LinkedIn is quietly piloting a new Premium offering designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The Premium Business Suite is currently in limited testing, but the early feature set suggests LinkedIn is aiming to consolidate sales, marketing and hiring tools into a single, AI-supported platform.

For marketers and business leaders working in or with smaller companies, this new approach could offer both time-saving automation and more direct routes to visibility and lead generation on the platform.

A Unified Dashboard for Daily Tasks

The Premium Business Suite provides a centralised dashboard bringing together LinkedIn’s core business tools across sales, marketing and recruitment. The aim is to simplify daily operations, reducing the friction involved in switching between functions or tools.

The dashboard offers guided recommendations based on your goals, with prompts to help you identify new leads, enhance your profile or promote content. While this feature will be familiar to those using Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Business, the focus here is on usability and accessibility for teams without dedicated marketing or sales support.

The AI-powered onboarding process is notable. Upon sign-up, LinkedIn analyses your company profile, website and services, then recommends a plan based on your goals and client criteria. While this will not replace a strategy built in-house or by an agency, it could provide a useful starting point for time-pressed founders or lean teams.

Sales Features Designed for Prospecting at Scale

LinkedIn is positioning the Premium Business Suite as a lead generation tool, with several features designed to support prospect discovery and outreach.

Key functions include:

• Daily prospect suggestions: Up to 15 lead recommendations per day, based on your target audience criteria.

• Unlimited search with advanced filters: Useful for zeroing in on job roles, seniority, location or headcount.

• Client insights: Signals such as company changes or mutual connections to support more contextual outreach.

• AI-generated messages: Drafted sales messages and pitches tailored to each lead.

• Extended profile viewer data: Access to who viewed your profile over the past 365 days.

None of these tools are entirely new within the LinkedIn ecosystem. Bundling them into a single experience, combined with AI-guided prompts, could make them easier to use for smaller businesses without formal sales operations.

Built-In Marketing Support with Monthly Ad Credits

Where the Premium Business Suite diverges most clearly from existing LinkedIn offerings is in its built-in media budget. Each subscription includes a $50 monthly credit for post boosting. This gives subscribers a way to promote organic posts to a wider audience directly within the subscription model.

This is a notable shift from LinkedIn’s typical ad credit approach, which has historically focused on one-off incentives. The replenishing credit may appeal to SMBs that are looking for light-touch paid support without committing to standalone ad buys.

Alongside the ad credits, other marketing features include:

• Auto-invite to follow: Automatically invites users who engage with your posts to follow your profile.

• AI profile writing assistant: Offers content suggestions to optimise your personal or company profile.

• Company spotlight: A featured content space to showcase your brand, services or case studies.

For marketers used to running campaigns through LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager, the practical benefit of a $50 monthly spend will depend on targeting, bidding strategy and creative execution. However, for those less familiar with LinkedIn Ads, it offers a low-barrier entry point into paid promotion.

Recruitment Features for Lean Hiring Teams

Hiring support is another component of the Premium Business Suite. The subscription includes a $50 monthly job promotion credit, or $600 annually for those on long-term plans. These credits can be used to promote open roles and increase visibility among relevant candidates.

Other hiring features include:

• Job posting tools within the dashboard

• Actively hiring filter to improve discoverability

• LinkedIn Learning access, presumably for internal skill development or candidate support

These features reflect existing tools within the platform, though integrating them into a single experience may simplify the process for businesses without dedicated HR teams.

New Engagement Features Could Guide Activity

LinkedIn is also testing a feature that allows subscribers to join top prospect conversations. This would surface relevant posts or discussions from people in your target audience, giving you a clear opportunity to contribute and engage.

If implemented effectively, this could support more organic visibility and give marketers additional cues on when and how to interact with potential clients. It also points to LinkedIn’s broader effort to support community-based marketing behaviours, where participation and timing play a role in prospecting.

Still in Testing, But a Clear Strategic Signal

LinkedIn has not yet confirmed when the Premium Business Suite will become widely available. At this stage, access is limited and may not appear in all regions. The company has stated that it will share more information as the product progresses.

Even so, the suite marks a clear move toward supporting smaller businesses more comprehensively within the platform. LinkedIn appears to be positioning itself as more than a network for professionals. It is now moving into the territory of all-in-one business tools, particularly for smaller organisations that are managing sales, marketing and recruitment in-house.

What Marketers Should Watch

For marketers working with SMB clients or within smaller in-house teams, several trends are worth tracking:

• Integration across workflows: The combination of prospecting, content promotion and hiring support within one tool could appeal to time-constrained teams.

• Bundled media spend: While modest, monthly ad credits represent a shift toward embedding paid reach within the subscription experience.

• AI assistance: Automated message drafts and profile recommendations suggest an emphasis on ease of use rather than complexity or depth.

• Encouraged participation: Features like conversation recommendations hint at a more guided approach to engagement and content strategy.

The Premium Business Suite is unlikely to replace more advanced tools or agency support. However, it could serve as a useful stepping stone for businesses looking to formalise their LinkedIn activity without building a full tech stack.