In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, Daniel Rowles sits down with LinkedIn Ads legend AJ Wilcox, founder of B2Linked, for a deep-dive into everything you need to know to run effective, budget-friendly campaigns on LinkedIn.AJ has been living and breathing LinkedIn Ads for over a decade and shares insights honed from managing millions in ad spend. Why LinkedIn Ads Work Differently AJ explains why LinkedIn ads often cost like bottom-of-funnel, but act like top-of-funnel. Understanding this difference is critical to setting realistic expectations and structuring your campaigns for success. Avoiding Expensive Advice From platform recommendations to rep suggestions, AJ breaks down why the default guidance often costs more, and how you can outsmart it. Learn how to bid lower and still reach the right audience with zero drop in lead quality. Smarter Bidding, Better Results Discover AJ’s manual bidding strategy that consistently reduces costs while keeping quality high. AJ explains how to find the sweet spot between visibility and efficiency. Segment for Insight, Not Just Scale Why target your entire audience in one go when you can break it down into microsegments that act like live focus groups? Learn how to build campaigns that teach you as they perform so you improve as you go. Building a Funnel That Actually Works AJ outlines a simple but powerful three-stage funnel: Stage 1: Awareness through video and document ads Stage 2: Engagement with deeper content like podcasts, webinars, or YouTube Stage 3: Conversion via direct CTAs or sales calls The result? Up to 5x better conversion rates without wasting budget on premature CTAs. Ad Formats That Convert Find out why “thought leader” video ads and TikTok-style captions are crushing it at the top of the funnelan, and how to retarget strategically using native lead gen forms or your own landing pages (depending on your goals). Metrics That Matter Impressions and clicks are just the surface. AJ shares the real KPIs you should be tracking, from engagement rates to cost-per-booked-call, and how to calculate custom metrics that LinkedIn won’t show you. Organic and Paid: Better Together Discover where the LinkedIn platform is headed and why your organic and paid strategies will need to work hand-in-hand. From thought leader ads to CRM integrations, the future of LinkedIn marketing is more connected, and more powerful than ever. -- You'll find all links on TargetInternet.com Show notes:  Have any feedback on the show? Send us your feedback, tell us what you love and what you think could be better. And, if you are really enjoying the show, please leave us a review.