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From $0 to Millions in ARR: The LinkedIn Ads Blueprint for Hyper-Efficient Growth (3:1 ARR/CAC)

Brian Yam · Paragon

Published September 6, 2024
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What you’ll learn

Brian Yam presents a framework for using LinkedIn Ads efficiently at Paragon. He covers channel fit, account and role targeting, cold-to-hot creative, segmentation, and the metrics that diagnose audience and message fit.

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Key moments

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Decide when LinkedIn is not a fit

“yet uh if your ICP does not spend time on LinkedIn don't you know meet them where they are don't spend money on LinkedIn if they don't uh third if you don't have content your ICP will find Value in uh I'll get into this more later but you probably shouldn't spend too much money on LinkedIn if you don't have content uh fourth if you have a very low ACV if you're a plg product where you're trying to drive signups for you know $100 a year probably not you know not a great Channel fit for you and then if you have less than 5K to spend and try to build confidence in the channel I would say probably not worth”
Watch at 03:22

Target roles and buyer temperature

“from this lens and this kind of ties into targeting so when you build your targeting um framework those segments we just put together that builds up the account or company part of your targeting right so for every campaign you need to figure out what roles are we targeting are we targeting product leaders are we targeting marketing leaders right um that's consistent across all campaigns and then in the middle that's where you decide okay for this campaign am I targeting the cold segment the warm segment the hot segment”
Watch at 06:47

Match ads to the buying stage

“to really think about okay is it you know they're not convinced that my product is the right solution do they think the problem we solve is not a priority you can start to think ask yourself these questions to inform what you focus your ads on right because they're they're kind of actively buying and so here's just some examples from the left we have our cold ads on the right we have hot and so just to give you example of how we kind of break this apart on the left we're talking about kind of engineering content where Integrations are a small piece of it but it's really just like a very kind of hot”
Watch at 10:12

Turn an ICP into focused segments

“verticalized B2B SAS as the example but there's sales software that we could sell to there's marketing software we can sell to there's HR software we can sell to as an example those are all individual segments if you break it down you know this is also a pretty big range of company sizes right and so we think about our tiers in terms of okay are they five 50 to 200 employees are they 200 to 500 employees right these are all different ways of cutting the pie remember your ICP is not your uh not your segment it's your universe so pick your best segment look at your sales”
Watch at 13:35

Check readiness before spending

“Part 1.1 Before You Spend $1 Dollar on LinkedIn Ads”
Read slide 9

Set up owned data and tracking

“Data & Infrastructure Account List LinkedIn Tag Conversion Tracking “How did you hear about us” UTMs Post-lead operations Owned Data LinkedIn Setup Website Google Analytics Operations”
Read slide 17

Keep campaign targeting simple

“Campaign Targeting Example Y companies X roles Keep it simple Z locations”
Read slide 25

Use workflows for every lead source

“Our HubSpot Workflows Fork for every lead source asset”
Read slide 33

Diagnose audience and message fit

“On-Platform Metrics Click-Through Rate Right audience? Right messaging? Cost per Lead/Conversion How efficient are my campaigns relative to each other? Website Activity Is the offer/destination good enough?”
Read slide 41

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  • From $0 to Millions in ARR: The LinkedIn Ads Blueprint for Hyper-Efficient Growth (3:1 ARR/CAC) - Slide Deck

About the speaker
Brian Yam

Brian Yam

Head of Marketing · Paragon

LinkedIn

Head of Marketing at Paragon, a company focused on simplifying software integration processes for developers.

Company revenue
$3.5M

More founder interviews

Slide text

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44 passages

LinkedIn Ads growth blueprint

  1. Slide 1Open deck

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 From $0 to Millions in ARR: The LinkedIn Ads Blueprint for Hyper-Efficient Growth Brian Yam Head of Growth & Marketing, Paragon

  2. Slide 2Open deck

    Startup Growth Engines Over $1M spent YTD >30x ARR growth since joining Paragon Pre-Paragon Fractional growth lead for multiple seed to series B companies across paid search/social, outbound, and conversion-rate optimization At Paragon From launch to a series A and millions in ARR Accountable for 100% of our pipeline

  3. Slide 3Open deck

    What is Paragon?

  4. Slide 4Open deck

    “LinkedIn Ads is Too Expensive”

  5. Slide 6Open deck

    “LinkedIn Ads is Too Expensive” Without a strategic framework

  6. Slide 7Open deck

    So I’ll Show You Mine (3:1 ARR/CAC)

  7. Slide 8Open deck

    In the next 20 minutes A framework for running LinkedIn ads that can start small and scale by 100x Before starting Nail your ICP Don’t run LinkedIn if… Data & Infrastructure The framework From 0-100 Targeting Messaging & offer The follow up Where to start Measurement Scaling

Checking channel readiness

  1. Slide 9Open deck

    Part 1.1 Before You Spend $1 Dollar on LinkedIn Ads

  2. Slide 10Open deck

    Nail Your ICP

  3. Slide 11Open deck

    Make it More Specific Your ICP is not your TAM “{{target persona}} at {{company vertical(s)}} companies in {{regions}} with {{company size/revenue/funding}}, {{team attribute}}, and {{custom details}}. They are currently {{existing solution(s)}} but {{why status quo/existing solutions aren’t sufficient}}.” Here’s my template:

  4. Slide 12Open deck

    An Example Raise your hand if this is you “Product/engineering leaders at non-verticalized B2B SaaS in North America, Europe, and Australia companies with 50-500 employees or >$10 million in funding, who don’t have a dedicated integrations engineering team and have less than 30 native integrations.”

  5. Slide 13Open deck

    ICP → Targeting Universe Be as specific as possible Contact Data Engineering leadership (CTO, VP/Head/Director of Engineering) Product leadership & product managers Account Data Non-verticalized B2B SaaS 50-500 employees or >$10 million in funding North America, Europe, and Australia No dedicated integrations engineering team Less than 30 integrations Building in-house or using a unified API

  6. Slide 14Open deck

    Part 1.2 Should You Even Invest in LinkedIn Ads?

  7. Slide 15Open deck

    Don’t Invest in LinkedIn Ads if.. You don’t have a clear idea of what your ideal customer profile (ICP) is Your ICP doesn’t spend their time on LinkedIn You don’t have content your ICP will find valuable* You have a very low ACV (average contract value) - ballpark <$5k You have less than $5000 to spend on the channel *Except for retargeting

  8. Slide 16Open deck

    Part 1.3 Data & Infrastructure

Building data and measurement infrastructure

  1. Slide 17Open deck

    Data & Infrastructure Account List LinkedIn Tag Conversion Tracking “How did you hear about us” UTMs Post-lead operations Owned Data LinkedIn Setup Website Google Analytics Operations

  2. Slide 18Open deck

    Data & Infrastructure Account List LinkedIn Tag Conversion Tracking “How did you hear about us” UTMs Post-lead operations Owned Data LinkedIn Setup Website Google Analytics Operations

  3. Slide 19Open deck

    Data-as-a-service ($$$) Expensive but hyper-specific unparalleled Account Data (General) Off-the-shelf data providers Easiest to start with, but may not be granular enough Manual/Scrape Build a process for finding companies and offshore Get hyper-specific data at scale

  4. Slide 20Open deck

    Account Data Non-verticalized B2B SaaS 50-500 employees or >$10 million in funding North America, Europe, and Australia No dedicated integrations engineering team Less than 30 integrations Building in-house or using a unified API Targeting → Master Account List

  5. Slide 21Open deck

    Part 2: Core pillars Before starting Don’t run LinkedIn if… Nail your ICP Data & Infrastructure The framework Scaling & Iteration Targeting Ads Basics Follow Up Where to start Measurement Scaling

  6. Slide 22Open deck

    Part 2.1 Campaign Targeting

  7. Slide 23Open deck

    The Marketing Funnel Useful even if buyers don’t buy in a linear fashion Unfamiliar/Cold Does not know your product well Hot Visited key pages on your website (pricing/signup etc.) Engaged/Warm Engaged with your brand/ads/website Evaluating In your sales process or in a free trial Key conversion (signup/demo)

  8. Slide 24Open deck

    Funnel → Campaigns Y Accounts Unfamiliar/Cold X roles AT Target Z locations IN Key Web Visitors Hot Engaged with Ads Warm Opps/Sign Ups Evaluating

Designing campaign targeting

  1. Slide 25Open deck

    Campaign Targeting Example Y companies X roles Keep it simple Z locations

  2. Slide 26Open deck

    Part 2.2 Creatives & Messaging

  3. Slide 27Open deck

    The Formula for Creatives Ad Messaging Context Offer What part of the funnel are they in? What content/topics are relevant to them? How do we make them interested in our offer?

  4. Slide 28Open deck

    Always Remember: No one gives a 💩 about your product Except for the small % actively looking to buy

  5. Slide 29Open deck

    What does your ICP want? What is their JTBD? What problems are they facing? What questions do they need answers to? What do they want to learn? Why didn’t they convert? Is the problem you solve not a priority? Are they not convinced they need a solution? What are common product objections? Do they need proof of success? Unfamiliar/Cold Warm Hot Evaluating Ideation Prompts

  6. Slide 30Open deck

    Examples Warm Unfamiliar/Cold Hot

  7. Slide 31Open deck

    Part 2.3 The Follow Up

  8. Slide 32Open deck

    Don’t Waste Your Leads Build a clear follow-up strategy Lead Captured! Calendar Booking Link Asset Specific Sales Follow Up Marketing Nurture Demo (Hot) Warm Intent Marketing Nurture Marketing Nurture Unfamiliar/Cold

Operating lead workflows

  1. Slide 33Open deck

    Our HubSpot Workflows Fork for every lead source asset

  2. Slide 34Open deck

    Part 3: From 0-100 Before starting Don’t run LinkedIn if… Nail your ICP Data & Infrastructure The framework How to scale Targeting Ads Basics Follow Up Where to start Measurement Scaling

  3. Slide 35Open deck

    Part 3.1 Where to Start?

  4. Slide 36Open deck

    #1 - Retargeting Audience Retarget visits to your website Demo Page Pricing Page Product Pages Ad Creatives Handle objections Customer case studies Highlight value props + build FOMO Tease the product Lowest hanging fruit - use this to build conviction in the channel

  5. Slide 37Open deck

    #2 - Pick 1 Segment Do not spread yourself thin. Start with your best segments Account Data Industry 1, Industry 2, Industry 3 50-1000 employees North America, Europe, and Australia Segment 1 Industry 1 North America 50-200 employees Product Leaders Segment 2 Industry 1 North America 201-500 employees Engineering Leaders Segment 3 Industry 2 Europe 50-200 employees Product Leaders Segment N …

  6. Slide 38Open deck

    Ad Objectives Start here if you have low confidence Best for top of funnel Great for retargeting

  7. Slide 39Open deck

    Part 3.2 Measuring Performance

  8. Slide 40Open deck

    Don’t Fall Into the Attribution Trap Keep other channels steady to isolate impact Evaluate overall efficiency (total marketing spend/outcomes)

Reading campaign metrics

  1. Slide 41Open deck

    On-Platform Metrics Click-Through Rate Right audience? Right messaging? Cost per Lead/Conversion How efficient are my campaigns relative to each other? Website Activity Is the offer/destination good enough?

  2. Slide 42Open deck

    Part 3.3 Scaling

  3. Slide 43Open deck

    Iterate & Test Constantly Test your segments (new segments, different ways of segmenting) Iterate messaging, ad creatives, and offers Keep shipping valuable content (especially with smaller audiences) Experiment with new ad formats (videos/images/personal posts/messages) Campaigns from <3 years

  4. Slide 44Open deck

    If Nothing Else, Remember these 4 Things Nail your ICP No one cares about your product Map your funnel Scale one small segment at a time

  5. Slide 45Open deck

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 Thank you! brian@useparagon.com Brian Yam Head of Growth & Marketing, Paragon