Optimized targeting generates high-quality leads for Corporate Visions

Challenge

•   As a B2B messaging, content, and sales skills training company, Corporate Visions was looking to reach an audience of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success decision-makers. They knew exactly what their target audience looked like, but the leads they were generating weren’t qualified.
•   A few years back, Corporate Visions spent thousands on an ad campaign, but because they lacked a process to analyze the ads, they weren’t able to optimize. As a result, almost none of the leads were high-quality and the campaign failed to benefit their pipeline.

Solution

•   Corporate Visions sought audience optimization recommendations from LinkedIn and used the platform’s targeting capabilities to gather demographic data and exclude job functions that were receiving impressions but had low click-through rates.
•   These insights helped the marketing team recognize that Carousel Ads were delivering especially high-quality leads, prompting Corporate Visions to increase its investment in this ad type.
•   With an Insight Tag and conversion tracking enabled, the company was able to track a majority of leads effectively, and then use this data to optimize their campaigns even further.

Results

•   Last year, Corporate Visions' LinkedIn program helped to more than double Marketing's contribution to overall revenue. This year, the team expects 3x+ growth in revenue contribution.
•   At the mid-point of this fiscal year, Corporate Visions has already surpassed its new inquiry goal by 193% and is outpacing MQL and SAL creation by 2x of goal.
•   More than 2X ROI from LinkedIn ad campaigns in 2018
•   116% increase in MQLs year-over-year

Using exclusions to narrow the search

•   Although Corporate Visions knew who they were trying to target, they weren’t sure whether their efforts were working to their advantage. “We were testing different things, like job titles and industries, searching for the criteria that would deliver quality results,” says Jamie Laforge, Director of Integrated Campaigns at Corporate Visions. “That experimentation helped us lock in on our ideal targeting approach. Now we're focusing first on the industry, then adding the various LinkedIn exclusions. This has been a real difference-maker in setting us up for stronger engagement and conversion."

Optimized audiences

•   LinkedIn allows companies to reach a professional audience on the platform based on a member’s job title, seniority level, company size, and more. This level of targeting isn’t available through other channels. LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms have also proven to be a successful format for companies to generate actionable contact data from campaigns in a frictionless way.
•   LinkedIn’s conversion tracking and KPI reporting helped Corporate Visions partner Closed Loop keep close tabs on the success of their marketing efforts. “Being able to see right away which ads, audiences, or strategies are not working is crucial to our success,” says Kerri Potter, Digital Advertising Manager at Closed Loop. “We need to be able to focus our budget on what we know is working, and turn off anything that isn’t.”

Tight-knit tracking

•   The ability to integrate third-party apps like Marketo and SalesForce with LinkedIn helps Corporate Visions decrease the amount of time that passes before they follow up with a lead, which ultimately increases the company’s SALs.
•   “Having a really tight-knit tracking program has helped us grow and perform,” says Laforge. “We have SalesForce, Marketo, and LinkedIn completely in line so we can tell—down to the ad type—what’s performing, what’s getting us the best MQL rate, what’s getting us the best SAL rate, and what’s getting us the best business.”