5 Best PPC Strategies for B2B
Today’s internet is constantly buzzing and changing every moment. When running a business, it can be hard to keep up with all of those changes, especially when it comes to advertising. Luckily, some tried and true models continue to be reliable resources in the marketing and advertising world today.
One ever-growing model, business-to-business (B2B), is made even more effective through the use of one of the lasting advertising models: pay-per-click advertisement. So what is PPC advertisement, and how does it bolster B2B marketing strategies? The team at Levy Online has compiled five of the best strategies for PPC B2B marketing.
What Is B2B?
Business-to-business (B2B) is a model of marketing that encompasses a business selling a product or service to another business. Within SEO practices, it refers to one of the most commonly used paid advertising models. Rather than a business selling directly to a consumer, B2B marketing focuses on targeting other companies as customers. The products and services sold between businesses can range from software to office supplies.
When looking into optimizing and marketing your B2B marketing strategy, sturdy marketing campaigns can be your saving grace. B2B is more straightforward, as businesses looking to buy products or services will be scrutinizing whether the purchase is efficient and whether the purchase will be a guaranteed ROI (return on investment). So what does PPC have to do with B2B marketing, and how can it be utilized to grow a business?
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What is PPC?
PPC (pay-per-click) is an online marketing model where advertisers pay a small fee every time a prospective customer clicks on their ad through the use of keywords and other metrics. The cost per click varies depending on the keywords, the landing page, targeting criteria, and more. Generally, PPC is intertwined with Google search but is also used in Facebook, Bing, and other search engines.
PPC is perhaps one of the most powerful marketing tools available today, and spending on search ads is predicted to hit over $137 billion by 20221. Outside of SEO which utilizes keywords for organic growth, PPC marketing transactions can grow your business rapidly and put your ads directly in front of your best-intended audiences.
Who Needs PPC?
Essentially every business can benefit from PPC advertisement. Whether they are a small business or a consumer giant like Amazon or eBay, PPC marketing can be very lucrative and cost-effective as long as it is paid close attention to. Making sure that your PPC marketing campaigns are actively producing leads and conversions to sales will make or break the efficacy of your coveted marketing dollars. While anyone can dabble in PPC, an established digital marketing agency can help minimize loss and maximize the effectiveness of PPC marketing.
Best PPC Marketing Strategies
1. Keyword Research
Keywords are the star players in effective PPC marketing campaigns. While keyword research can be taxing on time, a strong keyword list will bring the most success to PPC marketing campaigns. The best advertisers at a digital marketing agency will keep a constantly updated keywords list and conduct regular keyword research to maintain the most effective PPC B2B marketing campaigns.
When curating a keyword list, keep it adaptive, thorough, and relevant with keywords and long-tail keywords that align with your business and products. Remember to use long-tail keywords, as they are generally cost-effective and can significantly impact traffic on your site.
2. Audience Targeting and Retargeting
Keywords will tend to be the focus of most B2B marketing strategies, but audience targeting and retargeting will be the best supporting actors to your keywords list. Audience targeting essentially encompasses the direction that your marketing campaign will go. You have your keywords that align with your business, but now you need to place your campaign right in front of your target audience. Choosing specifications like demographics, in-market, similar audience, and custom intent will allow your campaign to directly seek out your intended customer base.
Once your ideal user has interacted or even completed the goal laid out by your marketing campaign, retargeting ads can be polished up to find that potential user and convert them into a customer.
3. PPC Ad Copy
While keyword and audience targeting will get your campaign in front of your prospective customers’ eyes, compelling ad copy will convince them to take action and become purchasing customers. Thought-out and engaging ad copy will be one of the last and most crucial steps your customer takes, which is the actual purchasing of your products.
Ad copy should identify and solve a customer’s pain point, leading them to make a purchase. Effective ad copy2 will include product features, credibility, call-to-action, and risk reduction.
4. A/B Testing Ads
A digital marketing agency will conduct multiple A/B testing ads for PPC advertising when determining whether an ad is effective enough to launch for their intended customer base. A/B testing essentially creates multiple variations of the same ad and tests the efficacy and traffic that the ad generates.
Luckily, there are only a handful of variations in PPC testing that will need to be monitored to determine which ad is the best. When creating your A/B testing ads, pay attention to these factors:
- Headline
- Description
- Landing Page
- Target Keywords
5. Keyword Monitoring and Negative Keywords
The internet is ever-changing, requiring customers and businesses to keep up. Keyword monitoring is a standard practice in any digital marketing agency. Monitoring keywords and their performance will give you the best idea of which keywords are working and which ones are not.
While having a keyword that isn’t working can be disappointing, those non-performing keywords can actually help you and your business. Negative keywords will tell a search engine certain words you do not want to be ranked on in search engine result pages (SERPs). Eliminating ineffective keywords and other keywords that do not align with your products or business will help a search engine better tailor your ads.
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What Are The Benefits of PPC?
PPC is a powerful marketing strategy and, if used right, can have incredibly positive impacts on your business. From financial flexibility to ease of use, there is hardly an exhaustive list of the benefits that PPC marketing can provide. A few of the best benefits of PPC include:
- Flexible in cost
- Creates quick traffic and results
- Easily customizable for testing
- Targets preferred customers
- Data can be used to better SEO practices
Running a business is not for the faint of heart. However, having a bolstering business can be easily accomplished through diligent use of effective PPC marketing. Whether through a digital marketing agency or running ads from your home office, the efficacy of a great B2B marketing strategy cannot be underestimated. While the PPC strategies covered here are not an exhaustive list, they should provide a strong starting point in your journey of implementing new advertisements in your business.
Sources:
1Blog PPC Stats. Truelist. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
2Perricone, C.(1 July 2021) The Ultimate Guide to PPC Marketing. Blogspot.com. Retrieved 6 June 2022.