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- 5+ Lessons - LinkedIn Ads B2B Benchmarks '25
5+ Lessons - LinkedIn Ads B2B Benchmarks '25
Dreamdata's report, cold calling report & scripts, category creation & scale >$2m ARR & more...
Okerosi Davis
March 09, 2025 • Letter: 12 minutes
To Marketers,
Okerosi here with Product Weekly.
In this newsletter, I share proven insights I have gathered this week across; product marketing, B2B ad creatives & SaaS growth playbooks from the top 5% minds in the space.
In this week’s roundup:
- LinkedIn Ads for B2B
- 6.7% cold calling success rate
- Scale beyond $2m arr with agencies
Weekly Letter
Dreamdata’s LinkedIn ads B2B benchmark report ‘25
The
Dreamdata team and partners have been raving about working on a LinkedIn Ads B2B Benchmark Report for 2025, and it’s now here. You can grab a copy here, but you must sign up to access it.
Although Google still leads the B2B ad budget at 48%, LinkedIn ads come second at 39%, an eight percent increase from 31% last year—2022. This is a clear indication of the confidence growth in LinkedIn ad investment.
When LinkedIn Ads engagement data is included in revenue attribution modeling, we find that there is a 7.7x increase in the accuracy of measured ROI for LinkedIn Ads. Which highlights how not tracking this data layer might mean missed revenue.
B2B Ads Cost & ROAS
On the surface, LinkedIn Ads look expensive compared to Meta Ads and Google Ads. LinkedIn Ads carries the highest cost per contact influenced - over 145% higher than Meta and 100% higher than Google Ads.
However, LinkedIn runs the lowest cost per company influenced of the major ad networks. With Meta and Google Search Ads being approximately 70% and 25% more expensive than LinkedIn Ads per company.
As the return on ads spend (ROAS), for B2B, LinkedIn offers the best returns of the three major networks at 113%.
Thought Leader Ads
I have written about Thought Leader ads before, it’s a complete resource for this year. According to the benchmark report, as of the Q1 LinkedIn data source, they have a 2.3X higher CTR than single-image ads with the same objectives.
However, for this format to be effective, they don’t work in isolation. You can get the most by leveraging other formats like Conversation Ads and Lead Gen Forms.
I am constantly browsing the LinkedIn Ads Library, and I have noticed that most B2B companies are leveraging Thought Leader ads, using in-house experts like the CEO and CMOs and partnering with industry influencers.
B2B Customer Journey
LinkedIn Ads take the lead in channels that influence the pipeline across the buyer journey. The report analyzed three metrics, and the numbers are below:
For B2B companies looking to secure new business (35%), LinkedIn ads are better than any of the other two channels. Additionally, for marketing qualified leads (MQLs), LinkedIn comes at 29%, Google at 19%, and Meta at 4%.
Based on our aggregated customer data, the standard B2B customer journey lasts 211 days (approximately 7 months) from the first touch to the close/win. It’s clear that the larger the company, the longer the customer journey.
The key for B2B marketers is to use LinkedIn strategically, not just for demand generation, but as an ongoing engagement tool to nurture and accelerate pipeline opportunities.
Expert Webinar
How to think about Category Creation - 1Password CMO
The CMO of 1Password, Melton Littlepage was interviewed at the Exit Five podcast, and here are the summaries from the podcast episode.
Category leadership is critical for long-term success, as the leader typically captures the majority of category economics, leaving #2 and #3 players with both product and category challenges.
Companies in #2 or #3 positions should focus on creating new markets where they can become the undisputed leader, shifting from product marketing to solution marketing that addresses specific pain points.
Positioning as the undeniable category leader forces buyers to acknowledge choosing a lower-ranked option, resulting in winning a higher percentage of deals.
Demand generation for a new category involves provoking demand by highlighting chronic pains that are now solvable for the first time, running through traditional sales cycles with a focus on solution-oriented marketing.
Marketing strategies for category creation - 1Password as an example
Effective category creation involves "lightning strike moments" at major industry events, engaging analysts, and hosting CISO meetups to build consensus and provoke conversation around the new category.
Strategic sports sponsorships, like 1Password's title sponsorship of the President's Cup golf tournament, saturate both B2B and B2C buyers, leveraging fan passion to build brand trust.
Leveraging thought leadership and analyst relations plays a crucial role in shaping a new category and positioning a company as a leader within it.
Proven Framework
3 Insights on the State Cold Calling Report ‘25
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Word on the street is that cold calling is making a comeback. One key reason is that it’s less utilized as a channel to close leads.
However, Cognism’s 2025 report indicates otherwise on several fronts, as shared by experts and insights from the data.
What are the most common cold-calling objections?
From the report. while the average cold calling success rate is around 2%, Cognism’s stands at 6.7%. This success comes from their seven pillars to cold call strategy.
The old way of ‘spray and pray’ has proven not to work, and Cognism learnt the hard way. The team is now executing the above strategy.
1/ Reps are now incentivised based on quality conversations and their impact on the funnel.
Reps want to find a better match between what we do and the kinds of people we best serve, as this is their best chance of earning extra commission.
2/ Having a tight ICP definition and sticking to it.
“ Your ICP is your north star in outbound sales. If you stray too far from it, you’re not just burning time—you’re burning trust with prospects who don’t need what you’re selling.”
“The ICP isn’t just a static list of accounts—it’s a living, breathing framework that evolves as the market changes. The companies that succeed in outbound are the ones that regularly test, validate, and refine their ICP.”
3/ Understand and define your ‘power line’
The power line are the lines of influence and authority within an organisation that connect the stakeholders involved in buying decisions.
“In every deal, there are visible decision-makers and invisible power lines. If you don’t map them, you’ll end up blindsided by someone you didn’t even know was part of the process.”
“If you’re only speaking to one person, you’re not running an outbound play—you’re gambling. A deal can fall apart because you didn’t see the power line to the real decision-maker.”
The others in summary:
*Having the correct contact data is the difference between a bunch of unconnected calls and wasted time and a soaring success rate.
*Use the phone across the entire deal to multi-thread. For the Cognism team, the phone isn’t just for prospecting—it’s a multi-threading tool that can help sales reps engage multiple stakeholders, align decision-makers, and keep deals moving forward.
5 Cold Calling Steps + Scripts - Aaron Reeves
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B2B businesses spending $50K/mo on ads and want to profitably scale past $150K/mo.
There are 3 levers you need to pull to do this:
Lever 1: Your Creative.
This goes for both Linkedin and Facebook.
I’ve seen ad accounts cost their ad costs in half overnight because of better creative messaging.
This could be through better:
- Improving positioning
- More resonant marketing angles in the ads
- Stronger visual headline
- More congruent text and ad image
- Social proof and industry specific testimonial use
Improving your creative messaging comes from running tests and iterating on the data.
Lever 2: Your Offer.
There’s two types of offers I’d recommend running:
- Content offers (templates, checklists, guides)
- Incentive-based offers (Product credits or a gift card)
We just had a B2B client test a new incentive gift card offer.
It led to them decreasing their overall cost per new closed customer by 40%.
This was on a big account with a lot of spend too.
Which just shows how these tests can make a huge difference in ad account cost savings.
Lever 3: Conversion Events Qualification.
Most companies waste money attracting unqualified prospects who never buy.
The solution is to focus on getting “better” leads, not “more” leads.
One way you could do is is by improving your lead form by adding 2 simple questions:
- Do you have budget approval?
- Is this problem a priority to solve this quarter?
This refines your qualifications and gets higher quality leads through the door.
B2B Creatives
Proven LinkedIn Ad creative breakdown
LinkedIn post on the 3 rules
Letter Examples
Andruil’s Guerilla Marketing Campaign
Scaling beyond $2m ARR - Expandi io
If your SaaS is under $2M ARR, you NEED to go all in on selling to agencies and consultants. It’s how we scaled to our first $2M with Expandi. Here’s why it’s a SaaS growth cheat code:
1. Built-in distribution
Instead of acquiring 1,000 customers one by one, land 10 agencies that serve those 1,000 customers. That’s exponential scale.
2. They’re power users
An individual user buys once. Agencies embed your SaaS into every client they work with. That mans recurring revenue at scale.
3. They solve the trust problem
Agencies are trusted advisors. When they recommend a tool, customers don’t question it. No endless nurturing, no long sales cycles - instant credibility that you can leverage.
4. Lower CAC, higher LTV
Selling to agencies is B2B2B:
⦁ Lower cost of acquisition (fewer high-value deals vs. chasing thousands of users).
⦁ Higher retention (because switching tools costs them time and client trust).
5. You become their competitive edge
Agencies are always looking for an edge over competitors. If your SaaS improves their workflow, automates client results, or saves them time, they’ll push it hard because it makes them look good.
6 Elements to a GTM Strategy
That is all for this week.
Reply to this email; questions & feedback.
Let’s connect via LinkedIn - Okerosi