LinkedIn Marketing Solutions vs. Skai

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions is a recently (2015) expanded marketing platform for reaching audiences through the popular Linkedin work-oriented social network that includes modules like the Lead Accelerator (supporting segmentation features to improve conversion), Sponsored Updates, LinkedIn Onsite Display, LinkedIn Network Display, and Sponsored InMail. While still at its core a social marketing engine, Linkedin Marketing Solutions now presents a more comprehensive B2B advertising platform. The…N/A
Skai
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Skai (formerly Kenshoo) is a cross-channel advertising solution for search marketing, social media and online advertising. The product aims to give advertisers and agencies the control and automation needed to make better investment decisions across search marketing and online advertising.
$10,000
Starting Price
Pricing
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Kenshoo
$10,000
Starting Price
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Considered Both Products
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
I use Twitter ads when I want to expand the reach of something I am promoting, but will use LinkedIn Marketing Solutions as part of a targeted funnel and user journey for my audience later in the conversion cycle.
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions is better suited for our B2B use cases while Meta is used and runs better for B2C use cases.

Targeting by job role, company size, geography yields better results for our marketing use cases and campaigns. If you are considering promoting for B2B go …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Both platforms have great options for specific targeting which is a key determining factor for me when deciding where to advertising and how to best get in front of our desired audience. However, LinkedIn is expensive whereas Facebook is more cost effective. LinkedIn is great …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
There is no cost to create a business account and get access to the Campaign Manager platform, so from a price perspective, this is a competitive advantage for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions compared to other platforms like Bombora or Terminus, which have technology licenses …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn ads CPC is typically higher than Facebook ads and can be higher than Google Ads depending on who you are targeting. I've found IT and CEOs to be the most expensive targets on LinkedIn.
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Google Ads and Facebook are too general, while LinkedIn Marketing Solutions lets us target specific profiles. With the other two you're never sure if the people that are going to see your ads are the appropriate ones, since they have no way fo knowing where they work or what …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn offered a different way to market and that was through direct messaging on the platform. Those direct messages result in a push notification and an email (depending on the user's settings), so we knew that was a more creative and attention-getting spend. It made more …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Audience type (professional) - LinkedIn has worked great for SaaS offerings while other social media advertising platforms seem better suited for product offers.

Lead volume - other platforms tend to produce more form submissions
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
When trying to reach professionals while maintaining a self-serve ad set up process and minimizing costs, LinkedIn can't be beat. We consistently see lower CPMs and CPAs for LI ads compared to going to independent professional sites for native advertising. Also, when driving …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn is definitely more expensive if you are doing video or image ad formats, unless you're in an extremely competitive industry for search ads on Google. However, Google has nowhere near the capabilities for audience targeting if you are selling business-to-business. They …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Facebook for Business revolves a lot around building build brand awareness, but we have not had much luck with conversions. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions seems more aligned with our goals of growing our customer lists. Furthermore, Facebook for Business's platform for marketers …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn made it easier because it allows peer to peer connection, which means that you will always have someone new to contact, someone new to reach and someone new to offer your product or service. In our case, which is recruitment, it is far different from Google that …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions is the best option for B2B audience. The other platforms are not as beneficial considering that LinkedIn is made specially for business profiles. I would go with LinkedIn if I want to target B2B clients.
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions offers more powerful targeting capabilities than other ad platforms in the space. We are able to target by company, job title, job level, company size etc. which you cannot do accurately on competitor ad platforms like Facebook or Google Ads. Some …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
We chose to use LinkedIn Marketing Solutions as an additional channel to Google Ads (formerly AdWords). Comparatively, Google Ads gives you better reporting features and much lower PPC costs. The tradeoff is user segmentation -- Google lets you pick by general demographics, …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
I think LinkedIn, though a niche product, is not quite as good as Google or Facebook Ad platforms. LinkedIn feels more like Twitter ads platform circa 2012, with the lower view count. However, LinkedIn Ads has a great amount of targeting options that are useful when attempting …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
I rank Linkedin Marketing Solutions below Facebook For Business, as well as Google Adwords and Analytics. You get a much deeper view of how your ads are performing and your ROI with those platforms as opposed to LinkedIn. I'd probably rank Linkedin right next to Reddit Ads in …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
If you want more precision in B2B targeting, then LinkedIn is without question the better alternative. However, as I established before, I've rarely seen LinkedIn campaigns be successful for anything other than brand awareness/thought leadership. And that's almost 100% what …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Compared to other marketing solutions, LinkedIn provides a customizable platform that is useful whether you are trying to get your message out to a smaller audience or more large-scale. This platform is essential for any business or organization that truly wants to take their …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
While both Facebook & Twitter marketing platforms have a much lower CPL, the targeting criteria makes it difficult for B2B companies (as people don't generally put professional information on these platforms). We generated very few leads on these platforms, and do not devote …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions provides targeted users that are ripe for B2B business; however, the cost to reach those users is more expensive the other social platforms. However, for awareness marketing and lead generation - LinkedIn Marketing Solutions offers great ways to …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn marketing solutions can do a lot of what other advertising and demand generation platforms do. The most similar is twitter ad, but they serve a completely different purpose. We selected LinkedIn marketing Solutions because the LinkedIn Platform attracts a specific type …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn is phenomenal in comparison in terms of the data and analytics they provide to you. No other platform tells you the names of the companies of users who clicked on your ads or visited your website, or anything like that. Website analytics provided by LinkedIn are …
Chose LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Compared to other solutions, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions are more extensive in terms of offerings.
Managers have a variety of options to start their online promotions. Each solution comes with a well-build platform, in-depth knowledge of how to use that platform and a team of …
Skai
Chose Skai
I think Skai beats the competitors with its advanced bidding management system, this is a unique feature of them that if you implement properly, your accounts will surely benefit from this, especially if you have tons of data that the algo can learn from and optimize …
Chose Skai
I personally like Kenshoo better than Marin for a few reasons. When it comes to Ecomm Search, Kenshoo is far better in terms of available features, algorithmic bidding which is more focused on ROAS, and reporting especially for eCommerce. Marin is a good platform, especially …
Chose Skai
Google marketing suite - Good for Google but nothing else
Marin - Was very problematic and lacked easy of use & features
Chose Skai
We selected Kenshoo in 2017 due to its market presence and its notoriety. We learned about Kenshoo's integrations with internal data warehouses, and the bid management aspects were touted as first class. In practice, our unique marketing needs did not align with the limitations …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo's integration with sales and social platforms as well as search made it the only choice when it came to managing campaigns. Other interfaces may be simpler and quicker but Kenshoo's range of external integrations makes it more flexible for certain campaigns and the …
Chose Skai
I definitely prefer Marin for paid search only accounts. I select Kenshoo when my client also purchases Google shopping media, since their proprietary tools there are best in class.
Chose Skai
Some features of Kenshoo outshine other solutions we've evaluated. Kenshoo Infinity Suite is a great product for multi-channel management but overall is less favorable especially from a pricing perspective. We've transitioned several client accounts from Kenshoo to DoubleClick …
Chose Skai
An advantage that Nanigans has over Kenshoo is that their version of 'portfolios' didn't have any budget or flight length requirements and was extremely easy to use. They also offered 'affinity' segments. These are studies they would run on certain audiences that would result …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo is the best in class. With "time" being the most precious resource we have, Kenshoo allows us to get more done in the same amount of time as comparable products.
Chose Skai
I have not explored other platforms.
Chose Skai
While DoubleClick does not fully budget pace accounts I think it overall provides more accurate changes than Kenshoo. When our company selected Kenshoo we were told it would be able to manage hundreds of small accounts with small budgets. It is more designed for accounts that …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo Search offers keyword bid policies based off of sophisticated algorithms rather than simple bid rules. Also, the Kenshoo Desktop Editor allows for extremely easy bulk optimizations. Marin Software doesn't have bid algorithms or an easy-to-use desktop tool. These are …
Chose Skai
Very different tool that Hootsuite - which is a good tool for monitoring, but not for ad management. Kenshoo social was easily implemented since we use Kenshoo Search for paid program. When comparing tools, this one seemed to be the most robust and solved many issues we had - …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo is a more effective and user friendly platform than most competitors. Their tool is more expensive and like I said before, tailored to larger marketing budgets. They set them self apart with the ease of use, the Kenshoo editor, and cross channel functionality. However, …
Features
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
-
Ratings
Skai
7.1
Ratings
4% below category average
Data Transfer00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
DSP integration00 Ratings5.70 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
-
Ratings
Skai
6.1
Ratings
24% below category average
Ad campaign creation00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Ad deployment00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Display advertising00 Ratings4.30 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings4.80 Ratings
Sequence targeting00 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
-
Ratings
Skai
7.3
Ratings
6% below category average
Ad dashboards00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Ad performance reports00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management00 Ratings5.90 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Best Alternatives
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Small Businesses
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Sprinklr Marketing
Sprinklr Marketing
Score 8.0 out of 10
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Likelihood to Recommend
9.8
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
3.6
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsSkai
Likelihood to Recommend
LinkedIn has a much higher CPC than most commonly used platforms resulting in a much higher CPL/CPA. For businesses that don't have big CPC budgets, it would be difficult to be able to run tests without breaking the bank. Unless they get it right out of the gate, they may not find success with their efforts. On the opposite side of that, if a business can afford higher acquisition costs, this platform is likely worth exploring. They offer precise targeting with audiences full of professionals so often the leads are really high quality if you get it right.
Read full review
Kenshoo Search may not be appropriate if you don't spend much on search engine marketing. It also may not be appropriate if you don't care about tracking conversions and are only concerned with increasing awareness. Or, if you care about tracking conversions but don't expect to capture many, Kenshoo Search may not be necessary.
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Pros
  • Targets the exact right audience for your B2B messaging: you don't have to guess based on likes or any other periphery data to determine whether you're reaching the right audience - you can hit by job title, years of experience, job function, seniority, and other great ways to ensure precision delivery to the correct audience.
  • Offers a helpful variety of ad units that are great for different types of campaigns to make sure you're reaching your audience in the right format for the ask.
  • Self-service platform now for all ad units, enabling you to take control of your LInkedIn marketing with a hands-on approach.
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  • Customized reporting. There are many features that users can't report out on in power editor. Kenshoo makes it incredibly easy to get everything you need for a raw data dump.
  • Automation. Whether it's automated rules, portfolios or refreshing CRM uploads, Kenshoo helps cut some of the manual tasks out of the process making me more efficient.
  • Staying up to date with Facebook product updates. I can appreciate that Kenshoo does an exceptional job and ensuring new capabilities in Facebook are ready for use in the Kenshoo platform as well.
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Cons
  • LinkedIn has a relatively limited audience size when compared to other social media platforms.
  • There is a large group of LinkedIn users that create an account and never return, but messages still hit their inboxes.
  • LinkedIn targeting by job title can be limiting, as they set a hard limit on targeted titles per campaign.
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  • Syncing - I have had many issues where syncs would time out, or not show that changes were posted to Facebook.
  • Library - if there was a library for targeting settings that could be saved and easily accessed and input into new campaigns, that would be very helpful.
  • Updates - seemingly basic tools that a social management platform should have often taken a long time to be released.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
It's great to have a product like Kenshoo Social. It has a lot of data and is a great tool to use. Honestly, I think we would have looked somewhere else if we didn't have some much data and time invested into the platform. We had used it across search and social, so we invested a lot of time to get it running smoothly. It is very expensive and we think we could have gone elsewhere to get the same results over time. Once they have your data and the system is running smoothly, it's very difficult to go elsewhere
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Usability
in terms of promoted content reporting and usability, the platform is not as flexible or easy to use compared to more established social platforms like Facebook. However, it does offer plug-ins to Google Data Studio which makes pulling and manipulating data easier. My main usability gripe comes when looking at organic performance of a company page. There isn't an easy way to export organic performance data.
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Set-up like other marketing platforms. If you know Google Ads, you know Kenshoo
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Support Rating
So, everything what I just said previously adds up to the value of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. Definitely recommending it to a friend. It has its things to improve but its nothing major or nothing to worry about. So I give a 9 because it still has that, some user interface glitches that can be improved but do not damage the experience that you have with it.
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Very responsive and bring fast answers for problems
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Alternatives Considered
LinkedIn offered a different way to market and that was through direct messaging on the platform. Those direct messages result in a push notification and an email (depending on the user's settings), so we knew that was a more creative and attention-getting spend. It made more sense for our professional clientele as well.
Read full review
While DoubleClick does not fully budget pace accounts I think it overall provides more accurate changes than Kenshoo. When our company selected Kenshoo we were told it would be able to manage hundreds of small accounts with small budgets. It is more designed for accounts that would be spending minimally thousands of dollars a month. We had extreme issues with Kenshoo budget pacing and increasing our bids. Overall it did not meet our needs, and we will be switching vendors at end of contract
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Return on Investment
  • As an agency, LinkedIn gives us one more way to demonstrate worth: we're managing the LinkedIn page of many of our clients, and this is demonstratively an improvement from before.
  • Also as an agency, LinkedIn ads allow us to offer an additional way to get leads in the door. When we've struck out on other ad programs, we usually try LinkedIn Ads before moving on to a higher investment channel (such as list rental).
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  • ROI is harder to track due to reporting/column & time frame default tech in my humble opinion but generally better results when compared to other products
  • Since the interface is difficult to navigate and paid search is a reactive medium, can produce barriers to change.
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ScreenShots