How to Set Your LinkedIn Ads Budget
A practical guide for founders and marketing directors
Budget questions are tough. Here's how to think about LinkedIn ad spending.
Start with your goals. How many leads do you need? If you need 100 qualified leads per month and your cost per lead is $50, you need $5,000 monthly.
Don't know your cost per lead yet? Start with a test budget. Spend $2,000-5,000 in your first month to gather data. This gives you benchmarks to plan from.
For campaign budgets, LinkedIn recommends at least $100 per day per campaign. This gives their algorithm enough data to optimize.
But daily budgets can add up. Many companies start with $1,500-3,000 per month total and scale from there.
Consider your sales cycle. If deals take 6 months to close, you need budget to sustain campaigns that long.
Industry matters too. Some industries have higher costs per click. Legal, finance, and enterprise software tend to be more expensive. Marketing services and SaaS usually cost less.
Reserve 20% of your budget for testing. Try new audiences, creative, or offers. This prevents stagnation.
Scale gradually. If a campaign works, increase budget by 20-30% at a time. Doubling overnight can throw off performance.
Track your CAC payback period. How long does it take to recover your customer acquisition cost? If it's less than 12 months, you can likely afford to spend more.
Compare LinkedIn to your other channels. If LinkedIn delivers leads at $50 and Google Ads delivers at $150, shift more budget to LinkedIn.
Be patient. LinkedIn campaigns often improve in months 2-3 as the algorithm learns. Don't kill campaigns too quickly.
Stirling helps you maximize your budget by creating higher-performing ads faster. Better ads mean lower costs and more efficient spending.
Budget right and you'll have room to grow. Budget wrong and you'll run out before you see results.
