{"id":47019,"date":"2024-10-08T12:51:23","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T16:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/?p=47019"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:54:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T16:54:01","slug":"the-fallacy-of-linkedins-ad-targeting-and-what-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/blog\/the-fallacy-of-linkedins-ad-targeting-and-what-to-do-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fallacy of LinkedIn\u2019s Ad Targeting for B2B SaaS Brands and What to Do About It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike Instagram or TikTok, LinkedIn users aren\u2019t aimlessly scrolling with glazed eyes and cramped fingers. They\u2019re in the zone \u2013 making connections, finding new roles, sharing tips and trends, and discovering new vendors, partners, and solutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn leads as the most used social platform for B2B marketers with:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">80% say LinkedIn is their most used social platform<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">94% expect their use of LinkedIn to either stay the same (29%) or grow (65%) this year<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Running paid ads to this high-intent, career-minded audience is a no brainer, but with more\u00a0 than <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sci-tech-today.com\/stats\/linkedin-statistics\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">230 million LinkedIn users<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the U.S. alone, serving the right ad to the right person is challenging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/garrettmehrguth_you-cant-trust-linkedins-ad-targeting-activity-7226273490792841218-8BgF\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Garrett Mehrguth<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Directive&#8217;s CEO, is bullish on this point: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you can\u2019t trust LinkedIn\u2019s ad targeting,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> without manually verifying your account list to weed out outdated or incorrect user data.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s dig into native limitations of LinkedIn\u2019s ad targeting capabilities. Then, we share Directive\u2019s step-by-step process for optimizing ad targeting lists to get the most bang for every dollar spent on LinkedIn ads.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Backbone of LinkedIn Ad Targeting<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To get in front of decision-makers in your ideal customer profile (ICP), LinkedIn offers ad targeting based on detailed demographic, firmographic, and behavioral data.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn targeting options include:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Industry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 professionals experienced in your sector.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Job Title <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 specific roles and responsibilities within a company.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Company Size<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 organizations that match your desired scale (frequently used as a proxy to target a desired company revenue level).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Seniority<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 decision-makers or entry-level employees, depending on your needs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Skills and Interests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 target skill sets or relevant professional interests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Custom Audiences<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 upload an audience email list or use LinkedIn&#8217;s matched audiences to retarget users.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lookalike Audiences<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 reach users similar to your active audience, by matching similar traits or data points.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sounds great, right? Not so fast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While LinkedIn offers robust targeting options, much of its<\/span><b> data is user-generated and often outdated. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users self-select \u201cindustry\u201d when creating their profiles, write in job titles, or manually set up LinkedIn Business Pages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users are then on their merry way, rarely returning to update their profiles as career paths, interests, and skill sets change.\u00a0 Just think about how <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you use LinkedIn<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 keeping your profile up-to-date is just one more task on a never-ending task list.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Business pages get the same lack of love \u2013 an intern likely set that page up 15 years ago and it no longer reflects evolving service offerings, audiences, teams, and focus areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Needless to say, if you\u2019re using outdated and inaccurate user-generated data to define your LinkedIn ad targeting, you risk wasting money on uninterested, out-of-market people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inaccurate LinkedIn Ad Targeting Inflates CAC<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s look at one data point: Industry is a popular starting point for defining your ad target, particularly for B2B marketers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn offers over 149 industries to choose from, when setting up a Business Page. LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers even more industry selections for sales teams to prospect new customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These plentiful options sound like the holy grail for audience targeting, but again, they\u2019re user generated data points and frequently outdated or inaccurate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s look at the Industry category for three popular companies:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Account: New Relic<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn says: Software Development<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reality: Monitoring Software<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Account: SumoLogic<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn says: Software Development<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reality: Observability Software<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Account: Greenhouse<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn says: Software Development<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reality: ATS Software<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though each of these companies sells software, their solutions, capabilities, use cases, challenges, and ideal customer is drastically different.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When there are approximately <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/explodingtopics.com\/blog\/number-of-saas-companies\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30,000 SaaS companies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> worldwide, just think of how much ad spend is wasted by simply targeting \u201csoftware development companies.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When ads reach the wrong users, engagement drops and clicks fail to convert, diminishing campaign ROI.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Targeting irrelevant audiences increases customer acquisition costs (CAC) and distorts your ad performance data, making it harder to optimize future campaigns. This is a big problem \u2013 accurate performance data helps you identify the content, campaigns, and audiences that effectively convert customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With these insights, you can continuously improve your campaign strategy and allocate more budget to the most valuable, high-converting audiences and campaigns, reducing the cost per acquisition and boosting ROI.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Related reading<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/blog\/without-gift-cards-b2b-would-fail-a-worksheet\/\">Attracting Qualified Leads with Gift Cards &#8211; A Guide + Worksheet<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/blog\/the-dual-threat-to-b2b-saas-marketing-success-hypocrisy-and-fear\/\">The Dual Threat to B2B Marketing: Hypocrisy and Fear (Insights + Worksheet)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3 Steps to Verify LinkedIn Target Account Lists to Improve CAC<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Directive, we manually verify our account lists to make sure our ads get in front of the most relevant, high intent audiences to lower our CAC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019re in the business of delivering value \u2013 not keeping secrets \u2013 so we\u2019re spilling our three-step process for more accurate targeting and less wasted ad spend, below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 1 &#8211; Find Your Targets; Review Your Ideal Customers<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With paid advertising, broad and imprecise targeting means paying more for worst results. Instead, focus on a specific, narrow niche to improve your success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To find your niche, start with your existing customer base. Analyze their commonalities to define a clear ideal customer profile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start broader in the ideation phase and get increasingly more specific:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B2B or B2C?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Services or SaaS?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Job title?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Employee size?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend employee size over revenue, since most private companies don\u2019t disclose their annual revenue and data enrichment tools (like ZoomInfo and Apollo), use employee count as a proxy anyhow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you compare these details, you should have a clear picture of your ICP in your mind. For example:<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> CFOs at B2B enterprise manufacturing companies, needing better accounting software.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By using your existing customer base to map ICPs, you can build better ad targeting lists and create highly personalized campaigns that speak directly to customers\u2019 needs and challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mehrguth says it best, \u201cThe key to better ad targeting is to get specific, have some confidence, be bold, and be something for someone, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not everything for no one.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 2 &#8211;\u00a0 Enrich and Validate Your Account Data<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a clear ICP in-hand, build a list of target customers from your marketing database or prospecting tools, like ZoomInfo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Share your prospect list with a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) vendor to manually verify that each company is legitimate, active, and truly matching your ICP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our BPO vendor manually verifies that each company has:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An active website that does not redirect<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Employee count\u00a0 on LinkedIn matching the expected company size data (ballpark)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Service\/solution offering in your target vertical (accurate industry classification)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on this manual verification process, we catch and remove nearly 50% of accounts for not fitting our ICP \u2013 and that\u2019s okay! We\u2019re proactively reducing potential wasted spend by 50%, before running a single ad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you see similar waste levels, don\u2019t forget to get a credit from your data provider for those mismatched accounts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 3 &#8211;\u00a0 Upload Verified Data to Ad Platforms for Better Targeting\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you have a reliable, manually verified TAM, it\u2019s go time. Upload your verified lists to different ad platforms, like Meta and LinkedIn, for more precise targeting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just think: using your verified list and LinkedIn\u2019s CTV product, you can now confidently run TV ads, conversation ads, and sponsored content, all using that same audience list.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only will you reach the exact accounts where you\u2019re trying to get a foot in the door, but you can test different ad strategies and optimize campaigns for continuous improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key Benefits of Manual Verification\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manually verify your TAM to reach key accounts and maximize your ad spend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using manual verification, marketers:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoid outdated targeting data, like industry classifications.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improve ad relevance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduce wasted impressions and clicks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improve lead quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lower overall customer acquisition cost.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increase ROI.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus, by taking the time to manually verify your TAM and test different ad strategies and platforms, you\u2019ll learn how to optimize your go-to-market strategy. You\u2019ll have the data and confidence to get more aggressive and creative in campaign strategies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can experiment with different content, incentives, budgets, creative, landing pages, and messaging to better understand and motivate your audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By cleaning out your targeting lists, you\u2019ll run more efficient and cost-effective ad campaigns, while constantly getting data to improve future ad performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Takeaway\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Serving ads to the wrong buyers wastes time and budget; increasing your CAC and muddying performance data. Of course, with LinkedIn\u2019s user-generated data, it\u2019s easy to make this mistake and reach the wrong industries and individuals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, follow our lead at Directive and take the time to manually verify your LinkedIn account list to remove outdated data. Manual verification helps you focus on your ICP, optimize campaign performance over time, experiment with different ad strategies, and save your budget.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Accurate targeting ensures every dollar works harder to attract the right customers \u2013 high-intent and relevant audiences, who are more likely to engage and convert.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help you get started, download our Manual Verification template or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/book-intro-call\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact us<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to talk to a paid media expert about improving your campaigns once and for all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlike Instagram or TikTok, LinkedIn users aren\u2019t aimlessly scrolling with glazed eyes and cramped fingers. They\u2019re in the zone \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":47038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,32,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b2b","category-demand-generation","category-inbound-marketing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Fallacy of LinkedIn\u2019s Ad Targeting for B2B SaaS Brands and What to Do About It - Directive CA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/blog\/the-fallacy-of-linkedins-ad-targeting-and-what-to-do-about-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fallacy of LinkedIn\u2019s Ad Targeting for B2B SaaS Brands and What to Do About It - Directive CA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unlike Instagram or TikTok, LinkedIn users aren\u2019t aimlessly scrolling with glazed eyes and cramped fingers. 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