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How to Create a LinkedIn Ad Campaign

Cody Schneider•

Thinking about running LinkedIn Ads? You’re in the right place. As the undisputed king of B2B social platforms, LinkedIn offers an unparalleled opportunity to get your message in front of the exact professionals you want to reach. This guide walks you through every step of creating a LinkedIn ad campaign, from picking your objective to measuring your results and making smart optimizations.

Before You Begin: The Pre-Flight Checklist

Before you jump into the LinkedIn Campaign Manager, make sure you have a few basics covered. This will make the setup process much smoother.

  • A LinkedIn Page: You can't run ads from a personal profile. You need an active LinkedIn Page for your company or brand. If you don’t have one, create it first.

  • Campaign Manager Access: You'll need access to the LinkedIn Campaign Manager. If you're the admin of your company page, you should have it by default. If not, ask a page admin to grant you access.

  • Billing Information: Have a credit card ready to add to your account for billing. You can’t launch a campaign without it.

  • A Clear Goal: This is the most important prerequisite. What do you actually want to achieve with this campaign? Get more webinar sign-ups? Drive traffic to a new blog post? Increase brand awareness for your startup? Knowing this upfront will guide every decision you make.

Step 1: Choosing Your Campaign Objective

The first screen you'll see when you create a new campaign asks you to choose an objective. This isn't just a formality - this setting tells LinkedIn's algorithm what you want to accomplish, which influences how it bids for and delivers your ads.

LinkedIn organizes these objectives into three familiar stages of the marketing funnel:

Awareness

Choose an objective from this category if your goal is simply to get your brand seen by a broad but relevant audience. It's about planting seeds and building name recognition.

  • Brand awareness: LinkedIn will show your ads to people who are most likely to recall them later. This is measured primarily by impressions (the number of times your ad is shown).

Consideration

This is the "middle of the funnel," where your goal is to get potential customers to engage with your brand and learn more about what you do.

  • Website visits: The goal here is simple: get people to click on your ad and land on your website or a specific landing page.

  • Engagement: Use this to get more likes, comments, shares, and followers for your Company Page.

  • Video views: If working with video, this objective will optimize for getting as many people as possible to watch it.

Conversion

These objectives are for driving specific, measurable actions that are valuable to your business.

  • Lead generation: This is LinkedIn’s secret weapon. It allows you to collect leads directly within the platform using pre-filled forms (Lead Gen Forms), which dramatically boosts conversion rates. This is perfect for collecting sign-ups for webinars, demos, or content downloads.

  • Website conversions: You’ll use this objective if you want people to take a specific action on your website, like completing a purchase or filling out a contact form. It requires setting up the LinkedIn Insight Tag (a small piece of code) on your site.

  • Job applicants: If you're hiring, this helps promote your job postings to relevant candidates.

Practical Tip: If you're a B2B business looking for leads, the Lead Generation objective is almost always the strongest starting point.

Step 2: Defining Your Audience Targeting

This is what makes LinkedIn so powerful. You can get laser-focused on exactly who sees your ads. After picking your objective, you’ll be taken to the audience setup screen.

Location and Language

Start with the basics. Choose the geographic locations you want to target and the profile languages of the members you want to reach.

Audience Attributes

Now for the fun part. Under the "Audience attributes" section, you can start defining your ideal customer based on professional criteria.

  • Company: Target people based on the company they work for, the industry they're in, or the size of their company. Example: Target "Software Engineering" employees at companies with 500-1,000 employees.

  • Demographics: Target based on age and gender. This is often less important in B2B than other attributes.

  • Job Experience: This is a goldmine. You can target based on:

    • Job Titles: Enter specific titles like "Chief Marketing Officer" or "Product Manager."

    • Job Function & Seniority: Broaden your targeting to functions like "Marketing" or "Operations" and seniorities like "VP" or "Director."

    • Years of Experience: Target seasoned professionals or those just starting their careers.

  • Education: Target people based on the schools they attended, fields of study, or degrees.

  • Member Skills & Interests: Target members based on the skills they have listed on their profiles or the interest categories they fall into. Example: Target users with "SQL" and "Data Analysis" listed as skills.

Don't Forget to Exclude!

Just as important as including the right people is excluding the wrong ones. Click "Exclude" to narrow your audience further. Common exclusions include:

  • Your own company's employees.

  • Your direct competitors.

  • Free email domains if you're targeting by company email lists.

  • Specific job titles that aren't a good fit (e.g., "Intern," "Assistant").

As you add or remove attributes, watch the "Forecasted Results" panel on the right. It will give you an estimated audience size. Aim for an audience that’s not too broad (over 500k) and not too narrow (under 20k).

Step 3: Selecting Your Ad Format

Next, you’ll choose how your ad will actually look in the feed. The format you choose should align with your objective and your message.

  • Single Image Ad: The most common format. A simple, clean ad with one image, a headline, and ad copy. Great for driving website visits or general brand awareness.

  • Carousel Image Ad: Lets you use 2-10 scrollable images in a single ad. This is fantastic for telling a story, showcasing multiple products, or breaking down a process into steps.

  • Video Ad: Highly engaging and great for capturing attention in the feed. Perfect for brand storytelling or product demonstrations.

  • Document Ad: One of the most effective B2B formats. It lets you share a PDF, PowerPoint, or Word doc directly in the feed. Users can read it without leaving LinkedIn and download it in exchange for their information if you use it with a Lead Gen Form. This is amazing for white papers and case studies.

  • Text Ad: A very simple, text-only ad that typically appears in the right rail or top banner. It can be effective but gets less visibility than feed-based formats.

  • Sponsored Messaging: These ads appear in a user's LinkedIn inbox. They can feel more personal but should be used carefully to avoid being spammy.

Step 4: Setting Your Budget and Schedule

Here you’ll tell LinkedIn how much you’re willing to spend and when you want your ads to run.

Budget

You have two main options:

  • Daily Budget: Set a maximum amount you’re willing to spend each day. Your actual daily spend may vary slightly, but it won't exceed this amount by more than 20% on any given day, and it will average out over time. This is a good choice for ongoing campaigns.

  • Lifetime Budget: Set a total amount for the entire duration of the campaign. This is better for short-term campaigns with a fixed end date.

Schedule

Set a start date for your campaign. You can also set an end date or let it run continuously until you manually pause it.

Bidding

For beginners, the default Maximum Delivery (formerly Automated Bid) is the easiest option. LinkedIn will automatically set your bid to get the most results (e.g., clicks, impressions) possible for your budget. As you become more experienced, you can experiment with manual bidding options like Cost Cap or Manual Bid.

Step 5: Creating Your Ad Creative

This is where you bring your ad to life with compelling copy and visuals.

Ad Copy

In the "Introductory text" field, write the main body of your ad. Your copy should capture your audience's attention, clearly explain your value proposition, and tell them what to do next. Speak directly to their pain points or goals.

Assets (Image, Video, or Document)

Upload your visual component here. Make sure it's high-quality, eye-catching, and clearly branded. Avoid overly stock photos. Real people, clean graphics, and compelling data visualizations tend to perform best.

Headline and Call-to-Action (CTA)

Write a short, punchy headline that reinforces your main message. Then, choose a clear Call-to-Action from the dropdown menu, such as "Learn More," "Download," "Sign Up," or "Request Demo."

Using Lead Gen Forms

If you chose the Lead Generation objective, this is where you’ll create or select your form. A great feature of LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms is that they automatically populate with the user's profile data (name, email, job title, company), making it incredibly easy for them to convert with just one or two clicks.

Step 6: Review and Launch Your Campaign

This is the final step! LinkedIn will show you a preview of your campaign settings and your ad creative. Carefully review everything:

  • Did you select the right objective and audience?

  • Are the budget and schedule correct?

  • Are there any spelling or grammar mistakes in your ad copy or headline?

  • Does your ad link to the correct URL?

Once everything looks good, click the "Launch Campaign" button. Your campaign will go into a review process, which usually takes a few minutes but can sometimes take up to 24 hours. After it's approved, it will start running!

After the Launch: Monitoring and Optimization

Launching a campaign is the beginning, not the end. The real work happens when you start analyzing performance data to see what’s working and what isn’t.

Check your Campaign Manager dashboard daily. Focus on the metrics that matter most for your objective:

  • For Awareness: Keep an eye on Impressions and Reach.

  • For Consideration: Look at your Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Cost Per Click (CPC).

  • For Conversion: This is all about Conversions, Cost Per Lead (CPL), and Conversion Rate.

Don't be afraid to experiment. If an ad isn't performing well, try changing the image or tweaking the headline. Test one variable at a time so you know what change made the difference. This process of continuous monitoring and iteration is how you turn a good campaign into a great one.

Final Thoughts

Creating a successful LinkedIn ad campaign feels intimidating at first, but it follows a logical path: define your goal, target the right professionals, create compelling assets, and measure everything. It's a powerful tool for growth, and by following these steps, you’re well on your way to mastering it.

Of course, your LinkedIn ad performance is only one piece of the puzzle. Answering the most important question - "Are my ads actually making money?" - requires connecting your ad spend data with what happens next in your sales funnel. That’s where we make things simple. Instead of exporting CSVs and fighting with spreadsheets, Graphed connects directly to LinkedIn Ads, Google Analytics, and your CRM, allowing you to ask for a full-funnel report in plain English and get an instant, real-time dashboard showing true ROI.