Kiin.co - Linkedin Ads Agency

I founded Kiin in 2020 after recognizing a gap in the market—very few people truly understood how to run LinkedIn Ads effectively. Since then, we’ve worked with 150+ clients and managed millions in ad spend, helping B2B companies generate demand, capture leads, and scale their marketing efforts on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Ads Agency Founder (est 2020)

Kiin.co is a LinkedIn ads agency with a focus on scaling B2B companies.

Founder

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Cine Society

Lisbon's best roof top cinema. 
www.cinesociety.pt

Co-Founder

B2BHero.co

B2Bhero.co is on a mission to help small business owners and B2B software founders understand how to grow.

Understory

At Understory Agency, I shape LinkedIn Ads strategy, B2B demand generation, and growth execution—driving data-backed results through precise targeting, optimization, and full-funnel campaign design.

LinkedIn Ads Specialist

Proud To Be Sengwer

Grassroots activists defy intimidation in a struggle for their ancestral forest homeland, and with it, their cultural identity as Sengwer.

Follow citizen journalist Elias Kimaiyo as he overcomes serious injury by the Kenya Forest Service to mobilise a network of Sengwer activists. Despite forced evictions where their homes are repeatedly burnt down, they record human rights abuses and monitor environmental damage to the Embobut Forest

Independent Filmmaker

LinkedIn Ads Specialist | B2B Youtuber/Blogger | Rooftop Cinema Owner

I've been running B2B ads for 9 years, diving deep into LinkedIn Ads in 2020—that’s 5 years of laser-focused expertise on the platform. Since then, I’ve managed millions in ad spend for 150+ clients, helping businesses scale their demand generation, lead gen, and revenue strategies.

💡 What I do:
👉 I run Kiin, a niche LinkedIn Ads agency working with budgets up to $100K/month
👉 I help B2B companies own their demand, lower CPLs, and convert more pipeline
👉 I design and execute high-performing LinkedIn campaigns that drive real ROI

🔹 Want to scale your LinkedIn Ads profitably? Let’s chat. Book a call: https://calendly.com/phil-kiin/30min
🔹 Learn more at www.kiin.co

Philip Ilic

I'm building out a LinkedIn Ads strategy for a B2B SaaS right now.
Sales-led. HR tech. ACV $50k+.
Here’s the strategy👇

We’re anchoring around one high-quality ICP list and using it across:
+ LinkedIn Ads
+ Signal-based outbound
+ Warm outbound

The strategy is to connect LinkedIn ads and specifically lean heavily on thought leader ads + outbound as one coherent system. 

Whereas LinkedIn ads are great to warm up an audience through its amazing ability for content distribution, outbound is a great conversion mechanism. 

Top of Funnel
We push broad, relevant content to the entire list, not to convert, but to get them engaged, and familiar with the brand.

Goal: build a high-quality 180-day retargeting audience. 


Middle of Funnel
This is where we build trust and familiarity. Content distribution, demand gen part. 

Running:
+ 180-day retargeting
+ Thought Leader Ads
+ Zero-click content
+ Demand-gen educational posts

We're not driving traffic. We’re distributing content, who we are, what we do, why it matters.

Bottom of Funnel
This is often what i launch first. It's fast to launch and drives early results.

We’ll run:
+ Single-image ads
+ Conversation ads (with incentives also)
+ Retargeting + cold campaigns

Single-image ads convert warm users, but can work cold too when your TAM is big enough (there's always someone in-market).

Conversation ads (especially incentive-based ones) work targeting HR really well for some reason.

Outbound
Outbound is split into 2:

1️⃣ Signal-based: 
Clay picks up intent signals (profile views, ad engagement, site visits, etc.). Those get piped into tools like HeyReach or Instantly for personalised outreach.

2️⃣ Warm outbound: 
After a few weeks of LinkedIn Ads warming the list, we hit the entire ICP with outbound. 
—
p.s. if you’d like us to build out a GTM system, which connects LinkedIn + warm outbound schedule a call with me here: https://lnkd.in/d-rYinXh

LinkedIn Ads Specialist | Dm Me To Access My full LinkedIn Ads Playbooks👇 | Rooftop Cinema Owner🍿

I’m currently designing a signals-based outbound system to sit on top of a client’s LinkedIn ad campaigns.
Here’s what I’m building 👇

1. Turning social engagement into conversations

Their thought leader ads get a steady flow of reactions/comments.
So we’ll automatically pull all that engagement into Trigify → send it to Clay for ICP checks → and then warm contacts go into a small HeyReach sequence (with an Instantly email fallback).

2. Fast follow-up for content + demo leads

Content downloads and demo requests will go into short HeyReach sequences with:
 • Connection request
 • InMail
 • A quick email via Instantly

Each lead type gets slightly different messaging, but the idea is the same: respond quickly while the intent is warm.

3. Company-level engagement → warm outbound

LinkedIn shows which companies engage with your content.

We’ll collect these accounts, enrich them in Clay and run a warm:
 • Email sequence (Instantly)
 • LinkedIn connection sequence (HeyReach)

4. Website visitors → warm outbound

Anyone hitting the website (via your tracking tools) goes straight into:
 • A warm email flow
 • A LinkedIn connection flow

The goal here is to capture any existing demand in the market using the above as signals.

I have a LinkedIn ads client with a super low lead gen form fill (for a demo) to actually booking in the calendar ratio. 
Close to 0%.

Most ppl say, ‘oh that’s because lead gen forms don't work’.

Honestly, that is not the reason. 

I have multiple clients where we use lead gen forms, and the demo-to-booking-to-turning-up rate is over 50%. 

When i dug deeper into this client, turns out the SDR was on holiday, and when they are not on holiday, the follow up was super week.

They follow up with just an email like a day later...
...and thats it. then they call it a day. 
and come back to us saying lead gen forms are sh$t. 

If you want this ratio to work you need to have the full follow up. 
Here is what i suggest:

1. Set up an automation where leads get pinged to slack so the SDR can follow up with in minutes / or hours not days. 

2. They need to follow up with a connection request/ email right away thanking them for booking in and making sure they actually scheduled. 

3. If there is no answer then should follow up the next day with an inmail message. 

4. Some of the best ratios i have seen is if they call the contact just to secure the time of the demo. 
This call part honestly works super well. 
Just a quick ‘hey i see you signed up for a demo, when is a good time to do it’ type of call. 

5. Have really good marketing email automation. a few emails over the next few days. 
Try to keep it helpful, good content to keep them interested. 

Without a good follow up lead gen forms can under perform.

Matching your LinkedIn ads budget to your audience size matters a lot

When the budget is small compared to your TAM, what i love to do is scrape a list which has an extra layer of intent signals on top. 

So instead of targeting all B2B SaaS companies (for me for example)…

...maybe b2b saas which is actively hiring for a specific role, 
or just got funded or is using your competitor 
or has some new technology they just added to their site. 

Things like…

B2B SaaS + funded in last 90 days
B2B SaaS + hiring for GTM roles
B2B SaaS + hiring for RevOps roles
B2B SaaS + installed HubSpot in last 30 days
B2B SaaS + increased LinkedIn ad spend
B2B SaaS + new CMO in last 90 days
B2B SaaS + expanded to US/EU recently
B2B SaaS + launched a new product
B2B SaaS + attending SaaStr
B2B SaaS + trending on G2


Layering in this extra layer of intent can be quite powerful to make sure that small budget hits the highest intent audience rather than spraying and praying. 

I just tried this on our internal account and performance increased quite a bit. Will release this month's results on Monday.

This month I started targeting a list + intent (with my Linkedin ads)
...this dropped my cost per scheduled sales call from £333 to £184.

If you have a large enough TAM, then try focusing your linkedin ads budget layered in with an intent. 

My intent was recently funded B2B SaaS. 

Trying some lists with companies with open job roles related to demand gen. 

only works with large enough TAMs where you can segment your audience. 

Full results coming tomorrow for the months results

Here is how in November we dropped our cost per sales call from $441 to $243
We spent $3,230 on LinkedIn ads for Kiin.co - Linkedin Ads Agency.
Here are the results 👇

This month we spent more and the budget was super concentrated on just one ad initiative:

Thought leader ad ➜ landing page (asking for email) ➜ ridiculously strong follow-up.

➜ our cost per call dropped by close to half
➜ cost per lead stayed roughly the same: $18.82
➜ 8 phone calls scheduled
➜ 2 clients acquired at roughly $1,600 CAC (worth $45,000–$65,000 LTV)
➜ increased the lead-to-sales-call from 3.75% to 7.69%

So the thing that changed most between October and November is the lead-to-sales-call rate nearly doubled, which basically dropped the cost per scheduled call by half.

So what happened here???

I think the main thing is that i got a list of companies with an intent signal on top.

The cost per lead from this list was very similar, but the big change was that way more of them actually wanted to speak with me about LinkedIn ads 
(I've converted 2 so far, maybe more in the next months).

The second thing I started doing is not only following up with a LinkedIn connection request / message but also with an email.

The follow-up email included more content about how we work and our strategies, and asked them if they wanted a free audit.

I think converting 7.69% of leads to scheduled calls is elite level.

But one thing Omar Aboushady and I chatted about is including a quick call step. 
We’ve seen this work super well with clients. 

Will add this in January and let you know how it does.

----
p.s. i run LinkedIn ads + GTM motions for sales-led B2B SaaS. Reach out if you need any help 🙌

#linkedinads #gtm #linkedin

11% of ppl who watched my long-form Linkedin ads video…
…clicked my CTA to book a call 👇
Here’s how I make long-form video for B2B companies that ppl actually watch (and convert).

I send every new…
+ prospect
+ lead
+ anyone who engages with me
+ my Linkedin ads (especially rtg)
+ anyone who signs up for my assets gets redirected

...basically any excuse to send this video to my ICP.

Watching the analytics, ppl watched over 45% of the videos on average.
I go over this from time to time, and the ones who convert often watch 100%.

Some ppl watch 2–3 times (I see you 😅)

what’s even crazier is that 5% of the ppl watching are clicking my CTA (book a call with me).

I have another video, watched a lot less (162 times) but the CTA was clicked 11% of the time 😱

not all of them actually book,
but that’s pretty insane!

Here is how I recommend you make a high-impact video:

Firstly don’t make it a webinar.
Secondly don’t make it basically just a demo.

1. Packaging of the video is everything:

you need to package it up in a really good way. the packaging is everything.

We are marketers, so how do we sell ppl on this?

Start with the title and work backwards.

For me, it was pretty simple, it’s just our internal system on how we run Linkedin ads for clients.

I packaged it as…
$1.2 million Pipeline: our exact Linkedin ads strategy.

The other one is called…
Linkedin thought leader ads: how we generate millions in pipeline.

Ok you’re getting a pattern on my namings!! not very original, I know.

I was speaking to a client about their webinar packaging recently.

Ultimately they just wanted to do a live demo for groups of ppl.

But what we discussed was that very few ppl will want to sign up to a demo.

but if we package it as something educational and actually deliver it as educational, then a lot more ppl will want to turn up (and watch more than 20 seconds)

2. Make sure you have a really good hook / structure.

I keep mine pretty simple:

a) strong one-liner hook
I go straight into the meat, no: “hello my name is xyz” stuff 🥱

More like...
“this is how we helped 5 Linkedin ads accounts scale to millions in pipeline in the past 8 weeks”
...make sure it’s true of course!

b) show social proof

If you’re showing how you did something, show the proof.

I do this by name-dropping clients (the ones who allow me to), and showing real results.

c) go into the educational part

but keep to the point.
no faffing. no talking around a topic too much. be concise.

d) have a good CTA

If you want ppl to book 1:1 demos, then call it out.

I keep my vids mostly under 20 minutes.
The first is 12 minutes long, the second is 17.
——
 p.s. if you want help scaling out your GTM motion with Linkedin ads, GTM. outbound, video etc, here to help, just reach out 🤭

#linkedinads #gtm #demandgen

I'm currently analysing 10s of thousands of pounds in conversation ads to work out why some do so well and others fall flat. 
Here are some preliminary results...👇

1. The cost per open matters a lot.

Pretty obvious, I guess, but the cost per open varied from as little as 15 cents to as much as £3.50, which will never get the cost per lead low enough.

I imagined the main metric to get the cost per open down would be the open rate.

But the one with 15 cents per open actually had a relatively low open rate (28%), compared with others above 40%.

Still trying to work this out. 

Will release more research around this on my newsletter, will leave a link in the comments.

2. If you’re running lead gen forms inside convo ads, keep a close eye on the form open rate and the form completion rate.

Some campaigns had high completion rates but super low form open rates.

The angle/positioning of the message and specifically the words you use in the convo ad makes a big difference in getting people to open the form. 

Incentives also help a lot (see below).

3. Incentives work really well.

Every time I put an incentive ($100 Amazon gift card) into these, they seem to get a lot more leads.

(And those leads actually convert to pipeline and revenue, for any cynics.)

4. The open rate matters a lot.

On the most successful campaigns (ones with most leads/good cost), the open rate was often above 35%, even 40%+.

AB test your subject line. 

One thing that worked consistently was stating the incentive directly in the subject line.

I’ll bring out a more comprehensive, data-backed report on all of this, plus how to turn these insights into actionable steps.

Sign up to my newsletter to be the first to get it (link in comments)👇

I've had a lot of success with driving leads with gated assets. 

But most ppl say these leads are...
+ super low value
+ have no intent
+ and waste sales time. 

I think they are just looking at it wrong. 

Here is how i am running it and why it works for me...

1. The asset has to be genuinely valuable

Not a gated PDF pretending to be useful.

I am using an asset that is actually helpful, practical, and worth saving.

Because the asset is strong, the cost per lead stays low.

Pairing this with thought leader ads helps even more, as the social proof around the person delivering the message improves performance across the journey.

2. The landing page conversion rate matters a lot

It needs to be above 40%.

Thought leader ads help here because the likes and comments create credibility.

People see the content, recognise the person behind it, and then even an average landing page converts well because the social proof has already been built.

My cost per lead is currently under $20
...and these are senior marketers in B2B companies.

3. You need a proper outbound and marketing follow up

Most of these people are not asking for a demo. 

Out of one hundred leads, you might only find three or four who are genuinely in market. 
That is exactly what you are mining for.

Anyone downloading a LinkedIn Ads resource probably has LinkedIn Ads on their mind.

They are trying to figure something out. 
Some are ready now, some are not.

Once a lead comes in, I go outbound.

With the Instantly.ai and HeyReach.io integration, I can set up a connection request and, if they do not accept, they receive an email and an InMail.

This can be automated or handled manually, but either way you have to follow up.

My conversion rate from lead to booked call is roughly 3.8%.

 So around four calls for every one hundred leads, which puts the cost per booked call at around £300.

This month it will be lower, because I have made a few improvements that I will share soon (literally, like half).

These calls convert well because people have already consumed my videos and content.

Almost half of all sign-ups read every follow up email, so by the time they book a call they are warm and informed.

I am converting roughly 1/3 calls.

Even if you assume 1/4, the customer acquisition cost sits around a thousand bucks.

For me that is great, because the average lifetime value of a client is in the tens of thousands.

Even in a worst case scenario it sits around at around 6-8k.

Most people dismiss this system because they believe it means sales chasing low intent leads.

There is some truth in that, but the mindset needs adjusting.

You only need three or four in-market people out of one hundred for this to work.

It is about getting the economics right...
+ CPL low (for us under 20 bucks)
+ CVR Lead to demo high (for us 3.8%)
+Demo to revenue at a good rate (for us 1/3)

---
p.s. if you are running linkedin ads and want a free audit feel free to send me a dm :)

I run different Thought Leader Ads for different parts of my market. It just works better.

I’ve run more general ones too, and they work fine.

But if your audience is as broad as mine, I’d segment the audience slightly.

For example, we’ve had a lot of success with HR tech/SaaS.

So I’ve now pulled together a big(ish) list of HR tech companies and I’m designing a few Thought Leader posts specifically for that market.

Stuff like: “How this HR tech company reached X results with LinkedIn ads” type posts.

That builds the social proof, and the ads actually resonate with that audience.

It helps them believe it might work for them too, because they’re seeing a near-identical example of it already working.

What I’m doing for my clients, when possible, is getting super specific and strategic with the Thought Leader Ads we run.

The organic strategy is often totally different from the posts we should pick to push with ads.

And the advice of the nature of 'run the most engaging posts' is bullsh$t. Honestly it needs to be more strategic. 

The post of you and your cat might get 100 likes but i not sure if you should put money behind that. 

The TL ad ones need to be way more strategic.

Nemanja Zivkovic

funky.enterprises

In 2025, we launched Funky Enterprises — a GTM collective built by senior strategists and executors. Not an agency. Not a vendor. A team that builds full-stack systems for positioning, acquisition, and expansion — the kind that drive both present and future cashflow.

We don’t sell 3-month stunts.
We don’t follow trends.
We don’t pitch “more content” as strategy.

If you’re looking for a vendor — keep scrolling.
But if you’re building something big and need a GTM partner who thinks like an owner, let’s talk.

We work with serious companies ready to scale. Not beginners. Not teams chasing quick wins. Our partners have real products and budgets from €30k to €300k+. And they’re done wasting money on tactics that don’t tie back to outcomes.

Here’s what we do:
✅ Strategy that earns attention, not just reach
✅ Execution across brand, performance, ops, and customer marketing
✅ Systems that survive platform shifts, team changes, and quarterly chaos

We don’t just show up with playbooks — we come in with skin in the game.

Our model is different:
→ Retainers are just the start
→ We partner through revenue share, EBITDA growth, even strategic equity — if we’re building your growth engine from scratch

You get a team that makes decisions like the business is theirs — because a piece of it actually is.

If your GTM isn’t compounding yet, you don’t need another agency.
You need a system.

That’s what we build.

Funky Enterprises.
Let’s grow it together.

Senior Partner

Funky Marketing

Built 100+ inbound growth systems across B2B tech and SaaS

Funky Marketing was the answer to a simple question:

What would B2B growth look like if it was actually built by people who give a damn?

So I built a senior-only team. No interns. No buzzwords. Just strategy that gets results.

In year one, we closed 47 inbound B2B deals, all through LinkedIn, using the same approach we now deploy for clients.
Since then, we’ve worked with 120+ companies, helped 80+ startups, and driven 3x+ ROI for firms across the US, UK, DACH, MENA, and the Balkans.

We worked with brands like:
Wix, Deloitte, Generali, Vega IT, NIS Gazprom Neft — and many more that you’ll hear about soon.

Our role?
→ Fix the pipeline
→ Build a GTM system that doesn’t fall apart at each handoff
→ Make sure marketing contributes to revenue — not just activity metrics

It started as a consulting crew. It became a movement.
Now, it’s the core of Funky Enterprises.

Founder & Strategic CMO

Similarweb

I was using Dealfront back when it was still Leadfeeder and Echobot.

It became one of those tools I kept bringing into projects — because it helped us:
→ Identify real buying intent
→ Align sales + marketing around behavior, not just personas
→ Stop chasing leads and start acting on signals

Now I’m a Community Partner, helping others use it for smarter outreach and better conversion plays. And yes — we’ll likely host some events soon.

Brand Ambassador

Dealfront

Community Partner

Favikon

I use Favikon because it gives me something most platforms don’t: context.Not just influencer rankings, but who's actually relevant, growing, and resonating — across industries, niches, and countries.

After using it for B2B creator discovery, employer branding campaigns, and dark social strategies, I became a brand ambassador for Serbia.

Favikon is a tool I trust. If you're using creators to grow your brand — or if you're one yourself — you need it.

Brand Ambassador, Serbia

BIZLife

NOVI BIZLIFE SERIJAL: Zašto je LinkedIn nezaobilazna platforma za savremeni biznis?

Kroz seriju kolumni koje će na BIZLife portalu pišemo Dejan Pataki i ja, imate priliku da se detaljnije upoznate sa strategijama koje maksimalno iskorišćavaju mogućnosti koje LinkedIn nudi. Svaka kolumna će razmotriti specifične taktike i metode za unapređenje kako B2B prodaje, tako i employer i ličnog brendinga, pružajući čitaocima praktična znanja koja mogu odmah da primene i time poboljšaju svoje poslovne rezultate.

Columnist

Business Talks Network

In 2022, I co-founded Business Talks Network in Novi Sad, Serbia, with a vision to bridge the gap between business growth and meaningful professional connections. Our mission was to create a platform where entrepreneurs, business professionals, and startups could come together to share their stories and insights.

We built a vibrant community of over 600 members and hosted events that attracted more than 300 participants. These gatherings were more than just networking opportunities; they were forums where clients, partners, and industry leaders engaged in deep, insightful conversations. Each event was designed to elevate perspectives and foster genuine connections, moving beyond traditional networking to create a space for authentic human interaction.

Our commitment to authenticity and community-building extended beyond in-person events. We launched a YouTube channel, Business Talks Network, to share the stories and experiences of entrepreneurs and business professionals with a wider audience. This platform allowed us to reach individuals who couldn't attend our events, furthering our mission to inspire and connect the business community.

Additionally, we maintained an active presence on Facebook, Business Talks Network, where we shared updates, engaged with our community, and provided valuable content to support business growth and professional development.

It's been inspiring to witness the community thrive, grounded in authenticity and the strength of real human connection. Through Business Talks Network, we've created a space where meaningful relationships are formed, and business growth is a shared journey.

Founder Institute Serbia

In February 2023, I joined Founder Institute Serbia as a startup mentor, focusing on guiding early-stage companies in refining their messaging, positioning, and demand generation strategies for B2B markets. The Founder Institute, established in Silicon Valley in 2009, is recognized as the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, with a presence in over 200 cities across more than 95 countries. 
FI

In Serbia, the program aims to strengthen local and regional entrepreneurship by supporting startup teams in accelerating their development, transforming innovative ideas into profitable and sustainable business opportunities.

As a mentor, I collaborated with startups to:

Develop Clear Messaging: Assisting in articulating value propositions that resonate with target B2B audiences.

Strategic Positioning: Guiding startups to identify and occupy unique market positions, differentiating themselves from competitors.

Demand Generation: Crafting strategies to create interest and drive demand among potential B2B clients.

This mentorship experience has been rewarding, contributing to the growth of Serbia's startup ecosystem and empowering entrepreneurs to build impactful technology companies.

Startup Mentor

App Crafters

AppCrafters needed to grow — fast. They had talent, tech, and momentum. What they lacked was a clear narrative and GTM structure.

My role?
→ Build the GTM foundation across Europe
→ Develop positioning, campaigns, and content that turned traffic into traction
→ Mentor internal teams and create marketing rhythms they could sustain after we left

We increased inbound leads by 40% in six months, shortened the sales cycle, and left the team with a strategy built to scale.

Fractional CMO

BioSense Institute

At BioSense Institute, I mentored AgTech startups, guiding them from concept to market readiness with a focus on early traction and proof of concept.

Each startup faced unique challenges. Veles Sense tackled vineyard monitoring by using drone and satellite technology for early disease detection, while EcoPatents introduced a moisture-retaining product to combat drought in orchards. PhenoMap Pro leveraged digital phenotyping to enhance plant growth, optimizing agricultural output.

My mentorship included defining clear problem-solution narratives and crafting targeted strategies. For instance, Beeamond’s urban beekeeping system provided health benefits and supported biodiversity. By positioning this solution to appeal to eco-conscious consumers, we differentiated it from competitors and aligned it with the growing green city movement.

We built demand through well-crafted content distribution, from customer interviews to community engagement. For PhenoMap Pro, pilot projects validated product efficacy, while Beeamond and EcoPatents relied on live demos and workshops to capture attention. These tactics encouraged not only awareness but also trust and credibility.

Scaling strategies focused on community building and partnerships. Beeamond engaged public and private entities to promote urban beekeeping, while Veles Sense collaborated with EU and US-based drone service providers to expand monitoring services internationally.

This hands-on mentorship reaffirmed the impact of tailored, data-driven strategies in helping AgTech startups succeed, providing each with the foundation to grow and make a meaningful industry impact.

What if you can win it all? | I help B2B companies generate revenue from the modern-day B2B buyer through better positioning, planning, and execution. With a bit of funk. | LinkedIn's Rising Star of Marketing

If you’ve outgrown playbooks, burned money on tactics, and still don’t have a system that scales - keep reading.

I build GTM systems with companies that want revenue, equity, and margin. The real deal.

I work with B2B companies in tech, SaaS, and legacy industries going digital. The kind where sales cycles are long, CAC is high, and “just post more” hasn’t worked in a while.

Through funky.enterprises, I lead a team of senior operators who’ve carried numbers, built pipelines, and fixed broken GTM for real.

What we build:
– Positioning that makes sense to buyers
– Acquisition systems that compound
– Expansion loops that survive team shifts and platform changes

We charge through retainers + revenue share, EBITDA growth, or equity, because when you scale, we scale too. Simple.

But in a world flooded with AI content, lookalike brands, and cloned tactics, resonance is the new moat. That’s why what we build cuts deeper because it’s rooted in clarity and built to scale trust.

I’m also building a community for founders and operators who want to implement all this, serious about building systems that last. Only yearly subscriptions, no short-term engagement.

Honestly, I love the fact that I can make an impact on 100+ people and companies at once with activation inside the community.

Workshops. 
Coaching. 
Activations. 
Mentorship. 
Education.

What I do isn’t theory. In the first 18 months of Funky Marketing, we closed 65 inbound B2B deals - no ads, no cold outreach. Just the same system we now build for others.

Since then:
120+ companies. 80+ startups.
Markets: US, UK, DACH, Canada, Dubai, Balkans.
Industries: SaaS, logistics, finance, energy, ecomm and more
Names you’ll know: Wix, Deloitte, Generali Group, Vega IT, NIS Gazprom Neft.

This is the kind of work that compounds and shows up where it matters - in pipeline, in boardrooms, and in actual revenue.

Also:
– Co-author of the first LinkedIn book in Serbian
– Host of two podcasts on growth and implementation (Funky B2B Marketing, Strategija & Implementacija)
– Mentor in programs like Founder Institute, BioSense, and NTP Belgrade

Off the clock? Funk music. Hiking. Partizan. Comics. Epic fantasy.

Because sometimes, the best growth systems start far from the feed.

CEO & Founder

We create demand generation programs primarily for B2B tech-based companies in the growth phase and enable them to generate consistent revenue growth, increase their deal size and shorten their sales cycles using inbound and content strategies.

People think marketing is easy. Hint: it’s not.
People see marketing as black and white, like sales. Hint: it’s not.
Marketing is very very gray. And oftentimes counterintuitive, which is why so many people don’t get it.

We keep delivering on what we promise.

Šetam ovog jutra Novim Sadom. Hladno je, oko nule. Ne šeta mi se ali sam se naterao da krenem, da pešačim, da mi mozak proradi. 

Hteo sam i da trčim, međutim ispalo je da sam ipak prevelika pička da bih trčao po nula stepeni.

Anyway.

Razmišljam o nasleđu koje svi imamo, posebno mi stariji. Ja sam rođen 1984. 

I to nasleđe je prilično jasno: posle srednje moraš da završiš faks, fakultet, i to neki koji će ti dati siguran posao. 

Moraš da budeš dobar student, da nađeš stabilan posao, posao na kom ćeš da ostaneš ceo život. 

Onda da nađeš ženu, da se oženiš, dobiješ decu i tako dalje, i tako dalje.

Mi smo svi naučeni da život ide tim nekim tokom. Kao jedna linija. I da sve mora da se odvija baš tim redom.

Kod mene u gradu većina ljudi radi u fabrici, u Michelinu. Prva, druga, treća smena. 

Ljudi koji nemaju vremena ni da putuju, ni da upoznaju sebe, ni da se zapitaju zašto. Nemaju vremena ni da se odmore kako treba, ni da rade kako treba. 

Sve se svodi na preživljavanje. Za platu koja, realno, nije nešto sjajna.

I onda, kad se pojavi neka prilika, prava prilika, mi često ne reagujemo. 

Kažemo sebi: ajde da izbistrimo. Ajde da razmislimo još malo. 

A u suštini, mi izbistravamo ceo život i vraćamo se opet na istu putanju.

Kao da stalno merimo da li nas ta prilika udaljava od “plana” ili nas mu približava. A realno - to nema veze. Ili bar ne bi trebalo da ima. 

Jer to jeste prilika, a mi je gledamo kroz ciljeve koji, u suštini, nisu za svakog isti. I kroz putanju koja uopšte ne mora da bude naša.

I onda kreneš da živiš i vidiš da to uopšte ne ide tako. Ili bar ne mora.

Ja sam, recimo, drop out. Nisam završio marketing, nisam završio ekonomiju, a bavim se marketingom i jebeno sam dobar u tome. 

Preselio sam se u drugi grad, nisam ostao u gradu u kom sam rođen, jer sam znao da ako ostanem - stagniraću. Da neću imati iste prilike. Da neću izaći iz tog kruga.

I mislim da je to najveći problem. I problem koji mnoge mlađe generacije danas možda nemaju na isti način, iz ovog ili onog razloga. 

Mislim da je najveća stvar koju mi možemo da uradimo i za sebe i za one koji dolaze iza nas - da razbijemo pattern.

Da li je neko u porodici imao bolest koju mi danas možemo preventivno da sprečimo?

Da li je neko zauvek ostao u malom gradu, a mi možemo da se preselimo i otvorimo sebi više prilika?

Da li je neko ceo život radio po smenama, a mi možemo makar da sebi damo šansu da probamo nešto drugo?

Ja sam upoznao životnu saputnicu u Novom Sadu. Ne u gradu u kom sam rođen. I to nije mala stvar.

Upravo to razbijanje paterna mi je omogućilo i omogućava mi i danas, kroz sve greške i nesigurnosti na tom putu, da postignem neke stvari u životu za koje sam ranije mislio da su nemoguće. Ili previše daleke. Kao nešto što se dešava nekim drugim ljudima, ali ne meni.

Mislim da je to sasvim dovoljno nasleđe za one koji dolaze iza nas. Ne saveti. Ne uputstva. Ne recepti.

Samo pokazivanje da je moguće.

Eto to mi se mota po glavi jutros dok hodam ka kancu.

Volcano of creativity | I fix wasted marketing spend when the pipeline’s stuck | B2B systems where brand, sales & growth collide into one engine | Biblical (like Oasis)

In the next 12 months, companies will waste millions because they don’t understand one thing: what to buy, what to build, and what to automate.

I keep seeing screenshots like the one above.
“Customer churned after 18 months - we built it internally.”

On paper, it sounds like a smart move. Why pay $300/month for a SaaS tool when you can “just build it yourself,” especially now that AI can generate half the code for you?

But that’s only the surface-level story.

The real shift AI is creating in SaaS isn’t that companies will suddenly cancel all their tools.

The real shift is that more and more companies are about to make the wrong strategic decision, because they don’t actually understand the trade-off between:

- buying a SaaS tool
- building an internal solution
- automating the workflow
- using AI as an intelligent layer on top of everything

That gap in understanding is where the biggest damage happens and nobody talks about it!

AI destroyed the barrier to creation. Ok?

“Vibe coding” lets someone in operations build a custom internal tool faster than a SaaS vendor can answer a support ticket.

People who have never written code in their life are now shipping micro-apps that solve their own problems in a few hours.

And all of this feels like a win… until the part that always shows up:

Maintenance
Security
Access controls
Compliance
API changes
Technical debt.

Your internal developer leaves - nobody knows how the tool works
The workflow breaks on a Friday at 6PM, and suddenly it’s your problem

And the SaaS tool you cancelled?
You’d bring it back tomorrow if you could.

AI makes it easy to build something but brutally expensive to keep it alive.

On the flip side, SaaS companies underestimate how fast internal AI tools will replace anything that isn’t built on deep expertise or real operational value.

Average SaaS is dead.
SaaS built on domain depth survives.

So the real question becomes 

What should you buy? 
What should you build? 
What should you automate?
What should you let AI replace?

Most companies don’t have a framework for that.

They guess
They cut tools they still need
They build tools they can’t maintain
They automate processes that weren’t designed for automation
They ship AI initiatives with no systems beneath them

And that’s where I come in.

I help companies create clarity in the chaos:
- audit the SaaS stack
- identify what stays, what goes, what gets rebuilt, and what gets automated
- design an AI-ready GTM system that doesn’t break under complexity
- prevent AI sprawl and duplicated internal tools
- align product, marketing, ops, and leadership around one system that compounds

AI will not replace SaaS.

AI will expose every SaaS tool, every workflow, and every decision that was built on average thinking.

The companies that win will be the ones that understand the trade-offs and build a system where SaaS, automation, and AI actually work together.

Everyone else is about to pay a very expensive tuition fee.

„Ako želiš mnogo para - moraš da se uprosečiš.“
„Razgovor se vodi na nivou glupljeg.“
„Najsigurnije je da se uklopiš.“

To su rečenice na kojima se ovde decenijama gradi mentalni model uspeha.

I najtužnije je što većina ljudi zaista poveruje u njih, jer je sigurnost kod nas postala vrhovna vrednost - ne rast, ne znanje, ne ambicija, nego stabilnost po svaku cenu, čak i kada ta stabilnost znači odustajanje od sebe.

Zato i dalje ogroman broj ljudi sanja o poslu u javnim ustanovama, jer ideja „da ne radim mnogo, da uzmem neku lovu i da me niko ne cima“ deluje kao vrhunac životne udobnosti. Možete umesto javne ustanove da dodate "rad od kuće".

To je zamrznut prostor u kojem se ništa ne dešava, ali ima dovoljno vazduha da traje ceo život.

Ja sam iz Pirota i znam taj mentalitet iznutra. Većina ljudi stremi da radi u fabrici - Michelin, prva–druga–treća smena, sigurna plata, poznat ritam, stabilan kolektiv. 

I nema ništa loše u tome dok god si iskren prema sebi. Problem počinje onda kada taj obrazac postane izgovor da nikada ne saznaš ko si zapravo i koliko daleko možeš da ideš ako samo jednom izađeš iz zone komfora.

Ista priča je i u biznisu, na LinkedInu i u svakom sistemu koji te nagrađuje za uklapanje, a kažnjava za iskorak.

Većina ljudi ne razbija sopstvene paterne, ne razbija tuđe, ne rizikuje mogućnost da bude bolja verzija sebe, jer postoji taj duboko usađeni strah „šta ako ispadnem glup“, pa je lakše da niko ne vidi ni tvoje slabosti ni tvoje snage.

Umesto toga, svi pišu iste postove, iste savete, iste rečenice, iste teme, iste formate, iste pokušaje sigurnog angažmana i onda se iskreno iznenade što im se vraća isti rezultat.

Ljudi biraju ono što trenutno nosi mali benefit, ne shvatajući da je to manje od 5% onoga što bi dobili kada bi samo jednom svesno iskoračili u nepoznato. 

Pre nego što imaju „intent“. 
Pre nego što razumeju algoritam. 
Pre nego što se usklade sa stadom. 

I ne vide da stadno razmišljanje ima najveću manu od svih - zarobi te tačno tamo gde ti je najudobnije.

Istina je brutalno jednostavna: ekstremni rezultati traže ekstremnu odgovornost, ekstremnu posvećenost i ekstremnu neprilagodljivost proseku. 

Ne znači to ludilo, nego odlučnost da ne igraš igru na najmanji zajednički sadržalac samo zato što je lakša. Znači da ne izabereš rutinu koja te štiti, nego rizik koji te menja.

A tu dolazimo do dve stvari koje su najteže, ali najvažnije:

1. Razbijanje paterna
2. Učenje brzog zaboravljanja.

Razbijanje paterna znači da prestaneš da živiš po automatizmu koji si nasledio, a učenje zaboravljanja znači da svesno puštaš stare verzije sebe da bi mogao da usvojiš nove. 

Dok god ostaješ vezan za ono što si nekada bio, nemaš prostora da postaneš ono što možeš da budeš.

Ako osećate da ste već neko vreme zaglavljeni u tuđem paternu, znajte da niste sami, ali isto tako znajte da niko neće doći da vas izvuče.

To morate vi. I sve počinje od jedne odluke: da prestanete da birate sigurnost i da po prvi put izaberete sebe.

Number 1 in Growth & Lead Gen for Serbia says Favikon

Apparently. It changes every week, but whenever I post, I'm number one. 

I’m sharing this for a very simple reason - I’m laying in bed with a stomach flu and I’m bored.

Otherwise, I don’t usually share rankings.

Not because they don’t matter, but because they’re almost always misunderstood.

I consider myself a person who shares insane amounth of value here daily. I don't think I have competition in that (and I'm not even modest).

This year, Favikon says I’m:
- in the top 9% of creators worldwide
- number 3516 on LinkedIn worldwide
- number 68 on LinkedIn in Growth & Lead Gen worldwide
- number 1 on LinkedIn in Growth & Lead Gen in Serbia
- number 1 on Twitter in Marketing & Sales in Serbia
- number 6 on LinkedIn in Serbia overall (all industries)
- number 6 in Marketing & Sales in Serbia (all platforms)
- valued at ~$617 per sponsored post

Not one platform. Not one niche. Growing globally.

Cool data. But here’s what actually matters.

None of this came from:
- hacks
- templates
- posting “what works on LinkedIn”
- chasing reach
- optimizing for impressions
- beautiful women on visuals

It came from doing the opposite.

For years, I treated content as infrastructure, not marketing.

A place to:
- think in public
- document decisions
- explain tradeoffs
- say the things clients usually say behind closed doors
- connect marketing, sales, leadership, and execution

This way of thinking came from working inside companies.

From sitting with founders, CEOs, CMOs, sales leaders and ops teams.
From building and fixing systems with teams at some of the best companies in the world. You can see some of the names in my cover photo.

They all came to me, inbound.

Different industries.
Different markets.
Same patterns.

That’s also what we do at funky.enterprises & Funky Marketing.

We build systems.

We help companies align:
- positioning
- demand creation and capture
- content and distribution
- sales and customer-facing teams

So growth doesn’t depend on one channel, one person, or one lucky quarter. 
We do much more than marketing, for a while now.

That’s why the niche matters more than the number.

When you’re clear about:
- who you help
- what problems you actually solve
- what you won’t touch
- how decisions are really made inside companies

the audience self-selects.

The uncomfortable truth is this - most people use LinkedIn to look competent. I use it to be precise.

That precision compounds. Slowly. Brick by brick.

Visibility doesn’t happen. It’s actually built.

And rankings?

They’re just lagging indicators of systems that have been running quietly for years.

If you’re trying to “grow on LinkedIn,” don’t ask what to post.
Ask what you actually stand behind when no one is watching.

Everything else follows.

p.s. I'm here for the comments

Favikon Rewind

Content isn’t marketing anymore. It’s how trust is distributed at scale.

And most companies haven’t caught up to that shift yet.

They still treat content as a tactic: posts, impressions, engagement, leads. Something the marketing team “handles” while the rest of the company focuses on the “real work.”

That model is already broken.

In modern B2B, trust is the product you ship before the product itself. Buyers don’t move through funnels anymore. They observe, compare, and wait. And what they’re really evaluating is not your offer, but your consistency.

One brand account cannot win in 2026.
Not in complex B2B. Not in long sales cycles. Not in categories where risk is high and decisions are slow.

But 20 employees can.

When those 20 people show up with shared context but different roles, something changes. The market doesn’t see a company trying to look smart. It sees a system that knows how it thinks, how it decides, and how it behaves under pressure.

That’s where trust actually comes from.

This is also where most companies make the same mistake.

They push for demand before they’ve earned credibility.
They invest in external campaigns while internal communication is still fragmented.
They want reach, but they haven’t aligned language, beliefs, or priorities inside the company.

Inside, teams are telling different stories.
Marketing sounds one way. Sales another. Leadership a third.
Employees don’t know what they’re allowed to say, or why their voice matters in the first place.

Then leadership concludes that “content doesn’t convert.”

It’s not a content problem.
It’s an internal clarity problem.

Once communication inside the company is fixed, everything outside becomes easier.

Content becomes consistent without being scripted.
Sales cycles shorten because buyers already feel familiar with you.
Hiring improves because candidates self-select.
Demand creation stops feeling forced and starts feeling inevitable.

Internal voices matter more than polished campaigns.

Not because employees are influencers.
But because buyers don’t trust posts. They trust patterns.

When the same thinking shows up across product, sales, customer success, and leadership, trust compounds. And only then does demand creation actually work.

Not as a funnel.
Not as a hack.
But as a natural byproduct of clarity, repetition, and visibility.

Content isn’t marketing anymore.

It’s how trust moves through the market.

And companies that understand this won’t need to shout in 2026.
They’ll already be heard.

If your brand only exists on the company page, you don’t have a brand. You have a publishing channel.

Real brands live in people.

Još jednom hodam do kancelarije, opet maguština, jebeno hladno, kao da smo u jebenom Sibiru, a ne u Novom Sadu. I pričam ja da treba da smo na Tajlandu, ali nismo na Tajlandu. 

I zato, dok mi se ruka smrzava na putu do kanca i dok diktiram ovaj tekst da mi tehnologija transkribuje, evo par stvari direktno i iskreno.

Gledam već neko kolege i koleginice kako izbacuju neke rezultate, bilo LinkedIn, Ads-i, content, neka usluga... I čudno mi je. Javne zahvalnice, screenshotovi, promovisanje usluga. 

I sve bi to bilo super, by all means, da ti rezultati nisu toliko mali da su praktično beznačajni. Beznačajni.

I onda se to ponavlja iz dana u dan i samim tim se uvere drugi da je to to. Da su oni te face. Da oni znaju. Jer kao, ako se stalno promovišemo, sigurno je to nešto ozbiljno, a ovi drugi ne znaju svakako značenje. A u suštini, to je ono klasično fake-uju till they make-uju.

Poseban problem je što se gledaju potpuno pogrešne metrike. Gledaju se impresije, recimo, za LinkedIn, a ovd, impresije i vidljivost su nešto što vi date nekom kad ih tek aktivirate. To nisu vaši rezultati. To je njihova reputacija, njihova mreža, ono što su oni radili pre vas. Vi ste ih samo učinili vidljivim.

Ako hoćeš da znaš da li si stvarno uradio dobar posao, ne gledaš impresije. Gledaš koliko je ljudi posle prvog posta otišlo na profil. Gledaš koliko je ljudi sačuvalo taj post. Čuvanje posta znači da si izvukao pravu stvar iz te osobe. Gledaš koliko je ljudi prosledilo taj post nekom drugom u LinkedIn inbox. To znači da je neko rekao: ovo mi je vredno treba nam to.

Gledaš da li ti se javilo 50 ljudi koji nemaju veze s onim što radiš ili jedan pravi čovek koji ima smisla. Gledaš da li je neko posle prvog posta dobio razgovor. Da li je posle drugog posta došao konkretan posao. To su metrike. Sve ostalo je BS.

I sad dolazimo do kolega i koleginica. Pitaju me zašto ne komentarišem devojke i žene koje izbacuju svoje fotografije. Da budem jasan, nemam ništa protiv toga. Lepe su žene, dao im bog. Nisu to nužno ni obnažene fotografije, iako ima i takvih. Ima seksipila i pažnje.

Problem koji ja imam je što je od momenta kada su krenule da izbacuju takav sadržaj, prestao da postoji kvalitet u tekstu. Sve je površno. Sve je zarad lajkova i followera. Nema ničega što neko može da uzme i da mu koristi. 

E sa tim imam problem. Izgubio sam poštovanje.

Ono što me stvarno plaši je vreme u koje idemo, pričam juče sa Miroslavom. Vreme u kome možeš dovoljno dugo da guraš svoju istinu, a ljudi ne znaju. I ako si uporan i stalno ponavljaš, to postaje istina.

Zato se trudim da igram drugu igru. Neću da se borim sa ljudima koji tek kreću, koji fake-uju pipeline, koji fake-uju rezultate. Biće ih uvek.

Moj jedini cilj je da isplivam ispred svega toga. Da budem autoritet bez pogovora. Da ljudi koji su radili sa mnom mogu da kažu: da, radili smo s njim, dao nam je rezultate, pomogao nam je, radimo i dalje zajedno. Znamo njega. Znamo njegov tim.

To mi je cilj.
To je ultimate goal.

Everyone is suddenly hiring “storytellers” because the old system that used to “carry” their story is collapsing. Nooooot because they discovered the magic of narrative LOL.

WSJ dropped a set of numbers that basically confirms what’s been happening in practice:

1. LinkedIn says U.S. job posts that include the term “storyteller” doubled in the year ended Nov. 26. 

2. That includes roughly 50,000 listings under marketing and 20,000+ under media & communications mentioning the term. 

3. Executives said “storyteller/storytelling” on earnings calls and investor days 469 times this year, vs 359 in all of 2024, and 147 in 2015 (FactSet).

This isn’t a “cute new job title” moment ladies and gents.
This is a credibility market forming in real time.

I've been talking about this for a while. In case you were carefully following, you know it.

Because the world they relied on for narrative distribution is shrinking. Let's analyze 👇 

Medill’s State of Local News reports U.S. print newspaper circulation is down 70% from 2005 levels, and the top 100 papers’ sites are down 40%+ in page views on average over the last four years. 

Even the job category itself reflects the trend. BLS shows “news analysts, reporters, and journalists” is a defined occupation with ongoing contraction and pressure (and it’s not exactly a growth party). 

So what happens?

Companies don’t get “earned” narrative the way they used to. And they don’t trust the internet anymore, because AI turned “pretty words” into wallpaper.

So they go hunting for the thing they can’t generate at scale: believability.
BELIEVABILITY is an amazing word.

That’s what “storyteller” means in corporate language.

Not “someone who writes nice.”
Not “a content person.”
Not “make the brand sound inspiring.”

Storyteller is someone who can take messy reality (product, strategy, leadership, customers, culture) and turn it into something humans recognize as true.

And thaaaaat’s also why “storytelling” is showing up on investor calls.

Because when growth is harder, CAC is higher, and attention is fragmented, narrative stops being a brand exercise and becomes a business function:

- recruitment
- and trust
- and category positioning
- and customer expansion
- aaaaand crisis resilience

One more thing people will hate hearing, let me say it to you ⤵️ 

Most companies will still try to solve this the lazy way. They’ll hire a “Head of Storytelling,” keep internal comms broken, keep leadership vague, keep teams silent, and then wonder why the output feels like AI slop with a salary.

The companies that win won’t be the ones with the best storytelling department.

They’ll be the ones with:

- real internal voices
- and clear decisions
- and specific tradeoffs
- aaaand leaders who don’t outsource conviction

Storytelling didn’t suddenly become important friends.
Trust did!

And stories are just the last delivery mechanism people still give a chance.

taplio

The Battle

Philip Ilic

Nemanja Zivkovic

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taplio

The Battle

Philip Ilic

Nemanja Zivkovic

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Philip Ilic's LinkedIn Performance

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