How Thought Leader Ads and Paid Media Work Together to Build Trust (and Drive Conversions) on LinkedIn

B2B buyers don’t trust brands;  they trust people.

That’s the biggest shift we’ve seen on LinkedIn over the past few years. Decision-makers have become immune to traditional “corporate” ads. They scroll right past the polished banners and buzzwords. But when a familiar face — a founder, exec, or team member — shows up with something valuable to say? People stop, listen, and engage.

That’s where Thought Leader Ads come in. And when you pair them with Paid Media, you get something far more powerful than impressions or clicks.. you build belief.

The Rise of Thought Leader Ads

When LinkedIn launched Thought Leader Ads, it flipped the script.Instead of the company page doing all the talking, the spotlight shifted to people; the ones behind the product, the brand, and the mission.

Thought Leader Ads let you promote individual posts from verified employees or executives. And that’s where the magic happens. Because these don’t feel like ads. They feel like conversations between people who actually live and breathe the problem your audience is trying to solve.

This builds trust at scale. Something B2B brands have struggled with for years. You’re no longer interrupting someone’s feed. You’re joining it.

Why Paid Media Still Matters

Now, don’t get me wrong — Thought Leader Ads aren’t a replacement for Paid Media. They’re a bridge.

Your Paid Media campaigns still do the heavy lifting when it comes to reach, consistency, and conversions. These are the campaigns that push your message into market, drive traffic, capture leads, and feed your funnel.

The issue is, Paid Media often starts cold, and cold audiences scroll fast.That’s why Thought Leader Ads work best upstream, softening the path before Paid Media steps in.

When people see your company’s Thought Leaders sharing value, insights, or stories - even before they click your ads - your brand already feels familiar. It’s not just another logo in the feed.

The Real Power: Blending the Two

The best results happen when you connect the dots, not when you pick sides.

Here’s how it works in practice:

1. TOFU (Top of Funnel):Lead with Thought Leader Ads. Spark conversations around real pain points, industry trends, or data-backed opinions. The goal is visibility + trust, not conversions. Pair this

2. MOFU (Middle of Funnel): Layer in Paid Media promoting educational assets — blogs, case studies, webinars. These ads nurture the attention your Thought Leaders earned.

3. BOFU (Bottom of Funnel): Retarget with strong Paid Media offers — free trials, demos, consultations — supported by social proof and customer stories.

The blend works because it aligns with how people actually buy in B2B. They don’t convert because of one ad. They convert because of a journey — a sequence of credible interactions that build confidence.

A Real-World Example

In one campaign, I blended Thought Leader Ads with a Paid Media strategy for a client in the SaaS space.

We used executives’ personal posts to drive awareness around key challenges their audience faced — and then retargeted that same engaged audience with product-focused ads.

The result? A $16 cost per conversion in under 30 days.

But more importantly — it wasn’t luck. It was structure. We aligned authenticity (from real people) with optimization (through paid campaigns). That combination turned awareness into action.

The Future of B2B Advertising Is Personal

The days of faceless advertising are over. Your brand’s next growth channel might not be your company page — it might be your people.

If you want your Paid Media to perform better, stop treating it like a standalone machine. Feed it with trust. Humanize your funnel. Let your leaders lead — in public.

Because when you combine Thought Leader Ads for attention with Paid Media for action, you don’t just drive conversions… you build momentum.

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