Paid social creates demand; search captures it
Most of your future buyers are not searching for a solution today. Paid social is how you reach them before they are, so that when the need arises your product is already on their mind, and their colleagues have heard of you too.
That means judging paid social differently from search. Some campaigns should generate leads directly. Many should build familiarity among target accounts and be measured by what happens to those accounts afterwards: more branded search, more demo requests, faster deals and higher win rates. We set up the tracking to see that.
What we run
Account-based campaigns
Target lists from your CRM uploaded and segmented by tier, stage and buying committee role.
Thought Leader Ads
Posts from your founders and experts promoted to target audiences, often the best-performing format on LinkedIn.
Lead generation
Offers such as reports, templates and webinars, with leads synced straight to your CRM.
Retargeting
Visitors to pricing, comparison and product pages shown proof points and case studies.
Community platforms
Reddit and niche communities for technical and developer audiences.
Creative production
Static, carousel, document and short video creative produced and tested monthly.
Choosing platforms
| Platform | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Precise company, role and seniority targeting for B2B | High cost per click; needs strong creative and enough budget | |
| Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | Lower-cost reach, retargeting, SMB and prosumer products | Less precise B2B targeting |
| Technical, developer and niche communities | Audiences dislike obvious advertising; tone matters | |
| X | Tech, developer and finance audiences in some niches | Variable quality; test carefully |
Measuring influence, not just leads
For brand-building campaigns, the right comparison is between accounts that saw your ads and similar accounts that did not.
- Setup
- A list of target accounts, half reached heavily by a thought-leadership campaign, half lightly or not at all.
- What we compare
- Branded search, website visits, demo requests, opportunities and win rate between the two groups.
- Decision
- Increase budget for the formats and messages that lifted opportunity creation; cut those that did not.
How a campaign is built
Audiences
Target accounts and roles agreed with sales, synced from your CRM.
Message and creative
Angles drawn from won deals and customer interviews; formats chosen per platform.
Launch and learn
Several creatives tested; budget moved to what engages the right people.
Measure influence
Engagement by account tied to pipeline in your CRM.
Common paid social mistakes
LinkedIn in particular punishes campaigns that ignore how people use it.
- Leading with a demo request. Cold audiences rarely book demos from an ad. Lead with value and retarget engaged accounts.
- Audiences that are too broad or too narrow. Job-title targeting that includes students, or account lists so small campaigns cannot deliver.
- Stale creative. Running the same ads for months as frequency climbs and engagement falls.
- Judging on cost per lead alone. Gated content leads from LinkedIn are often low intent; pipeline influence tells the real story.
- No sales follow-up plan. Engaged accounts never passed to sales at the right moment.
Common questions
Is LinkedIn Ads worth it for SaaS?
For B2B SaaS with an average contract value above a few thousand dollars, usually yes, despite high costs per click, because the targeting precision is unmatched. For low-priced self-serve products, Meta or Reddit is often more efficient.
What budget do we need?
For LinkedIn, at least $5,000 a month to learn anything useful. We will recommend a split across platforms in your proposal.
How do you measure brand-building campaigns?
By comparing engaged target accounts with unengaged ones on later outcomes, such as demo requests, opportunities and win rates, alongside self-reported attribution on your forms.
Do you produce the creative?
Yes. Static, carousel, document and short-form video creative is included, built from your brand and your experts' input.
Can you run account-based campaigns with our sales team?
Yes. We agree target account tiers with sales, share engagement data weekly, and flag accounts showing intent so reps can follow up.
Find out where your next 100 customers come from
Start with a growth audit. We review your tracking, search, paid accounts and funnel, and hand you a 90-day plan ranked by expected pipeline. Use it with us or without us.