LinkedIn Ads Show

The episode contains solid product education and research findings (buying groups, decision-maker diversity, 40-60% deal loss to indecision) but mixes this with substantial procedural filler, personal anecdotes, and extended soft-close segments. The core technical explanation of buyer group targeting (56 product categories, behavioral signals, daily model refresh) is substantive, but there's significant padding around swag, listener reviews, and non-technical recommendations.

“Decision-making can involve anywhere from six to 15, maybe even 22 people”

“40 to 60 percent of deals are not lost to competition, but rather lost to indecision because that buying group can't align”

The buyer group targeting concept itself is not particularly novel - targeting committee members and diverse stakeholders in B2B sales has long been understood practice. The episode presents LinkedIn's proprietary implementation as innovative, but the underlying thinking (broad buying groups, influencers beyond procurement/IT, network effects) is conventional B2B marketing wisdom. The research cited (Momentum study, Jolt Effect) is third-party, not original analysis. No counterintuitive claims or first-principles arguments emerge.

“it's not a new secret or something that we just uncovered, but we know that B2B marketing has always been complex”

“when we think about it, typically the role of IT or the function of IT is involved in like you are business as usual targeting. And that still makes sense. But what we learned is that this is only like a third of who your buyer group is”

Guests are legitimate product practitioners: Jen Moy is a 11+ year LinkedIn product marketing lead with proven track record; Jackie Morris is a product manager directly building the feature with 3+ years at LinkedIn and prior experience on premium video ads. Both are in-house experts with direct product responsibility and access to beta data. However, they are not revenue-generating operators (founders, CMOs, sales leaders) who've deployed strategies at scale in the market - they're internal product team members discussing their own work.

“Jen Moy. I am the product marketing lead for all things audiences and targeting”

“Jackie Morris, she's new to the podcast. She's been on LinkedIn's product team in New York for about three years. You're going to love this conversation”

The episode provides concrete data points: 20-25% conversion/cost efficiency improvements in early adopter results, 70-80% net new reach from buyer groups vs. role/title targeting, 40-60% deal loss statistic, 3.5 vendor shortlist (down from 6), 56 product categories, 1 billion LinkedIn users, daily model refresh. However, these figures lack granular context - no named customer examples, deal sizes, industries, timelines, or methodological detail. The Momentum research and Jolt Effect book are cited but not quantified. Recommendations remain abstract (30-day testing window, layering with ABM lists).

“70 to 80% of our buyer group are new. So it's really interesting, right? There's 70 to 80% net new roles, 20 to 30% you already have”

“early adopters saw up to a 20% increase in sales conversions”

AJ asks reasonable clarifying questions and demonstrates genuine curiosity (e.g., budget constraints, standalone vs. layered setup, content strategy for non-buyer personas). However, follow-ups are often surface-level and fail to pressure-test claims. When Jackie describes the model as refreshing daily and handling 56 product categories, AJ doesn't probe false precision or model drift. The 20-25% uplift claims go unexamined for statistical significance, sample size, or selection bias. AJ defers frequently ('that's a really good question,' 'I love what you're saying') rather than challenge. The guest product team controls the narrative throughout, and AJ frames critiques as 'stupid questions' before asking them.

“AJ I've got a really stupid question for you, I think it's going to show my ignorance here”

“AJ Oh, beautiful. I think this is absolutely ideal”