LinkedIn Advertising is a great channel for B2B SaaS businesses to drive results. It is one of the few social networks where B2B companies can grow their brand and drive high-quality leads. Luckily for you, the LinkedIn Ads platform is simple and easy to use. The biggest challenge will be testing different ads, offers, audiences, and landing pages.
LinkedIn Ads Best Practices for B2B SaaS Companies
In this blog article, I will cover some of the best practices you should follow to drive more conversions for your business. Ultimately, we all want to find new businesses and clients to work with so we can grow our revenue. That’s where LinkedIn Advertising can be very effective for B2B SaaS companies.
- Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page and Be Consistent
The first step in a successful LinkedIn advertising campaign is laying a solid foundation for your company on the platform. Establishing a free LinkedIn company page for your B2B SaaS business not only solidifies your brand presence on LinkedIn but is also mandatory for certain ad formats. It is the first step you should take. If your business page can provide useful content and resources, you can encourage brands to work with you.
For example, American Express Business has over 90,000 LinkedIn followers. They share helpful content and promote their products and services.
- Create a LinkedIn Campaign Manager Account to Run Ads
In addition to creating and updating your company page, you also need to create a LinkedIn Campaign Manager account. This account is vital so you can use the ads platform to create campaigns. You can set up ad accounts, execute campaigns, and control your budget with a simple sign-in.
- Target the Right Audience on LinkedIn
LinkedIn advertising provides plenty of targeting options based on professional criteria and interests. Each of these targeting options below can also be combined. That can be useful to create a highly specific audience for your LinkedIn Advertising campaigns. The more precise your audience, the more relevant your ads will be, potentially leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. Here are some of the primary targeting options you can leverage for your LinkedIn Advertising campaigns:
Job Title
This option allows you to reach professionals based on their job titles. This can be particularly useful for targeting decision-makers in specific roles.
Job Function
This option enables you to target individuals based on the department they work in, such as IT, marketing, or finance.
Job Seniority
You can target professionals based on their rank within their organization, from entry-level employees all the way to C-suite executives.
Company Name
You can target employees from specific companies, which can be useful for account-based marketing strategies.
Company Size
This option allows you to target companies based on the number of employees, allowing you to distinguish between small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations.
Company Industry
You can target professionals within certain industries, like technology, healthcare, finance, or manufacturing.
Skills
This option lets you target users based on the skills they’ve listed on their LinkedIn profile, such as digital marketing, project management, or software development.
Degrees
You can reach individuals based on their level of education or specific degrees they have earned.
Years of Experience
This option allows you to target professionals based on the number of years they’ve been in the workforce.
Interests
You can target LinkedIn members based on the topics and content they are interested in.
Groups
You can target members of LinkedIn Groups that are relevant to your business.
Geography
You can target professionals based on their location, down to the city level.
- Use The Right Location Targeting
There are plenty of options when it comes to targeting people, but you need to make sure your location is correct. For a software company, you can probably target much larger areas and even multiple countries. However, if you focus on specific locations with your business, you want to make sure you are reaching people in the right area.
- Test LinkedIn Advertising Ad Formats & Ad Types For Your B2B Company
Before creating a campaign, you should know all the ad formats you can run.
Single Image Ads
Single Image Ads are a form of Sponsored Content where you can promote a single image along with your message in the LinkedIn feed. For B2B SaaS companies, these ads can be used effectively to showcase your product, its features, or share insights from your latest report.
Carousel Image Ads
Carousel Image Ads allow you to display multiple images within a single ad unit, each with its own caption and destination URL. This format is ideal for B2B SaaS companies wanting to highlight different features of their software or to tell a story. You can tell stories that unfolds across multiple panels, providing a richer, more engaging experience for potential clients.
Video Ads
Video Ads appear in the LinkedIn feed as standalone posts and allow you to share more dynamic and engaging content. For B2B SaaS companies, this can be an excellent way to showcase product demos, customer testimonials, or explain complex features quickly.
Text Ads
Text Ads appear at the top of the LinkedIn homepage and consist of a headline, description, and a small image. These ads are great for B2B SaaS companies aiming to drive traffic to their website or landing page, with a clear call-to-action encouraging users to learn more about their software solution.
Dynamic Ads
Dynamic Ads are personalized based on the LinkedIn profile data of each user, making the ad content more relevant to them. For B2B SaaS companies, this can boost engagement as the personalized nature of these ads can highlight how your software solution meets the specific needs or interests of potential clients.
Message Ads
Formerly known as Sponsored InMail, Message Ads allow you to send personalized messages directly to the LinkedIn inboxes of your target audience. This format can be highly effective for B2B SaaS companies for direct outreach, sending personalized invitations to webinars or product demos, or delivering tailored content directly to decision-makers.
Conversation Ads
Conversation Ads are a form of Message Ad that incorporate multiple, customizable call-to-action buttons, allowing the user to choose their own journey. For B2B SaaS companies, this ad type is useful for guiding potential clients through various stages of the sales funnel, from discovery to consideration, and finally, decision making.
Document Ads
Document Ads allow you to share PDFs, PowerPoints, or Word documents directly in the LinkedIn feed. For B2B SaaS companies, this can be a powerful way to share in-depth information such as whitepapers, detailed product specifications, or case studies, providing potential clients with valuable insights into your software solutions.
- Focus on Quality, Useful, and Helpful Content
B2B SaaS companies often have unique insights into their industry. Use this knowledge to create ads that provide real value to your target audience. For example, if you offer project management software, you could advertise a free eBook titled “10 Strategies for Streamlining Project Workflow”. Not only will this provide useful content to your audience, but it also positions your brand as a thought leader in your field.
For example, Amazon Web Services is offering a helpful eBook download related to improving customer experience.
- Use a Consistent and Clear Call-To-Action (CTA)
Your CTA should guide your audience to the next step you want them to take. If you are promoting a demo of your software, your CTA might be “Sign Up for a Free Demo Today”. Be sure to maintain consistency in your messaging between your ad and the page it leads to, ensuring the CTA on the landing page matches that of your ad.
The other positive thing about the Amazon Web Services ad above is that the call-to-action is very clear. You know immediately that they are providing a free eBook for you to download.
And then you need to give them your information and you can download their free eBook.
- Optimize and Test Your Landing Pages
The user experience on your landing page can significantly impact your conversion rates. For instance, if you provide a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution, your landing page should clearly communicate the benefits of your software, feature testimonials from happy customers, and have a simple form that visitors can fill out to start their free trial.
- Use Lead Gen Forms
Lead Gen Forms can streamline the process of collecting leads on LinkedIn. For example, if you’re advertising a white paper on “Data Security Best Practices for SaaS”, using a Lead Gen Form can make it much easier for interested LinkedIn members to provide their contact information, as it pre-fills their LinkedIn profile data.
- Monitor and Optimize Your LinkedIn Advertising Campaigns
Regularly review your campaign performance to identify what’s working and what’s not. For instance, if you notice that your video ad showcasing your software’s features is outperforming your single image ad, you might choose to allocate more of your budget to video ads. Similarly, if you find that your ads are performing better among IT managers than C-suite executives, you may want to refine your targeting to focus more on this high-performing audience.
You will want to frequently check how your ads are performing and test new advertisements. For example, Penske Logistics should test different images and ad copy to see if they can improve performance for their campaign.
- Set a Competitive LinkedIn Ads Bid Strategy
The competitiveness of your bid can directly impact how often your ads are shown. For example, if your SaaS solution is in a highly competitive space like email marketing, you’ll likely need to set a higher bid to ensure your ads are seen by your target audience. Keep an eye on LinkedIn’s suggested bid range for guidance on setting your bids.
Conclusion
By following these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to making the most of LinkedIn advertising for your B2B SaaS business. Remember, it’s all about setting the right foundation, creating compelling content, targeting the right audience, testing your ads, setting competitive bids, and analyzing your campaign performance for continual improvement.
