Here were the resources we covered in the episode:
Evergreen LinkedIn Ads Account Benefits Join LinkedIn Ads Fanatics community for access to all our coursesContact us at Podcast@B2Linked.com with any questions, suggestions, corrections!
A great no-cost way to support us: Rate/Review! In this episode of The LinkedIn Ads Show, host AJ Wilcox dives into strategies for nurturing cold audiences on LinkedIn to prepare them for meaningful engagement and high-conversion offers. If you've struggled with converting cold traffic into sales-ready leads, this episode walks you through how to build a multi-stage funnel using LinkedIn Ads retargeting features.
Key Discussion Points:
-
Why Cold Audiences Need Nurturing:
- Most cold audiences (95%) aren’t ready to engage with sales reps or bottom-of-funnel offers.
- Nurturing involves multiple retargeting stages to move prospects down the funnel, warming them up to higher-friction calls to action.
-
Building a Multi-Stage Funnel:
- Stage 1 (Cold Traffic): Use LinkedIn’s native audience targeting to reach cold audiences who align with your ideal customer profile.
- Stage 2 (First Retargeting): Retarget website visitors, company page visitors, and ad engagers from Stage 1. Apply targeting "guardrails" like seniority, job function, or industry to refine the audience.
- Stage 3 (Hot Traffic): Retarget prospects from Stage 2 who have engaged meaningfully. These are primed for bottom-of-funnel offers like demos or sales calls.
-
Best Practices for Funnel Organization:
- Use a campaign naming convention like S01, S02, S03 to clearly identify funnel stages in your account and ensure they’re sorted alphabetically.
- Exclude retargeting audiences from the previous stage to avoid overlap and ensure prospects graduate down the funnel.
-
Retargeting Audience Management:
- Create retargeting audiences based on specific engagements (e.g., video views, document interactions).
- Combine smaller audiences (e.g., website visitors + company page visitors) to ensure they hit the 300-member minimum for ads to serve.
-
Budget Considerations:
- A multi-stage funnel works best with a monthly budget of $5,000 or more, though smaller budgets are possible with longer ramp-up times.
-
Testing and Optimization:
- Run bottom-of-funnel offers in earlier stages as a test to gauge audience readiness.
- If Stage 3 doesn’t yield high conversion rates, adjust ad messaging to clearly communicate value and reduce friction.
-
Recent LinkedIn Updates:
- LinkedIn Wire Beta: Advertise as pre-roll videos on high-trust publisher content like Bloomberg and Forbes.
- Holiday Ad Tips: Lower competition during the holidays results in reduced CPCs and CPLs, making it an opportune time to run campaigns.
-
Pro Tips:
- Take advantage of seasonal or holiday-themed campaigns for better engagement.
- Use organic posts from company representatives to complement paid ads, especially during events.
Call to Action: Join the LinkedIn Ads Fanatics community for access to expert insights, courses, and weekly group calls with AJ. Subscribe to the podcast for weekly LinkedIn Ads tips, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts to help other marketers discover the show.
Review and Connect: AJ welcomes listener questions, suggestions, and feedback via LinkedIn or email at podcast@B2Linked.com. Submit a voice recording to be featured in a future episode.
Show Transcript:For the full show transcript, see the show notes page here: Episode 154