# LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads: The Expert Q&A with Gabriel Ehrlich of Remotion

> LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads expert Q&A with Gabriel Ehrlich of Remotion – the real CTR metric, budget minimums, company vs contact list match rates, and attribution stack.

Author: Emilia Korczynska
Published: 2026-02-27
Updated: 2026-03-01
Categories: Ad Formats & Creatives
Source: https://zenabm.com/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-expert-qa-gabriel-ehrlich

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![LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads The Expert Q&A with Gabriel Ehrlich of Remotion](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/LinkedIn-Thought-Leader-Ads-The-Expert-QA-with-Gabriel-Ehrlich-of-Remotion.jpg)

LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads have one of the worst signal-to-noise ratios of any ad format.

The CTR metrics LinkedIn reports for TLAs are misleading.

The budget guidance most teams use is too low.

Getting TLAs right requires someone who has managed 250+ LinkedIn ad accounts and seen what actually works across different industries and spend levels.

So, we organized a live Q&A session with Gabriel Ehrlich at the [ZenABM](/use-cases/abm-campaign-management-performance-tracking) ABM Bootcamp 2026 (watch the full session on [YouTube here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fO9nsRf8AU)).

Gabriel is the founder of Remotion, one of the leading [LinkedIn ads agencies](/blog/best-linkedin-ads-agencies), with clients including Monday.com, Gong, and Yotpo. 

![Gabriel Erlich Remotion LinkedIn profile](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Gabriel-Erlich-Remotion.png)

This post covers all he had to share about LinkedIn TLAs based on his extensive experience.

Let’s go!

## LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads: Quick Summary

In case you want a quick rundown:

- TLA CTR is inflated in LinkedIn’s Performance tab. It counts likes, comments, “see more,” and profile clicks, not just landing page clicks.
- Real TLA CTR = Engagement tab. Use Clicks to Landing Page / Impressions (example: 74/6,277 = 1.18%).
- Budget minimums are higher than most teams expect. Gabriel’s baseline: $2K–$3K/month to see meaningful data; agency minimums often start around $10K/month.
- TLAs are cost-efficient for reaching scale. They can deliver far cheaper clicks than single-image ads, making them a practical “volume engine” for lean budgets.
- Company lists usually beat contact lists for ABM. Company match rates tend to be far higher; contact lists often suffer email mismatch issues.
- Measure impact with a layered attribution stack. UTMs + open-text self-reported attribution + LinkedIn CAPI + view-through thinking (because TLAs often assist, not close).
- Do not expect the company page’s organic to carry demand gen. Founder/executive posts are the real distribution channel, and then you amplify winners with TLAs.
- [ZenABM](/) makes TLAs ABM-usable. It turns noisy engagement into company-level signals (which accounts engaged, which personas, what stage movement, what pipeline influence, etc.).

## The LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads Metrics Problem

![LinkedIn post by Gabriel Ehrlich highlighting effective CTR (eCTR) benchmarks for Thought Leader Ads](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Gabriel-Erlich-TLA-benchmarks-CTR-1-1.png)

The first thing Gabriel addressed was that the CTR on the LinkedIn performance tab for TLAs is not what you think.

See, for most businesses, the goal of TLAs is to get landing page visits.

But, when LinkedIn reports a 12% or 17% CTR for a Thought Leader Ad in the Performance tab, that number includes likes, comments, shares, “see more” clicks (expanding the post), and clicks to the author’s profile. not just clicks to your landing page.

So, a TLA that shows 17% CTR in the Performance tab might have zero actual landing page clicks.

To find the real click-through rate for TLAs:

1. Go to your [campaign in LinkedIn Campaign Manager](/use-cases/linkedin-campaign-management-optimization).
2. Click on the ad, then navigate to the Engagement tab (not the Performance tab).
3. Find “Clicks to Landing Page.”
4. Divide by total impressions and multiply by 100.

![LinkedIn Campaign Manager thought leader ad results with clicks to landing page column highlighted](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/TLA-engagement-clicks-to-LP-1-1-scaled.png)

Example from our Workshop 4 [live campaign data](/blog/linkedin-campaign-objectives): 74 clicks to landing page / 6,277 impressions = 1.18% real CTR. The Performance tab was showing approximately 10%. Never compare TLA “CTR” from the Performance tab to single [image ad](/blog/linkedin-single-image-ad-specs) CTR – they are measuring completely different things. For more on this, see our [complete LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads guide](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-ultimate-guide).

## How Focusing on Engagement Helps Reduce CPL

![LinkedIn post by Gabriel Ehrlich highlighting effective CTR (eCTR) benchmarks for Thought Leader Ads](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Gabriel-Erlich-TLA-benchmarks-CTR-1-1.png)

With LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads, cost per engagement (CPE) is the lever most teams ignore.

When your post generates high engagement rates (10–20%+), LinkedIn’s auction kind of rewards you –  you can bid lower and still win impressions.

That reduces CPE down, sometimes to $1 or even $0.50, as per Gabriel.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

If engagement is cheap and strong, your effective CTR (real landing page clicks, not vanity clicks) also rises.

That means you’re generating website visits at a lower effective CPC.

Lower CPC × normal conversion rate = lower cost per lead.

Example:

CPE = $0.50

Effective CTR = 10%

Website CPC ≈ $5

Conversion rate = 1%

Your cost per lead becomes \~$500 instead of $2,000 on standard $20 CPC traffic.

The logic is simple: **Stronger hook → higher engagement rate → lower CPE → cheaper clicks → cheaper leads.**

## Budget: How Much Do You Need for LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?

![Gabriel Ehrlich's LinkedIn thought leader ads budgeting framework](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-1-2026-06_20_43-PM-e1772369581870.png)

Gabriel was direct about budget minimums for LinkedIn thought leader ads:

- **Agency minimum (Remotion):** $10,000 USD or $9,000 EUR per month across all LinkedIn activity.
- **Personal starting point recommendation:** $2,000-$3,000/month. “Below that, it is hard to see anything meaningful.”
- **Red flag benchmark:** If you have spent $3,500 with zero gated content leads, something is structurally wrong. If you have spent $10,000 with zero demo requests on a product with $50K+ ACV, something is very wrong.
- **Target CPL for gated content:** $100-$200 EUR for cold audiences. Above $300 and you should investigate the offer, the creative, or the targeting.

TLAs are the most efficient format for reaching your budget minimum.

At a median CPC of $2.29 from our [2026 benchmarks report](/blog/linkedin-abm-performance-benchmarks-report-2026), they deliver clicks at roughly 77% less than single-image ads.

For teams with limited budgets, TLAs enable you to generate meaningful reach and engagement data before committing to larger budgets for more expensive formats.

## Company Lists vs. Contact Lists for LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads

Now, regarding whether you should go for company lists or contact lists for TLAs, Gabriel clearly vouches for company lists over contact lists in almost every scenario.

Company lists work because LinkedIn matches by the company’s presence on LinkedIn, which is stable and reliable.

Contact lists, on the other hand, work by matching individual emails to LinkedIn profiles, which requires that the email in your list is the same email the person uses for their LinkedIn account.

Now, most people use personal emails for LinkedIn and work emails for business databases, so match rates for contact lists are typically 40-60%, while they’re 80-90% for company lists.

**The exception**: if you have a very large contact database (tens of thousands) collected through a channel where people are likely to have used their LinkedIn email, like event registrations, for example, where attendees sign up with work accounts. In that case, contact lists can work. For ABM targeting, where you have a defined list of target companies, company lists are always the better choice.

## Attribution: How to Measure LinkedIn TLA Impact

Here’s Gabriel’s recommended attribution stack for [LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-ultimate-guide):

### 1. UTMs

UTMs are the most basic, essential, and non-negotiable part of your attribution strategy for any kind of ads, not just TLAs.

So, ensure that every TLA link has UTM parameters in order for you to track which specific ad drove traffic to which landing page.

### 2. Self-Reported Attribution

Second comes utilizing self-reported attribution.

This can include a free text field on your demo request or signup form asking “How did you hear about us?”

But it shouldn’t be a dropdown and must only be an open text field.

This distinction matters: dropdowns bias toward the most prominent option (usually “Google” or “LinkedIn”).

Open text fields produce answers like “saw your founder’s post about enterprise onboarding”, which tells you specifically which TLA content is resonating and driving intent.

One Remotion client, for instance, attributed 70% of the total pipeline from a UK market launch to UTMs + self-reported attribution combined.

### 3. LinkedIn Conversion API (CAPI)

Also, your LinkedIn conversionsAPI (CAPI) must be correctly set up to pass conversion data back to the LinkedIn server-side, bypassing ad blockers and cookie restrictions.

This shows you which campaigns are driving conversions at the aggregate level, not individual-level, but it is more complete than pixel-only tracking.

### 4. View-Through Attribution

Finally, comes view-through attribution for the accounts that saw your TLA but did not click, and then converted later through a different channel.

This is, in fact, where a significant portion of TLA value sits.

I mean, scenarios like a buyer seeing your TLA ad without clicking/engaging, then later searching your brand on Google are very common. 

And in such instances, your CRM ends up attributing the deal to organic (thanks to last touch attribution models), and your TLAs don’t get the deserved credit.

**Pro Tip**: ZenABM can take care of all your LinkedIn ads attribution needs. It fetches impressions, clicks, etc. for each ad and for each, calculates an engagement score, determines the ABM stage, and pulls deal value from your CRM by company matching to finally give closed-loop attribution dashboards!

![ZenABM analytics dashboard showing ABM campaign spend, influenced pipeline and engaged accounts by stage](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/ZenABM-full-analytics-dashboard.png)

Plus, it also provides an AI agent to answer all attribution math in natural language.

![Zena AI chat table ranking LinkedIn ads by click-through rate, with the top ad at 8.44% CTR](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Top-ads-by-CTR-Zena-AI-AI-linkedin-ads-chatbot.png)

## The Company Page Organic Question

Gabriel was blunt about company page organic: “Think about yourself – how often do you follow a vendor’s company page? Almost never.”

Most company page followers are not potential customers but current employees, past employees, job candidates, and people selling to your company.

The overlap with your actual ICP buyers is small.

Moreover, organic reach from company pages has declined significantly over the past three years.

So, investing marketing resources in company page content as a demand generation channel is rarely the right allocation.

**The exception**: If the company page content serves as social proof for buyer research, it’s worth it, because then prospects evaluating your product will look at your company page. So, you must keep it updated with case studies, customer testimonials, and product updates. But, again, it will never be a demand gen lever. 

**The better investment**: Individual LinkedIn organic reach from your founders, executives, and subject matter experts (the most important). After all, posts from real people reach real people. Later, if that content is performing great, it can be amplified as [Thought Leader Ads for ABM](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-for-abm) to reach your target accounts specifically. In fact, turning high-performing influencer posts that mention your brand into TLAs is a proven strategy. No wonder LinkedIn launched Brandlink for influencer marketing in late 2025.

![LinkedIn Campaign Manager objective menu showing brand awareness and lead generation options for a campaign](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/brandlink-in-LInkedIn-e1772364963231.png)

**Note**: Choosing the right influencer for running TLAs from their accounts is very important. I couldn’t emphasize it more. Or else, you might have an underwhelming experience like multiple users on Reddit who got no leads, only spam in their inbox.

![LinkedIn influencer marketing via Brandlink where businesses run TLAs from the accounts of influencers turned out to be not-so-good for an app developer as he got not leads, only spam in his inbox.](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/linkedin-influencer-marketing-failure-spam.png)

## How ZenABM Can Support Your LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads Campaigns for ABM

As Gabriel explained, LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads have a signal-to-noise problem.

The Performance tab inflates CTR.

Engagement includes likes, comments, “see more” clicks, and profile visits.

What you actually care about for ABM is landing page clicks and which target accounts are engaging.

[ZenABM](/) solves this by turning LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads from a vanity-metric channel into a company-level ABM signal you can act on.

### See the Real Companies Engaging With Your Thought Leader Ads

![ZenABM dashboard showing company-level ads engagement data per campaign by pulling first party intent signals from LinkedIn API](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/image.png)

![ZenABM company table showing LinkedIn ad impressions, clicks and cost per target account](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Company-level-LinkedIn-ad-engagement-data-for-each-campiagn-for-a-selected-time-period-in-ZenABM.png)

ZenABM connects directly to the official LinkedIn Ads API and captures engagement at the **company level**.

Instead of celebrating a “12% CTR” that includes profile clicks and comment expansions, you can see:

- Which target accounts saw your TLA
- Which companies clicked to landing page
- Which accounts repeatedly engaged across multiple posts

This turns TLAs into a first-party ABM signal instead of a surface-level engagement metric.

### Separate Real Buying Intent From Social Noise

Thought Leader Ads generate conversation. But conversation does not equal pipeline.

ZenABM focuses on meaningful engagement: impressions, landing page clicks, repeat exposure, and multi-touch engagement across campaigns.

When multiple stakeholders from the same target account engage with your founder’s TLA over time, that is a buying signal. ZenABM makes that visible.

![ZenABM job title analytics: campaign groups for Growth Specialist with impressions, clicks and CTR](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Job-title-analytics-in-ZenABM-e1763015217744.jpeg)

You can also see which job titles are interacting with your Thought Leader Ads. Are you reaching CFOs? Heads of RevOps? Or only junior roles?

This is critical for ABM because TLAs often create wide engagement, but not always from the right personas.

### Track Account Momentum From TLA Exposure

![ZenABM does lead scoring based on both current and all-time engagement levels](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/zenabm-account-engagement-scoring.png)

![ZenABM company-level engagement overview for Vodafone showing impressions, clicks and engagement metrics](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Company-level-engagement-overview-ZenABM--scaled.png)

Thought Leader Ads rarely convert on first click. Their value is cumulative.

ZenABM scores engagement over time and visualizes a full account timeline, showing how TLAs contributed to account heating before demo requests or opportunities appear.

This is how you move beyond last-touch attribution and understand true TLA influence.

### Turn TLA Engagement Into Sales Action

![ABM stage tracking in ZenABM](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/zenabm-abm-stages-management.png)

ZenABM allows you to define ABM stages such as Identified, Aware, Engaged, Interested, and Opportunity.

When an account crosses a defined engagement threshold driven by TLAs, ZenABM can:

- Move the account into “Interested” stage
- Sync engagement data into HubSpot or Salesforce
- Automatically assign a BDR

![ZenABM assigns accounts in the "interested" stage to BDRs in your CRM](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/zenabm-hubspot-crm-account-assignment.png)

This directly solves the most common ABM failure: engagement generated, but never followed up.

### Connect TLA Performance to Pipeline and Revenue

- Monitor performance from ABM campaign level down to individual LinkedIn ads:
- Calculate pipeline per dollar and ROAS using deal value + ad spend:

Thought Leader Ads are often undervalued because last-touch models credit branded search or direct traffic instead.

ZenABM connects exposure, engagement, stage movement, and revenue at the account level, giving TLAs the credit they deserve within your ABM system.

### Analyze TLA Performance Faster With Zena

[YouTube video player](https://www.youtube.com/embed/_XTdy7dv03o?si=83FKKtvkXsm6ZKEr)

If you do not want to dig through dashboards, you can ask Zena, ZenABM’s AI analyst:

- Which target accounts engaged with our founder’s TLA?
- Which accounts moved from Aware to Interested after TLA exposure?
- Which job titles are engaging most?
- Which TLAs influenced pipeline?

Instead of interpreting inflated LinkedIn metrics, you get company-level answers tied to revenue.

**In short:** LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads are powerful for ABM when measured correctly. ZenABM ensures they become a structured first-party signal that drives prioritization, routing, and pipeline, not just engagement noise.

## LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads: The Takeaway

TLAs work when you stop trusting the Performance tab and start measuring what actually matters: landing page clicks, target-account engagement, and assisted pipeline.

Once you hit the right budget floor and attribution stack, TLAs become a scalable way to warm accounts before heavier conversion plays.

If you want to see which target companies are truly engaging with your Thought Leader Ads (not just “17% CTR” vibes), ZenABM’s company-level tracking makes that painfully clear.

[Try ZenABM for free (37-day free trial)](https://app.zenabm.com/signup) or [book a demo now to know more!](/book-a-demo)

## FAQs

### What is the real CTR for LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?

The CTR shown in [LinkedIn’s](/blog/linkedin-ad-engagement-analytics-zenabm) Performance tab for TLAs includes all engagement (likes, comments, shares, profile clicks, “see more” expansions) – not just landing page clicks. To find the real click-through rate, go to the Engagement tab and divide Clicks to Landing Page by total impressions. [Real landing page](/blog/abm-landing-page-examples) CTRs for well-performing TLAs typically range from 0.5% to 3%.

### How much budget do I need to run LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?

Gabriel Ehrlich recommends a minimum of $2,000-$3,000/month to see meaningful results. At a median CPC of $2.29, this delivers roughly 900-1,300 landing page clicks per month – enough volume to test and iterate. Below $2,000/month, the data is too sparse for reliable optimization decisions.

### Should I use company lists or contact lists for TLA targeting?

[Company lists for ABM](/), almost without exception. Match [rates for company lists](/blog/best-gtm-engineering-agencies) are 80-90% with LinkedIn company page URLs included. Contact list match rates average 40-60% due to the email mismatch problem (LinkedIn email vs. work email). The exception: very large contact databases (50K+) from channels where LinkedIn emails are likely.

### How do I measure the ROI of LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?

Use UTMs to track traffic from each TLA to your landing pages. Add a self-reported attribution open text field on your demo/signup forms. Implement LinkedIn Conversion API for aggregate conversion data. Account for view-through attribution – buyers who saw your TLA and converted later through another channel. See [LinkedIn ABM ROI measurement](/blog/abm-roi) for the full framework.

## Images

- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/zenabm-abm-campaign-performance-metrics.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/linkedin-campaign-performance-metrics.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/zenabm-abm-analytics-dashboard.png