We bet you’re not advertising on LinkedIn. But maybe you should be.

While most marketers tend to prioritize Google and Facebook for their direct response advertising, there are plenty of other places where you can make headway building your brand, connecting with potential customers, and ultimately—driving sales.

Of course, it makes sense why paid search and Facebook Ads dominate the field. They’re ubiquitous. These are household brands with billions of annual users. They can be used to advertise nearly anything you can imagine, from books to toys and cars to classes. You can advertise a film in the same place you advertise an auto shop.

But there are plenty of other platforms that you can leverage to create direct response marketing wins for your business. And one of those, yes, is LinkedIn.

If you’ve never tried advertising on LinkedIn, you need to give it a second look. And we’re here to help you get started. That’s why we’re going to be sharing a 3-step guide to making a sale using LinkedIn. We’ll start by covering which types of businesses and industries can gain some serious benefits from a LinkedIn direct response campaign (and which can’t). Then we’ll walk you through a three-step process to making a sale using LinkedIn.

Who LinkedIn Marketing Is For (and Who It Isn’t)

Unlike Google, which could be a smart advertising move for just about any real or hypothetical business out there, LinkedIn certainly is more niche. But that isn’t the same as being relevant to only one or two industries. Instead, you need to consider why people use LinkedIn and how your products or services potentially interact with those people.

There are some industries that naturally lend themselves to advertising on LinkedIn. If you’ve ever used the site personally, we bet you’ve probably seen one of these three ads before: a graduate school, a professional development course, or a “free eBook” or webinar. These three B2B ads directly tap into what brings people to LinkedIn. They’re looking to make connections, engage professionally, and further their careers or businesses.

But there are plenty of ways to leverage that knowledge for other brands. For example, a SaaS product may be well suited to certain users. An ad for a standing desk may fit the bill, or a book about overcoming professional adversity. Ultimately, you need to determine whether or not your brand and its products or services really tap into the natural landscape of LinkedIn. If you see an angle, it may be worth exploring.

3 Steps to Making a Sale on LinkedIn

The real secret to successful direct response marketing on LinkedIn is the art of warming up your leads. By implementing a multi-step process, you can not only warm your leads, but also ultimately entice those warm leads into taking direct action.

1. Show them an ad. No pressure.

Groundbreaking, right? Follow us on this. While, of course, you want to get as many people to click as possible, right now your express purpose is warming up your leads. Getting your product in front of your audience is the first step to getting a sale.

Let’s say you’re advertising a subscription service that provides monthly professional development books, digital worksheets, and additional resources to help job seekers improve their job-hunting skills. Your first step will be to run the ad in front of your target audience outlining the product and singing its praises. Of course, you want to drive as many clicks as possible. But for everyone who doesn’t jump at your offer, you’ll have another ad coming their way soon.

2. Send them a message.

Did you know that LinkedIn allows you to send ads via their messenger? Well, you probably were aware of that if you’ve ever gotten an ad, yourself. This is exactly the next step you can take. And it will be that much more effective because you’re not just messaging your audience out of the blue! Or at least, it won’t feel that way to them.

For your professional development subscription service, you send your target audience a message. It pitches them on the service and its benefits, similarly to how you’d pitch in a sales email, albeit perhaps a bit more conversationally. You’re not just messaging these people out of the blue. Instead, you’re messaging already warmed leads—pointing them toward a video or newsletter.

3. Sweeten the deal.

In the next phase of your campaign, you need to sweeten the deal. You’ve given them a look at your product and a sense of its benefits. So to convince that last group of people, it’s time to sweeten the deal.

If you were offering one month free, make it two. 20 percent of a subscription. You’ve developed a relationship with your leads by this point, so give them that last incentive to tip them over into action—and a sale.

Direct Response on LinkedIn

If you haven’t given LinkedIn a second look, now’s the time to do it. With careful planning and a methodical approach, you can develop new relationships with your leads and drive sales during the process. In fact, with the right approach, those two outcomes have never been more closely linked.