Specialist B2B Services Firm: 4X Better Than Benchmark
CTR of 2.35-2.74%, around 4X the usual B2B benchmark, at under £7 a click.
The before and after
Typical B2B LinkedIn benchmark
2.35% - 2.74%, roughly 4X
Volume campaigns into broad audiences
Under £7 into named accounts only
Lead count
Engagement across whole buying committees
The fuller story
A small market. Only a few hundred companies could ever buy, so burning through them with volume tactics would have wasted the lot.
We ran two things side by side: tabloid-style advertorials in the feed and InMail messages that were genuinely easy to reply to.
The situation
A specialist firm with a genuinely small addressable market. A few hundred companies could realistically buy, so volume tactics were pointless and expensive. The job was penetration, not lead count.
What we did
We uploaded a named target account list and ran only against it. No audience expansion, no lookalikes, no interest padding. Creative written for the specific problem those companies have, repeated at a frequency high enough to actually register with a buying committee.
The result
Click-through rate held between 2.35% and 2.74%, roughly four times the typical B2B LinkedIn benchmark, at under £7 a click into that list. Engagement spread across multiple people inside the same target accounts, which is the signal that matters when only a few hundred companies can ever buy.
Why it worked
James's read on what actually moved the numbers.
Feed and inbox work as a pair
The advertorials made the name familiar. By the time the InMail landed, it came from someone they had already seen. That's why the messages got answered.
Frequency on purpose
One ad seen once does nothing. The same message seen again and again by a buying committee is what turns a list into pipeline.
Measure the account, not the click
Several people engaging inside one target company is a buying committee warming up. That's what we watched.
Who we targeted
A named target account list. A few hundred companies could realistically buy.
No audience expansion, no lookalikes, no interest padding.
High enough to register with a buying committee.
Creative angles
Tabloid-style advertorials
Story-led article ads in the feed, written about one specific problem these companies have.
Why it worked: A story gets read by people who skip normal ads. Repeated, it makes the name familiar across the whole buying team.
The POV, exposé and advertorial formats behind this campaign, broken down so you can copy the structure for your own buyers.
Steal the 4 ad formatsEasy-to-reply InMail
Short messages that asked one simple question, so replying took seconds.
Why it worked: Most message ads read like a brochure. A simple question gets a reply, and a reply is a conversation.
Hi James, honest question.
Is [the problem] something you're dealing with this year, or is it sorted?
Either answer is fine. One tap below.
How message ads work alongside feed ads, and how to write them so people actually reply.
Read the message ads guideHow the funnel worked
- Step 1
Named account list only
- Step 2
Problem-specific creative, repeated
- Step 3
Engagement across multiple people per account
- Step 4
Company engagement reporting
What you can take from this
Penetration, not lead count
With a few hundred buyers, volume tactics are pointless and expensive.
Watch the account, not the click
Engagement spread across multiple people in the same target accounts.
Narrow can still be efficient
CTR held at 2.35% to 2.74%, around 4X the typical B2B benchmark, under £7 a click.
Run this play yourself
Free guides, playbooks and tools covering the exact strategy and sector behind this case study.
The ABM pillar: choosing, tiering, penetrating and progressing named accounts.
Read itGuideHow to market a B2B business when the whole addressable market fits in a spreadsheet.
Read itGuideHow to read the report that shows which companies are warming up.
Read itRead nextThe UK benchmark data behind the claim that 2.35% CTR is around 4X typical.
Read itGuideHow message ads work and how to write them so people actually reply.
Read itFree toolWrite the feed advertorial that warms up the inbox.
Read itWant a pipeline like this?
Tell us where your pipeline is stuck and we will tell you, straight, whether paid ads are the right fix.