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.
The importance of B2B paid search lies in its ability to drive targeted traffic to your business's website, which (if done right) results in increased leads, conversions, and sales.
B2B companies 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 a B2B paid search agency that delivers a return on investment.
We'll explore the following points:
- What B2B paid search is
- What a B2B paid search agency offers
- What to consider when choosing a B2B paid search agency
What Is B2B Paid Search?
B2B paid search is a digital marketing strategy using paid advertisements on search engines to reach potential clients via platforms like Google Ads& Bing Ads.
It's cost-effective, helps increase visibility, reaches a large audience and drives qualified traffic to your website.
The key components include:
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 B2B Paid Search Agency Offer?
A B2B 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.
Best Practices for B2B Paid Search Campaigns
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
- Ad copy - 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 B2B Paid Search Agency for Your Business
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. Expertise and Experience
When evaluating a B2B PPC agency's expertise and experience, consider their deep knowledge of both B2B marketing and their industry.
Determine their knowledge of the major PPC platforms, their reporting and analytics tools, their case studies, their local PPC capabilities, and their multi-channel PPC service range.
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. 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.
3. Track Record 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.
The agency should offer multiple services such as content marketing, content strategy, and search engine optimization (SEO) in addition to PPC.
Working with one agency, instead of multiple ones vying for the same results, can make your life much easier.
4. Brand and Advertising Visibility
An experienced agency can increase your brand and advertising visibility through a paid media footprint across the buyer's journey.
Optimizing campaigns on search engines like Google, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and using closed-looped reporting, can benefit you in a number of ways. These include reducing your lead acquisition costs, increasing your return on ad spend (ROAS), and leveraging customer relationship management (CRM)segmentation for ad personalization.
An agency with a deep knowledge of B2B marketing and PPC platforms will base its campaign decisions and strategies on the right (most goal-related)metrics.
5. Optimization and Testing
Your B2B PPC agency should offer a variety of optimization and testing services to ensure that the ad campaigns are running effectively and efficiently.
These services include tactics such as:
- Proactive conversion rate optimization experiments
- A/B testing
- Leveraging AI automation
- Broadening paid media footprint
- Measuring the impact of video ads
- Keeping an eye on competitors
- Tailoring ad copy to audience intent
- Data-driven optimization processes to maximize ROI and ensure maximum efficiency
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 for B2B advertising.
6. Quality Score and Rankings
A B2B PPC agency can improve the Quality Score and AdRank of an ad campaign by providing feedback and making adjustments to increase relevance, landing page experience, and ad copy.
Automation tools and restructuring campaigns to target the highest-converting audiences will also have a positive impact.
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.
8. Display and Contextual Advertising
Display and contextual advertising allow for highly targeted and customized ads that can reach the right audience and generate the highest quality leads.
These ads are typically displayed on websites, apps, and other digital marketing platforms and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the B2Bcompany.
They can also be used to create brand awareness and reach a wider audience.
9. Bidding and Bid Management
Bidding and bid management involve monitoring the cost of bids and optimizing(managing) those bids to ensure they're as low as possible while still achieving the desired results.
A good PPC agency will leverage data-driven insights to identify opportunities to optimize bids and maximize ROI.
A current trend in bid management is to leverage a combination of automation systems and machine learning with data-driven optimization processes to ensure campaign efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Because this is an area where an infinite number of different tactics could be employed, your chosen agency's PPC experts may prefer to develop a tailored strategy that meets your business goals and delivers maximum ROI.
10. Analytics and Reporting
Compare and contrast the analytics and reporting features the prospective agencies offer to determine which is best suited to help you reach your goals. These features include:
- Real-time dashboards
- Proprietary software
- Video ads
- SEO synergy
Each feature works to identify which ads are working and which are not.
11. Social Media and Content
When evaluating a B2B PPC agency's social media and content capabilities, consider the following:
- Subject-matter expertise
- Understanding of the industry
- Platforms they are experienced at utilizing
- Ability to track and analyze the performance
- Ability to provide customer success in a straightforward manner
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.
B2B Paid Search Case Studies
Want to read examples of B2B Paid Search strategies? Check out these case studies of B2B Paid Search campaigns that we created for our clients on Google Ads and Bing Ads.
FAQ
What are the key components of a B2B paid search campaign, and why is it considered cost-effective?
The key components of a B2B paid search campaign include keyword research, ad creation, bid management, and optimization. It is considered cost-effective because businesses only pay when users click on their ads, ensuring they are reaching potential clients who are actively interested in their products or services.
2. How can a B2B paid search agency help improve a business's marketing performance, brand visibility, and advertising campaigns?
A B2B paid search agency can help improve a business's marketing performance by conducting market research, determining target audiences and keywords, and running A/B testing to optimize ad performance. They also provide expert support, saving time and resources for the business while enhancing brand visibility and achieving cost-effective advertising campaigns.
3. What are some best practices for running successful B2B paid searchcampaigns, and why is B2B paid search more complex compared to B2C?
Best practices for running successful B2B paid search campaigns include defining specific marketing goals, conducting thorough keyword research, creating audience-relevant ad copy and landing pages, and managing bids and budgets effectively. B2B paid search is more complex than B2C due to the longer sales cycle and more targeted audience in B2B, requiring a deeper understanding of the industry and audience behavior.
4. When choosing a B2B paid search agency, what factors should businesses consider, and why is it important to evaluate the agency's expertise, experience, and track record?
When choosing a B2B paid search agency, businesses should consider factors such as expertise, experience, cost, track record, and results. It is important to evaluate the agency's knowledge of B2B marketing and PPC platforms, their reporting and analytics capabilities, and their success in helping similar businesses achieve their goals.
5. How can a B2B paid search agency optimize campaigns through tactics such as bidding, bid management, keyword research, and display advertising, and what role does analytics and reporting play in this process?
A B2B paid search agency can optimize campaigns through tactics such as proactive conversion rate optimization experiments, A/B testing, leveraging AI automation, and broadening paid media footprint. Analytics and reporting play a crucial role in measuring the impact and effectiveness of campaigns, allowing for data-driven optimization processes to maximize ROI and ensure campaign efficiency.
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