The Ultimate B2B Ads Playbook (and Yes, It’s a Real Book)

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tl;dr

• Do What Works: The B2B Ads Handbook introduces a proven framework for B2B advertising built around four levers: audience, offer, conversion event, and creative.
• The book provides channel-specific strategies for LinkedIn, Google, and Meta, explaining when to go broad, when to stay hands-on, and how to manage costs effectively.
• It also outlines practical creative testing tactics (e.g., visual headlines) to help marketers quickly identify what works.

To write the book, Kevin drew on insights from managing $150M+ in B2B campaigns for companies like Ramp, DoorDash, and Rippling, grounding every lesson in real-world experience.

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Why this book matters

If you’re a B2B marketer, you’re already running ads. 

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most companies aren’t getting close to the results they could. 

B2B ads are a complex beast, often demanding PhD-level expertise just to keep campaigns from stalling out and budgets vanishing into the void.

Kevin Lord Barry, co-founder of Right Percent, has that expertise—and now he’s sharing it with the world.

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Get your copy!

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In Do What Works: The B2B Ads Handbook, he distills the lessons from more than $150 million in managed spend into a comprehensive, no-frills guide for marketers who want results they can scale.

Let’s go into some of the book’s top takeaways.

The four levers of B2B advertising

At the heart of the book is the simple premise that every campaign’s success hinges on four levers:

• Audience: Even the strongest creative won’t convert if it’s shown to the wrong segment.
• Offer: Every campaign needs a compelling reason for prospects to engage, whether it’s a demo, content, or a clear value proposition.
• Conversion event: The metric you optimize for determines whether your campaigns drive meaningful business outcomes.
• Creative: Copy, visuals, and format are what make your message resonate in a crowded feed.

The tricky part? Effectively executing this framework. If you miss just one lever, the whole system falters. But nail them all, and your campaigns will drive pipeline at scale.

In the book, Kevin explains how these levers interact, why most companies pull the wrong ones at the wrong time, and how a disciplined approach results in compounding returns. 

Channel-by-channel playbooks

Rather than offering generic advice, the book goes deep on the platforms that matter most: LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. 

Kevin covers each platform in detail, showing you how to think about targeting, spend allocation, and when to let algorithms take over versus when to get in the weeds.

LinkedIn, for example, is unmatched for firmographic targeting, but only if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and manually refine audiences. 

Meta, on the other hand, often works best for B2B when you resist the urge to over-target and instead feed the algorithm strong conversion signals. 

Google, meanwhile, remains the most intent-driven channel, but only if you align ads with the right landing experiences and know when to pull back from “going broad.”

Creative testing that works in the real world

Too many B2B campaigns crumble under the weight of slow creative cycles and “brand police” perfectionism. 

Instead, Kevin recommends a faster, more pragmatic approach: test often and let the data decide.

[Related | Experimentation Guide]

He introduces practical tactics like “visual headlines” (big, specific text overlays that stand out) and text-heavy creative that may divert from the standard playbook, but delivers real results. 

And he hammers home the reality of the “power law”: out of every batch of ads you launch, one or two will carry the majority of the spend. 

Of course, Do What Works provides more than just theory; it shows you how to build testing processes that remove friction and allow for fast, scalable performance testing.

Lessons from $150M+ in B2B spend

There’s no lack of advice on B2B advertising out there, so what makes this book unique?

Two things: the depth of the content (Kevin goes over every aspect of B2B ads) and its grounding in real-world experience.

[Related: How B2B marketers can help Sales close more leads]

The frameworks aren’t just hypothetical, they’ve been battle-tested across several major Right Percent clients such as Ramp, Door Dash, and Rippling—giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how successful teams actually operate.

Do What Works is part strategy manual, part field journal—and the combination makes it a resource worth revisiting.

The resource you’ll keep coming back to

This isn’t a book you’ll read once and forget on a shelf. While platforms and rules change, the best practices Kevin shares are evergreen, and Do What Works is your reference guide for whenever:

• Your campaigns hit a wall
• You’re refreshing creative for the hundredth (or thousandth) time
• You’re feeling the pressure of improving CAC efficiency without stalling growth

It’s also a reminder that good advertising isn’t about always being clever. 

Often, the best approach is to do what works—and stop doing what doesn’t (again, simple in theory, much harder in execution). 

Do What Works: The B2B Ads Handbook is the trusted companion you’ll want at your side when budgets tighten or it’s time to scale. And if you need more hands-on help to optimize your ads, reach out to Kevin and our Right Percent team for a 15-minute free consultation.