What You Need to Know Before Using Google Ads for B2B Marketing

Using Google Ads when you own or work for a B2B Marketing company can be a complex task but, when used correctly, Adwords can really empower your business by attracting targeted, big-spending clients who, in turn, will bring money to the table.

However, there are a lot of ways in which a Google Ads campaign can go wrong and make you lose a lot of money, which is why this kind of ads have a reputation for being expensive.

Understanding that B2B requires a completely different approach than B2C Marketing is essential.

Unlike B2C brands, you are, for the most part, trying to do business with people who know what they’re doing and who understand how a company works, so it will be harder to impress them.

In this article, we will try to break down how B2B is different than B2C Marketing and what you need to do if you’re looking to use Adwords to improve your sales.

Scroll down to find everything you need to know before using Google Ads for B2B Marketing.

Why it is so hard to get an ROI when you use Adwords for B2B Marketing

First of all, you should know that Google Ads was conceived primarily as a B2C tool. This means that it was created as a way to connect businesses with their end-customers; a shoemaker with a shoe buyer. Once an online shoe reseller enters the picture, things can get a bit complicated… and expensive.

Let’s say that you have a company that provides online booking tools for hoteliers and small hotel chains and you want to start advertising with Adwords. One simple mistake while setting up your Google Ads campaigns and you’ll end up competing against b2c giants such as Expedia, Priceline and the like. Not only will they outbid you, but you won’t be reaching the audience you need (you’re not offering hotel bookings per se) and you’ll end up wasting tons of money.

On the other hand, if you have a strong Google Ads strategy, a clear idea of who your audience is, the keywords you want to be shown for (and the right budget), Google Ads can quickly become your best business partner and friend.

Which leads us to...

Google Ads for B2B Marketing Companies: A recipe

Since, as mentioned before, B2B Marketing is targeted at a different kind of audience, you must have more than just a basic knowledge of what your potential customers are like before you even think about starting a Google Ads campaign.

A good idea is to create Buyer Personas. Think of them as your ideal customers, you need to put yourself in their shoes to understand what they are looking for and how you can help them out with your services and use that in your favor.

Once you have come up with a couple of Buyer Personas, you can determine the demographic data for your campaign’s set up and then move on to the next ingredient: Keywords.

Keywords are key (pun intended) to your campaign because, if you pick the right ones, your page will appear everytime that your targeted audience searches for those terms. But how do you know you are using the perfect group of keywords?

A keyword research is highly recommended in order to use Google Ads for B2B Marketing. You can count on tools such as Google’s own Keyword Planner to search for the most used keywords in your niche.

Then, you could do a little competitive research and see what other brands in your field are doing in terms of keywords. This will give you an idea of how hard it will be to rank high on search results and if there’s someone out there already bidding on the same keywords you’re planning to target.

Make sure you include variations of the keywords your potential customers could look for and make them as niche as possible for a bigger chance of getting to the right kind of audience.

By now, you are probably wondering how much does Adwords for B2B Marketing cost and there is not an exact answer for that, but Google Ads campaign costs can get out of control really quick.

It is advisable to run your campaign in installments with a small budget at first and, as each installment ends, go through what worked and what could be improved to make the most out of the entire process. You can use tools like Google Analytics.

You could learn that a keyword wasn’t as successful as you hoped or that you targeted the wrong audience, but don’t freak out. A big part of advertising is learning from your mistakes and getting better for the next campaign. Just measure every step you take to ensure a higher ROI and don’t be too ambitious with the budget, at least not from the get-go.

Nonetheless, getting prospects to click on your ads is only a part of Search Engine Marketing. In the end, your goal is to make money and, to do so, you need your audience to complete the conversion process and turn into actual clients.

It is important to remember that you are aiming for other business owners and not regular customers. Therefore, you must speak their language and show them, rather than tell them. Don’t try to oversell or use emotions to your advantage because they will detect your tactics right away. After all, it’s professionals we’re talking about.

Every element of your campaign’s landing page needs to be built around the unique needs of your audience. For example, you can highlight the benefits of your services in terms of quality and price (both important criteria for business owners) in a very strong copy.

After all, staying true to your brand’s personality will do wonders to make you stand out from the very (VERY) competitive field of B2B marketing, so don’t be afraid to throw some humor into the mix if you feel it adds to the overall message.

You could also include videos with happy clients giving their testimony on their experience with your products. Doing this, you’ll showcase the quality of what you do and how trustworthy your company is, inspiring visitors to invest in your services.

Last but not least, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Include Social Media, Content, Inbound and Email Marketing when relevant and convenient to increase your campaign’s visibility. Take into consideration that it all must be planned and cohesive with what the ultimate goal of your advertising is.

Conclusions and final thoughts

1. Always keep in mind that B2B and B2C are completely different things and, as such, the approach can’t be the same.
2. Target segmentation is EVERYTHING when it comes to Google Ads for B2B.
3. Run your campaigns in small installments and don’t get crazy with the budget right away.
4. It’s not about how many prospects see your ads or click on them, but about how many actually complete the conversion process.
5. Measure every single aspect of the campaign with an analytics tool.

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