LinkedIn Ads: What It Is, How It Works, and How Much It Costs to Advertise

If you’re looking to strengthen your brand, boost B2B marketing, attract talent, or build partnerships, LinkedIn Ads is the ideal strategy for your business.

With over 850 million users in 200 countries, the platform is the perfect channel to reach your corporate audience in a targeted way, since LinkedIn provides segmentation based on data shared by each user.

So if you want to go beyond Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or TikTok Ads, let us introduce you to LinkedIn Ads.

Keep reading this article for more!

What Is LinkedIn Ads?

LinkedIn Ads is LinkedIn’s advertising platform that allows businesses to create and run ads on the world’s largest professional social network.

This media channel is focused on B2B marketing strategies, helping you reach qualified leads using demographic, job title, and industry data—ultimately increasing your chances of finding the ideal client and closing more deals.

What Are the Benefits of Using LinkedIn Ads?

Even though Google and Facebook Ads are more popular, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try LinkedIn Ads.

Here are three key advantages of using the platform:

A Broad, Influential, and Willing-to-Buy Audience

According to LinkedIn Audience 360, four out of five professionals on the platform are business decision-makers. That means your chances of acquiring leads and closing deals are high—especially considering LinkedIn’s massive user base.

LinkedIn users also have twice the buying power compared to the average internet user. That’s why investing in this platform can generate excellent results.

Also read: How to Identify and Approach Decision Makers in B2B Sales

Powerful Targeting to Reach Qualified Leads

As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn Ads lets you filter your target audience by professional, demographic, and social factors—offering highly precise lead segmentation.

A Platform Focused on Boosting B2B Businesses

LinkedIn accounts for 80% of all B2B leads generated via social media.

This means most B2B companies are already using LinkedIn to share content, form partnerships, and close high-value deals.

To illustrate, our visual designer and branding strategist, Thiago Silva, highlights the difference between LinkedIn Ads and Facebook Ads. While both are effective, the main distinction lies in the audience. Check it out!

LinkedIn Ads Formats

LinkedIn Ads offers four main types of ads. Let’s explore each one:

Text Ads

Text Ads appear in the right-hand column of the LinkedIn feed. They feature a small image, a headline, and a short description. Their primary goal is to drive traffic.

Dynamic Ads

Dynamic Ads are personalized campaigns shown to users at scale. Each ad is customized with the user’s profile image and information.

This format is ideal for increasing brand awareness, driving traffic, generating conversions, or promoting content.

How Much Does It Cost to Advertise on LinkedIn Ads?

You control your ad spend, as costs vary by bidding model: cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), or cost-per-view (CPV).

However, LinkedIn does have minimum investment requirements:

Minimum daily budget: R$20.00
Minimum bid per ad: R$4.00

How to Run LinkedIn Ads?

Now that you know the costs, ad formats, and advantages of LinkedIn Ads, here’s a step-by-step guide to get started:

Also read: Paid Media Plan 2022 – A Guide to Creating Online Ads

1. Access Campaign Manager

Create an account and log in to LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Here, you can name your campaign and manage ad groups.

2. Set Your Campaign Objective

Choose your campaign goal—LinkedIn provides several common objectives to guide your actions.

3. Choose Your Audience

Define who you want to target. Be sure to segment effectively using demographic and professional filters.

4. Choose the Ad Format

Decide on the ad type: Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, Text Ads, or Dynamic Ads.

5. Create Your Ad

Design your ad with images, text, or video. Don’t forget your call-to-actions (CTAs).

Note: Headlines are limited to 25 characters and body text to 75 characters.

6. Choose Your Payment Method

LinkedIn offers two payment options:

CPC (cost-per-click)
CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions)

7. Set Your Budget and Schedule

Before launching your campaign, define your budget and ad schedule. LinkedIn also provides tools to connect with users who interact with your ad (e.g., request quotes, ask questions, etc.).

8. Keep Monitoring

Once your ad is live, your work isn’t done.

Monitor your campaign to see what’s working and what needs improvement.

The best part? LinkedIn Ads provides performance tracking.

You can define which paid media metrics to monitor, such as average CPC, CPM, CTR, etc.

Top 5 Best Practices to Maximize LinkedIn Ads Results

Let’s wrap up this article with some key tips to boost your LinkedIn Ads performance:

1. Use Sponsored InMail to Learn About Your Audience

Sponsored InMail allows for private, personalized communication.

Use this format to gather feedback, answer questions, and better understand your audience’s pain points and buying stage.

2. Run A/B Tests to Gauge Product-Market Fit

Use A/B testing to determine if your product or service resonates with your intended audience. The results will help you prioritize strategies and refine your messaging.

3. Use Retargeting to Increase Conversions

As Philip Kotler says, “Retaining a customer costs 5 to 7 times less than acquiring a new one.”

Focus part of your budget on users who’ve already interacted with your content.

Retarget leads from newsletters, social media, ads, or previous website purchases.

4. Leverage Audience Expansion Features

LinkedIn Ads includes an audience expansion feature to help you reach users similar to your existing audience—perfect for scaling reach.

5. Follow Platform Guidelines

Even with the best strategies, your campaign can fail if you don’t follow LinkedIn Ads specs and rules.

Stay up to date with LinkedIn’s requirements to avoid mistakes or penalties.

So, are you ready to start advertising on LinkedIn Ads? Let us know in the comments!

Still unsure about ads? Check out Leadster’s Complete Guide to Paid Media to learn when to invest, the most common platforms, their benefits, trends, and much more! 💙