Targeting by job title and companyB2B LinkedIn Ads agency
More than one billion professionals, 63 million of them decision-makers. You can target them by job title, seniority and company size, and I write the ads in French or English from the start, not as translations.
Why LinkedIn for B2B?
63M
decision-makers you can reach, out of 180M senior-level influencers and 10M C-level executives (LinkedIn ad targeting data)
430M+
members across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (LinkedIn newsroom)
Profile data
targeting runs on the job details members keep up to date for their own careers, rather than on interests inferred from their behavior
Which LinkedIn Ads numbers matter for B2B?
Lead Gen Form conversion
13%
LinkedIn’s own global average (LinkedIn blog, August 2025), relayed by Ritchie Pettauer’s 2026 benchmark; your market and your offer will move it
Thought Leader Ads CTR
2.68%
median, against 0.42% for Single Image Ads, in ZenABM’s 2026 dataset; counted on LinkedIn, and far fewer of those clicks reach your site (0.29% landing-page CTR)
Gated Document Ads
Up to 4×
more leads when a Lead Gen Form gates the document, according to LinkedIn’s Document Ads guide
Brand + acquisition
6×
more likely to convert when buyers see both brand and acquisition ads on LinkedIn, according to LinkedIn (2021, no method published)
Which LinkedIn ad formats work for B2B?
Thought Leader Ads
Sponsor posts from your CEO’s or an expert’s own profile. The ad then reads as a person talking, not as a company.
2.68% median CTR against 0.42% for Single Image Ads (ZenABM 2026)
Lead Gen Forms
The form fills itself from the member’s LinkedIn profile, so the prospect never leaves LinkedIn and has almost nothing to type.
13% average conversion according to LinkedIn; check it against your own market (LinkedIn blog, August 2025)
Document Ads
Put a whitepaper or a report straight into the feed, with or without a form in front of it.
Up to 4× more leads when a Lead Gen Form gates the document (LinkedIn’s own figure)
Video Ads
Native 15-second videos with subtitles. Useful when a face or a short demo says more than a static image.
Plays muted by default, so the first three seconds and the subtitles carry the whole message
Conversation Ads
Messages in the LinkedIn inbox with several buttons, each leading to a different reply. The path a prospect picks already tells you something about them.
A guided thread instead of a form, so qualification starts before the lead reaches your CRM
Who is LinkedIn Ads for?
Top industries
- SaaS and software
- Financial services
- Education
- Cybersecurity
- Professional services
Audience profiles
- C-level, VPs, directors and managers
- Functions: marketing, sales, IT, product, finance, RevOps
- Company size: 50-5,000 employees
- Published audience minimums vary by format: start broad enough to deliver, then judge the segment on CPL and lead quality in your own account
Use case
Say you sell software in the UK: you can combine the job title “HR Director” with the software industry and companies of 50-200 employees, then put your founder’s Thought Leader Ads in front of that group.
What mistakes do B2B advertisers make on LinkedIn?
Stacking too many targeting criteria
→ Start broad enough for the campaign to deliver, and narrow only once account data shows the segment performs.
Forms with 6+ fields
→ LinkedIn recommends 3-4 fields at most, because every extra field lowers the completion rate.
Measuring CPL without pipeline data
→ Connect the CRM so you can see which leads became opportunities. A low CPL on leads that go nowhere isn’t a saving.
Brand = 0% of budget
→ Set aside part of the budget for demand creation, and measure it over a window as long as your sales cycle.
Judging ROI in under 6 months
→ A B2B cycle routinely runs six months or more. Judging a campaign on 30-day conversions measures the funnel before it has finished filling.
Which LinkedIn Ads trends matter in 2025-2026?
The full 2026 benchmark data behind this page, every figure sourced: LinkedIn Ads B2B: 2026 costs and ROI
The practices behind this page, cross-referenced across published sources: LinkedIn Ads B2B: best practices 2026
LinkedIn Ads FAQ
What’s the minimum budget for LinkedIn Ads?
LinkedIn’s official minimum is $10 a day. To collect enough B2B data to make real decisions, plan for €3,000+ a month.
LinkedIn or Google for B2B?
LinkedIn lets you pick who sees the ad by job title, seniority and company. Google shows it to people already searching for a solution like yours. The two work together, and the budget split depends on how much search demand your category already has.
Which format should I start with?
Start with a Single Image Ad and a Lead Gen Form, then test Thought Leader Ads. Published 2026 benchmarks favor both, but your offer and your audience will decide the result.
How long before I can judge the results?
Give it at least 2-4 weeks before reading the first signals. B2B sales cycles often run 6+ months, so revenue arrives long after the clicks. Stopping a campaign before its opportunities have had time to move wastes the test.
Does LinkedIn work for international expansion?
Yes. Nearly four in five LinkedIn members live outside North America, by the regional counts in the LinkedIn newsroom, and the platform runs in 36 languages. I write the ads in French and English and adapt them to each market rather than translating them.
Most figures on this page name their source where they appear, whether that’s platform documentation, a vendor claim or a third-party study. Budget levels with no source are my own recommendations.
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