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TalentX · Talent-based recruitment and leadership development, Denmark

35 leads and 70 replies from LinkedIn Ads and outreach in 11 months.

TalentX helps small and growing Danish companies hire, lead and develop people based on their talents. We tested ads until we knew what founders and CEOs clicked on, then turned that into lead ads and personal outreach to leaders and HR.

  • 11 months
  • LinkedIn Ads and outreach
  • Denmark
Services provided
  • LinkedIn Ads
  • Lead generation
  • LinkedIn outreach
  • Video ads
  • Company page content

Who we targeted

1Audience

  • Founders and CEOs
  • Owners and partners
  • HR leaders
  • Fast-growing scale-ups

Ads that called founders and CEOs out by title drew the most clicks from them, so later copy named the reader's role.

2Industry

  • Agencies and marketing services
  • E-commerce
  • Funded scale-ups
  • Industrial companies

3Company size

  • 2 to 100 employees

4Job titles

  • CEO
  • Founder
  • Owner
  • Partner
  • HR manager

5Countries

  • DKDenmark

All ads and messages in Danish.

The numbers

Leaders who clicked, downloaded and wrote back.

Results from TalentX's ad reports, lead lists and outreach reply log over 11 months.

35

Leads from lead ads

People who filled in a form for a guide, a whitepaper or a short leadership session.

70

Outreach replies

Leaders and HR people who answered our LinkedIn messages. 6 asked for a meeting.

1.30%

Click-through rate from top leaders

From C-levels, founders and partners on the ad that called them out directly.

206,068

Ad impressions

Times the brand ads were shown in the first two months.

Copy that names the reader
0.85%average click-through rate in month 2, up from 0.58%

In month 2 we tested seven ad texts. Copy that named founders and CEOs, and client quotes with name and title, beat general brand copy, and the average click-through rate rose by almost half.

Month 1, creative test0.58%
Month 2, copy test0.85%

Average click-through rate across all brand ads in each report period: clicks divided by impressions, as reported by LinkedIn.

ChallengeA strong offer that was hard to explain

TalentX won most of its customers through its network and referrals. Many leaders saw talent work as a cost, not an investment, had tried personality tests before, or did not know what "talent" meant in practice.

The goal: get founders, CEOs and HR leaders at small and growing companies to notice TalentX and start a conversation.

SolutionTest what works, then build offers around it

We started with brand ads to agencies and scale-ups and tested images against video. Single image ads sent 69 website clicks against 1 from video, and short, concrete headlines did 211% better than vaguer ones. In month 2 we tested seven texts and learned that client quotes with name and title did 124% better than brand copy.

We then planned and scripted a video day, and moved to lead ads with practical guides on burnout, engaged employees and leadership development. From month 8 we added personal LinkedIn outreach to leaders and HR, with one message to connect, one offering the leadership guide and one offering a short meeting.

ImpactA steady flow of leaders raising their hand

The brand ads were shown 206,068 times in the first two months and sent 169 visits to the website. The lead ads brought in 35 leads, 26 of them in a single month. Outreach produced 70 replies: 10 leaders asked for the guide and 6 asked for a meeting.

35 inbound leads and 70 conversations with Danish leaders.

How we helped

What we did, and when

Brand ads first, then lead ads, then outreach, each built on what the last step taught us.

  1. Month 1

    Strategy and targeting

    Strategy workshop, two audiences (agencies and fast-growing scale-ups), founder, CEO, owner and partner titles at companies with 2 to 50 employees, and the first set of image and video ads.

  2. Month 1

    Launch

    Brand ads went live and were shown 113,625 times in the first month, with 70 clicks to the website.

  3. Months 2 to 8

    Testing and optimisation

    A seven-text copy test lifted the click-through rate from 0.58% to 0.85%. We then tested lead offers: short leadership and recruitment sessions, and guides. The guides won.

  4. Months 8 to 11

    Results

    35 leads from lead ads, then LinkedIn outreach to leaders and HR that brought in 70 replies and 6 meeting requests.

Month by month

Image ads drove the clicks, and both formats improved in month 2.

Interactions and website clicks for image and video ads in the first two report periods, with the click-through rate.

Interactions and website clicks

Brand ads, by report period and format.

InteractionsWebsite clicks
  1. 29869
    Month 1 images0.52%
  2. 3311
    Month 1 video0.58%
  3. 41096
    Month 2 images0.86%
  4. 3913
    Month 2 video0.84%

How we count. Months are counted from the first month of live ads. Ad figures come from TalentX's two LinkedIn Ads reports: the first covers month 1, the second covers month 2. Impressions (206,068) and website clicks (169) are the sums of the two reports. Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions, as reported by LinkedIn. Leads are the form entries in TalentX's lead lists from the lead ads, with a sample row and internal tests removed. Outreach replies are the written replies in the outreach reply log, counted once per person. Meeting and guide requests are replies in that log that ask for a meeting or for the guide.

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