LinkedIn Ads for B2B: how to get quality leads

LinkedIn is the channel where you can speak directly to decision-makers: you target by job title, company, industry and company size. That makes it ideal for professional services, consultancies, software, industry and any business that sells to other companies, where every client is worth a lot.

Cost per lead does not tell the whole story

On LinkedIn clicks usually cost more than on other platforms, which pushes many advertisers to chase the lowest possible cost per lead. The problem is that a lead who never replies is of no use to your sales team. The metric that matters is how many of those contacts turn into real conversations and, later, into sales.

Native forms or your own landing page

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms are pre-filled with the member’s profile data, so sending an enquiry takes a couple of clicks. They can be attached to single image, carousel, video, document, message or conversation ads, and they carry no cost beyond the campaign itself.

LinkedIn recommends using three to four fields: the less you ask, the more forms you receive. The flip side is that a very short form can bring less qualified enquiries, so it is worth balancing volume and quality according to your sales process. A landing page of your own filters better but usually converts less: ideally, test both and decide with data.

Feed leads into your CRM

A lead that has to be downloaded by hand loses time, and in B2B sales speed of response matters. LinkedIn lets you download leads or connect them to your marketing tool or CRM, and with automation platforms such as Zapier or Make.com each contact can land in your CRM the moment it comes in.

What to look at to know whether it works

• Clicks, CTR and messages, to see whether the ad speaks to the right audience.
• Leads and cost per lead, as a first read on efficiency.
• Quality: how many leads your sales team gets a reply from and how many move on to a proposal.

In B2B, one lead that becomes a client is worth more than ten cheap leads that never reply.

How we handle it at Semcial

We audit the account, build the campaign structure around job title, industry and company size, create the ads, connect leads to your CRM through automation platforms and report results every month, along with the quality of what reaches your sales team.