Blog · 19 August 2024

LinkedIn ad examples

LinkedIn ad examples by format, from document and thought leader ads to images and video, the patterns that work for B2B, and how to find competitors' ads.

TLDR

• The B2B ads that work on LinkedIn look like the feed: a person talking, a useful document, a specific number. Not a polished banner.
• Formats worth testing: document ads, thought leader ads, single image, and short video.
• Find your competitors’ ads free in the LinkedIn Ad Library.

Document ads

A PDF carousel people flip through in the feed. Great for lead gen: show five pages, gate the rest behind a form. What works: a report or checklist people actually want, a cover that says exactly what’s inside, and a useful first page, not a title page.

Thought leader ads

A promoted post from a person, usually a founder, instead of the company page. They blend into the feed because they are the feed. What works: an opinion, a story, or a lesson, written by the person. If it reads like the marketing team wrote it, it loses the whole point.

Single image

The classic. What works on LinkedIn: one specific claim (“Cut onboarding from 9 days to 2”), a product screenshot instead of stock, and an offer that matches the stage (a guide for cold audiences, a demo for warm ones).

Short video

Under 30 seconds, captions on, product on screen fast. A founder talking to camera beats a motion-graphics explainer more often than you’d think.

Patterns across all of them

• Specific beats clever. A number, a named problem, a named role.
• Speak to one job title. “For heads of RevOps” in the first line filters in the right people.
• Match the offer to the temperature. Cold audiences won’t book a demo. They might download a checklist.
• The landing page has to match. If the ad promises a report, the page should be the report, not your homepage.

Keep the good ones

The LinkedIn Ad Library only goes back a year, and ads disappear when they stop running. Screenshot the ones you like, and for document ads, every page. Savepad reads the words in every screenshot, which means a search for “RevOps” or “checklist” pulls up every LinkedIn ad you saved that used them. Add the landing page link and it keeps a snapshot of that too. The ad swipe file post has the setup, and Facebook ad examples covers the other big platform.

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