Common LinkedIn Ads Audit Mistakes to Avoid

SaaS company spending $30,000+ on LInkedIn Ads getting $400+ per lead This was 3-4x higher than before. They could not understand why spending more money brought worse results. I looked into their ad account and found three clear problems. 1. Very small target group, very high repetition (frequency) They aimed their “cold” ads at a tiny list of companies. Because the budget was large, the same people saw the same ads over and over...and over...and over.. After a while, those people stopped noticing the ads, so results dropped off a cliff after seeing initial pop of results that gave everyone hope. What we changed: Added nearby groups of similar companies and looked for ways to meaningfully increase audience size without compromising quality. Created new ad versions so viewers did not see the identical message every time. 2. Retargeting settings mixed good and bad visitors Retargeting is meant to show ads only to people who have already visited your site and match your ideal customer. An “AND vs. OR” filter error let thousands of unrelated visitors into the retargeting group, wasting 80 percent of that budget and essentially turning this into a cold campaign will little chance or ROI. What we changed: Fixed the filters so only the right visitors stayed. After the fix, the same budget brought three to 3x more sign-ups. 3. One-track messaging All ads asked for a sale immediately, whether someone was new to the brand or had visited many times. People who did not yet trust the company were not ready to book a call. What we changed: Added trust-building ads: news mentions, customer stories, short interviews with the founder. As trust grew, more visitors moved to the “ready to talk” group, and cost per sign-up fell. 👇 Advice summary a 5th grader could understand. 👇 1. If your group is tiny, big budgets just annoy people. 2. Retargeting needs clean filters. One wrong setting can drain most of the money. 3. Give people information in steps. First, introduce yourself; then build trust; then ask for a meeting. Managing LinkedIn ads is a special skill. A general-purpose ad agency may miss these details. If you already run LinkedIn ads and want a free check-up, reply “Audit” or send me a note. My team will look at your account and point out quick fixes—no pressure, just clear advice. #linkedinAds

Marketers treat LinkedIn Ads like Tinder but forget the first rule of dating: Maybe say hi before asking for commitment? They’re skipping the intro. Going straight for the conversion. Then wonder why they get ghosted 😅 Here's what I've learned after managing 1000+ campaigns: LinkedIn isn't Google Ads. You can't just slap someone with a "Book a Call" CTA and expect them to bite. But that's exactly what I see in 90% of the accounts I audit. 👉 Lead gen forms hitting completely cold audiences 👉 "Start Your Free Trial" ads to people who've never heard of you 👉 Sales pitches before you've even introduced yourself It's like walking up to a stranger at a networking event and immediately asking them to buy something. You're gonna get some weird looks. If you actually want results from LinkedIn Ads? You've gotta flip your approach completely. STAY IN FRONT OF YOUR INTERESTED PROSPECTS. 1️⃣ Start with content that earns attention, not demands it 2️⃣ Use that content to introduce yourself, not sell 3️⃣ Build a middle stage that nurtures and educates (this is where most people fail) 4️⃣ Retarget the people who actually engaged with something valuable 5️⃣ THEN - and only then - hit them with your CTA This is especially huge for long sales cycles like MSPs or SaaS. Where you're dealing with buying committees and decisions that take months. You don't need more leads. You need better sequencing. Let everyone else burn through their budgets chasing shortcuts and wondering why their CPL keeps climbing. Create a process that aligns with how people actually make decisions, and the results will follow. That's how you win on LinkedIn. #linkedinads #b2bmarketing #linkedincowboy #digitalmarketing 

I've audited 100's of LinkedIn Ad accounts. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 7 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝘅 💥 Many of these are either on by default, or seem like a good option to use when first launching your ads. But if you're not in LinkedIn Campaign Manager regularly and have seen what works and doesn't work, I wouldn't expect the average user to know. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁: 1. Turn off Audience Expansion 2. Turn off Audience Network 3. Change Location to Permanent Only 4. Use Manual Bidding 5. Change Conversions to Last campaign 6. Use square creative; not horizontal 7. Add the Insight Tag; Create RT audiences Some of these are better to revisit after you have your core campaigns & ads really honed in. But to start, you're better off making these adjustments -- these will get your campaigns started on the right foot.