How to Get Leads from LinkedIn: 4 Strategies That Win Leads

LinkedIn consistently ranks as the top B2B platform for lead quality, with 86% of marketers relying on it to reach decision-makers. The question isn’t whether LinkedIn works. It’s choosing the right approach to turn it into a reliable source of leads.

There are a few proven ways to generate leads on LinkedIn. Thought leadership posts, cold outreach, and groups help build credibility and start conversations. Paid ads then make it possible to scale those efforts.

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In this post, we’ll look at four LinkedIn lead generation strategies that work together to bring in qualified prospects and create a system you can scale.

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Why LinkedIn Works for B2B Lead Generation

LinkedIn has the best B2B audience filtering capabilites of any platform. Instead of hoping the right people see your offer, you can reach them directly by job title, seniority, company size, and industry. This gives you more control over targeting qualified leads and excluding unqualified leads.

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Just as important, people use LinkedIn with a business mindset. They’re already thinking about work, which makes them more open to offers that help them solve real problems.

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Here’s why LinkedIn stands out for lead generation, especially with paid campaigns:

• Audience filters make it possible to spend ad budget only on decision-makers who match your ICP
• Matched Audiences allow you to retarget warm leads or exclude current customers so you’re not wasting spend
• Sponsored Content, Conversation Ads, and Dynamic Ads let you match your message to different stages of the funnel
• Lead Gen Forms reduce friction by auto-filling details, which means more conversions at lower cost

One example: in our Expert Press campaign, LinkedIn Ads reached senior PR executives and generated $100K in ROAS within two months. It also built a pipeline of new leads that kept delivering long after the first results came in.

Top LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategies

There’s more than one way to generate leads on LinkedIn. Some approaches are organic and focus on building relationships, while others rely on paid campaigns to scale results faster. The best strategy is usually a mix of both.

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Below are four core approaches we’ve seen work across B2B campaigns.

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1. Share Thought Leadership Posts to Build Trust

Thought leadership is one of the pillars of LinkedIn lead generation. 

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Even if someone first notices you through an ad or a cold message, they’ll often click through to your profile or company page before deciding whether to engage. Around 20 to 25% of LinkedIn ad clicks go directly to the company page, which means it often doubles as a landing page. If it looks incomplete or inactive, you’ll lose that attention right away.

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What makes the biggest difference is your content. Two or three posts a week is enough to show you’re active and credible. The key is sharing valuable content that positions you as a thought leader.

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Case studies, benchmarks, and behind-the-scenes insights are especially effective. They prove you know what you’re talking about and reinforce your paid campaigns. When someone clicks an ad and visits your profile or page, seeing useful, up-to-date posts reassures them you’re worth engaging with.

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The drawback is reach. One post might get strong engagement while the next one goes nowhere. That’s why thought leadership works best as the foundation. It builds trust and credibility, while ads make sure your message consistently gets in front of the right decision-makers.

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2. Use LinkedIn Cold DMs (The Right Way)

Cold outreach still works on LinkedIn, but the messaging has to be personalized.

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The fastest way to get ignored is by blasting the same template to hundreds of people. What gets replies is showing you’ve actually done your research.

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The easiest way to do that is by starting with a trigger. Maybe someone just moved into a new role, shared a post about a challenge you can solve, or attended an event in your space. Referencing that moment gives your message context and makes it clear you’re not just guessing.

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The next step is the message itself. Keep it short. A few lines at most. Just enough to connect what you do to their role and suggest a simple next step, like checking out a resource or booking a quick call.

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The goal isn’t to close a deal in the first message. It’s just to spark a conversation.

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The limitation here is that cold outreach is difficult to scale. One-to-one messages takes time, and if you fall back on templates, your conversion rate will drop. You are also capped on volume since LinkedIn only allows around 30 connection requests a day before it flags your account. 

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That’s why many teams use cold DMs to test which offers resonate. Once you know what gets a response, you can use ads to put that same message in front of a much larger audience.

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3. Post in High-Intent LinkedIn Groups

High-intent LinkedIn groups are often an untapped lead generation channel. But if you use your thought leadership the right way, it can be a strong source of leads.

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The reason is straightforward: the right LinkedIn groups tend to attract people who are already dealing with the challenges you solve, making them a great place to listen, learn, and join the conversation around your industry.

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The best part is that standing out is simple. All you need to do is participate. Add thoughtful comments to ongoing discussions, share an observation from your own work, and answer a question in a way that is genuinely helpful.

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Over time, showing up like this makes you recognizable and builds trust that carries over into future touchpoints. And when group members click through to your profile or company page, relevant content there will reinforce that credibility.

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The limitation, like other organic lead gen strategies, is reach. Even the most active communities represent only a fraction of your market. 

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That’s why groups are best used to build credibility and to see what kind of topics and messaging get the most traction. Once you’ve spotted those patterns, paid ads let you take the same message and scale it to a much wider audience.

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4. Run LinkedIn Ads to Scale Lead Generation

Organic strategies can get you in front of the right people, but they only go so far. Once you’ve built credibility with thought leadership, outreach, and groups, ads let you take those same messages and put them in front of a much larger audience.

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The platform gives you several ad types to reach prospects:

• Sponsored Content appears directly in the feed, where decision-makers spend most of their time.

• Message Ads deliver a personalized message straight to someone’s LinkedIn inbox.

• Dynamic Ads run in the sidebar and stand out by pulling in the user’s name, company, or profile image.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms make this process even smoother. Because they open inside the platform and auto-fill details from a user’s profile, responding takes almost no effort.

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For companies that already see traction with organic LinkedIn but want to scale, ads are often the most cost-efficient way forward. They give you predictable reach and measurable results, turning what works at a small scale into something repeatable.

Need an example? Just check out our CoDev case study. They already had a LinkedIn presence, but after we took over, we tripled their leads through paid ads while cutting CPL by 70 percent.

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What to Do After You Generate the Lead

Getting the lead is only the first step. What matters is what you do after someone fills out a form or clicks on your ad.

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Here’s how to handle it so those leads turn into real opportunities:

1. Follow up quickly - Reach out within a day or two while your offer is still fresh in their mind. Reference what they engaged with, whether it was a guide, a webinar, or an ad. That small detail makes the follow-up feel like a continuation instead of a cold restart.
2. Match your response to intent - Not every lead comes in at the same stage. Some are still researching and need more proof before they are ready to talk. Share a case study or a benchmark with them. Others are further along and just need a clear next step, like a trial or a short call.
3. Stay visible with retargeting - Even with a quick follow-up, not everyone will move forward right away. Retargeting keeps you in front of the people who clicked your ads but did not convert. You can re-engage them within a week for faster cycles, or stay visible for months when more decision-makers are involved.

For a deeper dive into building retargeting campaigns, check out our LinkedIn Retargeting Guide for B2B SaaS.

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Real LinkedIn Campaigns That Delivered

As a LinkedIn Ads Agency, we build and test LinkedIn lead generation strategies that get measurable results. Here’s how they’ve worked for our clients:

• CoDev – 3x the leads, CPL cut from $185 to $55
• Celayix – 218% higher conversion rate
• Pimly – 60+ qualified leads in five months
• Expert Press – $100K ROAS in two months

All of these campaigns had the same foundation: clear targeting, a valuable offer, and a simple way for the right people to respond.

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Want to See What This Could Look Like for You?

If your LinkedIn ads aren’t bringing in the leads you need, we can help you turn that around. We’ve built lead gen systems for SaaS, tech, and B2B teams that consistently improve lead quality, lower costs, and make campaigns easier to scale.

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Book a free strategy call and we’ll walk through your current setup, flag what’s holding things back, and suggest 2–3 fixes you can test right away, whether it’s audience targeting, creative, or follow-up.

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No fluff. Just practical feedback you can act on.

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FAQ

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