How. B2B Companies. Can Generate More Demand and Better Leads at Less Cost

Transcription

1 How B2B Companies Can Generate More Demand and Better Leads at Less Cost A

2 How B2B Companies Can Generate More Demand and Better Leads at Less Cost As many B2B marketers already know, it is important to have a diverse, yet integrated, digital marketing strategy in order to generate the most demand and best leads for your marketing dollar. Traditionally, Google AdWords and paid search have been the go-to for many companies, as it has been successful for many organizations. However, continuous increases in costs-per-click (CPCs) on many crucial industry segment keywords have made running a successful paid search campaign much more difficult. In fact, a recent study by Kenshoo reported an increase in CPCs of almost 6% across search engines. As a result, organizations are in need of more effective ways to not only decrease cost-per-lead (CPL), but also maximize the scale of reaching their targeted niche audiences more reliably. 1

3 The B2B Search Query Dilemma For many B2B companies, paid search often requires very niche keywords. Not only does there tend to be a low search volume for these specific terms, this volume becomes even smaller when you begin targeting an enterprise audience. In general, the higher the price of the B2B product or service being sold, the smaller the target audience. One of the dilemmas with B2B search is keyword demographics. Some keywords have both consumer and business overlap when it comes to searches. For example, the term battery testing has approximately 320 Google searches a month - but who is searching for this term? Consumers could be searching for information on car batteries or other small batteries, while businesses may be searching for laptop batteries, or even something more industrial. Even with the relatively large search volume for battery testing, marketers still need to drill down even further to really understand who exactly is searching for this term. To add to the keyword search problem, Google ranks organic search results by query type. Google has three different query types, and the algorithm that is used to rank the results is based on the type of query. Google s three types of search queries are: Navigational, Informational, and Transactional. Navigational: Seeks to locate a specific web page. The user has a specific web site in mind, often the official home or subpage of an official site. o Example: Home Depot Informational: Seeks information on a topic. The user is looking for information on the query topic (broad or specific). The goal is to learn something by reading or viewing content on the web such as text, images and video, etc. o Example: battery testing Transactional: Seeks to complete some kind transaction on the web for a product or service. The user is mainly looking for a resource (NOT information available via web pages). The goal is to download, to buy, to obtain, to be entertained or to interact with a resource. o Example: battery testing services 2

4 Google delivers search results based on what it thinks the majority of people are looking for. If the majority of the results for battery testing in the top ten are informational, geared toward the do-ityourself consumer audience looking for information on testing their car battery, then it s likely that is what the majority is also looking for. So what does this all mean? Even the best B2B niche keywords can t always deliver. One study shows the average click-through-rate (CTR) for the top search result in Google is 36%. If we look back at the battery testing example and formulate that the number one results gets a 36% click-through from 320 searches, then that keyword is only receiving 115 clicks - and not all of those warrant a conversion either. Going more niche, a keyword like battery testing services fragments the search volume even more with only 40 searches per month. At best case, the number one result for this keyword would receive 14 clicks per month. This by no means should dissuade anyone from trying to improve their keyword rankings on niche B2B keywords with low search volumes; however, in terms of delivering large-scale lead volume in the short term, the math doesn t work out in terms of effort versus reward. Its rewards are more long term and smaller scale. 3

5 The Problem with Paid Search As we discussed earlier, the more expensive the B2B product or offering, the more niche your keywords will need to be and the higher the cost of those keywords. Competition is high for these limited keywords, and some advertisers will bid solely for position to get the number one spot, as opposed to bidding based on conversion results. You can also see from the examples below that many keywords have very expensive CPCs: RAID Data Recovery $64 CPC business VOIP solutions $51 CPC managed hosting providers $49 CPC data room services $41 CPC VPS Dedicated Server $32 CPC managed services provider $31 CPC merchant account providers $28 CPC medical billing software $27 CPC best conference call service $27 CPC domain names registry $24 CPC online backup software $24 CPC server monitoring software $24 CPC managed IT services $23 CPC CRM Software Programs $22 CPC business credit card $19 CPC business bank account $15 CPC So what is the situation with B2B paid search? Low search volume and high competition for niche keywords produces a high CPC. In addition, lower conversion rates coupled with a long sales cycle means the ROI of paid search campaigns can be slow to materialize. Basically, there are too few leads for too much cost, resulting in a very high Cost Per Lead (CPL). What B2B companies need are more targeted opportunities for demand and lead generation that focus on the right type of audience. However, what opportunities exist for generating more demand and leads at a lower cost? 4

6 Solutions LinkedIn Advertising LinkedIn Advertising allows you to more specifically target your advertising to specific customer demographics. With over 200 million members, LinkedIn advertising gives you the opportunity to track down your target audience and get your message in front of them. LinkedIn Advertising allows you to target ads by a variety of audience parameters, including job title, industry, geography, company size, and skills. Ads can even be targeted to specific companies, for more effective account-based marketing. 5

7 Additionally, ads can be targeted based on membership in LinkedIn Groups. This is a gold mine for LinkedIn Ads, because group members are more likely to be active and engaged on LinkedIn meaning that that they re more likely to see and be receptive to your ad. Retargeting and Display Advertising Retargeting is the fastest growing sector of the $2 Billion display advertising industry. Also known as remarketing, it is a proven channel to raise conversion rates, increase sales, and raise brand awareness across even hard-to-convert verticals. With retargeting, brand presence is strengthened and fewer sales are left on the table. How Does Retargeting Work? With behavioral and personalized retargeting, your ads are shown to the users who have engaged with your brand on your site, but moved on without converting. By focusing on the brand s site visitors, you are able to tailor ads according to their interactions with your content resulting in higher conversion rates. Retargeting campaigns can be managed through Google s AdWords Display Network, as well as through other platforms such as AdRoll, Retargeter and Bizo. 6

8 + = Case Study: How ScienceLogic Generated More Conversions With Less Budget Using LinkedIn Advertising + Google Display Problem ScienceLogic, a provider of technology solutions for data center management and cloud computing management, relaunched its paid search advertising efforts in October They had been relying heavily on keyword-based search ads for about 15 months, primarily directing ad respondents to Contact Us -type conversion actions. Conversion levels weren t ideal, and the cost per conversion action was extremely high at almost $625 per lead. ScienceLogic s market niche is extremely competitive with notoriously high CPCs. A 2012 study of the most expensive Google AdWords keyword terms in advertising revealed that many of their keywords even the most specific terms had some of the highest CPCs across any industry. Over that 15-month time period, the data from that study held true for ScienceLogic as well, as many CPCs were over $13.00 per click, with many minimum first page bids over $10 per click. As a result, opportunities to reach their target audience were limited because of budget constraints. ScienceLogic needed a better way to target their audience. While paid search advertising was providing exposure for their brand and generating traffic for their website, even the most niche long-tail keywords were not targeted enough to allow them to reach their specific buyer personas with any significant scale. Solution Marketing Mojo shifted ScienceLogic s strategy to minimize keyword search advertising in favor of LinkedIn Advertising to better focus their online marketing to its target demographics. They identified ScienceLogic s key buyer personas and, using LinkedIn s comprehensive B2B targeting capabilities, created campaigns focused on those personas. Marketing Mojo also created custom landing pages focusing on sign-ups for digital assets like whitepapers, surveys and webinars. Marketing Mojo also introduced remarketing and contextual display advertising campaigns in AdWords to reduce the reliance on keyword-based search advertising, while keeping ScienceLogic top-of-mind to potential prospects. The remarketing campaigns specifically targeted those who had previously visited ScienceLogic s website, but did not convert; while the contextual advertising targeted ads based on searcher interests (as well as specific keywords found on websites in Google s Display Network). Age and gender demographics were also used in combination with these targeting methods to refine results. 7

9 Results LinkedIn Advertising proved to be a very effective tactic for online B2B lead generation, allowing ScienceLogic to reach their exact customer demographics at a lower cost per lead. This, paired with more demographically-targeted, rather than keyword-heavy, pay-per-click display advertising, was extremely effective in driving the right leads for ScienceLogic. Additionally, the utilization of digital content assets like whitepapers, webinars and surveys was a much more effective method in getting online leads than focusing on Contact Us form completions. In 6 weeks, LinkedIn Ads surpassed the lead volume that the previous 15 months of Google AdWords PPC had produced. In 4 months, LinkedIn Ads delivered 217% more leads than what the previous 15 months of Google AdWords PPC produced for 82% less budget. The cost per lead during the 4 months of LinkedIn Ads was 94% lower than Google AdWords. Conversion rate was over 1,500% better than Google AdWords PPC. The emphasis on contextual display advertising, over keyword advertising, immediately resulted in getting many more clicks. The costs per click were 83% lower than the previous period and they received 226% more clicks per month even with a 44% reduced media spend. These changes contributed to a 48% increase in conversion volume and a 62% reduction in cost per conversion, compared to performance prior to the strategy change. Conclusion In conclusion, B2B companies can generate better leads at less cost using more targeted paid advertising options, such as retargeting, LinkedIn Advertising and demographically targeted display advertising. By focusing more on the right audience rather than highly competitive niche keywords, these digital marketing tactics can be much more effective for demand generation and ROI than paid search advertising. Find out more Are you facing the same challenges described in this whitepaper and need help generating more demand and leads for your company, at less cost? Get in touch with Marketing Mojo to learn how our proven B2B digital marketing strategies can help you overcome these challenges. 8