Social media algorithms have made it more difficult to lean on organic means alone. While organic messaging is still effective, in order to drill down to your target audience, your strategy should be supplemented with paid ads. There are several different types of LinkedIn ads. From sponsored content to sponsored InMail, there are a myriad of choices to reach your target audience. Regardless of which path, or paths, you choose, there are some key ingredients to every successful LinkedIn ad.

Attention Grabbing Headline

As with any other type of content, the headline of your ad should be attention grabbing and communicate value. You want to be clear about what you’re offering, but create enough intrigue for your audience to stop and read the ad. Utilizing humor and incorporating relatable events into your headline will make your ad more eye-catching. Your headlines should be a collaborative effort and well thought out. Seek input from those within your organization that has close contact with your customer base to gather intelligence. A/B testing will help identify what resonates best with your audience.

High Quality Original Images

If you are going to invest the money into paid social advertising, it is a good idea to also invest in high quality images to compliment your ad copy. Whether you purchase them or create your own, images play a key part in the attractiveness of your ad. Purchasing a camera and editing software to create you own images can give your ads an extra touch of originality which can make your company stand out. This can also be an effective cost cutting strategy as online stock images can be quite pricey.

Compelling Ad Copy

You ad copy should be action oriented and contain 150 or fewer characters. Create excitement about your offer and clearly communicate its value. Your target should understand exactly how they stand to benefit from your solution based on your ad copy alone. Keep your copy fresh and take advantage of trending topics. Commentary on current events, holidays and the latest trends will make your ad copy more relatable.

Clear Call To Action

The point of advertising to a target audience is to generate highly qualified leads. In order to do so, your ad needs some kind of call to action. Whether it is a content offer, product demo or free service, you need a call to action that allows you to capture your readers contact information and other valuable insights. Your call to action should stand out and provide clear direction for next steps. Be sure your CTA links to an optimized landing page that includes a form that requires a reasonable amount of information to obtain your offer.

Proper Targeting

Utilizing an account based marketing approach and targeting specific verticals, companies and job roles will help you get the most return from your paid advertising dollars. Create detailed buyer personas prior to creating your campaign to ensure you are targeting the people mostly likely to benefit from and engage with your content. This will help you narrow your audience to those that are truly a good fit for your solution, which saves time and resources for your sales team.

Sufficient Budget

LinkedIn recommends spending between 2 and 3 thousand dollars a month to run sponsored ad campaigns. However, it is very possible to run successful campaigns for $1,000 or less depending on your goals and expectations. For instance, if you have a long buying cycle, an industry specific solution or extremely high-ticket items, there may not be a need to target a wide audience.

Valuable Offer

An advertisement will only be effective if you have a valuable offer to back it up. Simply putting your experience and expertise on display is not enough in today’s crowded marketplace. Providing a valuable piece of content or free service will persuade your audience to take action. Be sure the information they are providing aligns with the value of your offer.

Founded in 1990, Winn Technology Group is a leading provider of global, multi-channel marketing solutions for the technology industry.   For both direct and channel sales, Winn supports demand creation, account-based marketing, channel management, digital marketing, social media, teleprospecting, lead nurturing, event marketing, database services, and inbound response management.