Volvo Car Canada Drives Home Strong B2C Marketing Results with LinkedIn

Challenge

There is a common misperception that LinkedIn is solely effective as a B2B marketing tool. However, LinkedIn works with many high-consideration B2C brands that experience long-term success by engaging customers and prospects on the platform. Volvo Car Canada saw a key opportunity with LinkedIn’s member base of thoughtful and sophisticated researchers. “With the way people shop for cars now, so many of the choices considered are determined from online content, before they even arrive at the lot,” says Alexandra Cochran, Activation Director for Volvo Car Canada’s agency, m/SIX. She adds that her team didn’t view the business-oriented nature of LinkedIn’s member base as an inhibitor: “At the end of the day, whether it’s a consumer in a laid-back mindset or in a professional mindset, they’re still people.”

Solution

The targeting capabilities on LinkedIn empowered Volvo Car Canada to reach the type of individuals it sought as customers, based on geography and career attributes. The marketing team experimented with a variety of different ad products, including Video Ads, Sponsored Content, and Carousel Ads. Cochran notes that leveraging positive press articles with coverage of Volvo performed well, providing third-party validation of the latest features, technology and design. LinkedIn’s new format for Carousel Ads was a central focus and stood out as a strong fit because of the way it can help brands tell a visual story to a mobile audience.

Results

The main objectives for Volvo Car Canada’s marketing was to accelerate engagement, awareness, consideration, and onsite lead conversion depending on format and content. Volvo Car Canada’s marketing efforts on LinkedIn delivered for each of these goals. Volvo Car Canada were extremely impressed with the response rates being “in some cases three times higher versus standard media approaches.” In particular, the Carousel Ads achieved a 75% increase in click-through rate compared to static posts. As advice for others using the platform, Alexandra Cochran emphasized the importance of knowing your audience and catering creative directly for them in order to achieve best results.