Maximizing Lead Generation Opportunities

COMPARING LINKEDIN ADVERTISING AND GOOGLE ADS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Your advertising should be a “reminder” about your business and your brand. What are you reminding your audience about? Do you have anything at all to remind them about? If you’re worried about running ads for your business, or perhaps you’re running them and are unhappy, it’s time for you to think bigger and more multi-channel.

If you’re like most business owners and marketers, you’re excited at the idea of the “magic bullet” — that simple, quick, and easy  solution. Can’t I just run one killer ad to get a flood of sales and customers? If you’ve thought this, tried this, and failed, then you learned the practical way that there is no magic bullet when it comes to advertising — it should be part of a larger strategy involving both free and paid traffic, multiple online platforms, tracking, and testing.

Let’s talk about whether LinkedIn advertising or Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is better for your business. We like to look at several factors, including your marketing goals, target audience, industry, and budget to help you make an informed decision.

ADVERTISING FUNNEL

When you plan your ads, you should think about the “funnel” you are running your customers are running through. Sometimes people think of a funnel in very boring, literal terms — web page #1 going to web page #2 and so on. But your funnel starts long before that. Your prospect sees an ad. Perhaps you cold DM them on LinkedIn. Your ads might retarget them on other platforms. They could then be intrigued and Google your company to find your free content. Perhaps they subscribe to your email list and read your blog posts.

To maximize your advertising success, you should be thinking about your free content (SEO). paid ads (PPC) and social media content. Also consider what your cold, warm, and hot leads look like. What marketing and messaging would wake your prospect up to a new perspective? What value could you demonstrate and deliver? What education does your prospect need in order to make a “buying decision” — in whatever context that means for you? 

TARGET AUDIENCE: LINKEDIN ADS

LinkedIn has grown as a marketing platform in an amazing way. Just a few years ago, it was more or less a resume and job hunting site. We all had accounts registered there. It has evolved into a social network where professionals and businesses hang out all day every day, posting thought leader content, sharing, learning, and networking.

LinkedIn is an excellent platform for B2B marketing. It offers robust targeting options based on job titles, industries, company size, and more. Just imagine being able to target specific job titles for specific companies on LinkedIn. For example, let’s say you were looking to contact the Content Marketing Director for specific companies, perhaps to send in a guest blog post or provide a B2B service. If your company was hiring for a specific job role, you could run an ad to people holding specific titles.

If your company offered a Human Resources product, you could run ads specifically to HR DIrectors or HR Managers. If you offer an AI SaaS tool, you might target the Chief Data Officer or Chief Marketing Officer for companies. In other words, focus on the people (job titles) you want to target. You aren’t limited to running paid ads. You should also consider posting relevant content regularly and sending cold messages in addition to your advertising.

TARGET AUDIENCE: GOOGLE ADS

Google Ads has a broader reach and can target both B2B and B2C audiences. It focuses on capturing users’ intent by displaying ads based on search queries, making it effective for reaching people actively searching for specific products or services. The proper strategy is to try many different specific long tail keyphrases. Inexperienced marketers are most interesting in ranking #1 for a short phrase, which is a recipe to pay for a lot of expensive clicks targeting the wrong people.

Let’s say you wanted to run Google Ads for the phrase “membership software.” What kind of membership software? For what people? Instead of targeting one or a handful of short keyphrases, you should instead target many long-tail, lower traffic keyphrases, such as:

• industry specific: “best membership software for fitness clubs”
• feature specific: “cloud-based membership software with event management features”
• audience specific: “membership management software for educational institutions”
• solution oriented: “Membership software solutions for recurring payment processing”
• comparison and reviews: “best membership software for customer retention in 2024”
• geography specific: “best membership software for Australian non-profits”
• integration and compatibility: “membership software that integrates with QuickBooks and Stripe”

A key component of Claude Hopkins’ “Scientific Advertising” concept is to start with your hypothesis, run your experiment, collect data, and analyze the results. Brainstorming the ideal job title or keyword search phrase is only the beginning. You must try out your ideas. Run ads for specific keywords, measure their search volume to see if the ads are worth running, and then look at your ad results to see if they convert and make more money than they cost.

AD FORMATS

LinkedIn Ads offer sponsored content, sponsored InMail, dynamic ads, text ads, and more. These formats allow for brand promotion, lead generation, and engagement within a professional context.

The next time you use LinkedIn, take note of the types of ads you see. You might not notice some, and others, you might not even fully recognize are ads. On LinkedIn, you can run:

• Sponsored Content appears directly in the news feed, sandwiched between organic posts. You can run single image ads, video ads, carousel ads (multiple cars to swipe through), and event ads (driving registrations directly through the LinkedIn feed, for example, to webinars)
• Sponsored Messaging ads appear directly in the inbox between actual messages. You can run Sponsored InMail ads and customize a subject line, body text, all to action button, and banner image. There are also Conversation Ads, which are interactive and allow for multiple-choice, almost chatbot-like navigation.
• Text Ads are the most straightforward LinkedIn ads. They are concise and appear in the sidebar or top banner of LinkedIn pages.
• Dynamic Ads can populate your target’s own photo, company name, or job title. These include Follower Ads that encourage a user to follow a LinkedIn page, Spotlight Ads with a specific call to action (CTA), or Content Ads which promote a downloadable file such as a whitepaper.
• Lead Gen Forms allow your target users to send you their information (contact details) without leaving LinkedIn within Sponsored Content or Sponsored Messaging ads.
• Document Ads enable you to save PDF documents directly within a user’s feed.

Google Ads allow you to run text ads, display ads, video ads, shopping ads, and app promotion. These formats cater to different marketing objectives, such as driving website visits, product sales, brand awareness, or app downloads. The first step in understanding how Google Ads work for you, even before planning your strategy and taking action, is understanding the different types of Google Ads you can run, including:

• Search Ads which appear at the top and bottom of Google search results pages when users search for specific keywords. These are text ads with a headline, description, and URL.
• Display Ads appear across the Google Display Network, which includes millions of websites, apps, and Google-owned properties like YouTube.
• Video Ads run on YouTube and across Google’s video partner sites. These can be Skippable In-Stream Ads (that play before, during, or after other videos and can be skipped after 5 seconds), Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads (that must be watched before the viewer can proceed to the video), Bumper Ads (short, non-skippable ads up to 6 seconds long), Outstream Ads (that play on partner sites and apps outside of YouTube), and Masthead Ads (that appear at the top of the YouTube home feed).
• Shopping Ads showcase products directly in the search results and Google Shopping tab. These include product images, title, price, store name, and sometimes promotions.
• App Promotion Ads drive app downloads and engagement, promoting apps across Google Search, Display, YouTube, and Google Play.
• Smart Campaigns automate ad creation and targeting based on your business goals and information. These are automatically generated ads across Google Search, Display, and Maps and allows for a simplified campaign setup for small businesses and new advertisers.
• Local Campaigns drive traffic to physical business locations to increase store visits and promote local offers.
• Discovery Ads appear across Google’s Discover feed, YouTube Home, and Gmail. These are helpful if you are looking to reach users open to discovering new products and services.
• Performance Max Campaigns use machine learning automation to optimize ads across all Google networks — multiple ad formats across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discovery.

Each type of Google Ad is designed to meet specific marketing objectives, allowing your business to reach your audience across various platforms and formats. Google and LinkedIn Ads have evolved over time — it’s no longer about just advertising for a single keyword — you have many different ways of appearing and reaching the exact people who need to know about your brand.

COST

LinkedIn Ads tend to be more expensive, especially for B2B targeting. The cost per click (CPC) or cost per impression (CPM) on LinkedIn can be higher compared to Google Ads. LinkedIn focuses on professional audiences — your ability to reach decision makers and industry leaders. Be prepared to pay $5 to $12 per click on LinkedIn. Average CPC (cost per click) grouped by industry on LinkedIn is as follows:

• Technology: $5 – $10
• Financial Services: $7 – $12
• Education: $3 – $7
• Healthcare: $4 – $8
• B2B Services: $6 – $11

Google Ads allow you to set budgets and bids, giving you more control over costs. The cost per click varies depending on factors like keyword competitiveness and ad quality. A higher quality score can lower your CPC by improving ad relevance and user experience. Industries such as legal services, insurance, and finance can also be extremely competitive:

• Legal Services: $6 – $15
• Insurance: $5 – $10
• Retail: $1 – $2
• Education: $2 – $5
• Technology: $2 – $5

LinkedIn Ads are more expensive than Google Ads, but this is justified because you get higher quality leads — the exact type of people you are looking for.

INTENT VS. PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT

The bottom line about the difference between these two ad platforms is that LinkedIn Ads give you professional context (who your lead is) and Google Ads give you intent (search query). Users on LinkedIn have a professional mindset, actively seeking industry-related information. Its users are seeking industry-related information, networking opportunities, and career advancement. They are looking to connect with industry peers, potential employers, or joint venture partners. LinkedIn’s B2B marketing environment is ideal for decision-makers, executives, and professionals.

LinkedIn allows you to precisely target based on job title, company size, industry, skills/interests, and seniority level (such as Director or Executive). We recommend you target specific companies, and then drill down to their key stakeholders (decision makers) while pursuing them through direct messaging and paid ads.

Google Ads focuses on capturing user intent at the moment of searching. Ads appear in search results based on keywords, targeting users who are actively looking for specific products or services. This means that its users (both B2B and B2C) are seeking immediate answers or solutions.

You are able to target based on keywords (broad match, phrase match, or exact match) and combine with demographic (audience) targeting — In-Market Audiences, those who are researching (comparing) products similar to yours, and Custom Intent Audiences — based on recent search behavior. Google Ads allow you to further narrow your targeting based on specific locations or devices. Google Ads are crowded and time-intensive, so they are definitely not set-and-forget. You must make the best use of the fine-grained targeting they allow, and this is all the more reason to allow a company such as EWR Digital to figure out a strategy and constantly work a plan to get you in front of profitable leads.

AD NETWORK

• LinkedIn: Ads on LinkedIn are limited to the LinkedIn platform and its partner websites. However, be aware that we have previously shown you the many different ways LinkedIn Ads can appear to users — within the feed, but also with messaging integration. LinkedIn also has partner websites including the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times — so your ads have further reach than simply on LinkedIn, but that “external website” reach is nowhere near as expansive as Google’s Search Network.
• Google Ads: Google Ads offers a broader reach through its Search Network (search engine results pages) and Display Network (websites, blogs, and apps partnered with Google). Your ads can appear on Google properties such as Google Maps and Google Shopping, as well as partner search sites — third-party websites displaying Google Ads.

Your choice between LinkedIn advertising and Google Ads depends on your specific marketing objectives, target audience, and budget. Ideally, you would combine both platforms might be the most effective strategy. Consider your goals, industry, audience preferences, and the strengths of each platform to make an informed decision. It can also be valuable to test and measure the performance of campaigns on both platforms to determine which one yields better results https://ads.google.com/ for your business.