B2B PPC: Creating Campaigns That Convert in 2024

PPC is an incredible channel for growing any B2B business. 

72% of B2B decision-makers start their search for solutions online, often clicking on paid ads. This makes PPC an important channel for attracting new customers.

PPC marketing isn’t just about visibility. It’s also about profitability. 

Yet, it's clear that PPC advertising can yield insane returns, particularly in the B2B sphere, where contract values tend to be higher and the sales cycle is longer.

In this article, we explore the benefits of PPC for B2B businesses and provide you with a roadmap for launching a successful campaign right from the start.

What Is B2B PPC?

It’s simply advertising (typically on Google) where the user pays a fee when their online ads are clicked. 

So, for example, if someone types in “Online marketing consultant” and clicks on your advert, you’ll pay Google a one-time fee for that click, e.g. $10-20. 

The competition (and costs) can get fierce, but that’s because PPC works for B2B brands.

The Challenges

It's important to understand some of the unique challenges that come with this type of advertising. We’ve listed some of the examples below.

➡️ The size of your target market

Target markets in B2B sales tend to be smaller than those of B2C companies. 

This means that your keyword searches won’t always have high search volumes. 

For instance, way more people search for "nike running shoes" (as you can see below, with 96,000 monthly searches) than for a specialized term like “environmental compliance software” (with 100 searches a month). 

This means that you need to be more specific when you target your audience.

For example, here’s the ad that we saw when we typed “Nike running shoes” into Google:

Their target market is runners, so it hones in on some general preferences runners might have, including:

• Comfort
• Speed
• Distance 

Someone searching for “environmental compliance software” would have much more specific needs, as shown in the examples below.

As you can see, the search result is really specific. Many people outside the IT engineering sector will have no idea what this means.

Rule of thumb: the smaller the search volume, the more specific you need to be in your ad and landing page content. 

➡️ Diverse decision-makers

In B2B PPC, your target audience could be anyone employed in a company, from the CEO to an IT person, or even an accountant.

Successful B2B PPC ad campaigns will target the people most likely to respond to a PPC campaign. 

This affects everything from keywords to ad copy and landing pages—don't worry, we cover this later in the article. 

For example, if you work with start-ups then you would probably target CEOs and explain how you can help them scale their business.

➡️ The B2B buyer's journey

When it comes to significant investments like new software or machinery, B2B buyers don’t make decisions quickly.

So, these types of sales can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months or more. 

Successful PPC campaigns address this by using key terms that target different stages of the marketing funnel. This allows businesses to give potential customers the information they need at each step of their buying process.

Generally, this buying process (also called the buyer’s journey) has 3 stages: 

ⓘ Awareness stage: Top of the funnel  (TOFU)

At this initial stage, a business recognizes a need or identifies a problem. It's the starting point where they seek basic information and insights about potential solutions. We explore some examples later in the article.

📊 PPC strategy: Ads targeted at this stage should focus on raising awareness about your brand and providing informational content that introduces your solutions.

✅ Consideration stage: Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

The buyer understands their challenge and starts evaluating different solutions, products, or services. It involves in-depth research and a comparison of options.

📊 B2B PPC strategy: Your ads should highlight your product's specific benefits and features, setting it apart from competitors.

💡Decision stage: Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

This final stage is when the buyer is ready to make a purchase. They may interact with sales representatives, request quotes, or explore demos.

📊PPC strategy: At this point, PPC ads should be focused on conversions, encouraging actions like product demos, trial sign-ups, or direct inquiries.

Aligning your PPC campaigns with each stage of the buyer's journey is crucial for effective B2B marketing. 

This ensures that your advertising content is relevant and appealing, guiding potential leads through the funnel toward a purchase decision.

How to Get Started with B2B PPC Campaigns

Now that you know the benefits and challenges of B2B PPC, let’s get to the fun part—setting up your campaigns.

1️⃣ Research your audience

Start by defining the characteristics of the businesses you are targeting. Consider factors like industry, company size, and the decision-makers within these businesses. 

When targeting B2B companies, your audience might include managers, executives, or professionals like IT directors or procurement officers.

Another critical step is understanding what products they currently use and how yours is different or better. This helps you explain why they should switch to yours.

2️⃣ Understand your objectives

Once you have a clearer understanding of who you are targeting, the next step is to dig deeper into what your business aims to achieve. 

Let's take a look at a few common B2B goals:

✅ Generating leads

If your main goal is to generate leads, your PPC B2B campaign should focus on capturing the contact information of potential clients. 

This means your ads and landing pages should be designed to encourage sign-ups, downloads of whitepapers, or try a free trial. 

This ad for Monday.com’s CRM software is a good example. This ad offers users the opportunity to try the software for free. 

To get this template, a user must provide Monday.com with their contact details. This information is likely added to a list of leads for the sales team to follow up on. 

✅ Building brand awareness

Brand awareness is a key objective in many campaigns. PPC ads are effective tools for broadening your reach and highlighting your brand’s unique values and solutions.

Take the Zoho ad below. It focuses on its primary benefit: improved customer relationship management.

It also highlights its global popularity, while also mentioning some of the benefits that it knows its customers want.

✅ Content promotion

B2B buying cycles are typically longer than those in B2C industries. 

One of the reasons for this is that business buyers often review over 10 pieces of content before making a decision. 

PPC is an excellent way to help engage potential customers by aiding their decision-making.

You can use it to help them find valuable resources like whitepapers, case studies, or webinars. 

A practical example is this ad from Insightly, a CRM platform that offers a free comparison guide via PPC ads, helping potential customers in their vendor selection process.

3️⃣ Ensure your landing pages are optimized to convert

Most (but not all) PPC campaigns link to a dedicated landing page on a company’s website. 

A good landing page can also boost your ad rank score and make it more likely to be shown to search engine users. 

It’s important to ensure your landing page has content that is relevant to the ad and your audience. It should also look professional. 

So, before you start any form of PPC advertising, you must ensure your landing page(s) are up to scratch. 

To show you what we mean, let's use our example from above, “CRM software.” One of the top results is for a company called Accelo. 

This landing page for their CRM software ticks all the boxes when it comes to B2B landing page best practices.

4️⃣ Create your Google Ads account

If this is your first PPC campaign, you will need to set up your Google Ads account to get started. The good news is it’s completely free.

This process is quite simple and only requires a few steps to create your account and get your campaign up and running.

You’ll need to provide:

✅ Information about your business

✅ Details about your campaign goals and budget

✅ Your credit card details

5️⃣ Set up your target audience

You can set up your PPC ad to only be displayed to specific potential clients. 

For example, if you're offering cloud-based CRM solutions to mid-sized tech companies, target professionals aged 30 to 50 in tech hubs like San Francisco, Austin, or New York. 

Refine your targeting to include those interested in cloud computing or CRM technologies, which ensures that your ads reach key decision-makers likely in need of your services.

6️⃣ Select your keywords

Based on your thorough understanding of your audience, you will need to consider the words or phrases your ideal client is likely to type in when they visit Google. 

To get this step right, you must do keyword research with tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMRush. 

Below is a dashboard from Ahrefs, a keyword research tool:

Let’s break down the main metrics and how you can use them to choose keywords: 

💡Keyword difficulty score: Indicates the probability of ranking organically in the top 10 search results. A score of 82 for "CRM software" suggests high competition. While not directly impacting PPC, it hints at the keyword's competitiveness.

💡Search volume: This shows the average monthly search volume for the keyword in specific countries or globally (78,000). 

💡 CPC (cost per click): Shows the average cost for each paid click, useful for budgeting.

💡Keyword suggestions: Offers related searches, questions, and terms to expand your keyword list.

How B2B PPC Keyword Selection Differs

B2B PPC campaigns adhere to the general principles of keyword selection but differ in a few ways due to the unique nature of B2B transactions. 

We’ve mentioned some of them already in this article. 

It’s about choosing words that:

✅ Indicate buyer intent

As mentioned earlier, B2B purchases are typically more considered and involve multiple stakeholders. 

Therefore, keywords must cater to every stage of the B2B buying cycle, from awareness (informational) to consideration (comparative) and decision (transactional). 

✅ Consider cost-effectiveness

Remember that B2B transactions often justify higher costs due to the substantial value of each conversion. 

Let’s illustrate this using our earlier example:

The term “enterprise CRM” costs $6.00 per click. Compare this to the term “nike running shoes” which has a CPC of $0.40. 

“Enterprise CRM" might have a higher CPC than “nike running shoes”, but while the latter makes around $120 per sale, a CRM sale could be worth thousands of dollars per year.

✅ Focus on targeted search volume

Instead of chasing the highest search volumes, aim for specific, niche keywords that promise more qualified leads, even if they have lower search volumes.

✅ Balance competitiveness

Avoiding highly competitive keywords is a common strategy, but for B2B, some level of competition is expected. 

We recommend focusing on long-tail keywords that are specific to your business offerings.

✅ Use negative keywords to your advantage

When managing PPC campaigns for enterprise CRM software, negative keywords are as crucial as your primary keywords. 

Negative keywords prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant searches, saving you money and ensuring better quality leads.

For instance, if you're focusing on "enterprise CRM solutions," you might want to add negative keywords “Free CRM,” “CRM for small businesses,” and “basic CRM” to avoid attracting individuals looking for low-cost or small-scale solutions.

➡️ Create separate campaigns for each stage of the sales funnel

We have found that creating different ad campaigns for each part of your funnel allows you to align your messaging, targeting, and calls-to-action with the specific needs and mindset of users at each step. 

Here's a breakdown of what your ad campaigns could look like at each stage:

Top of the funnel (TOFU)

Objective: Create brand awareness by providing educational content.

Ad content: Use eye-catching headlines that give the reader valuable content to help them achieve something. For a product like CRM software, this could be a guide to what CRM is or a comparison of different types of CRM offerings. 

CTAs and offers: Offer valuable resources like e-books, white papers, or checklists. These should be designed to engage audiences who are not yet familiar with your brand or solutions.

Keywords: For ads targeted at the top of the funnel we’d recommend including terms that are used when seeking information. 

This is especially important in the B2B space, where the buying cycle involves a lot of research.

An example is this ad by SAP. We came across it while searching for “what is CRM software.” It links to a landing page that contains a guide to what CRM is, its benefits, and the key features of CRM software. 

This ad could have been improved by explicitly mentioning the guide in the ad copy.

Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

Objective: Build credibility and showcase your unique selling proposition.

Ad content: Highlight the features and benefits that set your product apart. Focus on what makes your solution better than others.

CTAs and offers: Encourage deeper engagement with content like case studies, product comparisons, or webinars. This stage is all about building trust and establishing your product as the best solution.

Keywords: Middle of the funnel (MOFU) in your PPC campaign means selecting keywords that appeal to audiences who have moved beyond basic awareness and are now actively comparing different solutions.

Here is an example of an ad from the middle of the sales funnel. It aims to encourage small business owners to find out more about the product. The ad explains how the software can help a small business manage sales. 

The landing page explains each aspect of the product in detail.

Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

Objective: Drive conversions and encourage decision-making.

Ad content: Use persuasive messaging that emphasizes the value and benefits of your offering. Highlight any unique selling points, like pricing or features, that could sway the decision.

CTAs and offers: Employ strong, action-oriented CTAs like “Sign up for a trial,” “Request a demo,” “Request quote,” or “speak to us today.” Consider time-sensitive offers to create a sense of urgency. 

Keywords: At this stage of the buyer's journey, we’d recommend targeting keywords that indicate readiness to buy, such as those related to purchasing, pricing, or specific product names.

Below is an ad from Zoho that appeared for the search term “buy CRM software.” This landing page helps a potential user to convert.

Landing pages at this stage should convince users that your product or service will solve their problem and make it as easy as possible for them to convert.

The page includes:

• Detailed pricing information
• A demo sign-up form
• Testimonials from organizations that use Zoho 
• A list of integrations 
• And a comparison list with similar CRM systems

7️⃣ Create ad copy

Now that you understand that you will need to create ad groups and campaigns for each stage of your buyer's journey, the next step is to create great ad copy.

8️⃣ Place a bid

Next, you’ll need to place a bid for your specific keywords in a PPC auction to get your ad to appear at the top of search engine results. 

This is also where you get to stipulate how much you are willing to spend on your ads.

Each strategy is designed to help you meet specific goals, such as increasing website visits, growing visibility, driving conversions, or getting more views on video content. 

Choosing the right bidding strategy depends on your campaign objectives, budget, and the specific actions you want your audience to take.

Here's an overview of the top bidding strategies for B2B PPC throughout the buyer's journey:

1. Awareness stage

As we mentioned above, this stage is about increasing brand awareness among potential customers who are beginning to recognize their challenges.

2. Consideration stage

The objective here is to engage potential customers who are actively researching solutions to their problems and are considering various options.

3. Decision stage

This stage is about targeting potential buyers who are ready to take significant action, like requesting a demo or contacting sales.

9️⃣ Start tracking your PPC campaign

Tracking your B2B PPC campaigns is essential to understanding their performance and optimizing them for better results. 

Here’s how you can effectively track your PPC campaigns:

1. Set up conversion tracking

Start by setting up conversion actions in Google Ads. This involves adding a snippet of code to your website to track actions such as form submissions, downloads, or specific page visits.

Next, define what constitutes a conversion for your business—whether it's a lead form submission, a product demo request, or a whitepaper download.

2. Implement Google Analytics

Link Google Analytics with Google Ads: Connect your Google Ads account to Google Analytics to get detailed insights on user behavior, such as how long users stay on your site, the pages they visit, and the path they take before converting.

Set goals in Google Analytics: Create specific goals in Google Analytics to track conversions that originate from your PPC campaigns. This can include tracking both macro (e.g., sales) and micro (e.g., newsletter sign-ups) conversions.

Benefits of conversion tracking

✅ ROAS measurement: By tracking conversions, you can calculate the return on ad spend for each ad group, helping you to allocate your budget more efficiently.

✅ Optimization of campaigns: Understanding which ad groups perform better allows you to optimize ad spend by focusing on the most effective groups.

✅ Insight into customer journey: Tracking conversions helps you understand how customers interact with your ads at different stages of their buying process. It also helps you to understand which of your content and messaging resonates with your potential leads. 

✅ Enhanced lead quality: Over time, conversion data can reveal which ad groups bring in higher-quality leads, allowing for more targeted marketing strategies.

🔟 Retarget

Retargeting in B2B PPC is a way to reach people who've already shown interest in your business. 

Maybe they visited your website but didn’t complete a download or fill out a form. Retargeting shows your ads to these users as they browse the web or use social media.

Why retargeting works in B2B

Retargeting keeps your brand in front of potential customers over time.

By reminding visitors of what they viewed on your site, retargeting can nudge them closer to taking action.

You can customize your ads based on what each visitor looks at on your site, making your messages more relevant.

Advanced Strategies to Level Up Your B2B PPC Campaigns

If you are ready to take it up a notch, join us as we dive into some advanced B2B PPC strategies below.

Advanced strategy #1: Set up dynamic search ads to fill in keyword gaps

Dynamic search ads (DSAs) are a type of Google Ads campaign that automatically generates ad headlines and landing pages based on the content of a website.

Google scans your site and identifies keywords relevant to your business. It will then automatically create ads to target them. 

Advanced strategy #2: Leveraging LinkedIn Ads for targeted account-based marketing

Account-based marketing (ABM) shifts the focus of PPC campaigns from a broad audience to specific, high-value companies or individuals.

It's about precision, targeting those most likely to benefit from your product or service.

LinkedIn, a professional network, is ideal for B2B ABM efforts. It allows targeting based on job roles, industries, company size, or specific organizations.

Here is a LinkedIn ad offering a valuable piece of content on how small businesses can be more productive. 

Interested readers can access this content by clicking the ad and providing their contact details, creating a direct engagement opportunity.

Advanced strategy #3: Utilizing custom intent audiences in Google Ads

Custom intent audiences allow you to target people who are likely interested in your products or services based on their recent online behaviors. 

Essentially, you can create a list of keywords and URLs related to what you're offering, and Google will show your display and video ads to users who have shown interest in those topics through their searches, website visits, and content they've interacted with.

This feature allows you to engage potential customers at critical points in their buying journey, enhancing the overall impact of your B2B ad campaigns.

Custom intent audiences are grouped under what Google calls "custom list targeting."

How PPC.io Can Help Your B2B Business Succeed

If all this sounds way too complicated to manage yourself, you’ve come to the right place. 

At PPC.io, we know that B2B PPC advertising can be complex, and you could make plenty of costly mistakes along the way.

To protect your budget and get the online leads you need, the best idea is to work with an expert PPC agency that knows the intricacies of the game.

We’ve helped many businesses run highly successful PPC campaigns that combine a carefully considered strategy with keyword research, beautifully crafted ad copy, and bidding methods that win results like no other.

If you’re interested in working with us and standing out in the B2B space, visit our website to get in touch.