Digital Marketing · Service
B2B advertising without LinkedIn
When the obvious channel is priced out of your economics.
At a glance
What it is
“If your deal size cannot absorb LinkedIn's cost per lead, trying harder on LinkedIn is not a strategy.”
A principal, Kaelo Digital Marketing
What’s included
Five areas of scopeWork out whether LinkedIn is genuinely wrong for you
Sometimes the channel is fine and the targeting, offer or landing experience is the problem. It is worth establishing which before abandoning the platform.
Search intent as the B2B workhorse
For most B2B businesses, non-brand search on the problem the buyer is trying to solve outperforms social targeting on job title — and is usually cheaper.
Community and technical platforms
Reddit and Quora reach considered B2B buyers, particularly technical ones, at a fraction of LinkedIn's cost — with a much lower tolerance for marketing language.
Trade press and newsletters
In vertical B2B the trade publication is often a better buy than any social platform, because the audience is already qualified by the fact that they read it.
Microsoft for corporate audiences
Systematically under-used in B2B despite an audience that skews corporate and desktop.
How the work runs
Economics check
Deal size, cycle and what a lead can actually be worth.
Channel shortlist
Two or three candidates, chosen against the buyer rather than the trend.
Instrumented tests
Sized to produce readable answers, with criteria written first.
Consolidate
Scale what works; report what did not.
When to come to us
- 01 LinkedIn's cost per lead does not fit your deal size.
- 02 Your buyer is technical or trade-specific rather than title-targetable.
- 03 You sell into a vertical with an established trade press.
What we do not do
- Abandoning LinkedIn before establishing whether the channel or the execution was the problem.
- Replacing one expensive channel with five thin ones.
Related reading
The channels most agencies never learn, and when they are the right answer. →
A regional position that global commentary consistently gets wrong. →
A sceptical audience that punishes marketing language immediately. →
Common questions
