The Campainless Blog
Are you an expert in LinkedIn marketing? Are you new to the platform? Or somewhere in between? Regardless of how much experience you have – it’s likely there are still some gaps in your understanding when it comes to LinkedIn advertising costs. And you need to fill them in order to get the most out of your investment. In this comprehensive guide, we break down the main things you need to know about LinkedIn advertising costs & empower you to make better decisions.
There are a number of different factors that go into determining how much your LinkedIn advertising costs. At a base level, it depends primarily on “the type of activity you’re paying for and the ad auction.” You choose an objective and a compatible bid type and your ads are sold through an ad auction. There, they will compete against ads from other advertisers trying to reach your target audience. This is how the cost you pay is determined.
It may sound relatively simple when broken down like this. However, there are always multiple variables at play. Some of these include: your target audience, your objective, your bidding strategy and your ad relevance score.
For example, if your audience are decision makers in the tech industry, it’s likely your CPCs / CPM will be far higher than if you were targeting entry level marketers in the consumer goods industry. If your prospects are predominantly located in the United States, you’ll be paying more than if they were in India. If you advertise around the end of the financial year it may be more expensive than over Christmas.
If you choose video ads they are likely to be cheaper than single image or carousel ones. Is awareness your objective? Your ads will probably set you back less than lead gen or conversion. If your ads receive high CTRs, heaps of comments, likes and shares – this is likely to drive down your costs. If you choose Automating Bidding vs Manual CPC you’re probably paying more.
In summary, the variables that go into influencing your advertising costs are endless.
As you might have guessed by now, there’s no simple answer to how much LinkedIn advertising costs. What you pay will depend greatly on a number of factors as discussed above. That being said, there are some averages that can help to give you an idea of what platform costs look like. It’s good to have an understanding of what these are but only as a trading post – to get your bearings.
According to WebFX, the global average for businesses to pay on LinkedIn is US $5.26 per click and $6.59 per 1000 impressions. However, these averages get more nuanced, and perhaps more helpful when we break them down further by category. The following averages (objective, region, industry, and seniority) have been sourced from the B2B House in their article on the same topic.
Many marketers want to know how much LinkedIn ads are (particularly as they stack up against other advertising platforms). So how expensive are they really? When compared to Facebook, the average cost per click is typically 5x higher – $1.68 vs $5.25. And it’s a similar story for Google Ads, which sits around $1-$2 per click. So, on a cost per click basis, LinkedIn is expensive.
However, there’s good reasons for this. Firstly, LinkedIn targeting is unparalleled. With no other platform can you target your audience so precisely with up-to-date information. Plus, when compared to other social channels like Facebook Ads, where the whole world is on there and could be doing anything, for any reason – you can get you in front of your target when they are in a work mindset. So while LinkedIn advertising can be expensive, it’s usually worth it to target exactly the right eyeballs, at the right time.
Now that you have a rough idea of how much businesses are paying on LinkedIn, how costs are determined and the comparative cost per click, it’s time to jump into how you can budget effectively for the channel. While the minimum daily budget per campaign is $10 a day, we’d typically recommend running with a minimum of $100 a day / per campaign. If you head to market with anything less in your pocket, you’re unlikely to:
That being said, the optimal amount you should spend on LinkedIn advertising really depends on your business, vertical, objective, channel mix, offer and available budget. If you’re planning to execute a full-funnel approach (which we highly recommend!) – you’re going to need a lot more budget under your belt.
There you have it! The complete guide to LinkedIn advertising costs – done and dusted. You are now well-prepared to navigate the complex territory of in-platform costs and ensure you’re getting the most out of your investment. Want to expand this expert-level understanding beyond LinkedIn costs to campaign management as a whole? Check out our full guide to LinkedIn Campaign Management and never drop a ball again. Or, if you’re looking for more of a helping hand in the space: learn more about our world-first LinkedIn optimisation tool that can help you ensure phenomenal results.
