LinkedIn Expands Marketing Solutions With Lead Gen And Nurturing Product

  • Written by Kim Ann Zimmermann, Senior Managing Editor
  • Published in News Briefs

LinkedIn has expanded its Marketing Solutions portfolio with the introduction of LinkedIn Lead Accelerator, a lead generation and nurturing product designed to connect companies to the right professionals with the right content as they make their way through the purchase decision process.

This addition reflects the integration and enhancement of Bizo’s Multi-Channel Nurturing product, which LinkedIn acquired in August 2014.

"LinkedIn is an innovator jumping into marketing automation, leveraging their purchase with Bizo,” said Jon Russo, Founder of the B2B Fusion Group. “Their ability to target anonymous users with customized ad content, the ability to reach these users on the LinkedIn network and off of the network, their autofill form capability, and the fact that they sit on a treasure trove of accurate user data make this a compelling differentiated offer to consider for any B2B enterprise.”

In addition to the LinkedIn Lead Accelerator, the company also announced LinkedIn Network Display, which is designed to provide brands the opportunity to engage professional audiences with display advertising both on LinkedIn and off-platform across thousands of publisher sites on the web.

“This move leverages external data, merges advertising with email and web channels, integrates social, and adds attribution,” said David Raab, Principal of Raab Associates. “Those are all trends we're tracking.”

Raab noted that the announcement does not mention a multi-step nurture for email, “which would be a direct threat to marketing automation vendors. Nor do I see much discussion of the underlying marketing database, which is the key to unifying marketing treatments.”

LinkedIn officials were not immediately available for comment. In writing on the company blog, Russell Glass, Head of Products, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions and former CEO of Bizo, noted: “With the full-funnel approach, marketers can use all of our marketing solutions products together as a portfolio to create a customized experience that enhances the marketer-prospect relationship and delivers results.”