> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.snowdoughnut.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Launching a LinkedIn campaign

> The process for standing up a LinkedIn campaign in our framework: gather the inputs, fill in the LinkedIn campaign brief, assemble names and UTMs, build the campaign group, campaigns, and ads, run the pre-launch checklist, and file the brief.

Take a LinkedIn campaign from an approved marketing campaign to a live, correctly named, correctly tracked build. This process covers all three levels, campaign group, campaign, and ad, because the inputs are gathered once for the whole build.

<Info>
  This process uses the [**LinkedIn campaign brief**](/linkedin-campaign-brief), the [**marketing campaign brief**](/marketing-campaign-brief), the three [naming conventions](/naming-conventions-overview), the [**UTM standards**](/utm-standards), the [**LinkedIn creative specs**](/linkedin-creative-specs), the [**LinkedIn copy templates**](/linkedin-single-image-copy-template), and the [**LinkedIn pre-launch checklist**](/linkedin-pre-launch-checklist).
</Info>

## What you'll end up with

Three things that point at each other:

* A completed [**LinkedIn campaign brief**](/linkedin-campaign-brief), filed in the [campaign library](/campaign-library-overview) under the LinkedIn folder.
* A **live campaign** in Campaign Manager, named per the three naming conventions, pointing at a tagged landing page or lead form, tracking a conversion action defined in the [event tracking plan](/event-tracking-plan).
* **Links back** from the marketing campaign brief to this campaign's brief, finished creative, and finished copy.

One person, the [**owner**](/glossary#owner), is accountable for all three. The **media buyer** builds and runs the campaign.

## Before you start

Every input below has to exist, or be deliberately marked as not applicable, before the build starts.

| Input                     | Where it comes from                                                                                                | Required                         | If it doesn't exist yet                                                                                        |
| :------------------------ | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Parent marketing campaign | [Marketing campaign brief](/marketing-campaign-brief)                                                              | Always                           | Stop. Run the [campaign brief process](/campaign-brief-process) first                                          |
| Customer profile          | [Customer profile library](/customer-profile-library-overview)                                                     | Always                           | Build it with the [B2B brief](/customer-profile-brief)                                                         |
| Conversion action         | [Event tracking plan](/event-tracking-plan)                                                                        | Always for conversion objectives | Add a row using the [tracking plan overview](/event-tracking-plan-overview), then verify the Insight Tag fires |
| Destination or lead form  | [Landing page library](/landing-page-library)                                                                      | Always                           | Pick an existing page, or run [building a landing page](/landing-page-process)                                 |
| Account list              | [LinkedIn company list CSV template](/linkedin-company-list-csv-template)                                          | Account-based targeting only     | Build the list to the template and allow time for matching                                                     |
| Creative                  | [Creative brief process](/creative-brief-process), [creative drive](/creative-drive)                               | Always except text ads           | Brief it. Allow production time before the launch date                                                         |
| Copy                      | [Copy brief](/ad-copy-standards), [LinkedIn copy templates](/linkedin-single-image-copy-template)                  | Always                           | Brief it via the [copywriting process](/copywriting-process)                                                   |
| Names, all three levels   | [Campaign](/campaign-naming-conventions), [audience](/ad-set-group-naming-conventions), [ad](/ad-name-conventions) | Always                           | Assemble from the dictionaries                                                                                 |
| UTMs                      | [UTM standards](/utm-standards)                                                                                    | Always                           | Build them from the standard before the URLs go anywhere                                                       |
| Budget                    | Marketing campaign brief, [budget planning](/budget-planning)                                                      | Always                           | Confirm the LinkedIn line item, sized for LinkedIn's cost per result                                           |
| Experiment ID             | [Experiment ID conventions](/experiment-ids)                                                                       | Only if testing                  | Register one via [creating an experiment](/creating-an-experiment)                                             |

<Warning>
  Budget is the input to check hardest here. LinkedIn's cost per click and cost per lead run well above the other paid platforms, so a budget that would produce a clear read elsewhere can produce almost no usable data. Size it against LinkedIn's own benchmarks, not against the Meta line item.
</Warning>

## The process at a glance

<Steps>
  <Step title="Confirm the campaign has a parent">
    Every LinkedIn campaign belongs to a marketing campaign brief.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Gather the inputs">
    Work the table above. Pick what exists, brief what doesn't.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill in the LinkedIn campaign brief">
    Objective, conversion action, budget, bid strategy, structure, targeting, format.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check audience size and overlap">
    Before building, confirm each audience is big enough to deliver and doesn't compete with the others.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Assemble names and UTMs">
    All three naming levels and the tagged URLs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Register an experiment, if you're testing">
    Only if there is a control, and only if the budget can reach significance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build the campaign group, campaigns, and ads">
    Copy the decided values in.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run the pre-launch checklist">
    The last pass before spend starts.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Launch and link back">
    Set live, then link the campaign and its assets into the marketing campaign brief.
  </Step>

  <Step title="File the brief">
    Into the campaign library, LinkedIn folder.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 1. Confirm the campaign has a parent

Open the [marketing campaign brief](/marketing-campaign-brief) this spend belongs to and confirm LinkedIn is listed in its channels table, with a reason and a budget line.

## 2. Gather the inputs

Work down the table in **Before you start**.

**Customer profiles.** Link them from the [customer profile library](/customer-profile-library-overview) and note how each is built: job title and company size targeting, an uploaded company list, or a matched audience. For account-based work, build the list to the [company list CSV template](/linkedin-company-list-csv-template) and allow time for LinkedIn to match it, since match rates are never complete.

**Conversion action.** Find the event in the [event tracking plan](/event-tracking-plan) and confirm the Insight Tag fires. Connect the Conversions API alongside it where you can, for the same reason it matters on the other platforms: signal loss shows up as weak optimization rather than as an obvious tracking failure.

**Destination.** Decide between a landing page and a native lead form, and record the reason. Lead forms convert better because they pre-fill from the member's profile; they also produce leads who never saw your page. If you choose a landing page, check the [landing page library](/landing-page-library) first.

**Creative and copy.** Brief both. Pick the ad format before briefing, because the format decides which [copy template](/linkedin-single-image-copy-template) applies and which [creative specs](/linkedin-creative-specs) the assets have to meet.

## 3. Fill in the LinkedIn campaign brief

Copy the [**LinkedIn campaign brief**](/linkedin-campaign-brief) and work down it. Every campaign gets its own.

The brief fixes objective, conversion action, budget, bid strategy, audience definition, and format. In-flight bid adjustments and creative rotation stay with the media buyer.

## 4. Check audience size and overlap

Do this before building, while changing it is free.

* **Size.** Record the estimated audience for each campaign. Too narrow and delivery stalls regardless of budget. Too broad and the targeting precision that justified LinkedIn's cost has been given away.
* **Overlap.** Compare the audiences across campaigns in the structure table. Two campaigns targeting substantially overlapping job titles will bid against each other in the same auctions and raise your own costs.
* **Expansion settings.** Audience expansion and the LinkedIn Audience Network both widen delivery beyond what you defined. Set each one deliberately and record why.

## 5. Assemble names and UTMs

Write all three names and the tagged URLs into the brief before opening Campaign Manager.

## 6. Register an experiment, if you're testing

Only if there is a control, and only if the budget can reach the sample the test needs. Follow [creating an experiment](/creating-an-experiment). The design step will tell you whether the test is affordable at LinkedIn's cost per result, which is worth knowing before the budget is committed rather than after.

## 7. Build the campaign group, campaigns, and ads

Build from the brief. Work down the levels:

1. **Campaign group:** name, budget if set at group level, flight dates.
2. **Campaigns:** one per row of the brief's structure table. Objective, audience, format, budget, bid strategy, conversion tracking, campaign name.
3. **Ads:** creative from the approved files, copy from the filled [copy template](/linkedin-single-image-copy-template), destination URL with UTMs attached, ad name.

## 8. Run the pre-launch checklist

Run the [**LinkedIn pre-launch checklist**](/linkedin-pre-launch-checklist) with the campaign built and paused.

## 9. Launch and link back

Set the campaign live, then:

* Paste the finished creative and finished copy links into the [marketing campaign brief](/marketing-campaign-brief).
* Add the campaign to the reporting dashboard named in the brief.
* If the campaign uses lead forms, confirm leads are reaching the CRM before you stop watching.
* Record the launch date and the mid-flight review date in the brief.

## 10. File the brief

File the completed [LinkedIn campaign brief](/linkedin-campaign-brief) in the [campaign library](/campaign-library-overview), under the LinkedIn folder, named per the [file naming conventions](/file-naming-conventions).

## Exceptions

* **The campaign is always-on account-based targeting.** It still gets a brief, but the experiment section may not apply. Refresh the account list on a recorded schedule rather than leaving it to age.
* **You are adding an ad to a live campaign.** Skip steps 1 to 6. Confirm the creative and copy are approved, name the ad per the [ad naming conventions](/ad-name-conventions), attach the UTMs, and run the ad-level rows of the pre-launch checklist.
* **The campaign is cancelled before launch.** File the brief with a short note on why it stopped. The account list and audience definitions usually get reused.

## Related resources

* [**LinkedIn campaign brief**](/linkedin-campaign-brief) The workbook this process runs on.
* [**LinkedIn pre-launch checklist**](/linkedin-pre-launch-checklist) The pass before spend starts.
* [**Campaign brief process**](/campaign-brief-process) The parent process, one level up.
* [**LinkedIn company list CSV template**](/linkedin-company-list-csv-template) For account-based targeting.
* [**Creative brief process**](/creative-brief-process) and [**copywriting process**](/copywriting-process)