Notes

• Connect with Ruby on LinkedIn
• Download the reports filled with executive thought leadership gold!
• Tune in to the LinkedIn Live event with Ruby and her cutting-edge thought leaders
• Join the LinkedIn Ads Fanatics and get access to our 4 courses to take you from beginner to expert. Just hit 100 members so a shoutout to our awesome LI Ads fanatics for making it such an awesome community!
• Rate/Review
• Contact us with any questions, suggestions, or corrections!

Summary

In this powerhouse episode of the The LinkedIn Ad Show, host AJ Wilcox sits down with Ruby James to unpack the explosive rise of executive thought leadership — and why it's now one of the most powerful drivers of B2B pipeline on LinkedIn. Backed by brand-new data from LinkedIn's latest Founder-Led Sales & Marketing playbook, Ruby reveals that startups with founders who post just 10 times per year generate 33% more leads — and that deals influenced by executive engagement can see up to a 120% increase in deal size. Together, they dive deep into practical strategies for mobilizing busy executives, creating authentic content that builds trust (not just noise), and amplifying it all with Thought Leader Ads for measurable ROI. If you're a B2B marketer looking to connect brand, leadership, and paid strategy into one high-performing growth engine, this episode delivers the data, tactics, and real-world examples to make it happen.

Transcript

For the full show transcript, see the show notes page here: Episode 167

NOTES

• Join the LinkedIn Ads Fanatics and get access to our 4 courses to take you from beginner to expert. Just hit 100 members so a shoutout to our awesome LI Ads fanatics for making it such an awesome community!
• Subscribe/Rate/Review
• Contact us with any questions, suggestions, or corrections!

SUMMARY

In this week's episode of the LinkedIn Ads Show, AJ Wilcox delivers a strong warning for B2B marketers: stop using LinkedIn Conversation Ads. After months of testing across multiple high-spend accounts, AJ reveals surprising evidence that Conversation Ads consistently generate significantly lower open rates than Message Ads—even when the audience, sender, subject line, and content are identical. He breaks down the data, shares LinkedIn's official explanations, explores possible causes behind the performance gap, and explains why the promised benefits of Conversation Ads may not outweigh the hidden costs. If you're running Sponsored Messaging campaigns on LinkedIn and want to maximize conversions while reducing wasted spend, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

TRANSCRIPT

For the full show transcript, see the show notes page here: Episode 168

Show Resources

• Jack Caspino's LinkedIn profile - follow and connect!
• Join the LinkedIn Ads Fanatics and get access to our 4 courses to take you from beginner to expert. Just hit 100 members so a shoutout to our awesome LI Ads fanatics for making it such an awesome community!
• Rate/Review
• Contact us with any questions, suggestions, or corrections!

Summary

In this episode of the LinkedIn Ads Show, AJ is joined by Jack Caspino, founder of ContactLevel, to dive deep into one of the most powerful – and misunderstood – tools in your LinkedIn arsenal: data enrichment for list uploads. We break down exactly how Jack is turning 40% match rates into near-100% by enriching B2B contact lists with consumer identifiers, then syncing those hyper-accurate audiences across major platforms to reach the same people everywhere for less. You'll hear a real-life case study from one of our clients, smart tactics for making the most of very small audiences (like duplicating campaigns to reset CPMs, using Thought Leader Ads and boosted posts, and layering in LinkedIn Audience Network and CTV strategically), plus a peek into ContactLevel's CRM integrations, workflow automations, and upcoming roadmap. We also kick things off with important LinkedIn platform updates you need to know—recent delivery issues with manual bidding, ad personalization, multi-format campaigns, dwell time changes, and the new campaign/ad set naming. Listen to learn how to see your own enriched match rates in action.

Transcript

For the full show transcript, see the show notes page here: Episode 166