Overview
Paid search is a type of digital advertising where businesses pay to show ads to users who are searching for specific keywords on search engines.
Paid search is even more important for B2B companies due to its ability to drive targeted traffic to your business's website, which (if done right) results in increased leads, conversions, and sales.
B2B SaaS & services that sell complex products or services often have a longer sales cycle and a more targeted audience, making paid search an effective way to reach potential customers.
The purpose of this article is to arm you with the necessary information for choosing an advertising agency that's well equipped to manage B2B paid search campaigns that delivers a return on investment.
We'll explore the following points:
- What B2B paid search is
- What services to look for
- What other qualities to look for in a strong B2B paid search agency
What Is Paid Search?
Paid search is a digital marketing strategy using paid ads on search engines to reach potential clients via platforms like Google AdWords & Bing or Microsoft Ads.
It's cost-effective, helps increase visibility, reaches a large audience and drives qualified traffic to your website.
The key components include:
- Keyword research
- Ad creation
- Bid management
It's easy to measure success. Paid search ad platforms provide valuable data on your campaign's performance and audience behavior.
However, you will want to discuss whether your chosen agency plans to do B2B-targeting through display ads or search ads.
What Does a Paid Search Agency Do?
A paid search agency offers specialized services that help businesses reach their target audience and achieve marketing goals with paid search advertising.
To ensure their services are effective, agency responsibilities include market research, target audience and keyword determination, and plenty of A/B testing.
Working with an agency saves time and resources, and provides expert support. You should expect improved marketing performance, enhanced brand visibility, and more cost-effective advertising campaigns from your chosen paid search agency.
Any agency that delivers these results is a wise investment for businesses in such a competitive B2B market.
B2C Vs. B2B Paid Search
B2B paid search is notoriously complex compared to B2C. However, results can be achieved by following a set of best practices. Here are four foundational best practices to help you get started:
- Marketing goals - Define specific goals and thoroughly research your target audience
- Keyword - Create a keyword strategy that matches your goals and conduct thorough keyword research
- B2B ad copy writing - Create audience-relevant ad copy and landing pages
- Bidding - Manage bids and budgets effectively
An effective paid search agency can help maximize results and minimize costs while adhering to the above best practices.
How To Choose the Right Paid Search Agency for B2B Businesses
When choosing a B2B pay-per-click(PPC) agency, it's important to know which factors to consider, but also to ask around for recommendations. Once you've found an agency with a good reputation, use the following tips to evaluate them further.
1. Experience Running B2B Ad Campaigns
When evaluating an PPC agency's expertise and experience, consider their deep knowledge of both B2B marketing and their industry.
Determine their knowledge of the major paid advertising platforms like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Reddit. Determine what their reporting and analytics tools, their case studies, and what their approach to B2B advertising is. If their strategies are not targeted then that should be a major red flag.
All of these factors will help ensure that the agency can create PPC campaigns that will put your business's product or service in front of the right people.
2. Read Reviews & Rankings On National Listings
Make sure you reference national listing sites like Clutch, UpCity and DesignRush before making a final decision. These listing sites are really important for finding where they rank in important agency lists, like "Top 50 B2B Marketing Agencies & Ad Companies", where InterTeam is ranked in the top 10. These sites also tend to have a lot of reviews, so you can see what other companies they have worked with in the past and what these companies say about working with the agency.
3. Case Studies and Results
A good PPC agency should have adequate knowledge of the major PPC platforms and possess the reporting and analytics tools to measure the impact and effectiveness of the campaigns.
It's also important to check the agency's case studies to determine if they have helped other companies in your industry achieve the desired goals. For reference, you can have a look at our B2B advertising case studies.
4. Cost and Budget
Always determine your budget and acceptable costs before choosing a B2B PPC agency.
But also keep in mind that hiring a PPC agency can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house resource. Many agencies prefer to charge a percentage of the ad budget as their fee.
Once you've determined they are experienced and knowledgeable about the platforms you want to use, negotiate a paid ad service that fits within the limits of your budget.
Additionally, they should provide you with reporting and analytics tools to keep track of how their ad campaigns are performing and whether they are providing a return on your investment.
To help anchor your understanding of time and money, here’s our guide on the costs of running a Google Ad campaign.
5. Experience in Building B2B Advertising Strategies
Your agency must have the right knowledge and expertise in the B2B sector and understand your industry to find the most relevant words and phrases.
They should also use competitor analysis to identify which keywords offer the best opportunities.
Finally, it's crucial to select the keywords most relevant to your target audience's pain points in their ads to ensure that ads will only show up in searches that are most likely to convert.
6. Optimization and Testing
When interviewing agencies, you should ask about their optimization schedule and testing procedures. A strong paid search agency should offer a variety of optimization and testing services to ensure that the ad campaigns are running effectively and efficiently.
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It’s also a good idea to request monthly or quarterly audits of an agency’s campaigns. Here’s a Google Ads account checklist we put together to give you an idea of what to look for in terms of optimizations.
7. Analytics and Reporting
Compare and contrast the analytics and reporting that each agency offers. Start with the reporting schedule for ad performance. The agency should report to you at least once a month, although InterTeam does mid and end of month reporting. They should also set up accurate reporting so that your numbers are correct both in your CRM, in Analytics and in the platforms themselves.
8. Check Their Social Media
When evaluating an agency you should reference their social media and content. It will be a good indication of what the content they create for you will look like., consider the following:
- Expertise in paid search
- Expertise in B2B advertising
- Platforms they are experienced at utilizing
- Quality of the creatives they're using in their posts
- Quality of the copy they're using in their posts
These factors will ensure that the agency can effectively optimize its media buying budget and ROAS.
Conclusion
Most agencies offer some form of a free consultation call. Once you've started the conversation, be sure to ask lots of questions, have them spell out their exact process, and then get multiple perspectives before making your final decision.
If you're interested in generating qualified leads through paid search with InterTeam, schedule a free call with us here. We'd be more than happy to chat with you about your specific needs and see if we're a good fit.
Click here to schedule a Free B2B Paid Search Strategy Call!
