Hey friend,
I just finished analyzing our 2025 LinkedIn Ads performance and the results are in:
$190K in total ad spend
$2.5M ARR generated
13X ROAS
Not bad. But the most interesting find was the campaigns that worked best are the ones most B2Bs refuse to run:
“Boring content” marketers rally against on LinkedIn came in clutch for us. Document Ads we made in Canva influenced multiple closed/won deals!
CTV campaigns (that on the surface seem too hard to track) became one of our highest ROI formats
Thought Leader Ads (that most B2Bs still haven’t tested) targeting specific ICPs influenced a hefty chunk of pipeline
Most B2Bs will run the same plays in 2026 because the industry loves single image ads.
Which is exactly why there's so much opportunity right now.
After a full year of testing and optimizing tons of campaigns, here is my 2025 LinkedIn Ads wrapped and what I recommend you test out in 2026 👇
What Actually Worked On LinkedIn Ads In 2025
Before I break down what worked, a quick reminder: Most B2B LinkedIn accounts are fundamentally flawed. They treat LinkedIn as a pure demand capture channel:
Most target audiences are WAY too broad (think 200k to 1m+ audience sizes 😬)
Brands run demo ads that barely get seen because there's not enough budget
Campaigns don’t reach enough frequency and have no meaningful impact marketing goals
Our account structure splits activity between Demand Generation and Demand Capture, and we're super strategic about how we allocate budget between them.
The ideal campaign structure for LinkedIn Ads accounts
Demand Generation (60% of budget): Only 5% of your audience is in-market at any given time, which means the other 95% need to know you exist first. These campaigns don’t go after conversions because these targets aren't actively searching yet. The goal is to get on their radar and educate them about what you do so when they move in-market, you're on their vendor list.
Demand Capture (40% of budget): Find who's looking for what you do and be there when intent turns into a buying decision. These campaigns go after conversions for in-market audiences.
This is how we structure our campaigns (and how we recommend our clients do as well), and it's the lens you need to look through while looking deeper at the 2025 results 👇
Demand Generation Results For 2025
We experimented heavily with ad formats most B2Bs ignore in our demand generation campaigns this year and had brilliant result.
All except for one: The “safe” play. Single image ads.
The CAC results tell me running single image ads for demand generation is not the play to run anymore. This is because single image ads compete in the most saturated auction on LinkedIn. Every B2B runs them, so costs go through the roof while performance suffers.
If your cold layer is heavy on single image ads, I suspect your numbers will be equally disappointing.
I plan on cutting single image ads completely from demand generation campaigns in 2026.
The winners were native formats that don't feel like ads. Document Ads, CTV, and Thought Leader Ads had significantly lower CPMs and influenced a ton of pipeline.
We will push more spend into these formats in 2026.
Demand Capture Results For 2025
Single image ads that didn't work for cold audiences crushed it in this layer.
I suspect you can get away with single images more when prospects are already bought-in and just need that final push. A $58 CAC vs. $4.1K CAC for the same format tells you everything about matching creative to buyer intent.
What’s wild is the performance gap between these two layers proves most marketers are running the wrong creative in the wrong layer.
The biggest lesson for B2B marketers in 2026 is to stop running demo ads or conversion copy to cold audiences, and stop running brand awareness creative to people ready to buy.
Build your account around meeting them where they are in their buying journey.
From the results across demand gen and demand capture, three tactics overperformed: Document Ads, CTV, and Thought Leader Ads.
Here's exactly how we ran them if you want to add them to your LinkedIn Ads account in 2026 👇
Move #1: Ungated Document Ads
This was my favorite new tactic for 2025. It's super simple but absolutely crushed expectations. This content works because you build trust and deliver value BEFORE asking for something like an email address or phone number.
There’s also a buyer’s psychology angle here for why this play works so well:
In-market audiences get to the end, read the CTA, and don't feel bait-and-switched
Out-market audiences remember us because the doc is caked in our brand and builds the right mental associations
The Setup:
Test pain point topics on organic LinkedIn posts first to see what resonates with your target audience
Create PDF documents that tackle the most problems your audience is trying to solve
Create campaigns using the doc ad format and engagement objective
Use manual bidding set to at least ~20% lower than recommended bid
Run it in your demand generation layer targeting cold audiences
At the end of the document, add your core marketing offer CTA. For us, that's a free marketing plan request.
Actionable info based on tactics you have used yourself works extremely well here.
A warning: these ads won't work if the content and offer are generic. You need to give the audience something they can sink their teeth into (not advice they can get from asking a question in ChatGPT).
Give value away for free in the doc, then promise additional free value in your CTA.
Move #2: Connected TV (CTV)
Connected TV was one of our highest ROI LinkedIn Ads campaigns this year, and it still feels like a hack because so few brands are running them.
Example of a super simple (and wildly effective) CTV ad we ran this year
LinkedIn CTV lets you target decision-makers down to the shows they watch through integrations with Paramount, Netflix, NBCUniversal, Samsung Ads, and Roku, which is too good to pass up.
After analyzing our closed/won deals for the year, CTV has influenced 20 closed/won deals worth $720K in ARR. But even though LinkedIn launched CTV over 18 months ago, most B2Bs still haven't tested it. I have two theories:
CTV still feels untested and risky (especially if your agency or in-house performance marketer don't really experiment with new formats)
Most marketers don't understand that CTV requires a completely different targeting and measurement approach than traditional video ads. They try the old playbook, it doesn't work, and they move on.
The goal isn't to convert your ICP while they're watching Netflix (obviously). CTV works because it buys up space in your ICP's memory bank so when they need a product or service your brand offers, you'll be top of mind.
It’s pretty simple to get this play up and running:
Step 1: Build Your Audience from Closed Deals. Pull data from your last 12-24 months of closed deals and:
Identify company size, industries, geographies, and tech stack of actual buyers
Analyze role-level patterns: seniorities, specific titles, who submitted forms, who was on calls, who signed contract
Use a third-party tool like Primer to build this audience. Third-party tools exclude seniorities (entry-level and C-suite) that LinkedIn won't let you remove with native targeting.
Step 2: Engineer Reach and Frequency. For CTV campaigns, aim to reach 50%+ of your ICP every 30 days:
Campaign objective: Brand Awareness
Optimize for: Reach (not views or engagement)
Frequency cap: Set it to 3
This forces the algorithm to distribute ads broadly instead of concentrating on the most-engaged users.
Step 3: Put Effort Into Your CTV Creative. Always agitate a real problem for your ICP, whether the creative is high production value or just a Zoom recording. Then tie the ICP's pain point back to your business: what would it feel like to solve this problem?
If budget is tight, think about how to maximize content you already have or would be a low lift to create. Even an audiogram mashed together from customer calls will work surprisingly well.
I wrote about this play in more depth. If you want to test CTV in 2026, follow this framework 👇
Move #3: Thought Leader Ads Targeting ICPs
We all know organic growth on LinkedIn got way harder this year.
But if you stop chasing viral posts and write for a specific ICP, you can still pull amazing results, especially if you throw some spend behind Thought Leader Ads.
This post I turned into a Thought Leader Ad ended up being one of our biggest drivers of closed/won deals this year:
Not only did it influence $480k in ARR, we used it as a template on how to write high-performing posts to target a specific ICP:
Create a list of the most common pain points your target audience is facing. Add it to a spreadsheet.
For each pain point, summarize your POV on the problem and the solution you provide. Add these into new columns.
Aim for 7-10 common pain points. I call these category entry points. They're the problems that move your audience from out-market to in-market.
Write 1-2 posts per pain point. This gives you 10-15 posts targeting your ICP with content that actually matters to them.
Publish 1 post per day over the next 2 weeks. Let them build organic engagement for 48-72 hours before promoting.
Before you hit publish, add a P.S. section at the end with a short description of your main offer and a link. Keep it simple and relevant to the pain point you just addressed.
Promote every post as a thought-leader ad. Push these posts to the exact audience you're trying to reach.
It blows my mind that 95% of B2Bs still aren’t running Thought Leader Ads. If you just rely on organic reach, most of your ICP will miss your content… no matter how good it is.
I also broke down this play in more detail if you want to test yourself 👇
Running LinkedIn Ads In 2026? Here Is What I Recommend Changing
If LinkedIn Ads drained your budget this year with crappy results, I highly recommend looking into these areas before 2026:
The 95/5 Rule. Only 5% of your ICP is in-market at any given time, but 100% of them are forming opinions about who the experts are in your space. If you just run demand capture campaigns, you're fighting over 5% of the market with everyone else. A strong demand generation layer in your account will help build mental availability for when that 95% move in-market.
Tap Into High-Performing Formats. Most B2Bs in the $10-100M range are terrified to run thought-leader ads, CTV, and ungated documents. And it’s exactly why these campaigns crush it… just look at our numbers from this year! Test out these ad types. I guarantee you will get premium inventory for a fraction of the price of the “safer” expensive inventory that doesn't work.
Consistency. You can’t test your way to pipeline if you stop and start new campaigns every month. Successful demand generation requires full audience saturation over time. If you can't commit to reaching 80%+ of your ICP consistently, don't bother with the demand gen layer at all.
The B2Bs winning in 2026 on LinkedIn ads will be the ones that:
→ Split budget between demand gen (60%) and demand capture (40%)
→ Run pain-point agitation content in native formats (Docs, CTV, TL ads)
→ Commit to consistent spend and audience saturation
→ Match creative strategy to buyer intent (no more demo ads to cold audiences! 🙃)
Like always, if you want to level up your LinkedIn Ads account, I’m always up for a chat. Hit this link to get your free marketing plan and I'll show you exactly how to structure your 2026 campaigns.
Hope you've found this useful and I’ll catch ya in the next one!
🤘
Patrick
Want to talk about how to get more customers with LinkedIn Ads in 2026?
See what we can do for you 👉
