LinkedIn audience deep dive produces 26% pipeline growth

Cognism Changed their LinkedIn Ad Targeting and Drove 26% Pipeline Growth

The author: Liam Bartholomew, VP Marketing at Cognism.
The goal: Expand their reach and engagement with LinkedIn Ads.
The tactic: Adjusting LinkedIn Ads to target job function versus job title.
The result: LinkedIn Ads reach increased by 2x, engagement increased by 3x, their CPR remained flat, and their pipeline increased 26%.

What's the fast marketing tactic?

Liam Bartholomew, VP of Marketing at Cognism, had a hunch about their LinkedIn Ads.

At the time, they used specific job titles as their target. However, Liam suspected this target reduced their reach because it would miss other relevant titles on LinkedIn.

So, they experimented with switching their LinkedIn Ads to target job functions instead.

Here's what they did:

Started with refining their ICP
Created a process to identify exclusions based on industry, job title, etc
Monitored their demographic reports for irrelevant job titles
Adjusted their internal definition of enterprise to target more relevant companies
Added exclusions to their ads, much like negative keywords in Google Ads

Here’s a look at some of their ads:

What was the result?

Their LinkedIn Ads did hit irrelevant job titles at first. But with continual optimizations, here's what happened:

Reach increased 2x.
Engagement increased by 3x.
Growth and pipeline increased by 26%.

Why does it work?

Here are several notable reasons why this works:

Getting real clear with their ICP and target accounts.
Created specific segments from their ICP to pursue .
Increased their impression share among their targeted accounts.
Added exclusions to laser-focus their LinkedIn Ads.

This tactic begins and ends with knowing your ideal customer. Who they are. Their characteristics. And how you can best serve them.

From this foundation, you can experiment with different targeting methods and continually optimize your LinkedIn Ads for maximum reach, engagement, and pipeline growth.

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