At Salesbread we don’t run LinkedIn ads. We never have and we never will.
We are not an authority on this topic, but we were inspired to write about this after hearing from several clients about how much money they had wasted on Linkedin ads.
We have the luxury of seeing what’s working on Linkedin and when a long-term client came to us with a story about spending $8,200 on Linkedin ads using a very competent, well-respected Linkedin marketing agency, that delivered exactly ZERO leads.
(When asked why the Linkedin ads generated no results, the agency replied that they weren’t sure.
They suggested that the clients landing page and their ad copy could have been the problem. But at the end of the day, they spent a lot of money and didn’t see anything back from it.
So this is why they decided to reach out to Salesbread again, because we guarantee 1 qualified B2B lead per day.)
We wanted to share this with the B2B community, in the hopes of reducing this marketing waste for other business owners.
This article will compare and contrast the differences between lead generation direct outreach on Linkedin, and Linkedin ads.
(If you are looking for a guaranteed 1 qualified lead per day or your money back, hop on a free 15-minute consultation call with us here.)
Linkedin ads targeting vs. Linkedin outreach targeting – With outreach, you can be SUPER specific
Yes, with Linkedin ads you can target specific groups of people and hope they see your ad, but it’s nothing compared to how you can target specific individuals directly with Linkedin outreach.
Linkedin ads can target the following:
- Locations
- Audience attributes (such as company, job experience, education, demographics, and interests.)
- Matched audiences
- And audience size
So, yes your ad can be shown to your ideal target audience and it can create brand awareness but as we have learned from various clients, the ROI isn’t always worth it.
Imagine spending $8,200 and not getting 1 lead?
Linkedin outreach targeting – Why it’s better than the targeting options on Linkedin ads.
If you have read some of our articles in the past, you will know that we obsess about building ultra-refined lists of your ideal target audience.
We use Linkedin Sales Navigator, but we ALSO go off Linkedin Sales Nav and use third-party data providers.
Why? Because Sales Navigator filters aren’t always 100% accurate.
This is how we build ultra-targeted lists at Salesbread.
(Side note: Once we have perfected your list of potential customers, we will reach out to them via personalized messages that start conversations. No sleazy sales pitches. Read this article to see exactly how our outreach campaigns work.)
The very first thing we do when we onboard a client is ask them:
- Who has purchased your product/service from you within the past 6 months?
We then analyze this data to see exactly who your ideal buyer would be. The video below is an example of how we analyze your current buyer data.
There are over 34 target account filters that we use to analyze your current customers/accounts and find “Look-a-like” customers.
Here are some things we consider when analyzing your B2B company‘s data:
- What kind of companies are buying? Is it healthcare? If so, which form of healthcare? Hospitals? Health Insurance? Non-profit organizations?
- Where are these businesses located? Mainly in the USA, Europe, or 350 miles from Newark, NJ?
- What’s the size of the company? Do they have more than 100 employees or less?
- What services do they offer? Digital marketing? SEO? Design? PPC?
- What departments do they currently have on their payroll? Marketing? Social media?
- Have they recently been funded?
By asking all these questions you can start seeing exactly who to target.
Once we have the data, we will then start building look-alike lists of companies, or prospects by using prospecting tools such as:
So we don’t just use Sales Navigator, and this is a problem that many lead generation agencies make.
They only use Sales Navigator to build a list of prospects.
And if you have been reading our articles, you will know that Sales Navigators data isn’t always 100% accurate.
If this is the case with Sales Navigator targeting, it makes you wonder if Linkedin Ads targeting filters are 100% accurate. We can’t say this with complete certainty, but it’s just a theory.
It could be a reason why some Linkedin Ad campaigns fail because they aren’t actually being shown to prospects who are the perfect fit for your business. (Remember, this is just a theory. Not fact.)
But anyway, back to the point…
This is why we find Linkedin outreach to be more profitable because you can target prospects at pinpoint accuracy, which means you will be reaching out to quality leads, who are more likely to say yes to your product/service. You don’t get this kind of precision when it comes to Linkedin ad targeting, unfortunately.
Linkedin Advertising agency vs Linkedin Lead Generation Agency Cost?
The right lead generation agency can be cheaper AND have a greater ROI.
Linkedin ad costs
The average cost per click for Linkedin ads is about $5.39 depending on your budget.
But there are 2 other tiers as well. Cost per impressions and Cost per send. So you will either pay per 1000 impressions, per click or per send.
BUT with saying this, there are various factors which can affect this. Such as your target audience, your relevance score and your bid.
This article breaks the information down quite nicely.
But this is pretty much how Linkedin ads work and how you get billed:
“You’ll start your marketing campaign by placing a bid when you launch your campaign.
LinkedIn ads are sold through the ad auction, where your bid competes with other advertisers who want to reach the same target audience.
The target audience is made up of the LinkedIn members you’re trying to reach with the ad campaign. The cost required to win the auction depends on the bid and the desirability of your target audience.” – Linkedin
Linkedin then uses objective-based advertising. To improve cost per result, chargeable clicks are now aligned with the objective and bid type selected for your campaign.
The table below shows you what you will be paying for, whether it’s per impressions, landing page clicks, video views, clicks, or engagement clicks.
Various Linkedin marketing agencies will charge differently depending on their packages, but you can expect to pay between $800 – $2000 per month.
Some of these agencies want you to sign up with them for a set period though.
So for example, if you sign up for 6 months you could pay up to $8000 for those 6 months (not including ad spend).
Remember these are basic costs, and there might be hidden fees, so be sure to ask for a cost breakdown beforehand.
BUT here’s the problem…
Imagine spending this kind of money on digital marketing and not getting 1 lead?
SIDE NOTE:
We aren’t saying this is always the case but from our experience, we have had several clients come to us with the same problem.
So if you are looking for qualified leads, and you aren’t getting the results you would like from social media marketing, you might want to try Linkedin outreach.
You can either try it yourself, (we have tons of articles that show how to do Linkedin outreach step by step) or reach out to us for a free 15-minute consultation. At Salesbread you can expect 1 QUALIFIED lead per day.
Cost of hiring a Linkedin lead generation agency
When hiring a lead generation agency you could be charged between $1000 and $20.000 depending on the company and the package you choose.
Some B2B lead gen agencies can even charge per lead.
We do NOT recommend this because you could end up paying between $31 and $908 per lead depending on the industry.
This can be really expensive, and some leads might not even be a good fit for your business.
So it’s important to vet companies before you decide to hire them.
Just be wary of any agencies that want to lock you into a fixed contract though because their results should be the reason why you stay with them… not a contract. (Read this article before you hire a lead generation agency because it will tell you which red flags to look out for.)
At Salesbread, our service essentially replaces the need for a trained Outbound Sales Rep at your company — for less than half the cost of a full-time salary. 2-3k/mo
Our price includes:
- Expert ultra-refined data-driven list building. This process takes us about a week to create before we even launch your outreach campaign. This ensures that we reach out to people who want what you’re selling and who have the budget for it.
- Personalized outreach messages that guarantee 20+ qualified leads per month. In fact we have a full-time employee who specializes in personalization. She researches each prospect on the list in order to write ultra-personalized messages.
Does it work? Well, our metrics are an average reply rate of between 25-55%.
- Campaign optimization – This means that everything you need to send best-practice outbound messages is taken care of by our team of SDR experts. Your campaign will improve each month through testing and optimization.
- We also show our clients exactly how we do outreach so that one day you can bring the entire process in-house.
And the best part is – You will be guaranteed 1 qualified lead per day. All of this costs less than hiring a full-time SDR and results are guaranteed or your money back.
Testimonials and Case studies from some of our clients
Our metrics speak for themselves. Last year alone we managed to get close to 5000 qualified leads for our clients.
If Your Company Needs 1 Sales Qualified Lead Per Day… Let’s Talk.
Book a free 15 minute strategy call below.