Welcome folks! 👋

This edition of The Product-Led Geek will take 7 minutes to read and you’ll learn:

• How LinkedIn ads could be leaking your confidential business activities through hyper-targeted campaigns.

• The crucial difference between "technically possible" and "ethically justifiable" in modern B2B marketing.

• 5 practical safeguards to protect sensitive information while using sophisticated marketing tools.

Let’s go!

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GEEK LINKS

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• Board Meeting Best Practices for CEOs

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• Escape the Silicon Valley Filter Bubble

GEEK OUT

Are LinkedIn Ads Broadcasting Your Company's Confidential Activity?

Last week, I spotted something rather interesting in my LinkedIn feed.

It was a textbook example of what happens when sophisticated marketing technology meets questionable judgment.

A LinkedIn campaign managed to combine:

• Precise data about my company relationships

• Real-time intelligence about vendor evaluations

• And zero understanding of corporate discretion

The result?

An ad that proudly broadcast confidential business information to the wrong person.

Here's what happened:

I received a promoted post informing me that my "colleagues" at a company where I serve as an advisor were evaluating a product as a replacement for their current vendor.

The ad invited me to "join my colleagues" in this evaluation.

Watching this unfold, I had to wonder: Why are B2B marketers getting so comfortable broadcasting sensitive information?

It feels like we've crossed some invisible line where competitive intelligence has become just another form of advertising copy.

This isn't a story about AI getting things wrong.

It's rather more about what happens when marketers get a bit too excited about their data capabilities and forget about the human side of things.

The technology worked exactly as designed:

• It correctly identified my relationship with the company

• It identified me as being located in the geo where the evaluation was ongoing

• It successfully matched me to the target account

The failure was entirely human: someone thought it would be a good idea to turn sensitive business intelligence into ad copy.

It's like catching your sales team sharing a competitor's pricing sheet on LinkedIn because, technically, they can.

Let's unpack why this is both technically and objectively concerning.

The ‘Clever’ Bit

I suppose we should look at what they were trying to achieve here.

On paper, it started sensibly enough with standard Account-Based Marketing (ABM) - targeting people connected to specific companies.

I’ve been served seemingly similar ads in the past that match my affiliation with a given company.

But this went a step further in an interesting way.

The ad creative was incredibly bold and direct.

Has access to precise targeting data made us lose our common sense?

Looking at their strategy, it certainly seems so.

Their thinking probably went something like this:

"Hey, what if we don't just target people connected to these accounts... what if we explicitly tell them about their company's ongoing vendor evaluations? We could even name-drop the incumbent they're trying to replace!"

I imagine the planning meeting went something like this:

Marketing Manager: "Right, so we know which companies are evaluating alternatives..."

Marketing Ops: "And we've got data on their current vendors..."

Demand Gen Lead: "Shall we just... tell everyone connected to the account?"

Everyone nods enthusiastically.

Tongue in cheek I know, but you get the point.

On a whiteboard somewhere, this probably looked brilliant:

1. Identify companies actively evaluating alternatives

2. Find potential influencers and decision makers in the relevant geo within those companies

3. Explicitly mention their current vendor, and the ongoing evaluation

4. Hope this insider knowledge creates urgency and influence

And while that might seem clever in theory, there's a big difference between "technically possible", "actually effective", and “ethically justifiable”.

Well, This Is Awkward

But here's where it gets uncomfortable.

The ad likely reached me because:

• I'm an advisor to the company

• I have a visible relationship with the organisation

• I'm part of their extended professional network on LinkedIn

But…

• I have zero involvement in vendor evaluation processes

• I'm not even an employee, just an advisor

• My advisory role focuses on completely different aspects of the business

• I have no influence or input on this type of decision

So was this a targeting failure?

That's harder to say.

While I personally have no involvement in vendor evaluation processes, the campaign might have deliberately cast a wide net to reach both direct decision-makers and potential influencers.

After all, in complex B2B sales, influence can come from unexpected places.

But in my mind, the real question isn't whether the targeting worked - it's whether broadcasting sensitive business intelligence in ad copy is ever appropriate, regardless of who sees it.

The Privacy Bit

What's particularly interesting here is how remarkably comfortable vendors have become with broadcasting rather sensitive information.

Is competitive intelligence becoming just... advertising copy?

The evidence suggests yes, and that's concerning.

What happens when this approach meets regulated industries or sensitive negotiations?

The ad essentially said:

"Hey, we know what your company is doing behind closed doors!"

It feels like we're witnessing boundary testing in how business intelligence is handled in the digital age in the name of growth.

The walls between internal knowledge and external messaging are becoming increasingly porous, and it strikes me that not everyone has thought through the implications.

The Broader Implications

This incident highlights several important trends and challenges in modern B2B marketing:

1. The Context Problem

While we can now target with incredible precision based on data points, we still struggle with understanding context. Knowing someone's relationship with a company is one thing; understanding the nature, scope, and limitations of that relationship is another entirely.

2. The Privacy Balance

Companies must walk a fine line between demonstrating relevant knowledge and appearing invasive. Just because you can show that you know something doesn't mean you should. There's a difference between being well-informed and being creepy.

3. The Automation Paradox

As we automate more of our marketing processes, we risk losing the human touch that understands nuance and context. The more sophisticated our targeting becomes, the more obvious it is when we get it wrong.

4. The Data Quality Challenge

This incident also highlights how even high-quality data can lead to poor outcomes when we don't understand its limitations. Having accurate data points isn't enough - we need to understand how they relate to each other and what they actually mean in context. More semantic data.

5. The Ethics of Intelligence Sharing

There's a growing disconnect between what we can know and what we should share. Just because we have access to competitive intelligence doesn't mean it should become marketing fodder. Yet here we are, watching companies broadcast sensitive information like it's just another data point.

Some Thoughts on Doing This Better

So how might we approach this more sensibly?

1. Consider the Message Before the Medium

Before deploying sophisticated targeting, evaluate the appropriateness of your message:

• Would this information be appropriate in a public setting?

• Could this message create internal political challenges?

• Is there a way to demonstrate value without exposing sensitive information?

• How might this affect trust relationships?

2. Validate Role and Influence

Don't just target based on relationship data - understand the nature of those relationships.

This might mean:

• Additional qualification steps

• Progressive profiling

• Intent signal validation

• Role-based targeting refinement

3. Respect Privacy Boundaries

Be thoughtful about what information you reveal in your targeting:

• Avoid exposing internal business processes

• Don't broadcast competitive intelligence

• Consider the potential for internal political implications

• Respect confidentiality norms

4. Add Human Oversight

While automation is powerful, adding human oversight to targeting strategies can help catch obvious mistakes:

• Regular campaign review processes

• Spot checks on targeting logic

• Feedback loops from sales teams

• Customer advisory input

5. Focus on Value First

Instead of leading with "we know what you're doing," lead with value:

• Emphasise solution benefits

• Share relevant case studies

• Offer educational content

What Next?

As our marketing tools get cleverer (and they will), we might want to get a bit better at balancing all the art of the possible with basic business sense.

The questions we're grappling with today - about privacy, discretion, and the appropriate use of business intelligence - will only become more pressing.

B2B marketing needs to move beyond knowing more and focus on understanding more.

Including understanding when to keep certain knowledge private.

The incident I experienced is likely just the tip of the iceberg.

As companies invest more in AI-powered targeting and marketing automation, we'll probably see more examples of technically impressive but contextually tone-deaf marketing.

In Conclusion

This LinkedIn ad served as a perfect microcosm of where we are with AI-powered B2B marketing - sophisticated enough to identify complex business relationships but not yet wise enough to understand their nuances.

It's a reminder that as our technical capabilities advance, we need to ensure our understanding of human context keeps pace.

The winners will be those that can combine sophisticated targeting capabilities with genuine understanding of business relationships, privacy considerations, and human context.

A few points to take away from this:

1. Technical sophistication doesn't guarantee effective targeting

2. Context and nuance matter as much as data accuracy

3. Privacy considerations should guide targeting strategies

4. Human oversight remains crucial in automated marketing

5. Value delivery should precede targeting precision

It's worth noting that we may never know if this campaign achieved its business objectives.

Perhaps the bold approach of revealing insider knowledge created exactly the urgency and influence the marketing team intended.

The interesting bit here isn't whether the campaign worked - it's that we seem to have reached a point where broadcasting sensitive business intelligence is considered perfectly normal marketing practice.

Bit concerning, that.

THAT’S A WRAP

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That’s all for today,

If there are any product, growth or leadership topics that you’d like me to write about, just hit reply to this email or leave a comment and let me know!

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Until next time!

— Ben

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