E2: The Power of LinkedIn Ads: Insights from Canberk Beker of Hockeystack/Cognism
Most B2B marketers see both Hockeystack and Cognism everywhere, especially on LinkedIn, but who is behind the roaring success of both these Brands? In the latest episode of The LinkedIn Ads Lab, I had a great chat with Canberk Beker, Global Head of Paid Acquisition at Hockeystack/Cognism, about how he led his team(s) to refine their approach to LinkedIn Ads and help create the future of B2B marketing. Canberk is a true leader in the space, so this chat was full of truly brilliant insights and inspiration.
Why LinkedIn Ads Are Important for B2B Advertising
As a B2B marketer, it's crucial to understand that LinkedIn is the go-to platform for reaching decision-makers, and that’s where Canberk’s expertise comes in. He shared how Cognism’s structured, data-driven approach to LinkedIn Ads has helped them grow their paid acquisition team and drive results. With an incredibly segmented audience strategy, Cognism focuses on reaching their target accounts with pinpoint accuracy.
Cognism also focus on intent data and their precise audience segmentation really enhances their use of LinkedIn Ads. By creating distinct targeting groups across marketing, sales, and IT, they’ve been able to get clear with who they're reaching and enhance engagement by speaking to these personas, ensuring that every penny spent delivers value. This is especially important in B2B advertising, where each decision-maker counts, maybe not equally but they at least hold a say.
Building a Sustainable Campaign Structure
Canberk’s approach to campaign structure is pretty clear. Cognism has developed a framework that includes a few key campaign groups: Thought leadership, Product ads, Social Proof, Testimonials and Retargeting. This holistic approach creates a funnel that moves prospects from awareness all the way through to conversion—touching on all of the pain-points that these decision makers care about.
The Experimentation Mindset
One of the key takeaways from Canberk’s approach is his relentless commitment to testing. He’s constantly experimenting with different campaign structures, ad formats, and audience segments to fine-tune what works best. For example, Cognism has run successful campaigns with LinkedIn’s thought leadership ads, capitalizing on employee advocacy and thought leadership posts to build stronger connections with potential clients.
A major insight from Canberk was his recent test with Sales Navigator’s intent data. By identifying companies showing high intent on LinkedIn, he manually created targeted campaigns that achieved lower CPCs and higher engagement than their traditional campaigns. This type of innovation that keeps his teams one step ahead of the game.
LinkedIn Ads: Optimising for Success
A huge part of Cognism’s success with LinkedIn Ads is their focus on intent-based marketing. They’re not just targeting cold audiences—they're using LinkedIn Ads to nurture and engage high-intent prospects, ensuring better conversions down the funnel. One of the biggest challenges in B2B advertising is maximizing the ROI on your ad spend, and Cognism’s approach proves that focusing on precise targeting and engagement is key.
Canberk also talked about the importance of remarketing. With browser privacy updates making third-party cookies less reliable, LinkedIn’s retargeting tools have become even more valuable. By focusing on retargeting within LinkedIn, Cognism ensures that they’re staying in front of their most valuable audiences, even as external tracking methods evolve.
What You Can Learn from Cognism’s Approach to LinkedIn Ads
For any B2B marketer running LinkedIn Ads, Cognism’s strategy offers some clear takeaways:
- Focus on Precision – LinkedIn Ads offer unparalleled targeting capabilities. If you’re not using them to laser in on decision-makers, you’re wasting budget.
- Build a Multi-layered Campaign Structure – Like Cognism, don’t rely on just one type of ad. Incorporate thought leadership, social proof, and retargeting to nurture leads through your funnel.
- Always Be Testing – From ad formats to audience segmentation, constant experimentation is key to maximizing LinkedIn Ads’ performance.
- Leverage New Ad Formats – The LinkedIn Ads space is evolving fast. Thought Leader Ads, in particular, have huge potential for those willing to experiment.
- Use Intent Data: Leverage tools like Sales Navigator to identify companies showing intent and create hyper-targeted campaigns.
- Start with Your Strengths: If your company’s biggest asset is its product, start by promoting that. Build from there as you fine-tune your campaigns.
Conclusion
If you take one thing from Canberk’s experience, let it be this: LinkedIn Ads are not a set-it-and-forget-it channel. You need to be all-in on strategy, segmentation, and testing to see real results.
Whether you’re handling your LinkedIn Ads in-house or working with a LinkedIn Ads agency, remember—success comes down to great inputs and sustained management.
If you’re ready to get serious about LinkedIn Ads, let’s chat.
