How to Create LinkedIn Ad Campaigns in Hubspot
Using Hubspot to build and manage LinkedIn ad campaigns lets you connect your advertising directly with your CRM, reporting, and automation tools. This guide walks you step by step through creating, syncing, and analyzing LinkedIn ads inside your Hubspot ads tool.
Before you start, you should have a connected LinkedIn Ads account, the right ad permissions, and any necessary tracking tools already configured in your portal.
Prerequisites for LinkedIn Ads in Hubspot
Set up a few essentials in Hubspot before you launch your first LinkedIn campaign. Doing this upfront prevents tracking gaps and sync issues later.
- Access to a LinkedIn Ads account with billing enabled
- Permission in Hubspot to create and edit ads
- Ad tracking toggled on at the account level
- Any required privacy or consent tools configured
Once those are ready, you can move into the ads tool and start building campaigns.
Accessing the Ads Tool in Hubspot
You manage LinkedIn campaigns from the ads dashboard in Hubspot. Use the main navigation to reach it.
- Log in to your Hubspot portal.
- In the main navigation bar, go to Marketing > Ads.
- Confirm that your LinkedIn Ads account is connected and visible on the dashboard.
If your LinkedIn account is not connected, follow the prompts in the ads tool to connect it before creating a new campaign.
How to Create a New LinkedIn Campaign in Hubspot
Hubspot allows you to build a new LinkedIn campaign directly from the ads dashboard. The workflow follows LinkedIn’s structure but keeps all settings centralized in your portal.
- In the ads dashboard, click Create campaign.
- Select LinkedIn as the ad network.
- Choose your objective based on your marketing goal.
After you choose an objective, Hubspot loads the configuration steps for your LinkedIn campaign, including audience, budget, schedule, and creatives.
Choosing a LinkedIn Objective in Hubspot
When you create a campaign, Hubspot surfaces the main LinkedIn ad objectives. Pick the one that aligns with your strategy, such as:
- Website visits
- Engagement
- Video views
- Lead generation
- Website conversions
- Job applicants (if available in your account)
The objective you select determines which optimization options and metrics will be highlighted in your Hubspot reports.
Naming and Structuring Your LinkedIn Campaign
For easier reporting in Hubspot, use a consistent naming convention.
Include information such as:
- Network (LI for LinkedIn)
- Objective (Traffic, Leads, etc.)
- Audience or persona
- Date or quarter
Clear naming helps you filter and compare performance across multiple campaigns in the Hubspot ads dashboard.
Configuring Your LinkedIn Audience in Hubspot
Audience targeting is critical for performance. Hubspot mirrors LinkedIn’s targeting options and, when possible, connects them to CRM data for richer insights.
Setting Up Demographic Targeting
From the audience step in the campaign builder, configure core attributes such as:
- Location (required)
- Company size
- Industry
- Job title
- Job function or seniority
- Member skills and interests
Hubspot passes these settings to LinkedIn and tracks performance back to your ads dashboard, where you can compare segments and refine your targeting over time.
Using Hubspot Contact Lists for LinkedIn Ads
Depending on your subscription, you may be able to sync Hubspot contact lists to LinkedIn as matched audiences.
- Create or identify a contact list in your CRM (for example, MQLs by industry).
- From the ads tool, choose to build an audience from a Hubspot list.
- Associate that list with your LinkedIn campaign targeting.
This sync allows you to retarget specific lifecycle stages or run account-based marketing campaigns while keeping list management inside Hubspot.
Setting Budget, Bidding, and Schedule in Hubspot
After audience configuration, set your financial and timing parameters for the campaign inside Hubspot. These values are pushed to LinkedIn when you publish.
Budget and Schedule Options
In the campaign setup view, choose:
- Daily or lifetime budget depending on your control needs
- Start date and, optionally, an end date
- Time zone that matches your ad account
Hubspot will display estimated reach and results ranges (when available from LinkedIn) so you can adjust budgets before launch.
Bidding and Optimization Settings
Bidding options are based on your objective. Typical options include:
- Automated bidding (recommended for most users)
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Cost per impression (CPM)
- Cost per send or cost per view for specific formats
Configure optimization for clicks, impressions, or conversions in Hubspot, following LinkedIn’s recommendations for your chosen objective.
Creating LinkedIn Ad Creatives in Hubspot
The next step is to build the actual ads. In Hubspot, you can create and preview the formats that your LinkedIn account supports, such as single image, carousel, or video.
Setting Ad Copy and Creative Assets
For each ad creative, add the following:
- Ad name for internal tracking in Hubspot
- Destination URL (landing page, blog post, or form page)
- Primary text (main message in the feed)
- Headline and description
- Call-to-action button label
- Image or video file, following LinkedIn’s specs
Use the preview pane in Hubspot to confirm how your ad will look on desktop and mobile placements before you publish.
Using Hubspot Forms and Lead Gen Ads
If you choose a lead generation objective, you can work with LinkedIn lead gen forms and then sync submissions into your CRM.
- Select a lead generation objective in the campaign setup.
- Choose or create a LinkedIn lead gen form.
- Map lead form fields to properties in Hubspot so new leads are created or updated correctly.
This mapping ensures lead data flows automatically into your database, where you can enroll contacts in follow-up workflows, nurturing campaigns, or sales sequences.
Publishing and Syncing LinkedIn Ads from Hubspot
Once your campaign details and creatives are ready, review everything inside Hubspot before going live.
- Review objective, audience, budget, and schedule.
- Confirm ad previews and destination URLs.
- Click Publish to push the campaign to LinkedIn.
Hubspot will sync the campaign to your connected ad account. Status, spend, and performance metrics then begin to appear on the ads dashboard, usually within a short reporting delay.
Tracking and Reporting on LinkedIn Ads in Hubspot
After launch, you can monitor performance directly in Hubspot, alongside other networks like Google and Facebook.
Key LinkedIn Metrics in Hubspot Reports
Typical metrics available on the ads dashboard include:
- Impressions and clicks
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Spend and cost per result
- Contacts, customers, and generated revenue (when tracking is configured)
Because data is connected to your CRM, Hubspot can tie ad interactions to lifecycle stages, deals, and pipelines, offering deeper ROI insights than network reporting alone.
Optimizing Campaigns from the Hubspot Dashboard
From the ads dashboard, you can:
- Pause or resume campaigns and individual ads
- Adjust budgets and schedules
- Refine targeting based on performance
- Duplicate winning ads to test new variations
Run periodic reviews of your LinkedIn campaigns inside Hubspot to identify high-performing audiences and creatives, then reallocate budgets accordingly.
Where to Learn More About LinkedIn Ads in Hubspot
For full technical details, supported features, and any network-specific limitations, review the official documentation at Hubspot’s LinkedIn ads guide. If you need strategic help with ad structure, funnels, or broader CRM integration, you can also explore consulting resources like Consultevo for additional guidance.
By building LinkedIn campaigns directly inside your CRM platform, you keep your data unified, improve measurement accuracy, and make it easier for marketing and sales teams to act on insights from every ad you run.
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