What: LinkedIn campaigns that have generated a 1.6% CTR with an ROI of over 1,000%
Budget: £1,300
How: Audience and location-targeting with a stand-out creative
Intro
I’m not going to lie, compared to other channels LinkedIn ads are expensive (sorry, ‘Sponsored Content’ for those delusional enough to think it’s anything but advertising). If you know how to utilise them, when to push and when to stop, they can generate an ROI. Plus the added bonus of very few tyre kickers, as LinkedIn is seen as a more professionally focussed platform than its counterparts, usually means if people are interested…. they’re interested. This is massively dependent on a whole host of variables – target market, the creative, the copy, the execution and most importantly, your offer.
Challenge
Over a period of 2 months, one of our clients needed to generate interest in a number of construction industry services. When I say interested I mean QML (Qualified Marketing Leads).
Each one leading to a conversion, on average, was worth between £695 and £2,300 depending on the service. Knowing this meant we could control the budget and make sure the maximum ROI was achieved from this singular channel campaign.
How
Instead of focusing on search engine results, we decided to go direct to the target market via LinkedIn understanding that the competition within this space was minimal and with a targeted approach the reach could be hyper-focused. There were a number of assets that we needed to test to narrow down what worked and what didn’t and increase spend around the elements that delivered. These were as follows;
Audience
To narrow down the target market we first compiled a list of skills and professions that suited the services offered by our client, followed by a list of industries to complement these skills. In addition, we also targeted regions as well as a UK-wide variant to test certain locations against a national average. Finally, we used an exclusion variable to remove those occupations that have the skill sets that we were looking to attract, but within a different industry – this helped reduce unverified leads.
Creative
To find out what creative worked best, six variations on the same theme were used, with the most popular continuing after the first month. The creatives were made to be bold, colourful and to stand out against the dross you see on LinkedIn
Copy
Creative copy to draw the user in was required with the first line being punchy enough to read and additional copy being more informative, cutting out any waffle and sticking to what were thought to be the biggest selling points.
Delivery
It was important to make sure that each part of the campaign was integrated and that the pages that users landed on when clicking through to the website resonated and were in line with the advert as well as offering value and a seamless UX (User Experience). This was critical in delivering MQLs as an application form needed to be completed to achieve conversion status.
Results
In two months a CTR (Click-Through Rate) of 1.13% (over double the LinkedIn average) was achieved showing the ads were working, and in one case this increased to 1.59%. This is all great but what about the QMLs that needed to convert?
Going off the lowest possible revenue that each conversion could generate, a total of £4,300, increasing to a possible £14,600. With a budget of £1,300 the ROI achieved was at least 30% rising to 1,123%