5 Types of Email Marketing Campaigns (And Which One to Choose Based on Goals)
Email marketing is the crème de la crème if you’re looking for the marketing channel with the highest ROI—with a 4000% return on average. ...
ScaleUpSales helps B2B companies acquire new customers and grow their teams with a proven outbound sales management service.
March 14, 2023
LinkedIn is among the best social media networks for B2B marketers, given that 80% of B2B leads come directly from the platform.
There are two drivers for LinkedIn’s success in lead generation: InMail and Sponsored Messages. These are two of the most popular features offered by LinkedIn Premium that B2B marketers can use to generate high-quality leads.
But which of the two should you choose in launching your prospecting campaigns?
That’s what we’ll answer here.
InMail offers various benefits to maximize the potential of LinkedIn in generating high-quality leads and boosting your sales. The benefits include (and are not limited to) the following:
InMail can help you improve your sales funnel, but it also has its drawbacks that you should know about:
All in all, LinkedIn Inmail can be a valuable tool to help you reach out to any LinkedIn user, including those not on your connections list. However, there’s no guarantee that your recipients will read your as it can get lost in the recipient’s spam folder.
Sponsored Messages is another premium feature offered by LinkedIn that B2B marketers can use for lead generation. This feature used to be called Sponsored InMail, but to avoid confusion with LinkedIn InMail, LinkedIn rebranded the service as Sponsored Messaging in 2019.
Sponsored Messaging comes in two forms: message ads and conversation ads. Here’s how they differ:
Sponsored messaging offers plenty of benefits for your B2B lead generation efforts. Here are some of them:
No feature is perfect. So here are the downsides to Sponsored Messages:
With all the features Sponsored Messages offer, it’s ideal if you’re promoting events, webinars, or want to get more personal with your LinkedIn marketing. But it’s not the best for building personal connections.
Now that you know the basics of LinkedIn InMail and Sponsored Messages, here’s a quick look at the key differences between them:
InMail | Sponsored Messages | |
Accessibility | To avail of InMail, you need to subscribe to a LinkedIn Premium account. | You don’t have to pay for a Premium subscription; you only need a Campaign Manager account. |
Bulk Messaging | Since InMail is for encouraging personalized interaction, bulk messages are only available for LinkedIn Recruiter accounts. | Sponsored Messages allows you to send bulk messages to all active members who fit your buyer persona. |
Notifications | Recipients will get a notification when they open their LinkedIn account and a reminder within 3 days of receiving the message. | Sponsored Messages do not trigger any notifications, but the recipients can see the ads in their inbox once they log in to the platform. |
Interaction | Recipients can respond directly to your message, allowing you to continue the conversation under the same thread. | Your prospects can’t directly respond to your message. Instead, you redirect them to a landing page or contact form to continue the interaction. |
Analytics | The amount of analytics you get depends on your subscription type. | You have access to metrics and reports of your ads through Campaign Manager. |
LinkedIn InMail and Sponsored Messages are two of the most powerful B2B lead generation tools. With InMail, you can send personalized messages to your prospects, while sponsored messaging allows you to reach out to more people with ads in their LinkedIn inboxes. Of course, both options have pros and cons, and it’s up to you to decide which works better for your team.
If you want to achieve the highest ROI with your marketing strategies on LinkedIn, it’s best to work together with LinkedIn experts like ScaleUpSales. Our team can spearhead your journey to generating more leads and increasing your conversion rate on LinkedIn.
Ready to launch successful prospecting campaigns on LinkedIn? Contact us today!