LinkedIn Ads help you reach people who make decisions at work. In this guide, you will learn when to use them, how to set up your account, and how to build a campaign that fits your goals. We will cover ad types, targeting, budgets, creative elements, and measurement in clear, step-by-step instructions.
By the end, you can launch with confidence and turn LinkedIn into a steady source of leads.
When Should You Use LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn Ads are your best choice when you need to reach a professional audience that makes decisions and holds budgets. If you sell B2B software, consultancy services, or run recruitment drives, LinkedIn’s targeting by job title, industry, seniority, and company size puts your message directly in front of the people who matter.
They also excel at lead generation. Whether you’re promoting a webinar, driving eBook downloads, or building your newsletter list, LinkedIn’s native Lead Gen Forms let prospects share their details without ever leaving the platform. For account-based marketing, simply upload your list of target companies and serve each account with tailored ads to engage your highest-value prospects.
Beyond direct response, LinkedIn is ideal for thought leadership. Sponsored Content and Video Ads help you showcase articles, case studies, or presentations that position your brand as an expert in its field. Additionally, with Sponsored InMail, you can send personalized invites or offers straight to inboxes, which ensures your message isn’t lost in a crowded feed.
Key Benefits
- Precision Targeting: Reach people by role, function, seniority, company, and more.
- High-Quality Leads: Professionals on LinkedIn come to learn and network, so engagement is more meaningful.
- Seamless Data Capture: Lead Gen Forms speed up form fills and improve completion rates.
- Account-Based Marketing: Upload custom company lists to serve hyper-relevant ads.
- Thought Leadership: Amplify long-form content and videos to build credibility.
- Message Ads: Deliver direct, personalized outreach via LinkedIn Messaging.
Types of LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn offers a range of ad formats, enabling you to select the most suitable tool for your specific goal. Here’s a breakdown of each type and when to use them.
1. Sponsored Content
These ads live right in your audience’s feed alongside organic posts and come in several flavours:
- Single Image Ads: A clean, straightforward format with one striking image, a headline, and a link. Great for simple promotions or announcements.
- Video Ads: Auto-play clips that pause the scroll. Use them for quick product demos, customer stories, or thought-leadership pieces.
- Carousel Ads: Swipeable cards that let you showcase multiple products, tips, or offers in one spot. Perfect for telling a step-by-step story or highlighting several features.
- Document Ads: Upload PDFs, slide decks, or whitepapers. Viewers can flip through your materials directly in LinkedIn, which is ideal for in-depth guides or case studies.
2. Message Ads
If you want to reach people more personally, Message Ads deliver directly into LinkedIn inboxes:
- Sponsored InMail: Send a one-to-one message to members when they’re active on LinkedIn. Use it for event invitations, demo requests, or special offers.
- Conversation Ads: Build on InMail by adding clickable buttons and branching paths. You can guide recipients through multiple options, such as visiting your site, signing up for a webinar, or watching a video.
3. Dynamic Ads
Dynamic Ads automatically personalise creative using each viewer’s profile data, making your ad feel tailor-made:
- Follower Ads: Invite people to follow your Page by swapping in their own profile picture and name.
- Spotlight Ads: Showcase a product or service and dynamically insert the user’s image to capture their attention.
- Job Ads: Promote open roles with the candidate’s profile image next to your job title and company logo – perfect for recruitment drives.
4. Text Ads
A budget-friendly way to test LinkedIn advertising, Text Ads appear at the top or right column of the desktop experience. You write a short headline and description, add a small image or logo, and pay per click or impression. They’re quick to set up, making them handy for A/B testing small offers or promotions.
5. Sponsored Display Ads
These ads retarget users on both LinkedIn and partner websites. If someone visits your site or engages with your content, you can follow them around the web with display banners, keeping your brand front and centre as they browse elsewhere.
How to Set Up a LinkedIn Ad Campaign
Step 1: Create Campaign
To set up your first LinkedIn ad account, click Advertise in the top-right corner to open Campaign Manager. Then hit the blue “Create” button. You’ll be asked to name your account, choose your billing currency, and select a time zone.
Finally, connect your LinkedIn Company Page (you need to be a Page Admin for this step) to unlock all ad formats. Once that’s done, your account is ready, and you can dive into creating campaigns.
Step 2: Choose Objective
After you’ve set up your ad account, click Create campaign to open the objective picker. LinkedIn groups goals into three buckets:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Conversions
You can match your campaign to your business needs.
- Awareness: Choose Brand Awareness to get your name in front of as many relevant professionals as possible.
- Consideration: Pick from Website Visits (drive traffic), Engagement (boost reactions and shares), Video Views, or Messaging (start conversations in LinkedIn Messenger).
Conversions: Go for Lead Generation (capture leads with native forms), Website Conversions (track actions on your site), or Job Applicants (promote open roles).
Step 3: General Setup
After picking your objective, you’ll land on the Campaign Group screen. Give this group a clear name so you can easily track multiple campaigns later. Here, you also set the start and end dates for your campaigns, and you can enter a total group budget.
If you’d like LinkedIn to handle budget distribution for you, toggle on Budget Optimization; LinkedIn will then automatically allocate funds to the best-performing campaigns. When you’re satisfied with these settings, click Next to proceed.
Step 4: Set Up Your Audience
In the Audience section, refine who sees your ads by adding criteria such as location, profile language, job title, company size, industry, or specific skills. You can combine multiple attributes to focus on your ideal prospects and exclude groups you do not want to target, such as current customers or competitors. If you are unsure where to start, choose one of LinkedIn’s preset audiences from the dropdown menu.
LinkedIn will then display estimated reach and performance forecasts in the sidebar. When you are happy with your selections, click Save to use this audience again in future campaigns or click Reset to clear your settings and begin again.
Step 5: Choose Ad Format
When you reach the Ad Format step, LinkedIn will display the formats that best match your campaign objective. For a brand awareness campaign, you may see options such as single image, carousel, video, text ad, spotlight ad, follower ad, document ad, conversation ad, or event ad.
If you choose a lead generation objective instead, the menu will focus on formats that include native Lead Gen Forms. This tailored list makes it easy to pick the right creative style for your goal.
Step 6: Set Budget and Schedule
In the Budget and Schedule section, you decide how much you want to spend and when your ads should run. Enter a daily budget to control your maximum spend each day or set a lifetime budget for the entire campaign period. Then pick whether your ads run continuously or specify start and end dates to match your promotions or events.
Finally, adjust your optimization goal, such as clicks or conversions, and choose a bidding strategy that aligns with your objectives and budget.
Step 7: Create Ad
In the Create Ads section, you will build the content your audience sees. Click Create new ad to begin. First, give your ad a clear name that helps you identify it later. Next, enter the main text that introduces your offer or message. Add the destination URL where you want clicks to go, upload your image or video, and ensure it matches LinkedIn’s size requirements. Then, write a concise headline, choose a relevant call-to-action button, such as “Learn More” or “Sign Up,” and select the logo or profile image that represents your brand.
Once you are satisfied with how everything looks in the preview, click Save ad at the bottom right. Your ad will now be ready to launch as part of the campaign you just set up.
Step 8: Launch Campaign
In the Review step, you get one final chance to check every detail—from audience and budget to creative and links- before your ads go live. You will also enter your billing information, including your business address and payment method. Once you have confirmed that everything looks correct and your billing details are in place, click ‘Agree & launch campaign’ in the bottom right corner. Your campaign will then undergo LinkedIn’s approval process and begin running as soon as it is approved.
LinkedIn Sequence Campaign Best Practices
A LinkedIn sequence campaign is a series of automated touchpoints ( connection requests, InMails, and follow-up messages) sent to prospects in a set order over time. You use it to build rapport and guide leads through your sales funnel without manual outreach, boosting reply rates and keeping your brand top of mind.
Here are some best practices for LinkedIn sequence campaigns:
- Define a clear goal
Know whether you are aiming for a meeting, a demo sign-up, or another action. Every message should lead prospects toward that goal. - Segment your audience
Group contacts by role, industry, or past engagement. Tailoring your sequence to each segment boosts relevance and response rates. - Personalize each touchpoint
Reference the recipient’s name, company, or recent activity. Custom details show you have done your homework and help your messages stand out. - Space out your messages
Allow enough time between touchpoints—typically three to seven days. This keeps you on their radar without coming across as pushy. - Vary your content and format
Mix connection requests, InMails, and short follow-up notes. Use text, links to resources, or short videos to keep prospects engaged. - Include a clear call to action
Each message should end with a simple next step, such as “Can we schedule a quick call?” or “Here is a link to book time on my calendar.” - Monitor and optimize
Track open, reply, and conversion rates. Pause underperforming steps, tweak copy or adjust timing based on what works best. - Respect unsubscribe signals
If someone asks not to be contacted, remove them from your sequence immediately to maintain a positive brand image.
The Bottom Line
LinkedIn Ads can put your message in front of the exact people who can buy, influence, or hire. Set a clear objective, choose the right format, define a focused audience, and back it with a budget and schedule you can sustain. Use Lead Gen Forms for smooth signups, Video or Document ads to educate, and account lists for ABM when you need precision. Keep your creative simple, your offer specific, and your call to action obvious. Launch, monitor the data, and continually refine your audience, bids, and creative each week. If outbound is part of your plan, layer in a light sequence to warm key prospects and move them to a call.
With steady testing and clean reporting, LinkedIn can become a reliable engine for high-quality leads and brand authority.
FAQs on LinkedIn Ads Tutorial
It varies a lot by audience, format, country, and competition. As a guide, Sponsored Content CPMs often sit around $30–$100+, with many benchmarks citing an average near $33.80. Video can be lower in some cases, while niche executive audiences can push higher.
LinkedIn’s official minimums are $10 per day for any format and $100 lifetime for new or inactive campaigns. After launch, the lifetime minimum adjusts to $10 × number of scheduled days.
You run ads through Campaign Manager and typically need a LinkedIn Page. You cannot run standard ads purely from a personal profile. That said, Thought Leader Ads let a company promote a member’s post with the member’s permission, but these still run via a company Page in Campaign Manager.
LinkedIn aims to review ads within 24 hours, though it can take longer during busy periods. You can check status in Campaign Manager under the ad’s Status column.
