Marketing Solutions

Challenge • Reach highly targeted audiences at scale

• Reduce cost per lead

• Increase membership to drive revenue

Solution• Place display and text ads on LinkedIn

• Target ads to CEOs and business owners

• Continuously test and optimize from LinkedIn’s wide portfolio of marketing solutions

Why LinkedIn? • Engaged, high-quality audience

• Current job/experience in member pro�le makes targeting easy and accurate

• Support from marketing solutions team boosts success

Results • More leads at a lower cost compared to ad networks

• Higher-quality leads that are more likely to convert

• Continued success over time without diminishing returns

Generating quality leads while reducing cost Vistage International provides unparalleled access to new business perspectives, innovative strategies and actionable ideas to more than 15,000 chief executives and business leaders. Vistage’s success is built on growing a network of CEOs and owners of small- to mid-sized businesses, who meet monthly to seek out advice and counsel from each other. Finding these top-level executives, and raising awareness of Vistage’s peer advisory groups, prompted Vistage’s interactive marketing team and its marketing agency, Red Door Interactive, to narrow down marketing options that would present a critical mass of solid leads.

“In order to �nd a quali�ed Vistage member, we needed to bring in �ve leads,” explains Andy Ramirez, director of interactive marketing for Vistage. “We tried various websites and ad networks in order to source potential members.”

The problem was that these marketing options yielded some leads – but not enough to justify the cost of the spend. “There had to be enough potential members for the expense to make sense – otherwise the cost per lead was too high,” says Alexandra Chrisman, vice president of acquisition and retention at Vistage.

Vistage Case StudyIncreasing membership with targeted ad campaigns, while reducing cost per lead

LinkedIn has proven time and time again that there is no better place to effectively reach business owners and executives.”

Andy Ramirez, Director of Interactive Marketing, Vistage International

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Finding a critical mass of CEOs and business owners on LinkedIn In late 2009, Vistage’s interactive marketing team decided to investigate LinkedIn as a marketing resource. “It was an obvious choice, since LinkedIn caters to our target market,” Ramirez says. “Our business is about connecting CEOs and business owners to each other so that they can achieve better business results. LinkedIn is about connecting professionals and facilitating their business discussions.”

In addition, LinkedIn’s trusted targeting data meant that Vistage could feel more con�dent about how their targeting was done. “LinkedIn encourages its members to continually update information about their positions and experience,” Chrisman said. “We knew we’d be able to �nd and connect with the most appropriate leads.”

Sample of Vistage display ad

Number of Leads Vs. Cost Per Lead

For instance, websites like Forbes.com might have a high-level executive readership, but not a broad enough reach to generate Vistage memberships. On the other hand, ad networks reach a wide audience, but not necessarily Vistage-appropriate leads. “We need quality as well as quantity,” says Chrisman. “With most of the other websites and ad networks, we’d see a steeply diminishing rate of return.”

Since it began marketing on LinkedIn, Vistage has found that online lead generation has improved dramatically, particularly compared to results from other marketing venues such as ad networks. In addition, Vistage found that lead generation efforts did not diminish over time – in fact, Vistage continues to reach and exceed its lead generation targets while also lowering cost per lead (CPL).

During one recent quarter, the volume of leads delivered from ads on LinkedIn increased by 114% month over month, while the cost per lead decreased by 26% over the same time period. At the same time, the LinkedIn campaign generated 89% more leads than the same campaign on a leading ad network, at less than a third of the cost per lead.

“Our expectation with LinkedIn was that we’d achieve results, then watch them diminish over time,” Ramirez says. “To our surprise, our results continue to improve. The quality and quantity of the conversions we generate from LinkedIn is higher than any ad network or business site.”

The net result of Vistage’s success is that the company has shifted the majority of its display advertising dollars to LinkedIn, Ramirez says: “The consistency of results is what’s driven us to rely on LinkedIn to help build our membership. LinkedIn has proven time and time again that there is no better place to effectively reach business owners and executives.”

Visit marketing.linkedin.com to learn how other marketers have successfully met their marketing objectives.

Leads increase as cost per lead decreasesVistage began testing display ads on the LinkedIn site, using various sizes and types of creative, as well as targeting different audience segments. Because LinkedIn can allow for highly speci�c targeting based on information in member pro�les, Vistage was able to direct ads to CXOs within the top 50 DMAs.

Cost Per Lead Leads

April May June

+114%

-26%

+44%