FOR CONSULTANTS & ADVISERS
How does video marketing for consultants build trust?
Why video helps advisers win trust, which types of film work, where to use them and how to feel comfortable on camera.
When LinkedIn ads make sense for independent consultants and advisers, how targeting and lead gen forms work, and how to measure real enquiries.
LinkedIn ads for consultants work best for a specific, high-value service sold to buyers with a recognisable job title. You can target by job title or industry, by seniority or by company, then send people to a useful guide or enquiry form. Need only a handful of clients a year? Start small with one offer. Measure enquiries, not clicks.
Most consultants win work through referrals. That’s a strong position to be in. The weak spot is that referrals are hard to predict. LinkedIn advertising lets you put a clear offer in front of the right decision-makers on purpose, so you aren’t just waiting for someone to remember you. If you’d sooner hand the campaigns to someone else, look at our advertising for consultants service.
It isn’t right for everyone, and it’s rarely cheap per click. This guide explains when LinkedIn ads make sense and how the targeting and formats work. It also shows you how to tell whether they’re paying for themselves.
They make most sense when a single new client is worth a decent sum to you and when you can describe your buyers by role. A finance director is easy to reach. So is an HR lead at a growing firm, or an owner-manager. “Anyone who might need advice” isn’t.
They fit less well if your work is hard to explain in a sentence or you sell mostly to consumers. The same goes if your buyers are spread across dozens of job titles. In those cases you’ll usually do better building your reputation first through posts and speaking, and through search. Our overview of marketing for consultants shows how the channels fit together.
LinkedIn says you can target by job title, function, industry and more, with over 20 audience attribute categories. Its targeting page adds company name and seniority to that list, and says you can combine criteria to build an ideal persona.
Pick the role that signs off the work you do. If you advise on pay and reward, that could be HR directors in a named sector. If you advise on IT security, it could be operations or technology leads. Keep the audience narrow. Your message stays sharp and your spend stays focused.
LinkedIn also offers Matched Audiences. You can name companies or upload contact lists. You can also reach people who’ve visited your website, and retarget people based on what they’ve done with your brand. For a consultant, a short list of target organisations plus your website visitors is often worth more than broad reach. Make sure any list you upload complies with data protection rules.
For most independent advisers, one Sponsored Content campaign with two or three versions of a single offer gives you plenty to learn from.
Often, yes. LinkedIn says its forms are pre-filled with profile details such as the person’s name and job title. Company and seniority come through too, so a prospect can respond in a couple of clicks without leaving LinkedIn. That helps on mobile, where long forms lose people.
According to LinkedIn’s help centre, there’s no extra charge for the forms beyond the cost of the ad sets. You can download leads as a CSV or sync them to a CRM.
The catch is quality. Make a form too easy and you’ll get people who clicked out of idle curiosity. Keep it short, but add one question that helps you qualify the lead, such as company size or the problem they want help with. Then follow up personally, and fast.
Cold decision-makers rarely book a call off a first ad. Offer something small and useful instead:
Your profile and website have to back it up. People will click through to check who you are, so they need to find a clear profile and a credible site when they get there. Our guide to personal branding for consultants covers what they should see.
There’s no honest standard figure. Costs depend on your audience and your competition, and on your offer. A sensible approach is to set a test budget you can afford to lose and run it for several weeks. Judge it on cost per enquiry and on the value of the clients it brings in.
Narrow audiences can be expensive to reach. Don’t expect volume. For a consultancy, the aim is a few good conversations. Work out beforehand what you’d be willing to pay for one enquiry, based on what a client is worth to you over a year.
Clicks and impressions tell you very little. The numbers that count are enquiries and calls booked, and in the end the work you win. Two things let you measure that:
The tag uses tracking technology, so check your cookie notice and privacy policy cover it. After that, keep a simple record of where each new enquiry came from, including whatever people tell you when you ask them how they found you.
We set up and run LinkedIn and Google advertising for consultants, from picking the audience and writing the offer through to tracking enquiries. If advertising isn’t the right step for you yet, we’ll say so plainly. We agree a clear brief, scope and fee with you before any work begins.
They can be, if one new client is worth a good deal to you and your buyers share recognisable job titles. If you only need the occasional client, test a small budget for a few weeks and judge it by enquiries, not clicks. If the results are poor, stop. Spend the money somewhere else.
Yes. LinkedIn says you can target by job title and function as well as industry, and its targeting page also lists company name and seniority. Combine them to describe a specific buyer, such as finance directors in a named sector.
No. Ads reach people who don’t know you yet, but those people will look at your profile and recent posts before they reply. Regular, useful posts make the ads more believable. The two work as a pair. Posting builds trust, and ads put your best offer in front of more of the right people.
Give it several weeks. Enough people need to see the ads, and you need enough enquiries to compare versions. Review once a week and change one thing at a time. Be patient with sales cycles too, because a consultancy enquiry can take weeks to turn into work.
Only when you have something relevant to say to a tightly defined audience. Direct messages from advertisers can feel intrusive. Most consultants do better starting with Sponsored Content in the feed and a useful offer, then trying messaging once they know what lands with their buyers.
Why video helps advisers win trust, which types of film work, where to use them and how to feel comfortable on camera.
What thought leadership is for consultants, how to find a point of view, which formats suit you and how to prove your expertise.
How independent consultants can rank for the services and problems they solve, using topic pages, genuine expertise signals and earned links.
Four quick questions, and we’ll show you where we’d start. Your answers come straight to us with your message, so you won’t have to explain it twice.
A 30-minute introduction call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Your answers come with the booking, so we’ll be ready for you.
Prefer to talk it through? Make an appointment for a 30-minute call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
A closer look at the work behind each part of your plan.
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