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How to run a successful

Paid Search campaign

Thinkingaboutrunningapaidsearchcampaignbutnotsurewhereto start?Paidsearchcanbeaneffectivewaytodrivetargetedtracto yourwebsiteandboostbrandvisibility.Whenmanagedwell,ithelps yourbusinessappearatthetopofsearchengineresults,rightwhere potentialcustomersarelooking

Paidsearchworksbypayingsearchenginestodisplayyourbusiness atthetopofrelevantsearchresults Forexample,asearchfor ‘accountingsoftware’returnsthefollowingtopthreesponsored results

Thisputsyourbusinessfrontandcentreforpeoplewhoareactively searchingforproductslikeyours Buthowdoyousecurethese sponsoredslots?Whataretheballparkcostsinvolved?Andhowdo youcreateadsthatactuallydriveclicksandconversions?

Let’sexplorehowtomakethemostofyourpaidsearchbudgetand achievemeaningfulbusinessresults.

CONTENTS

→ UnderstandingPaidSearchandHowItWorks

→ EssentialStepstoRunaPaidSearchCampaign

→ Howmuchdoespaidsearchadvertisingcost?

→ HowlongshouldIrunapaidsearchcampaignfor?

→ OptimisingYourPaidSearchStrategywithTMP

UnderstandingPaidSearch andHowItWorks

Paidsearchadvertisingworksona‘payperclick’basis Inotherwords, youradcanbeshowntoalotofpeopleandgainimpressions,butyou onlypayeachtimesomeoneclicksonit (Youmayhaveheardofthe acronymCPC,thisstandsforCostPerClick) Thismakesitextremely cost-effectiveandresults-oriented Inordertosecureyourspotatthe topofsearchresults,abiddingprocesstakesplace.

HowdoesPPCbiddingwork?

Abiddingprocessdeterminesthehierarchyofsponsoredadsand cost-per-click(CPC):

→ Firstly,selectthekeywordyou’dliketoappearfor

→ Thensetthemaximumamountyou’rewillingtopayforaclickon anadforthatkeyword.Thisisyourbid.(Note:Youcanbidon

individualkeywordsoramoregeneralcategoryofrelatedkeywords )

→ Ifyoudon’thaveanyideawhatagoodvaluebidwouldbe,no worries That’swhatwe’reherefor!

→ Searchenginesvaluerelevance,evenforpaidplacements Soyou needtocreateanadthatalignswiththesearchtermsyou’rebidding for

→ Youradranksonanumberoffactorsbeyondjustyourbidamount Forexample:

→ Howwellyouradmatchesthekeywords

→ Howwellyouradmatchesyourlandingpage

→ Andhowalloftheseelementsmatchthe users’searchintention

→ Searchenginesseealotmoredatathanjust keywords Theytrytomatchauser’s demographics,behaviour,andintenttothe resultsthatgetdisplayed.Thisaimstoprovidea betteruserexperienceinordertokeeppeople comingbacktotheirsearchengine

→ Thehighest-scoringadwillbedisplayedastherstsponsored result,followedbythenexthighestinsecondplace Thereareonlya fewsponsoredspotspersearch,soyouneedtobeonthepodium.

→ Youonlygetchargedonceyouradstartsgettingclicks Youwon’t necessarilybechargedatyourmaximumCPC,butratheranamount justabovethatofthenexthighestbid Thisisknownasasecond-price auction,wheretheauctionwinneronlyhastopayenoughtobeatthe nextbidder.

→ Youcanstartandstopyourpaidsearchcampaignatanytime

PaidsearchisdistinctfromSEO Whileboththesepracticesimpact searchranking,SEOrefersto‘searchengineoptimisation’,whichonly hasabearingonorganicsearchresults Inotherwords,SEO inuencesthepriorityofresultslistedbelowthesponsoredslots–the onesyoucan’tpayfor Whereaspaidsearchfocusesspecicallyonthe rstfewresults Whilenotallsearcheswillreturnsponsoredresults, themajoritywithcommercialintentgenerallywill

Paidsearchislikebeingplacedontheshelfateye-levelina supermarket Customerscanstillndotherproducts,butthey’llsee yoursrst–andit’seasiertoreach

B2BPaidSearch

WhiletherearekeydifferencesbetweenB2BandB2Cmarketing,paid searchstrategyremainslargelysimilarforbothmarkets Business decision-makersarestillpeople,afterall.B2Bpurchasestendto involvemorestakeholders,sothey'lltakelongerthroughthe considerationphase Purchasesandbudgetsmayneedsign-offfrom highup,soB2Bmarketingwilloftenemphasisethingslike‘cost-

effectiveness’,‘easyimplementation’and‘ROI’

EssentialStepstoRunaPaid SearchCampaign

STEP#1

Firstly,you’llneedaGoogleAdsaccount

STEP#2

Then,youneedtochoosethekeywordsthatyouwantyouradto appearfor Inotherwords,whatsearchtermswillsomeonebetyping intoGoogleinorderforyourproductorservicestoberelevantto them?

Long-tailkeywordsareoftenmoreeffectivebecausethey’remore specic Forexample,resultsunder‘gymnearmethathasyoga’will delivermorequaliedclicksthan‘gym’

STEP#3 Timetobid(asoutlinedabove)

STEP#4

Createyouradsandlandingpagesthattheuserswillarriveatwhen theyclick

STEP#5 Specifytheuserdemographicsthatyou’retargeting.

STEP#6 Monitorandoptimise!

Notsurewheretostartwithpaidsearch?Noworries! Ourteamofdigitalspecialistscanhelp Wekeepyouintheloopevery stepoftheway,withregularreportingandongoingoptimisationto makethemostofyourmarketingspend GetintouchwithourB2B marketingagency.

Howmuchdoespaidsearch advertisingcost?

Onaverage,costperclick(CPC)tendstobebetween$2-4,although certainindustriescanbefarmoreexpensive Dentistryhasbeen knowntogetupintothehundreds

Thepricewillvarydependingonthecompetitivenessofyour particularindustryandthespecicsearchtermsyouwanttoappear for Justlikeyou’dhavetopaymoreforbillboardspaceonabusy street Forexample,XXadstendtocostmorethanYY Forexample professionalservices,includinglegal,insurance,andnance,tendto havehighercostsperclickcomparedtoindustrieslikerestaurants, travel,ande-commerce,whichtypicallyfacelesscompetitionfor searchadvertising

HowlongshouldIrunapaid searchcampaignfor?

Howlongdoespaidsearchtaketoactuallystart‘working’?

Generally,youcanexpecttostartseeingresultsafter2-3monthsof runningads Thisshouldatleastgiveyouanideaofhowyoumightbe abletotweakandoptimiseyourads Buttypically,paidadcampaigns willrunforlonger,upto12months.

Businessescantest,optimise,andstarttoseeanincreasingowof tracoveralongperiod Thelowcostandminimalcreative investmentrequiredmeansitbecomesaveryusefulpartofany broadermulti-channelmarketingcampaign

TMPcontinuallymonitorsandoptimisesB2Bsearchcampaignstoget themostROIforyouradspend,beyondjustboilerplatebestpractice

UtilisingCompanies’1stPartyData

Thestepsinvolvedforleveraging1stpartydataistointegrateasmany platformspossible ByintegratingGoogleAnalyticsandGoogleAds, forexample,wecanevaluateusers’on-sitebehaviourtoinuencead strategy Thisenablesustooptimisethingslikekeywords,adcopy, landingpagesandbiddingstrategies

IfwecanfurtherintegrateCRMoroineplatforms,wecan'closethe loop toevaluatewhatdataisanindicatorthatsomeonewillactually becomeapayingcustomer Forinstance,keywordsAandBboth generatethesameamountofclicks,butkeywordAmightbe generatingtwiceasmanypayingcustomers

Finally,byunderstandingexistingdataofabusinessandtheirexisting customers,wecanleveragethistoinformbiddingstrategies Namely, gettinginfrontofpeoplethataresimilartoexistingcustomerswith theobjectiveofalowercostperacquisition

Applying‘timeparting’foroptimalengagement

ForB2Bmarketing,7am-7pmmakessenseasyouroptimalwindowto reachpeopleduringbusinesshoursintheregionsthatyou’re targeting.

Incontrast,B2Cbrandsprettymuchhavea24/7windowasthey’re makingpurchasedecisionsatallhoursoftheday However,certain sectorsmaylooktobemoretime-sensitive–forexample,foodoutlets targetinglateafternoonandearlyeveningwhenpeoplearestartingto thinkaboutdinner.

Usingappropriatebidstrategies

Wetailorourapproachdependingonthenatureofyourcompanyand theobjectiveofthecampaign.We’lltypicallyusesmartbiddingand focusonconversion-basedsearchintentwhenvolumeallows If volumeislow,ouraimistomaximiseclicksandwe’lltendtouse manualbids

Testingadcreative

Thisiswhereoptimisationcomesin We’llhaveseveralheadlineand copyvariantslinedup,usingdynamicresponsiveadformatstomix andmatch.Thisenablesustoquicklyndoutwhichcombinationis mosteffective,sowecanpushthatoptionorcontinuetorenethe copyaccordingly

Payingattentiontohowuserssearch

Welookatsearchbehaviouracrossdifferentindustries Forexample, howBingusagecomparestoGoogleacrossindustriesandjobtypes Forexample,theprevalenceofMicrosoftEdgeinstallationsdepending onsomeone’sworkplace.

Ensuringasmoothconversionpath

Everyadneedstobebackedupbyacoherentpathfromengagement throughtoconversion It’sonethingtocatchauser’sattention Butif theyclickthroughtoapagethatdoesn’tmakesensetothem,or doesn’tmatchtheirsearchintent,it’sawasteofeveryone’stime When searchterms,adcopy,andlandingpageUXarealigned,itensuresan intuitivejourneythatresultsinmorequaliedleadsandkeepssearch costsdown.

AligningPaidSearchwithAccount-Based Marketing(ABM)Strategies

Lastly,integratingpaidsearchwithABMcanamplifyyourcampaign's effectivenessbytargetinghigh-valueaccounts Keytacticsinclude:

→ Usingintent-drivenkeywordstofocusonspecicindustries,job roles,orcompanynamesrelevanttoyourtargetaccounts

→ Leveragingaudiencesegmentationtoolstorenetargetingand alignadmessagingwiththeuniqueneedsofeachaccount

→ Creatingtailoredlandingpagesforyourhigh-priorityprospects, ensuringacohesivejourneyfromadclicktoconversion

→ IntegratingCRMdatatomonitorengagementacrossaccountsand optimizecampaignsbasedonperformanceinsights

Whilepaidsearchcanbeastraightforwardandcost-effectivewayto reachpotentialcustomers,runningasuccessfulcampaigninvolves severalmovingparts Fromselectingtherightkeywordstomanaging budgetsandanalysingperformance,achievingthebestresults requirescarefulplanningandongoingoptimisation

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