Over the years, Google Ads campaigns have been popular mostly for the B2C market. Meanwhile, the methods of obtaining information about potential contractors in the B2B sector have changed and today also in this area you can confidently use Google’s tool.
How to reach a business customer thanks to various Google Ads functions?
I assume that as a business owner, you know the specificity of the industry in which you operate. You know your offer – you know what makes it stand out from the competition, what are its strengths and weaknesses, what problems of potential customer you can solve etc.
You probably also have information about your client. You know the buyer persona as well as the purchasing process (stages and length of the purchasing path). It is also worth knowing (if you have not already done so) industry jargon, which can be used by potential B2B customers when entering queries in the search engine.
Once you collected and analysed this information, you can start to prepare an advertising campaign on Google Ads. Here are some aspects to look out for in a B2B campaign.
KEYWORDS
In search campaigns, text ads appear above or below organic results based on users’ queries. It might seem relatively simple, but you must remember that some keywords types may cause your ads to appear on the wrong terms.
So how to select keywords to B2B Search campaign?
- First, choose phrases related to your offer or product in combination with phrases which are suggesting that the seeker is a B2B customer. For example: “producer”, “wholesale”, “warehouse”, “supplier”, “distributor”, “seller”, “B2B”, “outsourcing” etc. These are examples of keywords that are not entered by ordinary users.
- If you want to reach a potential customer at the bottom of the buyers funnel, exclude phrases with no shopping intentions, such as “reviews”, “forum”, “free”, “free”, “work”, “internship”, “instruction” , “Ratings”, “pdf”, “download”, “definition”, “wiki” etc.
- The offer can be so niche that potential B2B customers will not know about it and therefore won’t search for it. In this situation, you can use general keywords or more broadly – phrases that deal with solving a problem or answering a question starting with the words “how”, “why” etc. Sift through your offer or product and find out if there are acronyms or other product names commonly used in the industry and add them to your campaign.
- In this case, you will certainly reach also B2C customers, that why it is crucial what you put in the content of the advertisement.
- Don’t forget to review the search terms to prevent your ads from showing up on unrelated terms.
- You can also display ads on keywords from your competitor’s brand. This is not entirely ethical, but sometimes it can bring good results, because thanks to it potential customers get to know your company and maybe they decide to compare offers, and as a consequence, they will choose your product.
ADVERTISING CONTENT
The content of the ad itself is also extremely important. In B2B it differs from the content of advertisements directed to individual customers.
You must keep in mind that the B2B customer decision process is longer than that of an individual customer. He will not click the “add to cart” button and will not mark 100 pieces of the product, but will call or write to you to get to know the company from all sides and learn more about the offer, as well as the terms of cooperation. They want to compare prices with competitive offers, etc.
It’s important that you be specific in creating your ad content and not use general terms. Add information that will indicate that the message is directed to a business customer. Use the words mentioned earlier, e.g.“Wholesaler”, “producer”, “B2B” etc.
The assumption that the company is the recipient of the product which we are advertising is not good enough. The company as a whole cannot be treated as a person to whom we address the message. You have to remember that the recipient of the advertisement is always a human.
Advertising should be directed to the directors of specific departments. They are the most important recipients of the product and decision-makers.
Also, use all possible ad extensions to provide potential customers with a large dose of specific information about your business. If you have quality certificates or awards, put information about them in callout extensions or sitelinks. Add a business address and phone number. Include the types of products or services that you can offer to a B2B business in your ad extensions.
DESTINATION PAGE
You’ve already prepared the right keywords and ad copy, its time for the third piece of the puzzle, i.e. the landing page.
The website should be a business card of the company because it is the first point of contact with the potential customer with the offer.
For example, the website header can be a great place to inform potential customers about what you do and who you work with. The information should be specific and clearly explain what clients you are looking for.
If you offer technical products for B2B customers, add downloadable PDF files and as much information as possible about the products themselves. Adding a call to action “LEARN MORE” button to the contact form will increase the number of leads and potential clients.
If you offer different types of products to various industries, apply product-specific business-related landing pages into industries where you offer your services or products. By performing this task, you will clearly specify that your offer is directed to a business client, not an individual.
I’ve noticed that many companies that deal with both B2C and B2B sales have only one subpage with a minimum amount of text about cooperation with a business client, hidden in a high volume of other URL pages. In this situation, the potential contractor will look for opportunities to cooperate with a competitive company instead.
If you are seriously thinking about cooperating with the B2B sector, your website must contain a separate and visible section directed to such a client. Perhaps a better solution would be to create a subdomain or even an independent B2B site.
What should a website be like to help you gain B2B customer confidence?
Avoid just basic product or service information. Focus more on how your offer can help a potential customer.
Don’t forget that your landing page should be strictly linked to what you see in your ad content. It will also increase credibility in the eyes of a potential customer.
Post blogs and describe them with the name, surname and position of the employee. Also, add his photo to increase their credibility and inspire the recipient’s trust.
Create content that will provide value to potential customers. Show that you are an expert in your field. Share knowledge on the blog, solve problems that your potential customers may encounter. Create guides that will be available for download after entering your email address. This way, you will also start building a database of people who will be able to become your customers in the future.
REMARKETING
If you managed to get valuable traffic to your website, it is worth making use of it and creates a remarketing campaign. After creating the remarketing list, you can advertise your product to potential customers with relevant messages. In the message, you can offer recipients additional free materials (guides), a more extended test period or a discount for a more substantial order.
Examples of remarketing lists that you can use in a campaign:
People who visited a specific subpage e.g. entered the for tab B2B customers
People who downloaded the PDF after providing their email address
People who signed up for the software testing period but did not purchase the paid version
Other advertising channels, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, can also help in B2B remarketing activities. These services offer the possibility of an exact audience targeting for the ads, e.g. job title or industry. So, you will advertise your product to specific decision-makers. If a person clicks on a link to your page, you can create a remarketing list from these entries, and you will be able to remind these people about your offer in the future.
OPTIMISATION
Every campaign in AdWords needs time, data for analysis and optimisation. It is no different when advertising a product to a B2C client. Once you have data and conversion the first changes should include:
Grouping Ads – headers on the landing page should contain the keyword entered by the customer; this can be done by dividing the ads into smaller separate ad groups.
Testing Several Variants Of Ads – until we test, we don’t know what works. It is undoubtedly useful to include a vision of the problem and a promise to solve it, always remember about CTA, for example, “Download now!”.
Pausing Keywords With High Spend That Not Convert – this can only be done after a few months.
CONCLUSIONS
- With AdWords, you can reach specific people from specific departments of companies that are your potential clients.
- Traffic from general keywords can be narrowed down through the content of the ad.
- People are ready to leave an email address in exchange for something that interests them.
- An optimisation is the most important thing in every campaign.
SUMMARY
Remember that to get a B2B customer is a long term task. The decision-making process related to purchasing in this sector is much longer in comparison to the B2C industry.
So even if the initial cost of acquiring a customer is high, it can ultimately be profitable for you.
The above recommendations do not fully cover the topic, but they are a solid basis for building your advertising strategy in the Google Ads channel. The effectiveness of the described activities may vary depending on the industry and the specifics of the offer itself, but it is worth testing different solutions to choose the best ones for your business.
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