Kiin.co - Linkedin Ads Agency

I founded Kiin in 2020 after recognizing a gap in the market—very few people truly understood how to run LinkedIn Ads effectively. Since then, we’ve worked with 150+ clients and managed millions in ad spend, helping B2B companies generate demand, capture leads, and scale their marketing efforts on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Ads Agency Founder (est 2020)

Kiin.co is a LinkedIn ads agency with a focus on scaling B2B companies.

Founder

B2B Brains - Newsletter For Marketers

Get Smarter in B2B Ads in 5 Minutes a week - Newsletter + Community
https://b2bhero.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Unlock expert insights, data-driven strategies, and practical tips to optimize your B2B ad campaigns. Stay ahead with the latest updates and boost your results—all delivered straight to your inbox every week. Plus, access a library of free resources, including ad templates and exclusive courses. Sign up now and elevate your advertising game.

Cine Society

Lisbon's best roof top cinema. 
www.cinesociety.pt

Co-Founder

B2BHero.co

B2Bhero.co is on a mission to help small business owners and B2B software founders understand how to grow.

Understory

At Understory Agency, I shape LinkedIn Ads strategy, B2B demand generation, and growth execution—driving data-backed results through precise targeting, optimization, and full-funnel campaign design.

LinkedIn Ads Specialist

Proud To Be Sengwer

Grassroots activists defy intimidation in a struggle for their ancestral forest homeland, and with it, their cultural identity as Sengwer.

Follow citizen journalist Elias Kimaiyo as he overcomes serious injury by the Kenya Forest Service to mobilise a network of Sengwer activists. Despite forced evictions where their homes are repeatedly burnt down, they record human rights abuses and monitor environmental damage to the Embobut Forest

Independent Filmmaker

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

I'm building out a LinkedIn Ads strategy for a B2B SaaS right now.
Sales-led. HR tech. ACV $50k+.
Here’s the strategy👇

We’re anchoring around one high-quality ICP list and using it across:
+ LinkedIn Ads
+ Signal-based outbound
+ Warm outbound

The strategy is to connect LinkedIn ads and specifically lean heavily on thought leader ads + outbound as one coherent system. 

Whereas LinkedIn ads are great to warm up an audience through its amazing ability for content distribution, outbound is a great conversion mechanism. 

Top of Funnel
We push broad, relevant content to the entire list, not to convert, but to get them engaged, and familiar with the brand.

Goal: build a high-quality 180-day retargeting audience. 


Middle of Funnel
This is where we build trust and familiarity. Content distribution, demand gen part. 

Running:
+ 180-day retargeting
+ Thought Leader Ads
+ Zero-click content
+ Demand-gen educational posts

We're not driving traffic. We’re distributing content, who we are, what we do, why it matters.

Bottom of Funnel
This is often what i launch first. It's fast to launch and drives early results.

We’ll run:
+ Single-image ads
+ Conversation ads (with incentives also)
+ Retargeting + cold campaigns

Single-image ads convert warm users, but can work cold too when your TAM is big enough (there's always someone in-market).

Conversation ads (especially incentive-based ones) work targeting HR really well for some reason.

Outbound
Outbound is split into 2:

1️⃣ Signal-based: 
Clay picks up intent signals (profile views, ad engagement, site visits, etc.). Those get piped into tools like HeyReach or Instantly for personalised outreach.

2️⃣ Warm outbound: 
After a few weeks of LinkedIn Ads warming the list, we hit the entire ICP with outbound. 
—
p.s. if you’d like us to build out a GTM system, which connects LinkedIn + warm outbound schedule a call with me here: https://lnkd.in/d-rYinXh

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

I’m currently designing a signals-based outbound system to sit on top of a client’s LinkedIn ad campaigns.
Here’s what I’m building 👇

1. Turning social engagement into conversations

Their thought leader ads get a steady flow of reactions/comments.
So we’ll automatically pull all that engagement into Trigify → send it to Clay for ICP checks → and then warm contacts go into a small HeyReach sequence (with an Instantly email fallback).

2. Fast follow-up for content + demo leads

Content downloads and demo requests will go into short HeyReach sequences with:
 • Connection request
 • InMail
 • A quick email via Instantly

Each lead type gets slightly different messaging, but the idea is the same: respond quickly while the intent is warm.

3. Company-level engagement → warm outbound

LinkedIn shows which companies engage with your content.

We’ll collect these accounts, enrich them in Clay and run a warm:
 • Email sequence (Instantly)
 • LinkedIn connection sequence (HeyReach)

4. Website visitors → warm outbound

Anyone hitting the website (via your tracking tools) goes straight into:
 • A warm email flow
 • A LinkedIn connection flow

The goal here is to capture any existing demand in the market using the above as signals.

I have a LinkedIn ads client with a super low lead gen form fill (for a demo) to actually booking in the calendar ratio. 
Close to 0%.

Most ppl say, ‘oh that’s because lead gen forms don't work’.

Honestly, that is not the reason. 

I have multiple clients where we use lead gen forms, and the demo-to-booking-to-turning-up rate is over 50%. 

When i dug deeper into this client, turns out the SDR was on holiday, and when they are not on holiday, the follow up was super week.

They follow up with just an email like a day later...
...and thats it. then they call it a day. 
and come back to us saying lead gen forms are sh$t. 

If you want this ratio to work you need to have the full follow up. 
Here is what i suggest:

1. Set up an automation where leads get pinged to slack so the SDR can follow up with in minutes / or hours not days. 

2. They need to follow up with a connection request/ email right away thanking them for booking in and making sure they actually scheduled. 

3. If there is no answer then should follow up the next day with an inmail message. 

4. Some of the best ratios i have seen is if they call the contact just to secure the time of the demo. 
This call part honestly works super well. 
Just a quick ‘hey i see you signed up for a demo, when is a good time to do it’ type of call. 

5. Have really good marketing email automation. a few emails over the next few days. 
Try to keep it helpful, good content to keep them interested. 

Without a good follow up lead gen forms can under perform.

Matching your LinkedIn ads budget to your audience size matters a lot

When the budget is small compared to your TAM, what i love to do is scrape a list which has an extra layer of intent signals on top. 

So instead of targeting all B2B SaaS companies (for me for example)…

...maybe b2b saas which is actively hiring for a specific role, 
or just got funded or is using your competitor 
or has some new technology they just added to their site. 

Things like…

B2B SaaS + funded in last 90 days
B2B SaaS + hiring for GTM roles
B2B SaaS + hiring for RevOps roles
B2B SaaS + installed HubSpot in last 30 days
B2B SaaS + increased LinkedIn ad spend
B2B SaaS + new CMO in last 90 days
B2B SaaS + expanded to US/EU recently
B2B SaaS + launched a new product
B2B SaaS + attending SaaStr
B2B SaaS + trending on G2


Layering in this extra layer of intent can be quite powerful to make sure that small budget hits the highest intent audience rather than spraying and praying. 

I just tried this on our internal account and performance increased quite a bit. Will release this month's results on Monday.

This month I started targeting a list + intent (with my Linkedin ads)
...this dropped my cost per scheduled sales call from £333 to £184.

If you have a large enough TAM, then try focusing your linkedin ads budget layered in with an intent. 

My intent was recently funded B2B SaaS. 

Trying some lists with companies with open job roles related to demand gen. 

only works with large enough TAMs where you can segment your audience. 

Full results coming tomorrow for the months results

Here is how in November we dropped our cost per sales call from $441 to $243
We spent $3,230 on LinkedIn ads for Kiin.co - Linkedin Ads Agency.
Here are the results 👇

This month we spent more and the budget was super concentrated on just one ad initiative:

Thought leader ad ➜ landing page (asking for email) ➜ ridiculously strong follow-up.

➜ our cost per call dropped by close to half
➜ cost per lead stayed roughly the same: $18.82
➜ 8 phone calls scheduled
➜ 2 clients acquired at roughly $1,600 CAC (worth $45,000–$65,000 LTV)
➜ increased the lead-to-sales-call from 3.75% to 7.69%

So the thing that changed most between October and November is the lead-to-sales-call rate nearly doubled, which basically dropped the cost per scheduled call by half.

So what happened here???

I think the main thing is that i got a list of companies with an intent signal on top.

The cost per lead from this list was very similar, but the big change was that way more of them actually wanted to speak with me about LinkedIn ads 
(I've converted 2 so far, maybe more in the next months).

The second thing I started doing is not only following up with a LinkedIn connection request / message but also with an email.

The follow-up email included more content about how we work and our strategies, and asked them if they wanted a free audit.

I think converting 7.69% of leads to scheduled calls is elite level.

But one thing Omar Aboushady and I chatted about is including a quick call step. 
We’ve seen this work super well with clients. 

Will add this in January and let you know how it does.

----
p.s. i run LinkedIn ads + GTM motions for sales-led B2B SaaS. Reach out if you need any help 🙌

#linkedinads #gtm #linkedin

11% of ppl who watched my long-form Linkedin ads video…
…clicked my CTA to book a call 👇
Here’s how I make long-form video for B2B companies that ppl actually watch (and convert).

I send every new…
+ prospect
+ lead
+ anyone who engages with me
+ my Linkedin ads (especially rtg)
+ anyone who signs up for my assets gets redirected

...basically any excuse to send this video to my ICP.

Watching the analytics, ppl watched over 45% of the videos on average.
I go over this from time to time, and the ones who convert often watch 100%.

Some ppl watch 2–3 times (I see you 😅)

what’s even crazier is that 5% of the ppl watching are clicking my CTA (book a call with me).

I have another video, watched a lot less (162 times) but the CTA was clicked 11% of the time 😱

not all of them actually book,
but that’s pretty insane!

Here is how I recommend you make a high-impact video:

Firstly don’t make it a webinar.
Secondly don’t make it basically just a demo.

1. Packaging of the video is everything:

you need to package it up in a really good way. the packaging is everything.

We are marketers, so how do we sell ppl on this?

Start with the title and work backwards.

For me, it was pretty simple, it’s just our internal system on how we run Linkedin ads for clients.

I packaged it as…
$1.2 million Pipeline: our exact Linkedin ads strategy.

The other one is called…
Linkedin thought leader ads: how we generate millions in pipeline.

Ok you’re getting a pattern on my namings!! not very original, I know.

I was speaking to a client about their webinar packaging recently.

Ultimately they just wanted to do a live demo for groups of ppl.

But what we discussed was that very few ppl will want to sign up to a demo.

but if we package it as something educational and actually deliver it as educational, then a lot more ppl will want to turn up (and watch more than 20 seconds)

2. Make sure you have a really good hook / structure.

I keep mine pretty simple:

a) strong one-liner hook
I go straight into the meat, no: “hello my name is xyz” stuff 🥱

More like...
“this is how we helped 5 Linkedin ads accounts scale to millions in pipeline in the past 8 weeks”
...make sure it’s true of course!

b) show social proof

If you’re showing how you did something, show the proof.

I do this by name-dropping clients (the ones who allow me to), and showing real results.

c) go into the educational part

but keep to the point.
no faffing. no talking around a topic too much. be concise.

d) have a good CTA

If you want ppl to book 1:1 demos, then call it out.

I keep my vids mostly under 20 minutes.
The first is 12 minutes long, the second is 17.
——
 p.s. if you want help scaling out your GTM motion with Linkedin ads, GTM. outbound, video etc, here to help, just reach out 🤭

#linkedinads #gtm #demandgen

I'm currently analysing 10s of thousands of pounds in conversation ads to work out why some do so well and others fall flat. 
Here are some preliminary results...👇

1. The cost per open matters a lot.

Pretty obvious, I guess, but the cost per open varied from as little as 15 cents to as much as £3.50, which will never get the cost per lead low enough.

I imagined the main metric to get the cost per open down would be the open rate.

But the one with 15 cents per open actually had a relatively low open rate (28%), compared with others above 40%.

Still trying to work this out. 

Will release more research around this on my newsletter, will leave a link in the comments.

2. If you’re running lead gen forms inside convo ads, keep a close eye on the form open rate and the form completion rate.

Some campaigns had high completion rates but super low form open rates.

The angle/positioning of the message and specifically the words you use in the convo ad makes a big difference in getting people to open the form. 

Incentives also help a lot (see below).

3. Incentives work really well.

Every time I put an incentive ($100 Amazon gift card) into these, they seem to get a lot more leads.

(And those leads actually convert to pipeline and revenue, for any cynics.)

4. The open rate matters a lot.

On the most successful campaigns (ones with most leads/good cost), the open rate was often above 35%, even 40%+.

AB test your subject line. 

One thing that worked consistently was stating the incentive directly in the subject line.

I’ll bring out a more comprehensive, data-backed report on all of this, plus how to turn these insights into actionable steps.

Sign up to my newsletter to be the first to get it (link in comments)👇

I've had a lot of success with driving leads with gated assets. 

But most ppl say these leads are...
+ super low value
+ have no intent
+ and waste sales time. 

I think they are just looking at it wrong. 

Here is how i am running it and why it works for me...

1. The asset has to be genuinely valuable

Not a gated PDF pretending to be useful.

I am using an asset that is actually helpful, practical, and worth saving.

Because the asset is strong, the cost per lead stays low.

Pairing this with thought leader ads helps even more, as the social proof around the person delivering the message improves performance across the journey.

2. The landing page conversion rate matters a lot

It needs to be above 40%.

Thought leader ads help here because the likes and comments create credibility.

People see the content, recognise the person behind it, and then even an average landing page converts well because the social proof has already been built.

My cost per lead is currently under $20
...and these are senior marketers in B2B companies.

3. You need a proper outbound and marketing follow up

Most of these people are not asking for a demo. 

Out of one hundred leads, you might only find three or four who are genuinely in market. 
That is exactly what you are mining for.

Anyone downloading a LinkedIn Ads resource probably has LinkedIn Ads on their mind.

They are trying to figure something out. 
Some are ready now, some are not.

Once a lead comes in, I go outbound.

With the Instantly.ai and HeyReach.io integration, I can set up a connection request and, if they do not accept, they receive an email and an InMail.

This can be automated or handled manually, but either way you have to follow up.

My conversion rate from lead to booked call is roughly 3.8%.

 So around four calls for every one hundred leads, which puts the cost per booked call at around £300.

This month it will be lower, because I have made a few improvements that I will share soon (literally, like half).

These calls convert well because people have already consumed my videos and content.

Almost half of all sign-ups read every follow up email, so by the time they book a call they are warm and informed.

I am converting roughly 1/3 calls.

Even if you assume 1/4, the customer acquisition cost sits around a thousand bucks.

For me that is great, because the average lifetime value of a client is in the tens of thousands.

Even in a worst case scenario it sits around at around 6-8k.

Most people dismiss this system because they believe it means sales chasing low intent leads.

There is some truth in that, but the mindset needs adjusting.

You only need three or four in-market people out of one hundred for this to work.

It is about getting the economics right...
+ CPL low (for us under 20 bucks)
+ CVR Lead to demo high (for us 3.8%)
+Demo to revenue at a good rate (for us 1/3)

---
p.s. if you are running linkedin ads and want a free audit feel free to send me a dm :)

I run different Thought Leader Ads for different parts of my market. It just works better.

I’ve run more general ones too, and they work fine.

But if your audience is as broad as mine, I’d segment the audience slightly.

For example, we’ve had a lot of success with HR tech/SaaS.

So I’ve now pulled together a big(ish) list of HR tech companies and I’m designing a few Thought Leader posts specifically for that market.

Stuff like: “How this HR tech company reached X results with LinkedIn ads” type posts.

That builds the social proof, and the ads actually resonate with that audience.

It helps them believe it might work for them too, because they’re seeing a near-identical example of it already working.

What I’m doing for my clients, when possible, is getting super specific and strategic with the Thought Leader Ads we run.

The organic strategy is often totally different from the posts we should pick to push with ads.

And the advice of the nature of 'run the most engaging posts' is bullsh$t. Honestly it needs to be more strategic. 

The post of you and your cat might get 100 likes but i not sure if you should put money behind that. 

The TL ad ones need to be way more strategic.

Impactable - B2B LinkedIn Ads Agency

As the Head of Revenue Operations & Strategy at Impactable, I focus on driving overall revenue growth through a blend of sales leadership, strategic account management, and cross-functional alignment. My role bridges the gap between sales, client retention, and strategic upsells, with a focus on maximizing first-year revenue and ensuring long-term client success.
--

Key Responsibilities:

- Revenue Operations: I oversee the entire sales process, from inbound and outbound efforts to nurturing high-value leads and closing deals. My focus is on optimizing the sales pipeline and ensuring we deliver on first-year revenue goals.

- Sales Strategy: I work closely with the sales team to develop high-level strategies, ensuring that each sales rep is equipped with the tools, knowledge, and resources to succeed. From guiding discovery calls to refining our sales process, I ensure that we consistently drive quality revenue.

- Client Retention & Growth: Partnering with account managers, I help design and implement retention, upsell, and cross-sell strategies. By aligning services with client goals, I ensure we deliver measurable results while growing our share of wallet.

- Cross-Functional Leadership: I collaborate with team leads across departments to ensure seamless handoffs between sales and account management. Together, we focus on client success, minimize churn, and capitalize on growth opportunities.

- Data-Driven Decisions: Leveraging insights from performance data and account scoring, I help refine strategies that drive sustainable revenue growth. I also focus on continuous optimization, ensuring that our efforts align with both immediate and long-term objectives.
--

My mission is to create scalable strategies that drive new revenue and ensure clients continue to see value in our services. I’m passionate about refining the way we work, aligning the right strategies, and ultimately growing the business.

Head of Revenue Operations & Strategy

Linkedin Ads agency caters to small and mid-sized companies looking for high-quality lead generation at an affordable price. 

Impactable has earned the title of the #1 Ranked Linkedin marketing agency on the world's largest RFP site (Upwork). 

We are a scrappy startup acquired by a data company in 2021 with some fantastic abilities on the horizon!

Our client service is unparalleled, with clients having access to our team of experts through email, Live Chat, zoom calls, and more. 

Specialties/keywords/topics: Linkedin ads, Linkedin lead generation, Linkedin advertising, Linkedin marketing, Linkedin ads agency, Linkedin advertising agency

Head of Strategy

LinkedIn lead generation service that specializes in using a blended mixture of automation and human touch to start conversations, gain interest and book calls/drive sales at scale for an affordable price. 

We offer coaching, consulting, and training as well as completely done for you service where you are basically handed 30-60 warm leads a month with little to no involvement from you.

Head of Product Strategy

The Modern Moses

During the day, I'm the Head of Strategy for a recently acquired and highly successful LinkedIn marketing and lead generation agency. However, at night, I'm actually still the same person, but I also help small to mid-sized businesses streamline their marketing tools, processes, and automation.

If you're trying to figure out how to structure your tech stack, which SaaS tools connect best with which platforms, or what will help you scale without giving you grief along the way, then I'm your guy!

While I've broken many things in my career, I've learned how to make them better (most of the time) and have lots of experience stitching things together.

Here's a list of tools I have experience with using:

Trello
Pipedrive
Google Sheets/Docs/Forms
Typeform
Notion
Asana
Basecamp
Gmail
Apollo.io
Hunter.io
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Zapier
Slack
Calendly
ZOOM
PhantomBuster
Salesflow
Expandi
Skylead
Jared (formerly Jarvis)
Lynes
and many more!

You can find me on Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~0131cc2322c21b221e
Shoot me an email: jonathan@themodernmoses.co

Owner

Sprocketeer

We are Sprocketeers looking to level up our HubSpot + RevOps chops.
We fight obscurity with clarity & bleed orange Unicorn blood! 
For anybody that bleeds orange and starts dancing when the flywheel starts spinning.


#hubspot #hubspotSuperAdmin #superadmin #hubverse #sprocketeer #community #hubspotUser #hubspotPartner #growBetter #hubspotFlywheel #crm #marketing #technology #sales #service #operationsWe

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

Most advertisers are fumbling the ball when it comes to LinkedIn ads 🤦🏽‍♂️

I say this with confidence because I audit dozens of accounts monthly. Want to know the top 3 mistakes I see?

1. Technical setups: Matched Audiences, Conversions, Campaign Settings – all used incorrectly.
2. Creative selection: Ad formats, types, sequencing – total misuse.
3. Funnel structure: Campaign Objectives, funnel layers, and efficiency – chaos.

Just one of these being off and you're throwing money into a black hole.

If this hit a little too close to home, shoot me a message. I’m happy to help (no charge).

--

Now, a bit about me...

I’m JD (or Jonathan David if you’re feeling formal).

I didn’t start in marketing, but every job I’ve had taught me something about people.

And that’s why I thrive in the LinkedIn Ads space.

Knowing the platform is key, but understanding people is the real game-changer.

--

At Impactable, I run strategy. Here’s what that looks like:

1. Crafting pre-sales strategy for prospects
2. Training my team to be B2B marketing ninjas
3. Working with high-value accounts to make sure their LinkedIn efforts pay off

My goal is simple: Make sure we’re working with the right clients – the ones who can turn LinkedIn into a powerhouse channel.

--

Outside of work:

- I’m married to an amazing woman
- We have 6 kids and 2 fur babies
- I’m in the gym and sauna daily (because 6 kids…)
- Sour Patch watermelon and strawberry are my kryptonite 🤤

Want to chat LinkedIn ads, strategy, or just nerd out over marketing? 

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

JD Garcia

Many of the people you want to target will 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 log into LinkedIn.


Whenever I talk to someone who wants to run #linkedinads , I always start with the audience.

Nothing else matters until you can:

- define them
- identify them
- validate them (we'll cover this one today)

So I'm going to give you some practical tips you can use to figure out how many of them are reachable on the platform 💡

--

Tip 1 - Run Text Ad campaigns

Yes, they're desktop-only campaigns, but they're cheap.

Use Website Visit as the objective and bid low.

Running those for several weeks can give you a good idea for how many of them are on the platform.

--

Tip 2 - Check the Frequent Contributors attribute

Build your audience.

Go to Member Traits

Add the "Frequent Contributor" option.

If your audience size shrinks to 5-10%, then they're a decent-sized audience that you can reach on the platform.

--

Tip 3 - Check Sales Navigator first

I know LSN gets some shade, but it is a really good tool

You can do Boolean and Semantic type searches that let you get really granular.

Use that search to check out how large the audience you want to target is and then look at the profiles to get an idea for how active they are on here.

If you see lots of profile photos, premium badges, and experience, then there's a good chance your audience is active on the platform.

--

LinkedIn can be a bit of bubble.

You see all these people online and you get replies or engagement here and there and then think that the platform is infinitely scaleable. 

It's not.

I've seen companies throw tens of thousands at trying to convert an audience and walk away with nothing.

--

Is this true for you?

As with anything in marketing, the answer is always "it depends."

The tips I shared can help you answer some of those questions you might be asking yourself.

But if you have specific questions, drop them here or shoot me a DM.

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

Update on my little #linkedinads experiment targeting pipeline 🧠

Objective Data:

- Manual bidding didn't hurt reach (at all!)
- CPM dropped significantly
- Introducing TL image/text posts helped with Reach slightly
- It's been the best $255.37 I've spent

Anecdotal Data:

- A prospect close to closing said that his team has been seeing us all the time
- A prospect is struggling with this specific use case and needs nuanced support to help increase conversion between deal stages

--

Context:

We launched Deal Velocity campaigns to increase win-rates for pipeline.

In these campaigns, we use some of our best TL content to drive exposure, brand recognition, and show the range of capabilities.

--

We're using these impression and engagement signals to craft touches and our follow-ups.

And using Aircall + HubSpot as another way to connect and speak to our prospects.

--

I know this post is kinda all over the place, but I'm literally packing for a trip right now, so please forgive me 😅

But I personally haven't been the biggest advocate for using the phone -- mainly because I almost never answer mine (sorry, not sorry).

But I'm not everyone.

And some people actually prefer that - I spent an hour yesterday calling prospects and old closed lost deals, and after a few conversations, I realized that I've been sleeping on this for too long.

So if you see more posts about me on this topic, you'll know that it started here :)

By far the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

26.2 miles in the books 💪🏽

No alternative text description for this image

When I finally leave this world, I'm certain there will be a digital copy of me still giving #linkedinads advice 🤖

You're almost never going to get it right the first time.

I have to fight this myself and often.

On one hand: preparation is vital to avoid careless mistakes

But on the other hand, you just need to get sh*t done so you can learn.

And there's a weird middle ground where you can feel stuck.

That's where progress goes to die.

--

Instead of getting stuck on binary paths.

Focus on the one certainty: you are going to fail before you figure it out.

And that's okay.

Do something.
Start something.
Get moving and start learning.

Don't wait

Anyone else annoyed with this phrase and the hype around it?

"Zero-click marketing" isn't something new...

It's literally what you should have always been trying to do.

Getting the right people to consume your content.

That's it.

--

I've been asked about this enough times that I'm going to rant here.

What is this mysterious tactic called Zero-click marketing?

Well, it's defined as a strategy that provides value to a user directly on a platform, without requiring a click to a website.

You know, like posting and sharing unique POVs, articles, newsletters, etc.

Things that show people you know what's up.

My guess is that the rise of paid Thought Leadership content needed a trendy new phrase for people to really latch onto it.

Now, for you savvy marketers out there, I know that term has been around for a while. 

And that Google made it more popular when it introduced AI Overviews in May last year.

But I've started to see it pick up more interest in the paid social space.

--

Let's recap:

- you should always be optimizing for content consumption
- Thought Leadership ads are a distribution method, not a strategy
- no amount of budget of tactics will substitute quality insights

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

I've been using NotebookLM to aggregate sales call data and draw key insights like:

- Synthesizing discovery + proposal calls into objective insights
- Identifying what prospects actually want vs. what we think they want
- Surfacing the recurring friction points that stall deals or create hesitation
- Extracting buyer language around value, risk, expectations, and objections
- Mapping the different buyer journeys and buying conditions
- Pulling out the strategic patterns that win us deals
- Highlighting what prospects say about creative, attribution, sales alignment, and targeting gaps
- Validating which parts of our offer actually resonate

There are tools that do this now and n8n workflows that could probably do it better.

But for me, this has been an easy for me to get quick insights into objective data.

I take calls with my team, so I'm face-to-face with prospects everyday.

Even so, it's better when you have data to back things up.

--

Anyone else using NotebookLM or something similar?

What are you learning?

There isn’t one ‘right’ GTM motion.
Cold outbound works. Warm intros work. Conferences work.

But there’s also this other path...
(the one Marvin’s talking about)

...where showing your work publicly quietly does some of the heavy lifting for you. It’s not the only way, just a surprisingly effective one.

Building Effective Personal Brands for Founders & Executives with Purpose | B2B Content Engines & Founder-Led Marketing | Coffee Connoisseur & Founder at notus 💆🏽

We followed one another 3 years ago. We never DM’d. Suddenly, we’re partnering to revamp my agency’s entire LinkedIn Ad flow. This is why personal branding works:

A few weeks ago, I made a post looking for experts to help us level up our LinkedIn Ads game. 

I already had one person in mind, but it seemed like a long shot. We’d never worked together or even spoken.

His name was Justin Rowe.

Right after making the post, I sent him a cold DM asking if he was interested.

I knew from his LinkedIn content that he ran a LinkedIn ad agency. More importantly, he didn’t follow the classic lead gen → white paper → collect emails playbook. 

He talked about building a modern demand gen system around personal brands. Part of that was connecting organic content with Thought Leadership ads - exactly what we were working on.

I reached out. He responded. Said he’d followed me for a while and would love to do a call.

The call went great. I was impressed right away with how much him and JD Garcia from his team at Impactable prepped. They came in with extensive documentation on target audience, positioning, competitor analysis.

We realized we could go way beyond just hiring him and his team as consultants. 

Instead, we’re going to do public coaching calls: They consult us, we document the process, and we both turn it into content.

The point I really want to get across:

All this is happening because we kept seeing each other’s posts in our feeds.

That content built trust between us without a single conversation. No asks. Just sharing experiences.

Now we're building in public together.

More to come on that soon!

I'm convinced that no one can scale a true #linkedinads only agency.

It's an extinction strategy.

Here's how:

--

You're doing great - landing clients, optimizing funnels, generating pipeline.

And then, budgets get cut.

Which budgets?

Well, the ones that are harder to prove ROI.

Paid Search is going to get it's budget - always.

But other supporting channels - not so much.

For every single large client we work with, LinkedIn only represents between 20-50% of their paid media spend.

50% is generous - the average is closer to 30%

And no matter how good you get with attribution, you'll always run into issues.

- Leaders who don't like the term "influenced revenue"
- Sales teams who won't activate on warm signals
- Landing pages/websites that don't convert

If you only ever focus on this one channel,

you'll never have control over the things that help/hurt.

And that's where my belief comes from.

Sure, we started as a #linkedinads only shop.

But very quickly we learned that we had to control more.

- more of the budget (PPC)
- more of the funnel (landing pages)
- more of the audiences (data)
- more of the organic (thought leadership)

And so on...

I 100% believe you can stay a small LinkedIn shop.

But for those who want to grow and do bigger things,

there's no way around diversifying.

If you don't, you'll go extinct 🦖

taplio

The Battle

Philip Ilic

JD Garcia

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScorePhilip Ilic's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJD Garcia's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Philip Ilic

JD Garcia

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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

Performance ScoreJD Garcia's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScorePhilip Ilic's LinkedIn Performance