B2B pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a powerful tool. It helps you reach new customers, increase brand awareness, and grow your business. But it has unique challenges compared to B2C. It also requires a deeper understanding of your target market.
How do you win in such a cautious, complex environment? This article shares the top PPC marketing practices for B2B enterprises.
5 Best Techniques for B2B PPC Marketing
PPC marketing is effective but tricky. On the one hand, it complements other well-known tactics such as search engine optimization. On the other hand, one wrong move can cause long-term damage to your brand.
For these reasons, it is always wiser to hire an online marketing team to do the job. But it also pays to know the basics and trends of B2B PPC marketing to get the most out of your online campaigns.
Here are the five best PPC marketing moves to consider.
1. Promote and Convert at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
B2C and B2B markets go through similar sales stages except for one factor: the B2B sales cycle is much longer for various reasons.
- Unlike B2C, B2B has several decision-makers. For instance, subscribing to a sales-as-a-service (SaaS) application means getting the approval of the IT manager and the chief finance officer (CFO).
- Evaluation is a critical additional step in the buyer’s journey. At this phase, your business might have to prove that the product or service has the potential to solve the customer’s problem.
According to Digital Authority Partners (DAP), the overall goal is to meet your marketing objectives at every sales stage. However, using B2C tactics such as time-limited discounts will have the opposite effect on B2B buyers.
Take a more customer-centric approach with these ideas:
- Speak to the different decision-makers in your content.
- Emphasize product value and customer testimonials.
- Create content that educates customers on their pains and challenges.
- Be strategic with keywords, using the likes of “learn more” or “download this guide” instead of “buy now” because B2B markets are less likely to purchase products and services immediately.
- Build different ad groups for every buyer’s stage.
2. Weed Out Poor Leads with a Negative-Keyword List
Negative keywords play an important role in helping marketers achieve their B2B PPC goals. Negative keywords are words and phrases you do not want your ads to appear for when used in searches. Here’s how they help you:
- Negatively bidding on these terms can be beneficial, preventing impressions and clicks that would carry no real value.
- It allows businesses to avoid spending their budget on irrelevant or uninterested users.
- This PPC marketing technique also helps companies save time and money.
- Utilizing negative keywords helps ensure campaigns reach the right audience, leading to higher returns and better business results.
But how do you select negative keywords that can correctly filter leads?
- Continuously monitor your campaigns and search terms versus your performance metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversion rates. Doing so helps you identify keywords that may be superfluous and, therefore, too costly.
- Look into your competitors’ campaigns. When you are at a loss for ideas, the best alternative is to check what your best rivals are up to. You can get inspiration or even use the same negative keywords and beat them with compelling ad copy.
- Match your negative keywords with your industry and audience. If you are selling commercial properties, some ideal negative keywords include “no money down,” “mortgage,” “rent,” and “house.”
3. Maximize Geo-Targeting
Geo-targeting has become an invaluable asset to B2B PPC marketing and small businesses alike. By allowing marketers to hone in on their target customers based on geographic location, it makes campaigns more localized and tailored to specific prospects.
This PPC marketing technique then improves ad relevance and overall campaign performance. This is especially beneficial for smaller advertisers with limited resources.
PPC geo-targeting also works well with other small business digital marketing tactics, such as local SEO, because it increases the visibility of ads. When combined, you maximize ad budget and reach as well as generate leads in areas where you have a physical store presence.
To effectively apply this tactic, businesses should:
- Define exact regions that identify ideal customers within your target market and adjust bids accordingly. For instance, if you sell industrial equipment, focus on regions with a larger presence in this industry.
- Analyze trends on how customers in different locations interact with content across channels. This helps you understand which segments work better with different messaging and visuals.
- Consider geo-targeting as an advertising tool for particular events or workshops to increase attendance rates. This works especially well for B2B companies looking to educate their target market on the advantages of their services.
4. Learn How to Incorporate New PPC Techniques in B2B Marketing
Digital marketing is one of the fastest-evolving industries, and PPC is no exception. New features and technologies become available; missing them can mean being left behind by the competition.
Before spending too much time, money, and resources on a PPC advertising campaign, be sure to learn about new tactics that can help you optimize your efforts. For example:
- Automation. Automating manual tasks helps marketers save time and energy while enabling them to focus on more important activities. This can include bid optimizations, ad copy testing, and setting organizational processes.
- Dynamic ads. Dynamic ads are personalized for each user based on what they have viewed or bought in the past. It helps marketers increase relevance and create a more engaging experience that leads to higher conversions.
- Audience insights. Audience segmentation is another area where automation plays an essential role. With the right tools, you can easily analyze data and break it down into actionable insights about your target audience.
- Artificial intelligence (AI). AI can help marketers make better decisions and maximize the value of their campaigns. AI-based tools, such as predictive analytics, can monitor audience behavior and optimize ad spending even in real-time.
5. Improve User Experience in PPC Ads
The different search engine updates highlight one crucial message: to make B2B PPC marketing truly work, do not forget user experience (UX).
- When a customer visits a website with good UX, they are more likely to stay longer on the site, pay attention to the brand’s messaging, and return for future visits.
- Investing in UX prevents your message from getting lost due to irritating design or lack of interactivity.
- A well-crafted UX engages customers and helps them remain onsite longer. Subsequently, it develops loyalty and engagement, leading to increased conversion rates.
- UX reduces bounce rates, generates repeat traffic and leads, reduces marketing costs, and creates a more successful digital presence overall.
But how do you incorporate it into your PPC ads? Here are ideas to try:
- Optimize landing pages, ensuring they are easy to navigate and engaging.
- Use visuals that match actual products or services available.
- Limit the number of clicks and page elements.
- Add video or audio clips to explain product features and benefits.
- Provide helpful customer support options, such as FAQs or live chat.
- Test different ad formats for optimal performance.
- Create an effective call-to-action (CTA).
Summing Up
B2B PPC marketing requires understanding the target market and their needs, creating compelling ads, optimizing the user experience, and continuously testing different strategies.
It is a complex process. But with the right tools, tactics, and support from the right digital marketing agency, you can create successful campaigns that generate leads and improve returns.
