4 B2B LinkedIn Advertising Strategies That Are Working in 2026

With 16M+ members in Australia as of 2025 and over 1 billion users worldwide, it’s safe to consider LinkedIn as a leading channel to reach professional business decision makers. With that scale, LinkedIn B2B advertising excels in its ability to connect your message directly to the people who can act on it.

While Facebook and Google Ads deliver strong targeting across Search, Display and YouTube ad campaigns, LinkedIn Ads continues to outperform other platforms in reaching professional audiences. The platform is up-to-date (for the most part) when it comes to job changes, promotions, job titles, etc. 

Marketers can go in and build an audience that now stretches beyond geography. As a B2B social media marketing agency, we’re able to narrow our ad impressions with multi-layered targeting based on the size of business, vertical, job function, job title, seniority and more.

Go back three, four, five years and many marketers would say that LinkedIn was ‘too expensive’. The minimum spend was relatively high, making it accessible only to the big brands. Over the years, the platform has opened up, giving SMEs the option to run smaller, more targeted campaigns and making LinkedIn B2B advertising accessible to brands of every size. The platform gives those of us dealing with complex B2B scenarios a foot in the door.

Traditional performance style ads can feel a little out of place on LinkedIn.  People don’t open LinkedIn expecting a sales pitch. The hard sell that might work on Facebook or Google often fails on B2B LinkedIn Ads, which is why more brands are shifting towards LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads. 

These native ad formats spark authentic conversations and share valuable expertise instead of direct promotions. They’re designed for how professionals actually use the platform to exchange insights and ideas, and they consistently drive higher engagement across LinkedIn campaigns. A Head of Marketing might post a short, insight-led update such as:

“Most B2B marketers are still measuring success by impressions. But if your pipeline hasn’t moved in six months, it’s time to rethink your KPIs. Here’s how we recalibrated ours to focus on actual opportunity creation.”

It is thoughtful, useful and relatable without sounding like a sales pitch. That is what makes Thought Leader Ads stand out on LinkedIn.

In fact, Thought Leader Ads currently perform among the best ad types on LinkedIn, often seeing 1.7x higher click-through rates, which is almost unheard of on the platform. Because people come to LinkedIn to learn and stay informed, traditional performance ads tend to stand out for the wrong reasons. On the other hand, Thought Leader Ads blend naturally into the feed by amplifying genuine posts from employees or company leaders through paid targeting.

Here’s what makes Thought Leader Ads so effective:

• They highlight genuine perspectives from industry experts, not faceless brand messages.
• The content feels native to the feed, as it mirrors the organic posts in tone and layout, using the same voice professionals expect from trusted peers. 
• They inspire meaningful interactions that build trust and brand authority.
• Brands see greater success when campaigns pair sharp visual storytelling and thoughtful messaging, often developed alongside a skilled creative team.

In short, LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads build credibility, trust and stronger engagement than traditional performance ads, especially at the top of the funnel where relationships begin.

Marketers often default to LinkedIn lead generation forms because they’re fast and easy to set up. But that convenience can come at a cost. The real question is whether you’re chasing quantity or quality.

Lead Gen forms work best when:

You want to reduce friction by keeping users on the platform. They’re ideal for high-volume, top-of-funnel campaigns and make LinkedIn lead generation advertising more efficient. With tools like HubSpot, leads can flow directly into your CRM for instant nurturing and follow-up.

A top-of-funnel campaign might promote a short guide such as “Five Ways to Align Sales and Marketing on LinkedIn.” The ad uses a simple lead form that auto-fills a user’s details and offers instant access to the download. It gives value first, builds credibility, and lets your team start meaningful conversations with qualified prospects right away.

Landing Pages are better when:

Your offer needs more context, visuals or proof to drive action. They deliver stronger intent signals and usually attract better-quality leads. Directing users to your landing page or site also increases engagement opportunities and allows for remarketing across Google, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

There’s no single right choice here. Both formats play a role in B2B LinkedIn advertising. Test each one and align it with your campaign objective and the complexity of your offer. The best B2B LinkedIn strategy balances ease with depth to build loyal connections.

Getting leads is easy. Getting the right ones is where it gets interesting. LinkedIn Document Ads give people a preview of your content before they hand over their details, helping you attract leads that are genuinely invested in what you have to say.

Document Ads let users scroll through a preview of your asset, such as an ebook, checklist or guide, directly in the LinkedIn feed. This small interaction helps people qualify themselves before converting. Those who go on to submit the form are usually the ones who found value in what they saw, which means better-quality leads and fewer mismatches.

They work especially well for lead magnets. Offering a sneak peek of your content sets clear expectations and helps weed out low-intent users who might have filled out the form without real interest. It’s a simple but effective way to make LinkedIn B2B advertising feel more genuine and focused on real engagement. You can learn more about crafting strong lead magnets in our guide on How to Create and Market the Perfect Ebook.

Here is where Document Ads shine:

• Promoting gated content where lead quality matters most (e.g. ‘Download our 2026 Digital Benchmark Report to see how your performance stacks up.’). 
• Sharing visual, insight-driven or how-to style content (e.g. ‘Here are three ad creatives that boosted B2B click-through rates by 40%.’).
• Focusing on relevance over volume (e.g. ‘We custom-built this campaign for marketing managers in SaaS.’).
• Running alongside top-of-funnel formats like Thought Leader Ads (e.g. ‘After watching our founder’s post on AI trends, here’s the full guide to apply them’.).

Document Ads give users transparency and give marketers confidence. They help you set expectations upfront and attract people who actually want what you are offering, a solid win for any B2B LinkedIn advertising strategy.

AI has made it easier than ever to fill a LinkedIn feed. Being remembered is just as important as being discovered, and that’s where retargeting earns its place in your LinkedIn B2B advertising.

LinkedIn Ads give you the option to set up retargeting campaigns to a remarketing email list or to users who have landed on your website. Since users typically use the platform when they’re in ‘business mode’ rather than when they scroll Facebook or Instagram, this creates a strong opportunity to get more eyes on your brand and value proposition.

You can retarget based on site visits, email lists, video views or ad engagement. This lets you deliver relevant, trust-building messages that strengthen awareness and credibility. At Rocket, our paid social specialists often use these signals to help clients stay visible without feeling intrusive.

Best Practices for Retargeting

• Share client testimonials or case study quotes.
• Promote an explainer or behind-the-scenes video.
• Highlight media features or awards.
• Reinforce a consistent brand message, not just an offer.

We recommend setting up remarketing campaigns that strengthen confidence in the services you provide. These ads should be optimised for impressions and reach, rather than conversions, to maintain and even elevate the visibility, engagement and brand recall of your B2B LinkedIn ads long after the first interaction.

While LinkedIn B2B advertising can provide you with a steady flow of contacts from your exact target market, conversions from LinkedIn don’t mean that they’re ready to speak to your sales team.

It's important you continue to nurture the fresh contacts with email marketing, display remarketing, sales automation tools, and when it makes sense, phone calls.

For a deeper look at how these channels work together to drive growth, check out our Essential Australian B2B Marketing Guide.