Paid advertisements, such as pay-per-click (PPC) ads, are an integral part of an integrated marketing communications plan. While other marketing tactics are focused on helping your prospects find you—think search engine optimization, where you are trying to lead them to your page with the right keywords—paid ads are all about finding your audience and putting your content right in front of them.
For most PPC ads, getting prospects to your website, compelling them to trade their contact info for your offering—or even getting them to make a sale—is the goal. When executed well, paid ads increase website traffic, decrease the length of the sales cycle, build brand authority, and bolster your bottom line.
When we worked with Cognitive Scale, an AI solutions company, we combined the power of PR, thought leadership, and paid ads with tremendous results. Leveraging the brand’s existing knowledge base, we created informative, engaging, and shareable resources that pulled in leads from social media. In exchange for the prospect’s contact information, we offered the resources as free downloads. The LinkedIn ads on that campaign earned a 45% conversion rate and drew in a consistent stream of high-quality targeted leads for Cognitive Scale.
In short, paid ads are a critical tool in the belt of a strategic marketer. With that in mind, here are the B2B paid ad trends you should keep in mind when you plan your paid ad campaigns in 2023 and beyond.
B2B Paid Ads Strategies
For B2B paid ads, the goal tends to be website traffic, lead generation through contact collection, and increased awareness. As noted, since a strong paid ad strategy delivers your content right to your audience—putting it directly in front of their eyes—they are a highly effective way of achieving all three, especially if you use a full-funnel marketing approach.
Funnel marketing often assumes a linear path—but the buyer’s journey is anything but. Targeting the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel simultaneously reaches customers wherever they are within their buying journey by providing messaging that caters to their level of interest.
Beyond meeting prospects and customers wherever they are in the buyer’s journey, PPC ads are incredibly effective at retargeting prospects who may have shown an interest in your brand, but haven’t taken the desired action (i.e. someone who clicked on your ad, but didn’t provide their email address to download your lead gen resource).
Remarketing—the umbrella term that re-targeting falls under—is vital for any business that wants to increase conversion rates more quickly and cost-effectively. With 96% of visitors leaving sites without converting and 49% browsing two to four times before converting, remarketing can help shorten their purchase journey by reminding them of the things they were interested in about your brand.
Were they browsing AI solutions for data entry? Show them how your product can not only scan data into a system but automatically sort, categorize, and file it appropriately, freeing your employees to do more uniquely human tasks. Perhaps they were browsing the pages about your custom-built solutions. Show them the variety and versatility you offer the next time you show them an ad. When done correctly, remarketing digital campaigns can also be very effective at increasing brand awareness and reducing the cost of acquiring new customers.
Another way to reduce the cost of acquiring new customers is to take advantage of a strategy called Smart Bidding, which uses machine learning to optimize bidding in every PPC auction. Smart bidding evaluates a wide range of contextual signals at the time of auction—including a user’s device, location, browser, and more—and you can optimize for conversions or conversion value.
As you set up your Smart Bidding, take a little time to snoop on your competitors. Using reverse image search on Google (in combination with a solid B2B SEO and backlink strategy), you can get a leg up on your competition. For example, if you upload an image of a competitor’s logo, you can see at a glance where their inbound links come from, which gives you the ability to build a list of backlink opportunities for your brand.
So now that we’ve discussed the top priority paid ads strategies for B2Bs in 2023, let’s move on to the tactics that will help you execute them.
B2B Paid Ads Tactics
These B2B paid ads tactics will drive conversions in 2023, so be prepared to leverage them for your brand!
Messaging Ads
Did you know that 75% of consumers now prefer to engage with a brand over private messaging channels versus traditional channels? By taking advantage of messaging ads or Google Search Ads, brands can get their audiences timely information and engage with them on their terms.
CTV (Connected TV) Ads
Connected TV ads (the kind shown on streaming platforms) aren’t new, but in 2023, major streaming companies like Netflix and Disney+ have said they will release new, ad-supported subscription tiers. With CTV advertising options growing, marketers must understand this landscape more deeply and know where to find their audience—and it won’t likely be a single platform. Instead, diversification will be key for marketers and advertisers looking to win on CTV.
Following your audience wherever they are, regardless of show or platform, will increase frequency bias and build trust with your brand, ultimately leading to more conversions. But this also means marketers will need to understand their audiences better than ever before to know where they are and what they are watching.
In-Profile Ads
Meta is testing out in-profile ads, allowing certain creators to earn income from ads displayed in their profile feeds. For marketers, this means blurring the lines between advertising and influencer marketing. Being able to target your brand’s audience through ads on their favorite influencer’s page will undoubtedly strengthen conversion rates, but like CTV ads, it means marketers really need to know where to find their audience and what content they are watching and engaging with.
AR (Augmented Reality) Ads
Immersion is the name of the game in 2023. Buyers want immersive experiences with your product or service before they commit. AR ads have the ability to superimpose virtual objects (3D models of products or game characters, for example) into the real world of the user. According to Shopify, AR ads outperform traditional display ads, generating 94% higher conversion rates compared to ads without AR/3D components. AR is also a great way to invoke the emotions of your consumer, creating a stronger connection between them and your brand. B2Bs can use AR for a variety of purposes, from creating product demos and standing out at an exhibition or conference.
There you have it, the latest and greatest in B2B PPC for 2023. Wondering how to best implement paid ads for your B2B? Reach out. We’d love to hear from you.
