Why B2B Marketers Should Make LinkedIn a Strategic Priority Now
The stakes have never been higher for B2B marketers. Today’s CMOs face shorter tenures than most C-suite roles, averaging just 4.5 years, with one in nine lasting less than a year in their position. The pressure to prove impact is intense. In fact, 78% of CMOs say proving campaign ROI has become more critical in the last two years, and 66% are expected to justify marketing spend at least monthly.
The challenge is clear: B2B sales cycles average 211 days, yet marketers are under pressure to prove value almost instantly. Meanwhile, the buyer group has fundamentally shifted. Millennials and Gen Z now comprise 71% of B2B buyers, and they engage with content and messaging in new ways. B2B marketers must adapt their strategies to reach and influence this audience effectively.
As buyer dynamics shift, B2B marketers are facing growing demands to prove ROI in meaningful ways. That means moving beyond vanity metrics and focusing on real value backed by measurable impact.
In the ever-changing landscape of B2B marketing, rethinking strategies and exploring new platforms is essential for building impactful connections and achieving results. Now is the perfect time to adopt approaches that align with your business objectives. LinkedIn stands out as the ultimate platform for building credibility, growing your network, and achieving measurable results—all within a professional environment. For B2B marketers aiming to close the gap between effort and results, leveraging LinkedIn isn't just a smart choice—it’s an essential one.
Don’t miss your chance to connect with your audience where they’re making decisions. The future of B2B marketing is happening on LinkedIn. Here’s why.
LinkedIn: The Platform Built for B2B Success
With 1.2 billion members and 69 million companies on the platform, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network. But size alone doesn't make it the right choice for B2B marketing. What sets LinkedIn apart is its environment, which is purpose-built for professional engagement.
Activity is only heating up on LinkedIn (Source: LinkedIn internal data, 2025):
- Posting on LinkedIn is up 41% in the past three years.
- CEO posting has increased by 52% in the past two years.
- Video creation has jumped by 27% in the past year, and views have risen 36%.
LinkedIn was also ranked the #1 platform for influencing B2B decision-makers. (Source: Digital Marketer Preferences Research, conducted by CMB on behalf of LinkedIn, March 2025) That’s no surprise given that 98% of Fortune 500 CEOs use LinkedIn as their primary or only social media platform.
LinkedIn’s advantage isn’t just about scale. It’s about the professional mindset of its members. People come to LinkedIn with intent; they want to learn, connect and grow. That means your B2B marketing messages reach professionals who are actively seeking industry insights, exploring solutions and ready to engage with brands that add value.
Reach the Right Audiences at the Right Times
LinkedIn stands out as the top platform for reaching professional audiences, with 24% of marketers naming it as the best choice—nearly double the next closest competitor. That audience quality translates directly to performance metrics that matter.
According to Dreamdata.io, LinkedIn ads deliver a 113% return on ad spend (ROAS), significantly outperforming top competitors. These aren't vanity metrics—they represent real business impact that B2B marketers can confidently present to leadership.
Solutions for Every Stage of the Funnel
Modern B2B marketing demands a strategy that builds awareness, drives consideration and converts interest into action. LinkedIn's advertising solutions are designed to support every stage of the B2B buyer journey with tools that align to how professionals actually make decisions.
Build Awareness Through Creative Engagement
Creativity is not optional in B2B. Nearly half (49%) of B2B decision-makers say they are more likely to explore a company if its advertising is creative, and 40% say creative ads make them more likely to consider a purchase.
LinkedIn helps brands stand out while maintaining credibility, offering formats that are both engaging and effective. From First Impression Ads to in-feed Video Ads, these tools make it easy to create memorable brand moments in a professional environment.
Engage with formats like:
Drive Influence in a Trusted Environment
Trust is often dismissed as a soft brand value, but that’s a misconception. With the right strategies and tools, trust can be measured and linked to business performance. Our research shows that marketers who lead with credibility and rely on trusted voices report stronger brand lift, better lead quality and clearer impact on revenue.
LinkedIn stands out as the most trusted ad platform by B2B marketers, and decision-makers are most receptive to B2B ads on LinkedIn compared to other platforms. This trust creates an environment where Thought Leader Ads, Document Ads and BrandLink, and Event Ads can effectively build credibility and influence purchasing decisions.
According to our 2025 B2B Marketing Benchmark report Trust Is the New KPI, when buyers hear from trusted voices such as customers, experts or creators, they are more likely to engage and take action. Marketers who combine video with influencer strategies, for example, are seeing stronger results across the funnel.
Smokeball Australia is a strong example.When they delivered the same video content through a customer rather than directly from the brand, they saw a 9.5x higher completion rate and a 186% increase in ROAS. It’s a clear sign that peer voices carry weight, and LinkedIn helps amplify them in the moments that matter.
Influence with formats like:
Convert Intent into Action
At the bottom of the funnel, LinkedIn provides conversion tools designed to drive results. Lead Gen Forms, for example, which integrate directly with CRM systems for real-time optimization. Marketers who combine upper-funnel video with lead generation are seeing strong results.
SoSafe took this combined approach and integrated LinkedIn Campaign Manager with marketing automation and CRM tools to enable seamless data flow, lead scoring, and nurturing. They ran full-funnel and ABM campaigns—using brand and product content for awareness, and actionable thought leadership with LinkedIn Gen Forms to capture and convert leads.
Convert with formats like:
- Lead Gen Formats
- LAN Optimization
- Event Ads
- Real-time optimization through CAPI (Conversions API) and CRM sync
Market Using Formats That Meet Evolving B2B Buying Preferences
Video is now a core driver of performance in B2B marketing, and LinkedIn is built to help it thrive. The platform's professional context means video content reaches audiences in a business mindset, ready to engage with industry insights and solutions.
Gen Z, an increasingly influential force in B2B buying, expects video content from trusted industry voices. LinkedIn's network of professionals and thought leaders create the ideal environment for this kind of authentic, high-impact content, making it the top platform for B2B video.
Video Success Stories
Salesforce highlights the strength of LinkedIn's video capabilities through their audience-first strategy. By using Connected TV and in-feed video formats, they reached over 70% new viewers—many of them decision-makers not reached through traditional linear TV. The results were impressive: 4x higher on-target impressions and 11x greater cost-efficiency compared to traditional methods.
LinkedIn’s performance advantage stems from its ability to precisely target professional audiences while providing video formats that feel native to the platform. Unlike other social platforms where business content can feel intrusive or out of place, video ads on LinkedIn benefit from a professional environment where business messaging feels relevant and timely.
The Network Effect
LinkedIn video content benefits from our network-driven discovery. When professionals engage with video content – by liking, commenting and sharing– it extends reach to their professional networks,creating organic amplification among relevant business audiences.
Today's buyer belief isn't built in a straight line—it's built across networks. LinkedIn's video capabilities tap into this reality, allowing brands to create content that spreads through professional connections and builds credibility through peer validation.
Evolve Your Measurement From Vanity to Value
LinkedIn is more than a platform for delivering impactful B2B marketing results. It’s transforming how B2B marketers demonstrate value in ways that resonate with leadership.
For marketers under pressure to prove ROI on every dollar spent, LinkedIn offers clear, data-driven pathways to measurable outcomes.
LinkedIn integrates easily into CRM systems and marketing automation tools, making advanced attribution and ROI tracking straightforward. With tools like the LinkedIn Insight Tag, Conversion Tracking and the Conversions API (CAPI), marketers can connect first-party data to understand not just online engagement but how campaigns drive offline results.
Take Eftsure, for example. By pairing the LinkedIn Conversions API with Dreamdata, they reduced cost per lead by 40% while targeting CFOs and finance leaders through a full-funnel LinkedIn strategy. This integration enabled precise attribution across the funnel, showing how campaigns influenced both pipeline and revenue – and helping them clearly demonstrate the value of their brand marketing investment.
With LinkedIn’s Revenue Attribution Report, you can connect your marketing efforts directly to revenue outcomes. By syncing your CRM with LinkedIn Business Manager, you gain a clear view into how LinkedIn-influenced leads progress through the funnel and convert into closed-won opportunities. This visibility brings greater transparency and confidence to your marketing strategy.
Start transforming how you measure success with LinkedIn—where real results meet real business impact.
Build Beyond Immediate Conversions
Marketing on LinkedIn does more than drive immediate conversions. It helps you influence pipeline and build long-term brand equity. The platform's professional environment puts your brand in front of decision-makers in a space where relationships and credibility shape purchasing decisions across long B2B sales cycles.
This focus on relationship-building helps solve a key challenge in B2B marketing: staying engaged and influential throughout long sales cycles. LinkedIn gives brands ongoing opportunities to connect with buyers through content, messaging and community involvement keeping your brands visible, relevant and top-of-mind over time.
The marketing landscape is changing fast, but LinkedIn's role as the world’s largest professional network makes it well-positioned to grow with it. For B2B marketers looking to move beyond vanity metrics and toward measurable business impact, LinkedIn isn’t just another platform — it’s a strategic advantage.
The real question isn't whether to prioritize LinkedIn. It's whether you can afford not to. In a market where proving ROI and keeping up with buyer trends is critical, LinkedIn gives you the clarity, control and performance you’re looking for. Ready to unlock similar results for your business? Now is the time to activate the LinkedIn advantage and lead your organization toward smarter, more efficient growth. Learn how to launch your first campaign or dive right in if you’re ready to get started today.
*All data points have been internally sourced unless otherwise noted or linked above.*
Topics: LinkedIn Ads
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