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LinkedIn Ads can be one of the most powerful channels for B2B marketers. But it’s also one of the easiest places to burn through budget if you’re not careful.

Here are three common pitfalls that drain ad spend and how to avoid them.

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Pitfall 1: leaving default settings on

By default, LinkedIn enables two settings that almost guarantee wasted spend:

• LinkedIn Audience Network (LAN): This pushes your ads to third-party sites and apps. The traffic quality is consistently low, and in most cases, it eats up your budget without meaningful conversions. Turn it off.
  
  
• Audience Expansion: LinkedIn will “stretch” your targeting to reach more people. That sounds good in theory, but in B2B where audiences are narrow and specific, it often means your ads reach irrelevant users. Turn this off too.
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Pitfall 2: relying on maximum delivery bidding

The default bidding option on LinkedIn is Maximum Delivery, which typically means you’re paying on a CPM basis. Here’s the problem:

• CPM on LinkedIn is far more expensive than CPC.
  
• With Maximum Delivery, you’ll almost always pay more per click than necessary.
  
  

Instead, switch to manual CPC bidding. By controlling your bids, you’ll bring down CPC significantly and get more results for the same budget.

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Pitfall 3: weak audience targeting

LinkedIn has robust targeting options, but it’s easy to get it wrong—or to let LinkedIn “leak” outside of your parameters. Many advertisers only realize this after looking at demographic insights and discovering most impressions went to the wrong audience.

Here’s how to avoid it:

• Get very specific about your ICP.
  
• Use the segment breakdown window in Campaign Manager to confirm your filters align with the right job functions, industries, seniorities, and company sizes.
  
• Apply exclusions aggressively. In fact, the exclusions list often ends up longer than the inclusions list—that’s normal.
  
  

Key takeaway

LinkedIn Ads deliver unmatched targeting and pipeline impact, but only if you avoid these three traps:

1. Default settings that leak budget
   
2. Maximum Delivery bidding that inflates costs
   
3. Loose targeting that misses your ICP
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Get these right, and you’ll see stronger ROI and higher-quality leads from your campaigns.

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