Paid Ads
That Capture
Demand.
Google Ads, Meta Ads, and LinkedIn Ads — all managed as a connected demand capture system, not three separate campaigns. Every dollar tracked against LTV:CAC. Every channel judged on blended CAC — not impressions, CTR, or ROAS that doesn't connect to revenue.
Advertising wins buyers
the moment intent
activates
Paid ads are the fastest path from zero to qualified demo. But only if they're set up to capture real buyer intent — not spray impressions across a broad audience and hope someone converts.
The three channels work differently: Google Ads intercepts buyers actively searching for a solution right now. LinkedIn Ads reaches decision-makers in their professional context. Meta Ads retargets your outbound contact list so they see your brand everywhere they look.
Together, they form a complete demand capture system — connected to the same ICP list, the same attribution model, and the same LTV:CAC north star metric.
How we run each channel
Click a channel to see the setup, strategy, and benchmarks we run for B2B SaaS at your ARR stage.
Google Ads
Google Search intercepts your ICP at the exact moment they type a solution-intent query — "b2b saas growth agency", "reduce saas cac", "google ads for b2b saas". These are buyers who are actively looking for what you offer right now. We build the campaign structure, negative keyword list, and attribution setup from day one.
Exact-match + phrase keyword strategy
We target high-intent, solution-aware queries with exact-match and phrase-match keywords. Broad match is used only in PMAX campaigns with tight audience signals — never as a catch-all.
Negative keyword list built from outbound data
We cross-reference your outbound ICP filter criteria with Google's search term reports to build a comprehensive negative keyword list — blocking irrelevant traffic from day one, not after six months of wasted spend.
Max Conversion Value bidding with target ROAS
We set up smart bidding using Max Conversion Value with a target ROAS aligned to your LTV:CAC goals — not target CPA, which optimises for volume over value.
PMAX for cross-channel reach
Performance Max campaigns layered over Search for display, YouTube, and Discover reach — using your ICP audience signals and creative assets to capture intent across Google's full network.
Campaign Setup — What We Build
2026 Benchmarks — B2B SaaS Google Ads
$140–$280
Target CPL for
B2B SaaS
4–8%
Avg landing page
conversion rate
$8–$22
Average CPC for
B2B SaaS keywords
72%
CPL reduction
after rebuild
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn is the only platform where you can target by job title, seniority, company size, and industry simultaneously — reaching your exact ICP where they consume professional content. We run two LinkedIn plays: matched audience ads to your outbound contact list, and Lead Gen Form campaigns for high-volume demo booking at low friction.
Matched audience from outbound contact list
We upload your Instantly.ai outbound contact list to LinkedIn as a custom matched audience. The same 10,000 ICP contacts you're emailing now see your ads in their feed — creating true omnipresence across channels.
Lead Gen Forms — zero landing page friction
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms pre-fill the prospect's name, email, company, and job title from their profile. One click to book a demo — no landing page visit, no typing. Conversion rates 2–4× higher than traffic-to-landing-page campaigns.
ICP-precision audience targeting
Job title + seniority + company size + ARR-band targeting to reach VPs, Heads of Growth, and CMOs at B2B SaaS companies between $1M–$15M ARR — the exact decision-maker profile in your ICP.
Creative testing protocol — 3 variants per sprint
3 ad variants per 30-day sprint: a benchmark/number creative, a before/after case study creative, and a contrarian/insight creative. We A/B test headline vs creative vs CTA to find the winning combination for your ICP.
Campaign Setup — What We Build
2026 Benchmarks — B2B SaaS LinkedIn Ads
$90–$190
Target CPL with
Lead Gen Forms
67%
CPL reduction
with matched audiences
2–4%
Lead Gen Form
conversion rate
3–5×
Higher CVR vs
landing page traffic
How we set up and
manage your campaigns
Every campaign follows a structured build-then-optimise process. No guesswork — every decision is grounded in your unit economics.
Step 01
Unit Economics Audit
Before we touch any ad account, we pull your CRM data and calculate your current blended CAC, LTV:CAC, and CAC payback period. This tells us the maximum CPL we can bid before a channel becomes unprofitable — and which channel has the best LTV:CAC profile for your ARR stage.
Step 02
ICP Audience Build
We upload your outbound contact list to LinkedIn and Meta as matched audiences. For Google, we build customer match audiences from the same list and use them as bid modifiers — prioritising budget toward audiences that already know your brand.
Step 03
Campaign Architecture
Google: Search + PMAX campaign structure with exact-match keywords and a comprehensive negative keyword list. LinkedIn: Lead Gen Form campaign with matched audience primary + lookalike secondary. Meta: Single image + carousel with 3 creative variants per 30-day sprint.
Step 04
GA4 Attribution Setup
Full GA4 event taxonomy: ad click → landing page visit → demo booking → CRM deal created. Every conversion event tagged with channel, campaign, and ad group. Looker Studio dashboard showing blended CAC, channel-level CPL, and LTV:CAC per channel — updated in real time.
Step 05
Weekly Optimisation
Google: weekly search term report → add negatives, adjust bids, pause underperformers. LinkedIn: weekly CPL check → pause underperforming creatives, refresh audiences. Meta: weekly frequency score check → replace fatigued creatives before CTR drops.
Step 06
Monthly Growth Sprint
Monthly review: blended CAC across all channels, LTV:CAC ratio, CAC payback period. Identify the single highest-leverage constraint — whether that's a landing page conversion problem, a bidding strategy issue, or a creative fatigue signal. Run one focused improvement sprint. Report, adjust, repeat.
Attribution that
connects ads to
closed revenue
Most B2B SaaS companies run ads with no idea which campaign produced which closed deal. We fix that — connecting GA4 to your CRM so you always know your true CAC, not just your CPL.
"We had $8K/month in Google Ads with no attribution. We knew clicks. We didn't know demos. We had no idea about CAC. After the GA4 rebuild, we discovered 60% of our spend was producing 12% of our demos. We redirected the budget in one week."
Google Ads click → GA4 session
UTM parameters on every ad URL. GA4 session source/medium/campaign tracked from first click to conversion event.
LinkedIn Lead Gen → CRM contact
LinkedIn Lead Gen Form submissions automatically synced to HubSpot or Salesforce via Zapier — with source campaign, ad creative, and form submit timestamp.
Meta click → GA4 → HubSpot deal
Meta Pixel events + GA4 conversion events connected to HubSpot deal properties. Every demo booking attributed back to the Meta ad that drove it.
Demo booking → Closed deal attribution
HubSpot deal closed-won events pulled back into GA4 via the Measurement Protocol. Now you can calculate true CAC per channel — not just cost per demo.
Looker Studio dashboard — live
Single dashboard: blended CAC, channel-level CPL, LTV:CAC per channel, CAC payback period. Updated daily. Board-ready numbers, always ready.
What we fix when we
take over B2B SaaS
ad accounts
These are the six most common problems we find when we audit a B2B SaaS ad account for the first time.
Google Ads · Mistake 01
Broad match everywhere
Running all keywords on broad match "for scale" — resulting in search terms like "free crm software" and "excel templates" consuming 40% of budget.
How we fix itAudit search term report. Move all keywords to exact/phrase match. Rebuild negatives from ICP filter criteria. Monitor weekly.
LinkedIn Ads · Mistake 02
Broad job title targeting
Targeting "Marketing" as a job function instead of "VP Marketing, Head of Growth, CMO" at company sizes 10–150 — resulting in $400+ CPL from irrelevant audience segments.
How we fix itRebuild audiences using matched contact list + job title + seniority + company size layered targeting. Switch to Lead Gen Forms.
Meta Ads · Mistake 03
Interest-based B2B targeting
Targeting "SaaS enthusiasts" or "entrepreneurship" interest categories on Meta for B2B — spending money reaching people who are interested in tech but have no purchase authority.
How we fix itReplace interest targeting entirely. Upload outbound contact list as custom matched audience. Run retargeting only. Add 1% lookalike for scale.
Attribution · Mistake 04
Optimising for CPL not CAC
Celebrating a $60 LinkedIn CPL without knowing the closed-won conversion rate from that campaign is 2% — making the real CAC $3,000. Meanwhile the $180 Google CPL campaign closes at 28%, giving a $643 CAC.
How we fix itConnect GA4 to CRM. Track demo → closed deal per campaign. Budget allocation based on CAC per channel, not CPL.
Budget · Mistake 05
Equal budget across all channels
Splitting $3K/month evenly between Google ($1K), LinkedIn ($1K), and Meta ($1K) — instead of double-downing on the channel with the best LTV:CAC and using the others as supporting channels.
How we fix itRun a 60-day measurement period. Calculate blended CAC per channel. Reallocate budget to the highest LTV:CAC channel. Use Meta at $300 as omnipresence regardless.
Creative · Mistake 06
One ad creative for 6+ months
Running the same LinkedIn Sponsored Content ad for 6 months. Frequency score hits 8+, CTR drops 60%, CPL triples — but the campaign stays live because "it's still generating leads".
How we fix itMonthly creative refresh protocol. Frequency score > 4 triggers automatic creative review. 3 variants always in rotation — never a single ad running alone.
Real advertising results
All results are real. Company names are anonymised — we never publicly name clients without permission.
HR Tech SaaS · $3.2M ARR · Google Ads · 90 Days
72%
CPL reduction
after rebuild
$680
Blended CAC
(from $2,400)
7.2:1
LTV:CAC
(from 2.1:1)
"Their Google Ads were on broad match with no negative keywords and optimising for page views, not demo bookings. We rebuilt the campaign architecture in week one, added 340 negative keywords from the outbound ICP filter, and switched to Max Conversion Value bidding. CPL dropped 72% in 12 weeks."
— Head of Growth · HR Tech SaaS
Legal Tech SaaS · $4.8M ARR · LinkedIn Ads · 45 Days
67%
CPL reduction
$580 → $190
5.9:1
LTV:CAC
(from 1.8:1)
2.4%
Lead Gen Form
conversion rate
"LinkedIn CPL was $580 with broad job-title targeting sending traffic to a generic landing page. We rebuilt the audience using their outbound contact list as a custom matched audience, switched to Lead Gen Forms, and restructured the ad creative to a benchmark format. CPL dropped from $580 to $190 in 45 days."
— VP Marketing · Legal Tech SaaS
Martech SaaS · $2.1M ARR · Meta + Outbound · 60 Days
3×
Demo volume
in 60 days
$300
Meta monthly
budget
6.8:1
LTV:CAC
achieved
"No Meta ads existed — just Google Ads burning $8K/mo with no attribution. We launched Meta retargeting to their outbound contact list at $300/mo alongside the email sequence. The outbound reply rate jumped from 2.1% to 6.4% — because prospects had seen the brand 3 times before the email arrived. Demo volume tripled in 60 days."
— CEO · Martech SaaS
Fintech SaaS · $7.4M ARR · All 3 Channels · 6 Months
$320
Blended CAC
(from $1,100)
8.1:1
LTV:CAC
achieved
7.4mo
CAC payback
(from 18mo)
"Running all three channels with shared attribution and shared ICP targeting produced something unexpected: the channels reinforced each other. Prospects who saw LinkedIn ads had 2.3× higher Google Ads CTR. Prospects in the Meta matched audience had 4× higher email open rates. The combined system was more efficient than any single channel alone."
— Co-Founder · Fintech SaaS
Advertising
questions
answered
Questions specific to your ARR stage and channels? Book a free audit.
Book Free Ads AuditWhat ad budget do I need to get started?
For B2B SaaS at $1M–$5M ARR, a starting Google Ads budget of $1,500–$3,000/month provides enough data to calculate CPL and CAC meaningfully. LinkedIn works well from $1,000–$2,000/month. Meta retargeting runs effectively at just $300/month — it's a supporting channel, not a primary spend. Total starting media budget: $2,800–$5,300/month plus our management fee. Budget scales as we prove LTV:CAC — if you're hitting 5:1 or above, you should spend more.
Do I need all three channels or just one?
You don't need all three from day one. The typical sequencing is: start with Google Ads (highest intent, fastest to prove CAC), add LinkedIn once Google is profitable (reaches buyers in their professional context), then add Meta retargeting (omnipresence play at low budget). However, if your outbound is already active, running Meta retargeting to the same contact list immediately — even at $300/month — produces a measurable lift in outbound reply rates that justifies the spend from week one.
How do you track which ads produce actual revenue?
We connect GA4 to your CRM (HubSpot or Salesforce) using the GA4 Measurement Protocol and UTM parameters. This creates a continuous data chain: ad click → landing page session → demo booking → CRM contact created → deal stage progression → closed-won. You can see, per campaign, the number of demos booked, deals created, deals closed, and true CAC — not just CPL. This is the only way to make rational budget allocation decisions across three channels.
Does Meta advertising actually work for B2B SaaS?
Not for cold prospecting with interest targeting — Meta's B2B targeting is too broad for this to be cost-efficient. But for retargeting your outbound contact list? Yes, highly effectively. When a VP Sales has already received 2–3 value-first emails from you and then sees your Meta ad in their personal feed, it creates a brand recognition halo effect that dramatically increases your reply rate on the next email. At $300/month, it's one of the highest-ROI channels in the stack for B2B SaaS — not because of direct conversions, but because of the compound effect on every other channel.
How quickly will we see results from paid ads?
Google Ads typically produces first demo bookings within 2–3 weeks of launch if the campaign structure is correct. LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms produce first leads within the first 7–14 days. Meta retargeting produces measurable outbound lift within 4–6 weeks. Meaningful CAC data (enough to make confident budget allocation decisions) typically requires 45–60 days of running. This is why we set up GA4 attribution before launching — so we're measuring from day one, not trying to reconstruct attribution after the fact.
What do you need from us to get started?
To run the Unit Economics Audit and build the campaign strategy: access to your HubSpot or Salesforce for funnel conversion data. To launch Google Ads: access to your Google Ads account (or we create one) and Google Analytics 4. To launch LinkedIn: access to your LinkedIn Campaign Manager. To launch Meta: access to your Meta Business Manager and the outbound contact list (email addresses). We handle all setup — you provide access and approve campaign briefs before anything goes live.
See exactly where your
ad spend is leaking
30 minutes. We audit your current Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, or Meta setup — calculate your true blended CAC, find the single biggest waste in your account, and tell you the highest-leverage fix.
Even if you're running ads in-house and just want a second opinion — we'll give you an honest assessment and the three changes we'd make first.
