2: Funnel
No structure. Just random campaigns.
No retargeting. No Thought Leader Ads. No flow.

Layer 3: Lead gen
Leads coming in… but none converting down stream.
Or they just die in the CRM.

Layer 4: Targeting + demographics
You think you’re hitting ICP… you’re not.
Wrong seniority, wrong company size, wrong industries. Very few exclusions.

Layer 5: Creative
No Tl ads
low CTRs
A mess of ads with no clear objectives. 

Layer 6: Spend
Budget leaking into campaigns doing nothing.
Meanwhile your best campaigns are underfunded.

Layer 7: Pipeline
This is the big one.
LinkedIn might actually be working… just not where you’re looking.
Is there Influenced pipe??? 
(Fibbler is a great one to integrate here to know this one)

And honestly…
When I go through this with clients, it’s never just one thing.

It’s like 5–6 small inefficiencies stacked on top of each other.
👉 Slightly wrong targeting
 👉 Weak creative
 👉 No retargeting
 👉 Bad attribution

That’s why most ppl quit LinkedIn ads too early.

They have no idea why their ads are not working, then they say LinkedIn ads are sh£t. 

Not everyone should advertise, but most b2b companies can find success on the platform. 

p.s. i'd highly recommend Fibbler as a foundation. 
If you do not know your influenced pipeline, you are flying half blind.

Brand partnership • LinkedIn Ads Specialist | Dm Me To Access My full LinkedIn Ads Playbooks👇 | Rooftop Cinema Owner🍿

I audited an account recently that had a ton of campaigns running.

But it was completely unclear what the point of each one was.

A massive mess.

Here's what I always do to bring clarity. I define two things for every campaign:

1. Is it demand gen or demand capture?

Understanding this changes everything about how you run it.

Most people hope each campaign does both. It won't.

A demand gen campaign should often be zero-click and native to LinkedIn. 

Keep people on the platform. 
Educate them there.

A demand capture campaign should have a harder CTA. 
You're catching intent that already exists.

2. What is the specific objective of that campaign?

Every campaign gets one objective. Not two. One.

The most common ones I use:

→ Get people to watch a video so they learn about X 
→ Get people to click through to a landing page 
→ Get people to download a lead magnet 
→ Get someone to request a demo via a lead gen form

Once you know the objective, you know exactly how to measure whether it's working.

If the goal is landing page clicks, look at CTR, CPC, bounce rates. 

If it's a nurture campaign, look at dwell time. 

If it's video views, look at video views.

Sounds obvious. But most accounts I audit don't do this.

One objective per campaign means you always know if it's succeeding or not.


#linkedinads

What should my Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) be from LinkedIn Ads?
It's the question every client asks.
And the question most ppl running your ads love to dodge 
(including me)

Here are the 10 factors that determine your LinkedIn Ads CAC:

1. TAM + In-Market Rate
Big addressable market with lots of in-market buyers = more people ready to buy = your CAC drops.

Tiny niche with 500 companies = every impression is expensive and conversion is slow.

Market size sets the floor.

2. Product-Market Fit
The one everyone skips.
Strong PMF = ppl convert faster, churn less, refer more.
Weak PMF = even great ads can't save you. Every lead is a fight.
The best CAC optimisation isn't in the ad account. It's in the product.

3. ACV
High ACV = you can absorb more spend per close.
$60k ACV deal with a $5k CAC is fine.
$6k ACV deal with a $5k CAC is a disaster.
ACV sets the ceiling on what CAC is even acceptable.

4. Sales Cycle Length
Longer cycles = more spend before a close registers.
Most attribution windows don't capture 9-month journeys.
So your CAC looks worse than it actually is and you kill the channel too early.

5. Lead-to-Close Rate
This is the biggest multiplier.
Same CPL. 5% close rate vs 20% close rate.
That's a 4x difference in CAC.
Sales team quality, SDR speed, lead quality — all of it lives here.

6. Creative Quality
Bad creative gets punished by LinkedIn's algorithm.
Higher CPMs. Less distribution. Worse CAC.
Good creative can cut CPL by 30–50% on identical targeting.
The ad is not separate from the CAC equation.

7. Category Maturity
Do ppl already know your category exists?
If yes, they're searching, comparing, primed to convert. CAC is lower.

If no, you have to teach them they have a problem before you can solve it.
That education costs money.

Blue ocean markets sound exciting until you see the CAC.

8. Brand Awareness
Cold audiences who've never heard of you convert at a fraction of the rate of warm ones.
No brand in market = your ads are doing double duty.
Paying for awareness AND conversion at the same time.
Retargeting audiences are your cheapest source of CAC reduction.

9. Landing Page Conversion Rate
You can run perfect campaigns and blow it all here.
1% LP conversion vs 4% LP conversion = 4x difference in CAC.
Most advertisers obsess over the ad.
They should obsess over what happens after the click.

Our internal CAC is: ~$1,500

What's yours?

#LinkedInAds #B2B #DemandGeneration

Thought leader ads are not necessarily your best organic content.

I hear a lot of people say your best performing organic LinkedIn content is what you should push in TL ads.

I don't think that's true.

My best content is a selfie of me with my cat. 
or me at my roof top cinema in Lisbon
Everyone loves those
Get 20x my normal engagement.

But that doesn't mean I should push that as a TL ad.

Realistically we need to push content which is sometimes more BOF.

This doesn't always get the most engagement, but that's ok.

The point is your ICP needs to know:
+ Your features
+ How you work
+ What you do
+ Who you've helped

That's the point of a TL ad.

An organic content strategy where you post 4x a week is very different to LinkedIn thought leader ad content.

With TL ads we need to be strategic about what we push.

The way I see it, we need to think about what specifically does the ICP need to know about you to understand why they should use you over your competitors. 

Or even why they need your SaaS at all.

So we need content specifically about:

+ Your product
how does it work, what specific features can help them.

+ Your social proof
who have you helped, how did you help them, some stats, ideally some logos.

We need to deliver this content to your ICP in the demand gen part of your LinkedIn ads funnel.

This is the entire point of demand gen. 
A lot of this content from TL ads is designed to be zero-click. 

We are trying to get your ICP to consume the content, to learn about you and what you do.

So yeah, i guess not every vp of marketing needs to see my wit my cat sefie.

Yesterday one of our LinkedIn Ads specialists at Kiin flagged something I hadn’t seen before.

I took a look and realised the campaign was performing incredibly well.

It was a tactic we’d never tested in this specific way before, and for this client it was working extremely well.

It’s rare to find something genuinely new.
We’re constantly testing, iterating, tweaking.
So when something fresh actually works well, it’s super exciting.

I asked the team to roll it out across five more accounts as a structured test.
We’ve just done that. literally 24 hours later. 

This is one of the reasons I love running a large number of LinkedIn Ads accounts.

The cross-account learning is powerful. 
Seeing what works, what doesn’t, how different ICPs respond, how creative fatigue shows up, how bidding strategies behave, that breadth of data compounds fast.

It reminds me why having a specialist partner like us matters.

Not because we claim to know everything.

But because we’re deep in it every single day, always learning.

There are only a handful of teams who operate at this depth on LinkedIn. And i know pretty much all of them. 

Running truly current playbooks is hard.
You need volume.
You need pattern recognition.
You need the willingness to try things that aren’t in a blog post yet.

A lot of people run someone else’s framework.
We try to build and refine our own.

Ai is also freaking me out at the mo also.

But moments like this remind me we can still add a lot of value... for now at least.

That’s why I’m glad we chose to go deep on LinkedIn Ads rather than broad across everything.

#linkedinads

My client thought the account was failing.
I thought it was pretty much on track.
We were both looking at the same data.

So how were we drawing completely different conclusions??? 

Knowing what good looks like, at each layer of the funnel, is half the battle.

Here's how I read the metrics:

👉 Demand gen vs demand capture.

These are two completely different games.
Most people mix them up and then wonder why nothing makes sense.

👉 Cold layer (demand gen)

The only goal here is building high-quality, affordable retargeting audiences.
That's it.

So we're looking at:
+ Clicks to landing pages
+ Engagement
+ Video views

Don't expect leads from cold.
That's not the job.

👉 180 day retargeting / demand gen layer 
This is about content distribution.

Consistently communicating to your ICP...
who you are
what you do
How you do it
us vs them
old vs new 

Bascially we need to get the ICP to know about you and your product 
(brand awareness). 

Here we care about:
+ Engagement rates
+ Dwell time
+ Clicks to landing pages
+ Video views
+ Impressions
+ Frequency and penetration rate

alot of this is zero click and native to LinkedIn. 

You need your ICP to see enough content that you actually become familiar.
Not one impression. Not five.
Enough that they know you.

👉 Demand capture layer

Now we're looking at harder metrics.

+ Lead gen form opens and fills
+ Website form submissions

Basically MQLs/ SQLs / Demos booked etc

This is the bottom of the funnel.
It should convert.

If it doesn't, the problem is usually further up stream.

👉 Each ad type also has its own logic Also.

Thought leader ads need to be read completely differently from single image ads.

CPC doesn't matter for TL ads.
What matters is 'clicks to landing page'.

And especially in demand gen, where I use TL ads most, the real question is: 
are people actually consuming the content?

Dwell time matters.
Video views matter.
Are they sitting with the post long enough to absorb the message, or just scrolling past?

At the same time, we want enough reach within the ICP.
So impressions, frequency, and penetration rate all come into play.

Conversation ads are their own beast.
Most reporting tools handle these badly.

For convo ads you're reading open rates, click-through rates etc

The whole flow matters, not just the end conversion.

Linkedin is confusing 
(luckily for me as it'll take longer for ai to take my job).

But half the battle is knowing what good looks like.

I reviewed an account yesterday that has over $1M in pipeline attributed to LinkedIn Conversation Ads.

Revenue already trickling in.
(we are also doing full funnel here so it is not the only thing happening)

Here's what actually makes them work:

1. Open rate
Everything starts here.

Low open rate = less ppl see the offer = less clicks = less leads.

It compounds downward fast.

Open rate is about 2 things:
Targeting: your offer has to match your ICP. That's a separate post.

The headline: treat it exactly like a cold outbound subject line.

We aim for 30%+ minimum. 40% is great.

(I've seen accounts with lower open rates but cheaper CPL than accounts with 40%+, so it's one factor, not the only factor)

A/B test your headlines constantly until you hit a number you're happy with.

2. The opening copy
Short. To the point. No wall of text.

I reviewed one today that tried to say everything at once.

Overwhelming to look at. Obviously wasn't converting.

Here's the format I use:
Social proof first: "Top brands like X and Y use [company] to [outcome]"

One line on a specific benefit or feature to hook them.

CTA: book a quick 15-min demo.

That's it.

If you want higher conversion, add an incentive: $100 Amazon gift card for a 30-min call. The math always works if your deal size is decent.

3. The CTA options
I keep it to 2 max.

"I'm interested" opens the lead gen form.
"Not right now. 
That's it.

Super simple. 
No choose-your-own-adventure nonsense.

We have a bunch of accounts where convo ads are the entire demand capture engine.

#LinkedInAds #ConversationAds #B2BMarketing

I know a little about LinkedIn Ads | Head of Strategy @ Impactable 🧠

Most marketing teams don’t have a 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 -- they have a “ 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵” problem.

If that feels familiar, you’re in the right place.

Because here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud:

You’re not being judged on “running ads.”

You’re being judged on:

– whether the targeting is signal-based (not spray-and-pray),
– whether your spend is defensible,
– whether your funnel isn’t Swiss cheese, and
– whether your campaigns make leadership feel safer, not more nervous.

That’s where I come in.

I’m JD — SVP of Revenue & Growth at Impactable, where we’ve managed $𝟱𝟬𝗠+ 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱, worked with 𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗕𝟮𝗕 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀, and currently support nearly 𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 across multi-channel.

Me personally?

I’ve audited, fixed, or rebuilt 𝟯𝟬𝟬+ 𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀, overseen $𝟮𝟱𝗠+ 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱, and on average save teams ~𝟱𝟬% 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 when I step inside their Campaign Manager.

Not because I’m magical.

Because I actually understand people.

And your pipeline isn’t an algorithm problem -- it’s a 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗗𝗢

If you’re a mid-market B2B org (SaaS, IT, pro services, cybersecurity, finserv, AI, etc.) and your ACV actually matters…

I help you:
• Build audience-first programs that target based on intent signals, not job titles
• Stop lighting money on fire with bad structure, sloppy segmentation, and guesswork
• Fix the funnel so retargeting actually works
• Run multi-channel the way real buyers behave (LinkedIn → Google → Direct, not fantasy journeys)
• Prove marketing impact without resorting to vanity metrics
• Look your leadership team in the eyes and confidently say:
“Yes — this is working.”

Impactable is a 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀, but the real secret sauce is our 𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚-𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 and 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙮-𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. We don’t just “push buttons.” We help you avoid the political disasters that get marketers fired.

A little more human stuff
I’m married to an incredible woman.
We have 6 kids, 2 dogs, and I’m in the gym/sauna daily because… well, 6 kids.
Sour Patch Kids own me. No shame.

If you want to chat LinkedIn Ads, funnel design, or how to stop burning budget (without a sales pitch), I’m always happy to yap.

🌎 impactable.com
📨 jonathan.g@impactable.com

JD Garcia

Bought a new keyboard -- going to have so much fun this weekend 😈

I know a little about LinkedIn Ads | SVP of Revenue & Growth @ Impactable 🧠

CJ Craig and I on our way to Dallas for a LinkedIn event! More to come soon 🧠

No alternative text description for this image

Impactable is now a #linkedinads CAPI Certified Partner 🥳

Still relying on a pixel and a prayer?

--

This is the missing piece of your Revenue Factory (™ Trevor Corcoran).

Here is the reality of B2B tracking today:

- standard pixel tracking is wonky at best
- between privacy updates, ad blockers, and the fact that B2B buyers are nomadic (they research on one device and convert on another), your data is incomplete at best
- you're seeing a 0 in your dashboard while a deal is actually moving through your pipeline

That’s where CAPI comes in.

It’s not just a technical setup.

It’s the bridge between your CRM and your ad spend.

Instead of just tracking a page load on your site, CAPI allows you to pipe real business outcomes back to LinkedIn:

- webinar attendees (that happened on a third-party site)
- Sales Accepted Leads (that happened in your CRM)
- Closed-Won deals (the only metric that actually matters)

LinkedIn then cross-references this data to show you exactly which impressions influenced that revenue.

It helps remove the "reasonable doubt" that gets marketing budgets cut.

I’m proud of our team for the work they put in to get this certification.

In a world of button pushers, we’re focused on being the strategic partners that actually connect engagement to pipeline.

--

Need to upgrade your infrastructure?

You know how to find us.

Open article: Impactable for B2B conversion tracking | LinkedIn Marketing Solutions by business.linkedin.com

Impactable for B2B conversion tracking | LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

People struggle to post content bc they don't know what to say.

But you do, you just don't know how to surface it.

--

Disclaimer: if you aren't doing anything interesting, then this isn't going to work for you. The only reason content is "good" is because it's something that is working. Period. If you're not doing cool 💩, then you should probably start there. (and cool stuff is subjective, the point is to not be a poser)

--

I recently made the switch from ChatGPT to Claude -- mostly because of the ability to build custom skills.

(and yes, I did this before Justin Rowe who posted about it before me 🥲)

Not just prompts -- actual structured skill files that shape how Claude thinks about my specific work, my clients, my voice.

And every morning at 6:55 AM, before I start settling in, a scheduled Cowork task runs through my Google Drive, Gmail, ClickUp, HubSpot, Slack, etc.

It scans what I've done in the last 7 days -- prioritizing the last business day -- and surfaces the most unique or interesting things that happened.

Then I pick one and go deeper on it.

--

That's it!

That's the system.

No more "what should I post today?"

The raw material is already there.

The cool stuff already happened.

I just needed a way to aggregate it and clarify it a bit.

If you're actually solving hard problems, having REAL conversations with partners, building cool things -- then you have content, buddy.

--

Want to become an AI expert like me?

Then you clearly have a goal-setting problem because I'm an amateur and you should be looking to someone else for help there 😅

Have cool stuff you're doing with #claude ?

Drop it here.

I'm learning and nowhere near an expert, so I'd love to hear what others are doing.

"What does winning look like for you in 90 days?"

If a prospect can't answer that, we don't move forward.

--

I've watched this movie too many times.

You sign them... work hard... deliver *real* results.

Then you're in a QBR at month three and they're disappointed -- not because the work was bad, but because nobody ever agreed on what good was supposed to look like.

The best agencies I've seen don't close ten deals a month.

Some close 6 deals a year.

6 (7 😉)!

And they run $3M businesses at 40% margins because clients stay for years instead of churning out every quarter.

Undefined success is the leak at the bottom of the bucket.

--

Yeah, this kills some deals upfront.

Good.

The prospect who can't define success usually isn't ready.

They need internal buy-in, or they haven't stress-tested their own goals, or they're hoping you'll just figure it out for them.

That's a "not yet," not a "never."

I'd rather have that conversation now than lose a client at month 3 with everyone's time gone and nothing to show for it.

Here's the part that doesn't get said enough though: if a client churns early, the problem almost always started in the sales conversation.

Not delivery.

The rep said what it took to close (or was overly optimistic).

Nobody pinned down what winning looked like.

And then delivery is left holding the bag for a mess that was baked in before the service started.

--

This rule applies to clients you already have too.

Contracts renew
Campaigns keep running
Months go by

And nobody stops to ask whether any of it is still pointed at the right thing.

A real partner doesn't wait for frustration to start that conversation.

You show up with benchmarks, competitive context, and a real point of view on what they should do next.

Not a reporting call 🤢
Not a deck full of charts 🤮

A genuine "here's what we're seeing and here's what I think you should do about it."

That's what keeps a client for three years instead of three months.

--

Disqualify fast when you have to.

And then know when the job isn't to filter them out but to help them figure it out.

(and pray for the wisdom to know the difference)

👊🏽

You're not bad at LinkedIn ads (I hope).

But you are treating your product like something it isn't.

There are two types of B2B products:

1. Must-haves
2. Nice-to-haves

The category you're in should completely change how you run #linkedinads

And many companies skip this question entirely before spending budget.

Must-haves are non-negotiable. 
- CRM
- Payroll software
- Cybersecurity
- Legal compliance tools

When a company needs one, they need it now.

Buyers are already looking.

The decision is when, not if.

Nice-to-haves are "that sounds cool, but I can survive without it."

- Analytics platforms
- Optimization tools
- Productivity software
- Most AI SaaS (honestly)

You have to create the urgency.

It doesn't exist yet.

Here's where most people blow up their campaigns:

They're selling a nice-to-have -- but running ads like it's a must-have.

Aggressive BOFU
"RAD" everywhere
Hammering cold audiences with conversion CTAs

And then they sit in meetings wondering why CPLs are through the roof and leadership wants to pull the budget.

The playbook is just different depending on which bucket you're in.

Must-have:
→ Go hard on BOFU -- buyers already know they have a problem
→ Target people actively signaling intent -- competitor retargeting, high-intent page visitors, bottom of the research funnel
→ Your job is to be in front of them when they're ready, not convince them they have a need
→ Shorter cycles = faster feedback loops -- optimize quickly and often

Nice-to-have:
→ Lead with education, not conversion
→ TOF content that reframes the problem first -- before you ever pitch a solution
→ Longer nurture windows. We're talking 90, 180 days. They need more touches to get there
→ Case studies and proof beat feature lists every time
→ Give them a reason to care before you give them a reason to buy

Many companies skip straight to "what should our ad say?"

That's the wrong first question.

Figure out which category you are first.

Everything else follows that 👊🏽

--

P.S. Not sure which one you are?

DM me... happy to give you my honest take.

Yes, I blew up one of the jumping houses in the house so I could get some work done. 

No, mom doesn’t know 🤫

—

I’ve been going hard but realize I need to go harder.

But on the weekends, it’s less about tasks and more about things that are interesting to me. 

Hate me for saying this but you lose so much momentum over the weekend if you aren’t working.

I notice that when I work 7 days a week, my Monday and the subsequent week is much stronger. 

I don’t lose the momentum I built the previous week. 

Do what’s right from you. 

I’m jus saying what I notice about myself. 

Have a great weekend!

Many B2B teams are now saying they want to generate "signal."

But then design for comfort, not consumption.

--

We are currently breaking a client into a net-new market.

New audience
0 familiarity
High skepticism

In theory, the strategy is simple:

Tight targeting and high frequency to see what actually resonates.

In practice, the execution is failing the "physics test."

--

Here is the friction:

Most of your impressions are happening on mobile.

but your ads read like a whitepaper

and your landing page reads like a thesis

You cannot ask a stranger to read a novel on a device built for scrolling.

--

This isn't about creative preference.

It is about physics.
(hopefully, no scientists or PhDs rip me apart for using the P word for my point)

Device determines behavior > behavior determines signal > signal determines investment

If 80% of your delivery is mobile, your only job is to earn their attention in three seconds.

Friction compounds when the audience doesn't know you.

They do not trust you.
They will not work to understand you.
They will not "dig" for the value proposition.

--

I look at it like this:

If you are serving soup, do not hand them a fork.

Especially when you are just trying to find out if they even like soup.

Stop trying to be "intellectually impressive" and start being frictionless.

Optimize for the device first.

Then earn the right to move them somewhere deeper.

Revenue progression starts with respecting the context of the buyer.

Not forcing your own preference.

That is how you get the clean signal everyone is salivating over.

And clean signal is the only thing that actually reduces your risk

Big brain stuff right here 🧠

--

And yes, we're obviously working with our client to make these changes, but those of you who run agencies know how hard it can be with some clients and the internal teams who seem hellbent on sabotaging every good thing you're trying to do 🫠

About a year ago, I made a strategy for one of LinkedIn's top influencers thinking it was the best starting point for our engagement...

--

This former client has a massive following.

And when we were deciding what the strategy would be, we decided to segment by geo with some light Dynamic ad content to supplement Thought Leadership efforts.

The idea was simple:

Amplify what was already working

--

By expanding the reach of the content to the *right* audience, we thought we'd pour gasoline on the fire.

Looking back, I see clearly where we went wrong.

If I had to do it all over again, here's what I do:

1. Deep analysis of the current client base to find key traits that would allow us to artificially constrain the audience.

Audience size was in the hundreds of thousands and ad frequency was low.

And while engagement was cheap, it was also... cheap.

2. Focus on the US first

We tried segmenting by regions, but we later realized that most of the sales were coming from the US.

So while "leads" were cheaper in other regions, the cost barrier for the service made the conversion into revenue much higher.

3. Not underestimating the power of a landing page testing

The client had a strong VSL that they used for organic content, but when we went to paid, the behavior changed.

(duh, right?)

Rookie error -- we relied too heavily on what had worked before that we didn't set expectations that we'd need to test this with paid engagement/traffic.

--

I learned something very important from this experience.

Past results is not an indicator of future success.

Having done this for so long, you see the patterns and can spot what starting points make more sense than others.

It's useful but can also bite you in the 🍑

--

In the end, we left on good terms.

But as a marketer, nothing is more frustrating that knowing you "should have" seen success but didn't.

Those experiences stick with you.

Did you know there's a magic button you can press in LinkedIn and Google ads to immediately start generating quality leads?

In order to push the button though, you have to:

- fix the capture mechanism
- scrub the algorithmic waste
- narrow the search universe
- focus on high-intent terms
- terminate the audience network
- kill the audience expansion settings
- prioritize intent data over vanity reach
- prune your target list until it only contains your ICP
- identify the retargeting core of engaged prospects
- move the goalpost from form fills to pipeline revenue
- transition from optimizing for clicks to qualified demos
- bridge the efficiency gap between marketing and sales
- stop making your BDRs swim upstream against cold data
- align your bidding strategy with actual business outcomes
- feed the CRM with engagement signals instead of junk leads

Once you do all of those things, the magic button appears and you can press it :D

In all seriousness, there’s no such thing as a "set it and forget it" campaign.

It takes a lot of unsexy work to plug the leaks and build a foundation that actually scales.

You have to sell the vision, align the teams, and identify every other lever you have to support the effort.

It isn't a myopic approach.

It’s an engineering approach.

And when you stop chasing the "magic" and start fixing the infrastructure, the results usually take care of themselves 📈

Opening day ceremony
National anthem with an American Airlines plane flying by
Was just waiting for a bald eagle to land on the flag pole 😅

Struggle-bussing so hard tracking influenced revenue in SFDC... it’s giving actual physical pain? 😭 Say less, bestie 🤏🏽

You’ve been riding the struggle bus front row premium edition for way too long.

The "Old Era" (NPC Behavior):
- Exporting CSVs like it’s peak 2012 💾
- Manually matching leads like a caveman 🦴
- Praying to the Campaign Field gods it actually populated (fr fr) 🛐

Pipeline looking like straight multiverse mayhem - no one knows what moved the needle. Ong 😭

Meanwhile, DemandSense just said: "Hold my beer." 🍺

The New Meta:
- Plug dat LinkedIn Ads account in real quick 🔌
- Plug dat CRM in, no cap 🤝
- Now yo ads ain't just farming impressions like a bot 😤

They locked in fr 🔒
Tied to real deal stages, real opp amounts, and that Real Revenue Rizz 🔥

No more "trust me bro" attribution delulu.

You can literally stare at which campaigns are actually mogging accounts
👁️👄👁️

Which creatives got that Pipeline Aura? ✨

Which audiences are just... existing? (NPC energy 💀)

It is giving Clean Signal Energy. ⚡️
Not that dusty spreadsheet L.

---

P.S. Going to share this post my 13-year-old son so he knows I'm cool, too.

P.S.S. DemandSense is legit - check it out! It's what we use here at Impactable to optimize, track, and show proof of our impact. Deadass 😉

taplio

The Battle

Philip Ilic

JD Garcia

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The Battle

Philip Ilic

JD Garcia

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Philip Ilic's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScorePhilip Ilic's LinkedIn Performance