5 Reasons LinkedIn Sponsored InMail Should Be Part of Your Marketing Mix
Sponsored InMail is a LinkedIn marketing solution that enables marketers, business owners, sales people, etc… to send targeted messages directly to a user’s LinkedIn messaging inbox. While this ad format has been available on LinkedIn for a while, it wasn’t until November that it was rolled out as a self-service option in the LinkedIn Campaign Manager making it faster and easier to launch and optimize a Sponsored InMail campaign. For the reasons below and more, we feel that LinkedIn’s Sponsored InMail is one the most effective marketing tactics available – here’s 5 reasons why it should be part of your marketing strategy.
1. Targeting Capabilities
There are a variety of data points available to narrow down LinkedIn’s 500 million plus audience including; location, job title, employer name, school name, employer industry, skills, age and education level. This enables you to narrow your reach to both broad or very niche audiences and tailor your messaging and offer accordingly.
2. Less Risk Than Cold Email
There are many similarities between email marketing and Sponsored InMail for campaigns targeted at cold prospects. Unlike email marketing however, your message won’t end up bouncing or in a SPAM or other undesirable folder where recipients may never see your message. Also, when buying lists to reach out to your target audience, you run the risk of paying for outdated, overused or inaccurate data and having your IP blacklisted by ESPs. You also avoid the risk of buying a list where the data did not opt in to receiving offers.
3. Real-Time Analytics
Real-time analytics for your Sponsored InMail campaigns are available to show you the open rate, click through rate and, if you use a tracking pixel and are trying to generate leads/sales, lead/acquisition conversion. You can test subject lines, senders, landing pages and copy easily by running multiple ads against the same audience and even adjust the CPS (cost per send) bid to manipulate daily spend and cost-per metrics. All this gives you the ability to optimize quickly to make sure the campaigns are as efficient as possible.
4. A Personal Touch
Sponsored InMail adds a personal element to your ads that you just can’t get in another digital display tactic. The message itself is able to come from a LinkedIn user so your ad appears to come from a person - with their profile picture and name prominent - rather than a company. You can make this user the sales rep the recipient will eventually work with or has worked with in the past, a leader within the organization, or any individual you want to serve as the representative of your organization/message (they just need to have a LinkedIn profile). Combined with content that is tailored to a niche audience with a personal spin to it, the ad takes on the appearance of a one-to-one message as opposed to a mass delivery campaign.
5. Versatility
Sponsored InMail can be utilized for a variety of tactics. If you want to increase awareness around a new product, major announcement, new content or significant change in your organization, you can use Sponsored InMail to deliver the message. If you are looking to generate leads for your sales team or sign-ups for your event, Sponsored InMail works great for direct response. Any type of advertising promotion or awareness campaign works with Sponsored InMail regardless of the call to action or goal.
Get Started
In Linked Consulting can help you get your own LinkedIn Sponsored InMail campaign live in as soon as 24 hours. With end-to-end campaign management, we put our expertise to work and build, execute and optimize LinkedIn advertising campaigns that deliver results. And in addition to saving you time and resources by managing your campaigns, our low fee structure keeps more of your budget with your ad spend. Learn more and contact In Linked Consulting today.