Pay-per-click (or PPC) advertising on search engines is a must-have for most businesses. According to HubSpot, there are approximately 5.6 billion searches every day. Billions of eyes look at search results, finding answers to problems and products to fit their needs.
While it seems like a live matchmaker, it doesn’t mean it’s easy – the whole process is complex and volatile: what you learn now may be less than useful in a matter of months or years. And if you are running PPC campaigns, you may not be getting the results you’re aiming for, nor know how to change your campaign to hit your targets.
The answer? A B2B marketing agency. And, no, we’re not just saying our agency. A good agency has hallmarks on how they can help your business be more efficient and effective with your PPC marketing, and there are definite flags to scan for when looking into one to fit you and your goals.
So, let’s dive into six things a (good) B2B PPC agency will do to boost ROI.
Personalize the Experience with Targeted Ads
Like the people that create them, all businesses are different. It’s an obvious fact, but an important one: because the trend extends into how it should be marketed. Using the same campaign with boilerplate messaging is going to fall short compared to a competitor using a better PPC (and marketing) strategy.
A good PPC agency will customize each campaign to the offer and – perhaps more importantly – to the people who would be most interested.
Simply using the same campaign for all audiences is not an effective way to communicate to prospects why, exactly, your product or service is different or better than your competitor's. (In other words, your campaign should spotlight your UVP, or unique value proposition. More on this later).
In advertising on a search engine, where there are thousands of results and most people don’t go beyond the second page, targeting the right eyes is more successful than targeting all eyes.
Aiming for the right potential customer with an offer that suits them leads to better conversions for less budget, which translates to better ROI.
Rely on PPC Copywriting Expertise for Ads
If you ran a restaurant, would you rather have a gourmet cook leading the kitchen, or Michelle from HR who “can cook a mean lasagna” making all the dishes?
It’s a loaded question. And yet, one big mistake in-house marketing teams can make is giving copywriting and graphic design roles to people who don’t have experience crafting proven, compelling messaging.
PPC agencies that utilize experienced copywriters and graphic designers lead to better returns because the content resonates more with your desired audience. It communicates effectively and grabs attention in a way that keeps the right customers, while telling unqualified prospects that this isn’t the link they’re looking for, saving budget.
Know How to Optimize PPC Campaigns – And When to Ditch Them
A hallmark of a good agency is the ability to say ‘no’ in the right circumstances. Collaboration is key: ideas from clients are always welcome, and so should be push-back from marketing teams who study the data day in and day out to know what works, what doesn’t.
PPC marketing specialists shouldn't simply placate you if they know an idea will likely drain precious resources and ultimately not lead to people clicking on your ads. Instead, they’ll work with you to continuously revise, guide, and collaborate for a better solution.
PRO TIP: When looking for a B2B PPC agency, see if they offer a campaign viability assessment. This will help to determine if a PPC campaign is worth doing for your product or service (which it may not be)! Some are just doomed to fail from the very start, no matter how skillful you are.
Help Your Business Determine Its Unique Value Proposition
Your Unique Value Proposition, or UVP, is the key selling point to any interested customer. It essentially tells them, “this is why you should pick me over the competition.” From software to lumber and everything in between, every business (should) have one.
Skilled agencies can help find and refine yours; they’ll help to make it the core of your PPC strategy and ensure it reaches the right people. Having experience across industries helps them see the core angle you’re aiming for, and they’ll work with you to surface it in your B2B marketing efforts.
Follow Performance and Know When to Pivot
Experienced PPC marketers know what to look for when analyzing a campaign’s performance, allowing them to adjust quickly to what's not working before they drain budget and time. If the issue is significant, they can notify you of the problem and offer possible solutions.
In-house marketing teams, on the other hand, don't always have the specialization needed to closely track analytics and suggest changes to underperforming campaigns. Without a solid counter-plan to rectify poor results, you may end up dumping money into clicks that bounce off the page or fizzle out quickly in the funnel.
Support Decisions Through PPC Keyword Research
It’s not just a ‘gut feeling’ or a ‘hunch’ that drives good PPC marketing. It’s research. Agencies know how to look into keyword statistics to see where the openings are, what phrases are a no-go, and potential avenues in between. Keyword research, when done well, can act as the foundation for a profitable campaign.
Simply aiming for words related to your product or service can lead to unnecessary expenses and a lack of leads. If little or no research is done, entire campaigns can be dead on arrival.
There are clear flags of what they can (and should) provide to boost your business’s performance, and reasons why a B2B PPC agency can be a good fit for you. Like with many things in business, it never hurts to bring in experts to help you achieve your goals.
Not sure how to narrow down a good agency to help you? Read our case study below. Or, check out the top ten questions to ask before hiring a B2B agency, and if you need more, we have the encore: five more questions you can ask.
