Writing LinkedIn ads from scratch every time is slow, inconsistent, and leads to wasted budget on ads that miss the mark.
The most efficient LinkedIn advertisers use templates, proven structures for introductory text, headlines, and image layouts that they adapt for each campaign.
In this guide, I will share LinkedIn ad templates for every format, single image, carousel, TLA, video, and document ads, with the specific structures and copy frameworks backed by performance data from ZenABM’s 2026 Benchmarks Report.
Too short on time to read the whole guide?
Download this handy LinkedIn ads templates cheat sheet here.
Single-image ads are the most common LinkedIn ad format, with a median CTR of 0.42% and $13.23 CPC in ABM campaigns.
Here is the template for the copy and creative elements:
Keep your intro text under 150 characters to avoid the “read more” truncation.
“Read more” clicks count as paid clicks. 15-20% of your budget can be wasted on text expansion clicks.
[Specific problem your persona faces]? [Your product] helps [target persona] [specific outcome]. [CTA].
Example: Struggling to track which companies click your LinkedIn ads? ZenABM shows you company-level engagement data. Try it free.
[Specific result achieved] for [customer type]. See how [product] can do the same for [target]. [CTA].
Example: $5M in influenced pipeline from LinkedIn ABM. See how ZenABM tracks ad engagement at the account level. Start your free trial.
[Specific offer] for [target persona]. [What they get]. [Time-limited element]. [CTA].
Example: Free 37-day trial for B2B marketers. See which companies engage with your LinkedIn ads. No credit card needed.
Your headline should communicate the core benefit in under 70 characters:
Based on our analysis of top-performing single-image ads (2%+ CTR), the winning image template includes:
One critical tip: Have one clear problem or job to be done in your headline, one message at a time. Don’t create this feature soup where you’re just talking about your product. Start with the problem, then present your solution.
TLAs deliver 2.68% median CTR and $2.29 CPC, by far the best-performing LinkedIn ad format.
Here is the template based on our analysis of 119 TLAs:
Hook (50-100 characters): Open with a pain point or vulnerability. 65% of top-performing TLAs use first-person “I” voice.
“I’ve been running ABM campaigns for 3 years. Here’s the one thing I wish someone told me earlier.”
Backstory (300-500 characters): Share a personal story that connects to the pain point. Be specific about your experience.
“When I started at [Company], we were spending $15K/month on LinkedIn ads with zero visibility into which companies actually engaged. We had CTR data and CPCs, but no idea if our target accounts were the ones clicking.”
Problem Detail (200-300 characters): Dig deeper into the problem. Show you understand the frustration.
“Our sales team kept asking ‘which accounts are warm from your ads?’ and I had no answer. LinkedIn Campaign Manager shows aggregate data, not company-level engagement.
Solution + Social Proof (300-400 characters): Present the solution with specific metrics.
“That’s when we built [solution]. Now I can see that [Company X] clicked 12 times last month, [Company Y] visited our pricing page after seeing 3 ads, and our pipeline-per-dollar-spent is $10 for every $1 we invest in LinkedIn.”
CTA (50-100 characters): Direct command at the bottom. Place the link here. 75% of top performers put the link in the bottom 25%.
“Want to see which companies engage with your LinkedIn ads? Here’s the link: [URL]”
“Write your TLAs like you would write poetry, single lines at a time.” Emilia Korczynska, VP Marketing at Userpilot
Gabriel Ehrlich from Remotion adds: “I’ve seen really long posts work really, really well, and I’ve seen really short posts work really, really well.”
Test both lengths with your audience.
Deep dive: LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads for ABM
TLAs become even more powerful when you can measure their downstream effect properly.
ZenABM helps here with company-level engagement de-anonymization, CRM sync, and ABM stage tracking, so you can tell whether a TLA is actually warming named target accounts and moving them closer to the pipeline.
Carousel ads (0.32% CTR, $13.30 CPC) let you tell a story across multiple cards.
For us at ZenABM, carousel ads have worked great for tool comparisons, step-by-step tool walkthroughs, etc.
Also, for the cold layer, carousel ads showing a problem-solution framework have performed impressively.
Here is the template:
| Card | Purpose | Template |
|---|---|---|
| Card 1 | Pattern interrupt | Bold headline + surprising stat or provocative question. Here’s why your LinkedIn ABM ads aren’t working |
| Card 2 | Problem statement | Define the problem with specific data. 85% of LinkedIn ad budget reaches companies NOT on your target list |
| Card 3 | Solution overview | Present your approach. One key visual + one short sentence. “Track company-level engagement in real time |
| Card 4 | Social proof | Customer result or benchmark data. $5M in pipeline influenced from LinkedIn ABM” |
| Card 5 | CTA | Clear next step + specific offer. “Start your 37-day free trial” |
Some spec-related details you must lock-in:
Video ads (0.24% CTR, $15.61 CPC) are best for awareness and trust-building.
I recommend:
Also, video ads often look weak if you judge them only by front-end CTR.
ZenABM helps add the missing context by showing which companies engaged with the ad, which job titles interacted, and whether those accounts later showed stronger intent signals in your broader ABM motion.
Done with the recommendations, here is the template:
| Seconds | Content | Template |
|---|---|---|
| 0-2s | Hook | Bold text on screen: “[Pain point question]?” + Logo visible |
| 2-8s | Problem + Solution | Quick demo or speaker explaining the problem and your approach |
| 8-12s | Social proof | Specific result: “[Number] [outcome] in [timeframe]” |
| 12-15s | CTA | Clear next step: “Try [product] free” + URL on screen |
Document ads work well for engagement and lead gen.
Here is the template:
What’s included in the 5-page LinkedIn document ad template:
Some design tips for the template:
Pro Tip: Think carefully about gating: The cost per lead with document ads can reach very high – even for low-intent assests. So, use ungated for trust-building, and gated only for warm accounts.
This is another place where ZenABM can help.
Its account scoring and ABM stage tracking make it easier to decide which accounts are warm enough for a gated document CTA and which ones should stay in an ungated education flow.
Text ads are “practically free” when using the website visits objective. The template is simple:
Example: Headline: “Track ABM Pipeline” / Description: “See which companies engage with your LinkedIn ads. Free trial.”
“LinkedIn’s text ads and spotlight ads are extremely significant to my ABM strategy template as they generate a huge number of impressions for a very low CPM.” – Tim Davidson, Founder of B2B Rizz
The templates above are starting points, not finished ads.
Here is how to use them effectively:
The best LinkedIn ad template is not the one that looks the cleanest in a swipe file.
It is the one that makes your message easy to understand, easy to test, and easy to connect to real buying signals.
And that last part is where ZenABM adds a lot of practical value.
Its company-level engagement tracking, CRM sync, ABM stage tracking, job title analytics, revenue attribution views. and other capabilities help you evaluate your templates based on which accounts engaged, which personas responded, and which ads actually influenced pipeline.
Try ZenABM’s 37-day free trial or book a demo now!
Some common questions related to the LinkedIn ad template and their answers:
The best LinkedIn ad template depends on your format and funnel stage. For Thought Leader Ads, use the Hook-Backstory-Problem-Solution-CTA structure in 1,000-1,500 characters with a first-person voice.
For single-image ads, use the problem-solution framework with a clear CTA in the image. Both templates are backed by data from our analysis of 119 top-performing ads.
Create 5-6 variations per campaign. LinkedIn recommends 5 ads per campaign, and having 6-7 gives you room to quickly eliminate underperformers.
Each variation should test a different angle of the same core message, different hooks, different social proof, or different offers.
Your LinkedIn ad headline should communicate the core benefit in under 70 characters (anything longer gets truncated). Use one of three patterns: [Benefit] for [Persona], [Action verb] + [Outcome], or [Number] + [Benefit]. Avoid generic headlines, specificity drives clicks.
Under 150 characters for single image and video ads. LinkedIn allows up to 600 characters, but only ~150 display before “see more” truncation. Since “read more” clicks count as paid clicks, front-load your key message. For carousel ads, the limit is 255 characters. For TLAs, aim for 1,000-1,500 characters.
