You’ve done the hard work—identified high-fit accounts, engaged the right champion, and secured internal interest. But then things stall. The deal doesn’t progress. Calls get pushed. Emails slow down. And somewhere behind the scenes, a procurement team you’ve never met is evaluating your software against five others… and you’re not in the room to influence the outcome.
Welcome to the world of invisible buyers.
Procurement teams aren’t ignoring you—they’re just working within rigid processes. Their job is to reduce risk, control costs, and ensure compliance. Most don’t want a call. They want evidence. Proof that you’re not only a viable vendor but the least risky one.
This is where LinkedIn, when used precisely, can do what cold calls and email threads can’t.
Why LinkedIn Wins with Hard-to-Reach Buyers
Procurement is typically slow to engage and quick to judge. They won’t sit through your pitch deck, but they will check your online presence. They’ll Google your brand, scroll through LinkedIn, and form opinions based on what they see—before ever responding to an email.
Most companies underuse LinkedIn in these scenarios. They rely on it for top-of-funnel activity but don’t realise its power lies in mid-to-bottom-funnel influence. Especially when sales are stuck in a holding pattern.
With the right targeting and creative sequencing, LinkedIn allows you to insert your message into conversations you’re not officially invited to. It’s not about visibility for visibility’s sake—it’s about precision reach and relevance.
Precision Targeting: Moving Beyond Job Titles
It’s easy to say “target procurement people.” It’s much harder to actually reach them.
Here’s the reality: most procurement stakeholders don’t label themselves that clearly on LinkedIn. They may be under titles like “Finance Operations Manager,” “Vendor Governance Lead,” or even “IT Contracts Analyst.” That’s why the best-performing campaigns don’t rely solely on job titles.
Instead, they use:
- Company targeting with layered seniority and function filters
- Matched audiences based on CRM or website traffic
- Intent-based lookalikes pulled from high-fit engaged accounts
- Buyer committee mapping—building personas around influence, not just authority
It’s this kind of detail that separates brand awareness from actual influence.
Campaign Types That Get Results
Not all campaigns are built the same—and trying to force a top-funnel video ad into a late-stage deal cycle often backfires. So what works when you’re trying to move procurement or finance stakeholders off the fence?
1. Credibility Plays
These campaigns lead with trust signals—Gartner badges, compliance checklists, security overviews, and third-party reviews. It’s less about features and more about risk reduction.
2. Case Study Drops
Highly-specific customer stories segmented by industry or company size help stakeholders see themselves in the win. These should be snappy (30–60 seconds or a single scrollable image) and focused on business outcomes, not technical specs.
3. Comparison/ROI Content
A downloadable cost-benefit breakdown or a simple carousel showing “you vs the alternative” is gold when procurement is stuck weighing vendor options.
4. Post-Demo Nurtures
These campaigns are designed for accounts who’ve already had a demo or engaged with sales. The goal is to reinforce, not educate—serving tailored messaging that aligns with their stage, objections, and internal priorities.
5. Champion Support
Sometimes, it’s not procurement who needs convincing—it’s your internal champion who needs ammo to make the case. Give them content they can easily share with their colleagues. Think simple, punchy explainer videos or FAQ one-pagers tailored to finance.
Where a Specialist Agency Makes the Difference
These campaigns require tight execution. The copy, creative, segmentation, and timing all have to sync. That’s not easy to pull off in-house—especially if your team is juggling broader demand gen responsibilities.
Specialist LinkedIn agencies don’t just run ads. They map out buying journeys, build full-funnel frameworks, and understand how to layer messaging over long sales cycles. They also know what Linkedin ad optimization tool features to lean on—like frequency caps, conversation ads, A/B testing frameworks, and audience exclusions—to make sure you’re not wasting budget on the wrong eyeballs.
Working with an agency that lives and breathes SaaS deal cycles means you’re not starting from scratch every time. You’re plugging into proven patterns—and iterating faster.
It’s Not Just About Getting Seen—It’s About Getting Chosen
You won’t always have a seat at the table when procurement is weighing options. But LinkedIn gives you the chance to shape that conversation anyway.
The companies that win aren’t necessarily the loudest. They’re the ones who show up with the right message, to the right people, at the right time—and keep showing up until the deal is done.
If your sales team is chasing invisible buyers, maybe it’s time your campaigns started targeting them with the same precision.
