How to Audit B2B Google Ads Accounts [+Free Template]
Google Ads is not getting any cheaper, so frequently auditing your account is critical to keep your campaigns profitable.
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In this step-by-step guide, I will walk you through the exact same process we use internally to audit our clientsâ Google Ads accounts.
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As a bonus, you can get a free copy of my 8-Part Google Ads Audit Checklist from Module 1, Lesson 5 of my B2B Google Ads 102 free course, so you can have it on hand while you go through the tasks below.
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So letâs get started đ
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Part 1 - Account Review
- Part 2 - Campaign Review
- Part 3 - Ad Group Review
- Part 4 - Keyword Review
- Part 5 - Ads & Extensions Review
- Part 6 - Landing Page Review
- Part 7 - Budget & Performance Review
- Part 8 - Visibility Review
- Resources to Master B2B Google Ads
- Google Ads Audit FAQ
Part 1 - Account Review
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First and foremost, you canât improve your account performance without mastering the basics. So letâs dive in!
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1. Billing Information
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Is your billing information correct?
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Checking this will ensure that your ads continue to run smoothly and you don't face any unexpected billing issues.
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To check your billing information, follow these steps:
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- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
â - Click on the "Billing" icon on the left-hand menu.
â - Click on "Settings" to view your current billing information.
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Here, you can view your payment method, payer details (name, address, etc), and other important details.Â
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Make sure all the information is correct and up-to-date. If you notice any errors, click on the pencil next to each detail to make the necessary changes.
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It's important to note that any changes you make to your billing information may take up to 24 hours to take effect.Â
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Additionally, if you have any pending charges on your account, you won't be able to make changes until those charges are paid off.
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2. Is your time zone correct?
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The accuracy of your account's time zone setting is more crucial than it may seem at first glance. The time zone affects how you schedule ads, interpret performance data, and manage billing cycles.
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You cannot change your time zone manually, and it can only be reset once, so as Google advises, choose your new time zone carefully.
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To request a change, youâll need to fill out this form and follow the instructions below:
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- The form must be filled out by an Admin user of a manager account.
â - Your time zone can only be shifted eastward, for example, from GTM (Greenwich Mean Time) to IST (India Standard Time).
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3. Do you have auto-tagging turned on?
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Auto-tagging is an easy 3-step process:
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- Sign in to your Google Ads account
â - On the left-hand side, under admin> click on Account Settings
â - Click on âAuto-taggingâ - check the box and save.
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Once you enable this feature, Google will automatically mark your source_medium as âcpcâ
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4. Did you turn off ad suggestions?
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Have you ever gone to your Google Ads account and noticed a bunch of changes that werenât made by you or anyone on your team?This probably happened because you didnât turn off the ad suggestions đ
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So follow these steps to have peace of mind:
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- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
â - Click on the "Campaigns" on the left-hand menu.
â - Click on "Recommendations" and go to âAuto-applyâ
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Make sure you turn off all of the recommendations that arenât relevant to your account.
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I personally like to turn off all of them, so I donât have any changes made by Google without my consent.
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5. Is your conversion tracking still working accurately?
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This is crucial because if your conversion tracking is not working correctly, you wonât feed Googleâs algorithm with essential data to make the best bidding choices for your conversion-based strategies.
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Hereâs how you can check if your tracking is in place:
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- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
â - Click on the "Goals" on the left-hand menu.
â - Click on "Conversions" and go to âSummaryâ
â - Youâll be able to see the status of your conversions - you want to see âActiveâ
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Pro-tip: If you see the status âNo recent conversionsâ - search for your keyword on Google and submit a test.
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If you donât see any activity and have been running Google Ads campaigns for a while, it probably means youâll need to see whatâs going on to ensure the tracking setup is in place.
Part 2 - Campaign Review
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Depending on the size and organization of the account, this step will take longer or shorter. So letâs go đˇââď¸
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1. Do your campaigns follow a logical naming convention?
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Having a solid naming convention in place isnât just about aesthetics, itâs the foundation for good account management.
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My campaigns usually have a naming convention that follows this structure:
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- Region (NA, EMEA, APAC)
â - Campaign Theme (Brand, NonBrand, Generic, Competitor)
â - Keyword Topic
â - Network (Search, Display)
â - Keyword Match Type (Exact, Phrase, Broad)
â - Device (Desktop, Mobile, All Devices)
â - Offer (Demo, Trial, etc)
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So if you have disjointed campaign names, itâs an opportunity to adjust that and make your life easier.
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2. Are you targeting the right networks (display unchecked)?
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You want to focus on the Search Network and search partners, avoiding the Display Network unless itâs a separate campaign.
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- Select the desired campaign
â - Go to âCampaign Settingsâ (on the right-hand side)
â - Click on Networks
â - Choose the desired Network and saveÂ
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- At the campaign level
â - Scroll over your campaign
â - Setting logo will appear
â - Click on the logo
â - Under Networks, choose the desired Network and save.
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3. Is your location targeting and options still accurate?
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If you have a proper naming convention, you should be able to tell where you intend to target your campaigns, but you still need to ensure the correct locations are selected.Â
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Similar to Networks, there are two ways to check your locations:
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- Select the desired campaign
â - Go to Locations (on the left-hand side - Audiences, keywords and content)
â - Click on the pencil icon
â - Choose the desired locations and saveÂ
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- At the campaign level > Scroll over your campaignÂ
â - The settings logo will appear
â - Click on the logo
â - Under Locations, Enter location(s) and Save.
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4. Are you targeting one language per campaign (with relevant ads + landing pages)?
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In a perfect world, your ads and landing pages should match the primary language of the targeting locations.
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Hereâs how you can change the language of your campaigns:
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- At the campaign level, toggle over your campaign name
â - Click on the icon setting once it appears
â - Under âLanguagesâ you can select the desired language and click Save.
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5. Is your daily budget still aligned with your goals?
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Being an effective marketer involves strategically allocating your budget over the designated campaign duration while achieving the goals.Â
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Ex. If your average cost per demo is $300 and you need to generate 10 demos, then you must have at least $3,000 - Now, if the plan is to run the campaign for 30 days, then you must allocate a $100 daily budget and check daily to make sure itâs pacing well.Â
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Generally speaking, I donât recommend running campaigns with less than $50/day for B2B campaigns, but this will obviously depend on your average cost per click.
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Check our Google Ads Budget Calculator tool if you need help to define your budget đ
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6. Are you using the correct bidding strategy?
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When youâre first starting out, getting as many clicks as possible is important to get some early conversions, so the âMaximize Clicksâ strategy is a good option.
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If you have more than 15 conversions, you can switch to the âMaximize Conversionsâ strategy if your goal is to get as many conversions as possible.
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If you have offline conversions set up, you can use the âMaximize Conversion Valueâ strategy or the âTarget ROASâ strategy. These will help you get more relevant conversions.
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Here are two ways to check your bidding options:
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- Select the desired campaign
â - Go to Setting (on the right-hand side)
â - Click on Bidding > âChange bid strategyâ
â - From the dropdown menu, select the desired bidding strategy and save.
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- At the campaign level > scroll over your campaign > Setting logo will appear
â - Click on the logo
â - Under Bidding, âChange bid strategyâ
â - From the dropdown menu, select the desired bidding strategy and save.
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7. Do you have the correct conversion actions set? (if applicable)
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Campaigns can inherit account-level conversions or have specific conversion actions set.Â
Both approaches are valid, but itâs essential to use the one that aligns with your campaign goals.Â
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For instance, if a campaign-specific conversion action set is used, make sure it includes all relevant actions in the conversion funnel.
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Follow the steps below to add/check conversion actions:
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- At the campaign level > scroll over your campaign
â - Setting logo will appear, click on the logo
â - Under Goals, âUse campaign-specific goal settingâ
â - Click the pencil iconÂ
â - Select the appropriate (previously tested) conversions and save.Â
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8. Are your ad rotation settings still accurate?
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Generally speaking, I recommend using the âBest Performing Adsâ option. This way, the Google algorithm will analyze your ads' performance and prioritize delivering the the ads with the best performance.
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But if you see that Google is serving some ads dramatically more than others, then you can select âRotate Ads Indefinitelyâ and Google will distribute each ad individually.
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For conducting A/B testing on multiple ads, I recommend selecting the "Do not optimize" setting to make sure youâre collecting more precise data.
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To review your ad rotation settings, follow these steps:
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- At the campaign level > scroll over your campaign
â - Setting logo will appear, click on the logo
â - Click on additional settings > Ad rotation
â - Click the pencil iconÂ
â - Select the preferred method and save.Â
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You can also follow the steps above at the Ad Group level
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9. Is your ad schedule still up to date?
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You can review your campaign's performance by day of the week and time of day, then adjust your ad schedule as needed. To do so, follow these steps:
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- Click on âOverviewâ on the left-hand side
â - Under the âDay & Hourâ table, you can choose the metrics that matter the most to you to view performance by Day and/or Hour.
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Now that you know which days and times generate the best results, you can tailor your ad scheduling accordingly.Â
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- Select the campaign or ad group
â - Click on Ad Schedule on the left-hand side
â - Click the pencil icon
â - Choose the optimal time and save.Â
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10. Are you targeting the right devices?
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Similar to the ad schedule, you can follow the same steps to find the best performance by device and make adjustments. Steps as follows:
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- Click on âOverviewâ on the left-hand side
â - Under the âdevicesâ table, you can choose the metrics that matter the most to you.Â
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You can now update your targeting by device accordingly.Â
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- Select the campaign or ad group
â - Click on âWhen and where ads showedâ on the left-hand side
â - Â Edit bid adjustment
â - To stop showing on a specific device, choose âDecrease with 100% ratio > SaveÂ
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If youâre using the device on the campaign naming convention, you want to make sure the campaign is targeting the device it has on its name.
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11. Are you excluding existing leads and sales from your campaigns? (bonus)
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A practical approach to lowering costs involves not targeting existing leads and customers.Â
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Google enables the upload of first-party data for use primarily in Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) and for creating exclusions. Steps below:
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- Select audiences on the left-hand side
â - Edit exclusions
â - Select the Campaign or Ad group
â - Choose the previously uploaded audience > Save
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12. Do you have observational audiences added to your campaigns? (bonus)
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Gain insights into how different audiences interact with your campaigns without altering who sees your ads:
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- Select audiences on the left-hand side
â - Audience segments
â - Select Campaign or Ad Group
â - Under observation, choose what is important to you and save.Â
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13. Have you been actively running campaign experiments in the past? (bonus)
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With the Experiments feature, you can execute A/B tests without needing to set up new campaigns.
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If the outcome proves successful, the winning campaign can then be chosen as the primary one.
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Part 3 - Ad Group Review
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1. Are your ad groups broken out logically into related themes?
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There are generally 6 buckets of themes for search ads:
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- Brand
- Non-brand
- Competitive
- RLSA (Search Remarketing)
- Content
- Dynamic Search Ads
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A clear naming convention aids in quickly identifying campaign and group themes. Example:
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âCampaign: NA_Non-Brand_Search_EN_Exact_All-Devices_Demo
âGroup: Non-Brand_Software
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If there is no proper naming convention, then we have some cleaning to do:
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- Download the data at the keyword level
â - Delete: Ad spend < $ 1
â - Open a new column called âThemeâ beside the Keywords
â - Tag the Theme of the campaign/group according to the Keyword
â - Turn it into a pivot table to get the data by Theme
â - Update the naming convention
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If you donât do a good job separating your keywords into themed ad groups, it will hurt your quality score.
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Because if you have too many keywords in your ad group, itâs hard to make sure that the ads are relevant to all these keywords.
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2. Do you have less than 15 keywords per ad group?
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This is not a set-in-stone law, but it will help you mitigate the damage to your ad relevance.
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Google allows up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions in Responsive Search Ads. The goal is for keywords within each group to have a relevant ad to boost the quality score.Â
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At the end of the day, you know you are doing a good job with your ad groups and how you structured your keywords if you see that your ad relevance is above average.
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3. Are your ad groups filled with relevant keywords, ads, and landing pages?
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Each groupâs keywords should align with an ad in the same language, context, and call to action as well as a landing page contextualizing the search terms.
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Hereâs a good example of a great message match from the CRM software folk.
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Theyâre bidding on the keyword âCRM software for startupsâ, their ad mentions âCRM for startupsâ, and if you click on the ad, their landing page talks exactly about CRM for startups. Everything is aligned.
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4. Are your best ad groups receiving enough budget?
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With accurate conversion tracking in place for your campaigns (we covered this in Part 1), we can see which ad groups bring more conversions at a lower cost per conversion.After reviewing the ad group performance, you can optimize your ad groups in these ways:
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- Pause the ad groups with more search volume that are just cannibalizing and eating up all the campaign budget without bringing conversions.
- Take the top performers' ad groups and put them into their own campaign.
- Run target CPA bidding and set different target CPA caps at the different ad group levels, so you can put a more restrictive cap on the one thatâs eating up all the budget and then put a larger one on the one that hasnât spent enough.
âPart 4 - Keyword Review
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1. Are your search terms as close to perfect as possible?
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Regularly checking the search term report has 2 main benefits:
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- Reduce CPA: Comparing the number of clicks to the number of conversions - exclude all irrelevant results.
- Increase Expected CTR: Compare the number of impressions to the number of clicks - exclude all irrelevant results.
How to check the search term report in Google ads:
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- Under âCampaignsâ on the left-hand side > Click âInsights and reportsâ
â - Select âSearch termsâ
â - Filter by campaign
â - Evaluate the above recommendations.Â
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2. Do you have a strong negative keyword list in place?
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Negative keywords help us reduce the wasted budget and increase the overall quality of ads.Â
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The broader the match type, the more important it is to have an extensive list of negative keywords.Â
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However, even with Exact match type, search terms must be regularly checked, and negative keywords constantly be updated.
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Maintaining a universal negative keyword list for your entire account can be beneficial. This list might include words related to profanity, employment, bargaining, etc.
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Below you can access a sample list we use in our agency.Â
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đ Master Negative Keyword List
âTo avoid unintended blocking, please ensure these negative keywords apply to your business and do not overlap with any targeting keywords.How to create a new list in Google:Â
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- Select âToolsâ on the left-hand side
â - Under âShared libraryâ click on âExclusion listsâ
â - Select the âplus signâ
â - Add the list of desired negative keywords and name the list accordingly.Â
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3. Do you have the appropriate match types for your keywords?
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If you donât know which match type you should start with, then always start with the Exact match type and work your way up.Â
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If you donât get quality conversions with the Exact match type, then changing the match type wonât help.
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Generally, Broad match types have the highest wasted budget - unless the campaign is layered with a first-data party audience.Â
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4. Do you have underperforming keywords you can pause or optimize?
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Usually, 20% of the keywords are responsible for 80% of the results. Make sure to check the performance of each keyword and pause underperformers continuously.Â
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However, before pausing, analyze the relevance of search terms against keywords.Â
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If they align, evaluate the click-through rate (CTR) to determine if the ad copy requires updates.Â
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If users are still clicking on the ad without converting, consider revising the landing page.
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5. Are your keyword bids set at an optimal amount? (if applicable)
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If you're using automated bidding, you don't have to worry about this step.
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But if you're using manual bidding, sometimes your manual bid is too low, so your ads wonât show on the first pages of the results.
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I recommend that your Max. CPC amount is at least high enough to the first page bid estimate.
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You can find the keyword bid simulator by hovering over the small chart in the Max. CPC field.
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âPart 5 - Ads & Extensions Review
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1. Are your keywords in your ad copy?
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This is an easy way to increase ad relevance and ultimately get more clicks.Â
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I canât stress enough the importance of having a strong message match.
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When users encounter their specific search terms within your adâespecially if these terms are variations of your targeted keywordsâthe likelihood of them proceeding to your landing page significantly increases.
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2. Are you title-casing the beginning of each letter in your ad?
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Title casing is when you capitalize the letter of each important work in the sentence.
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In my experience, title casing works better on paid search because your ads will look more professional, and it will enhance readability.
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â3. Do you have a minimum of two ads per ad group?
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Running multiple ads allows for A/B testing or split testing, where different versions of ads can be compared to see which one performs better.Â
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By consistently testing ads, youâll drive a better click-through rate, and this will ultimately result in a better Expected Click-through rate, which will improve your quality score and reduce your costs while putting your ads in a better search results position.
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4. Are you speaking one-to-one, communicating benefits, answering objections, and providing a CTA?
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You want to make sure you are speaking one-to-one In your copy and not using corporate speak, where it seems youâre talking to an auditorium versus a person.Here are a few important points your ads should cover:
- Are you communicating benefits in the second headline to differentiate yourself from your competitors on the SERP?
- Are you answering objections? (If there are objections that you can answer on your copy)
- Are you providing a Call-to-Action (CTA) that moves people and motivates them?
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Hereâs a good example from Brevo:
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- We can instantly see the benefit: 9000 emails free per month
â - One-to-one communication: Donât let them overcharge you
â - CTA that motivates: Stop overpaying for email and get the best value in email delivery & email marketing tools.
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5. Are you using all the characters available in your headline, description & path fields?
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You donât have to use every single one, but I recommend you use as many as you can.
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Utilizing all available characters in Google Ads' headline, description, and path fields increases message clarity and impact, boosting click-through and conversion rates.Â
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6. Are you using as many ad extensions (assets) as possible? (Especially core ones)
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Extensions expand your presence on the search results page, improving the chances of receiving more clicks, which will increase your expected CTR and the overall quality score.Â
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While assets such as the business logo and name are best set at the account level, it's often better to tailor other extensions, like callouts, structured snippets, sitelinks, etc., to reflect the the messaging of each campaign or ad group.Â
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How to create new ad extensions in Google:Â
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- Select âCampaignsâ on the left-hand side
â - Under âAssetsâ click on âAssetsâ
â - Select the desired extension to see the ones you already have.
â - Click on the âplus signâ to add new ad extensions.Â
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7. Are you consistently testing new ad copy, types and modifiers?
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If you are not doing this, youâll know because you will see the click-through rate consistently going down week over week, month over month.
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If youâre auditing someone elseâs account, you can check the âChanges historyâ option to see if they are constantly testing new ads.
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For modifiers, you can use dynamic keyword insertion in your ad copies to dynamically test different variations.
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8. Are you sending searchers to relevant landing pages?
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In my opinion, this is the most important thing.
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If your prospects search for âCRM for startupsâ, your ads should say âCRM for startupsâ, and your landing page should say âCRM for startupsâ.
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This sounds basic and trivial, but the amount of people who miss this is dramatic.
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So make sure that you have a strong message match.
âPart 6 - Landing Page Review
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âRemember that success will come from half traffic and half your landing page, so I highly recommend deep diving into your pages individually as you go through this.
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1. Are you mirroring the message from your ad on the landing page?
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As I mentioned in the last step of Part 5, the landing page experience is a crucial element of the quality score.Â
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A page that fails to align with your ad's messaging is unlikely to offer value to the user.Â
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2. Can the searcher understand what you do & why in 5 seconds or less?
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This is called the five-second rule, and itâs essentially a test where if your prospects just look at the above the fold section of your landing page, can they understand in five seconds what you do and essentially why they should care?
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In this example from Microsoft Clarity, we can easily understand that this is a free tool that will help you get insights into the behavior of users on your website so you can improve your products.Â
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Itâs also used by 100k+ sites worldwide and is GDPR & CCPA-compliant.
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You donât want to be vague on your landing pages, and you want to make sure that they have the following:
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- Clear and concise headline
â - Engaging subheadlinesÂ
â - Visual elements
â - Call to action (CTA) throughout the page
â - Quick loading time for all devices
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To learn more about landing page best practices, dive into the article below by Pedro CortĂŠs:
â10 Proven Landing Page Tips To Boost Your Conversion Rates
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3. Is your landing page loading fast enough?
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As mentioned above, the landing pages must load quickly on all devices. Tools like Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights can help you better understand areas of opportunity.Â
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I recommend you run your page through PageSpeed Insights and apply anything applicable.Â
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Youâre probably going to need the help of a developer, but itâs definitely worthwhile to improve the page speed because this is a big factor in terms of your landing page experience for quality score.
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A simple thing to improve your landing page loading time is compressing the website images to reduce the file sizes.
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4. Do you have one clear call to action on your landing page that mirrors your ad?
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If your ad is talking about Downloading a Whitepaper but the landing page only has CTAs around Booking a Demo, then that will have a negative experience for the user.Â
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Align landing page CTAs with ad promises to ensure a seamless user experience and encourage conversions.
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5. Are you communicating benefits, answering objections, and providing a CTA?
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The higher the ask, the more context must be provided on the page. This is specifically true for the âBook a Demoâ CTA.Â
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Ensure you address objections while emphasizing the key benefits of your product that will solve the users' problems.
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I recommend that you talk with your sales team to get insights on different objections that come up in the sales process, this way you can add sections on your landing page to proactively communicate against those objections so that you can actually drive more quality leads.
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6. Does your form, chatbot, or online booking widget still work?
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Before launching any new offers, test the page to make sure everything is working as intended.
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- Submit a fake test lead and see if it actually routes into your CRM.Â
â - Go look for your lead record.
â - Check if the page isnât broken.Â
â - Review what the experience looks like.Â
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Make sure you audit that process because I can't tell you how many times people think their campaigns are failing, and then something just broke on the technical side.
Part 7 - Budget & Performance Review
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1. What is the spread of budget and performance by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
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This is where you will need to export a lot of data from Google Ads and use Excel/Google Sheets.
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đ I recommend watching the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on exporting and labeling the data to perform this analysis.
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Hereâs a common successful budget distribution you can use as guidance:Â
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- Brand: < 20%
- Non-brand > 60%
- Competitive > 20%
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You can use our free Google Ads Budget Calculator to find your ideal Google Ads budget.
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2. What is the spread of budget and performance by region?
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If you are targeting multiple regions, break out the campaign as such (ex: NA, EMEA, APAC).
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đ Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
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Look for the highest-performing locations for each region and make sure low-quality conversions are not wasting your budget. If youâre not separating your campaigns into regions, you can still check how the budget has been spread around different locations through the Locations report:
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- Select âCampaignsâ on the left-hand side
â - Go to âLocationsâ, under âAudiences, keywords, and contentâÂ
â - Select the desired campaign
â - Download the data under Location
â - Summarize into a pivot table to get:
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
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3. What is the spread of budget and performance by offer?
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If you are separating the campaigns by offer, break out the campaign as such (Demo, Trials, eBooks, etc)
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đ Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
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Hereâs how to download the landing page report:
- Select âCampaignsâ on the left-hand side
â - Go to âLanding Pagesâ, under âInsights and ReportsâÂ
â - Select the desired campaign
â - Download the data
â - On Excel:
- Delete: Ad spend <$1
- If there is no proper naming convention:
- Open a new column (Offer) beside the landing page (LP)
- Tag the offer of the campaign according to the LP
- Summarize into a pivot table to get:
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
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6. What is the spread of budget and performance by match type?
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If you are separating the campaigns by match type, break out the campaign as such (Exact, Phrase, Broad)
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đ Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
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Hereâs how to download the match type report:
- Select âCampaignsâ on the left-hand side
â - Go to âSearch Keywordsâ, under âAudiences, keywords, and contentâÂ
â - Select the desired campaign
â - Add the column âMatch typeâ
â - Download the dataÂ
â - On Excel, summarize into a pivot table to get:some text
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
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7. What is the spread of budget and performance by device?
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If you are separating the campaigns by devices, break out the campaign as such (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet, All Devices)
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đ Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
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If the campaigns are not separated into devices, hereâs how you can check the spread of budget and performance by device downloading the device report:
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8. What is the spread of budget and performance by week days?
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Check if youâre targeting all days of the week and if thereâs opportunities to exclude some days when the performance is not good, so you can free up budget for the strongest days.Hereâs how to download the day of the week report:
- Select âCampaignsâ on the left-hand side
â - Go to âWhen and where ads showedâ, under âInsights and reportstâÂ
â - Select the desired campaign
â - Choose âDayâ in the right-side navigation if you only want to see the day of the week
â - Download the data
â - On Excel, summarize into a pivot table to get:some text
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
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To learn more about how to create a winning Google Ads budget strategy, dive into the article below:
âHow to Create a Winning Google Ads Budget Strategy for B2B SaaSâ
âPart 8 - Visibility Review
â
Hereâs where we will talk more about Impression Share and Quality Score.
â
1. What is the search impression share by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
â
There are different ways you can see the impression share by the campaign theme.Â
â
You can use Excel as I showed previously in Part 7, or you can go into your account and filter by campaign name, assuming you have good campaign naming conventions.
â
đ Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
â
â
2. What is the search lost rank by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
â
The process here is the same from the previous task. The only difference is that you need to add the âSearch lost IS (rank)â column.
â
đ Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
â
3. What is the search lost to budget by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
â
The process here is the same from the previous tasks. The only difference is that you need to add the âSearch lost IS (budget)â column.
â
đ Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
â
4. What is the search top IS by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
â
The process here is the same from the previous tasks. The only difference is that you need to add the âSearch top ISâ column.
â
đ Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
â
5. Do 70% of your keywords have above 7 quality scores?
â
This is something I learned from Brad Geddes years ago, the OG of Google Ads.
â
Check the video below to see a complete guide on Quality Score and how to perform a Quality Score analysis:
â
â
6. What aspects of quality score do you need to improve?
â
After going going through the data in the previous task, summarize your findings to know where you have opportunities to improve.
â
Example:
- 100% of keywords have a Quality Score below 7.
â - 94% of keywords are rated as âBelow Averageâ for landing page experience.
â - 45% have âAbove Averageâ ad relevance.
â - 100% have âBelow Averageâ expected CTR.Â
â
âOptimization strategies you can adopt to improve your Quality Score:
ââ
- Improve Landing Page Experience:
â- Ensure pages are fast, relevant, and mobile-friendly
â - Align ad copy with landing page content for a seamless message match.
- Ensure pages are fast, relevant, and mobile-friendly
- Refine Ad Relevance
â- Group keywords into tightly themed ad groups.
â - Write ads tailored to the specific intent of each group.
- Group keywords into tightly themed ad groups.
- Boost Expected CTR
â- Test compelling ad headlines and descriptions.
â - Use ad extensions to enhance visibility and clickability.
â
- Test compelling ad headlines and descriptions.
I hope you received a ton of value from this Google Ads Audit guide.
â
If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.Â
âFrom Clicks to Conversions: Master Google Ads for B2B đĽ
â
â
If you want to become a Google Ads pro, check out our free B2B Google Ads courses, where you'll learn how to launch, optimize, and scale your campaigns to drive pipeline and revenue.
â
Here's what you'll learn in each course:
âď¸ B2B Google Ads 101 - How to Launch Dangerously Effective Campaigns for Beginners
- The Googleverse: The Game You're Playing & How To Win
- Measurement: How to Make Sure You're Profitable
- Targeting: How to Show Up For the Right Searcher
- Planning: Putting It All Together
đŻ Google Ads 102 - How to Clicks Into Profit
- Visibility: How To Find the Hole Sucking Profits
- Workflows: How to Optimize On a Daily, Weekly, Monthly & Quarterly Basis
- Experimentation: How to Test & Automate Profitability
- Troubleshooting: How To Solve Inevitable Problems
đ Google Ads 103 - How to Scale Google Ads For Advanced Advertisers
- Methodology: How to Vertically Scale Google Ads From A-Z
- Campaigns: Scaling Horizontally Through Campaign Themes
- Channels: Scaling Outside of Paid Search
â
âClick Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
â
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it đ)
âPeople Also Askâ
â
How can a Google Ads audit improve my campaign performance?
â
- A Google Ads audit can significantly enhance your campaign performance by identifying inefficiencies and areas for optimization within your account.Â
â
âHow often should I conduct a Google Ads audit?
â
- It is recommended to conduct a Google Ads audit at least once every quarter. For accounts with significant spending or those in highly competitive industries, more frequent audits may be beneficial to stay ahead of competitors and efficiently manage advertising spend.
â
âWhat are the key components of a Google Ads audit?
â
- Budget Allocation: Analyzing how the budget is distributed across various channels and campaigns to identify opportunities for reallocation.
â - Campaign Themes: Reviewing the balance between branded, non-branded, and competitive campaigns to ensure optimal allocation for reaching new customers.
â - Device Usage: Evaluating performance across devices (mobile, computer, tablet, TV) to tailor strategies for each device type.
â - Match Types: Assessing the use of exact, phrase, and broad match types in campaigns to ensure efficient targeting.
â - Quality Score: Examining the quality score of keywords, focusing on ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected CTR to identify areas for improvement.
â - Visibility Metrics: Analyzing impression share and losses due to rank and budget to optimize bid strategies and campaign visibility.
â
How often should I perform a Google Ads audit?
Itâs recommended to conduct a comprehensive audit at least quarterly. However, for high-spending accounts or during periods of significant change (e.g., new product launches or market shifts), more frequent audits may be beneficial.
â
Can I perform a Google Ads audit myself, or should I hire a professional?
While self-auditing is possible, hiring a professional can provide deeper insights and a fresh perspective. Professionals are often equipped with advanced tools and expertise to identify issues that might be overlooked otherwise.
â
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Other Articles You May Enjoy.
14 Powerful LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad Strategies Worth Testing
Everyone knows that B2B buying has changed.Â
People trust people more than they trust companies, making thought leadership ads more important than ever before.Â
If youâre looking to use thought leader ads in your LinkedIn ad strategy but arenât sure how to get started, this article is for you.Â
Here are 14 thought leader ad plays and examples you can test.Â
Letâs jump into it! đ
â
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Play #1: Announce new product features, integrations, and partnerships
- Play #2: Highlight the main problem your product solves + the solution it provides
- Play #3: Highlight a case study featuring your own company
- Play #4: Highlight a case study featuring one of your customersÂ
- Play #5: Generate buzz before attending an in-person event
- Play #6: Stay top of mind after an event
- Play #7: Promote your own event
- Play #8: Promote an upcoming webinar
- Play #9: Promote your newsletter
- Play #10: Celebrate Customer Wins
- Play #11: Demo different use cases of your product
- Play #12: Share long-form content with insights that your ICP would be interested in
- Play #13: Provide practical advice based on insights from your platform
- Play #14: Leverage social proof from existing customers
â
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Play #1: Announce new product features, integrations, and partnerships
â
đ to success: Trust your audience. Target the experts and speak to them like theyâre experts. Show them all the cool things theyâll be able to achieve with your product.Â
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Example 1: Dreamdata
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Example 2: GongÂ
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Example 3: UserGemsÂ
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Example 4: Dreamdata
â
Play #2: Highlight the main problem your product solves + the solution it provides
â
đ to success: After prospects read your content, they should be able to clearly articulate the problem your product solves + the solution it provides. If they canât, you need to simplify your messaging.Â
â
Example 1: Apollo
â
â
Play #3: Highlight a case study featuring your own company
â
đ to success: Show how your team is using YOUR tool to reach YOUR goals â your company can serve as its own case study.Â
â
Example 1: UserGems
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Example 2: Apollo
â
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Example 3: Sendoso
â
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Example 4: Salesloft
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Play #4: Highlight a case study featuring one of your customersÂ
â
đ to success: Clearly articulate how youâve been helping an existing customer achieve their goals.Â
â
Example 1: LavenderÂ
â
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Example 2: LoxoÂ
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Play #5: Generate buzz before attending an in-person event
â
đ to success: Use an ABM list of attendees or ABM list of companies + key job functions to make sure youâre getting in front of the right people.Â
â
Example 1: HockeyStack
â
Play #6: Stay top of mind after an event
â
đ to success: Have an attendee post a recap after an event so that your brand is staying top of mind in the following weeks. The idea isnât to push your product, but to keep raising awareness within key accounts.Â
â
Example 1: Sendoso
â
Play #7: Promote your own event
â
đ to success: Have your event speakers announce their participation on their personal pages and boost the posts to increase overall reach. This is a win for the speakers and for your company â speakers will feel supported and your event will get more registrations.Â
â
Example 1: GleaninÂ
â
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Example 2: GleaninÂ
â
Play #8: Promote an upcoming webinar
â
đ to success: Clearly highlight the value of the webinar for your audience â what will they learn by attending? Make sure to tag the speakers to generate more interest.Â
â
Example 1: SendosoÂ
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Example 2: Copy aiÂ
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Example 3: DoWhatWorks
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Play #9: Promote your newsletter
â
đ to success: Keep it simple & highlight what people will get out of subscribing.Â
â
Example 1: MotionÂ
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Play #10: Celebrate customer wins
â
đ to success: Highlight customers when they win an award or achieve something big. This strategy provides social proof to help with prospecting efforts, but itâs also a great retention play, as it makes existing clients feel supported.Â
â
Example 1: Sendoso
â
â
Example 2: Lavender
â
Play #11: Demo different use cases of your product
â
đ to success: Have a senior leader â from your own company or one of your customers â educate prospects on how they can use your product to achieve their business goals.Â
â
Example 1: DreamdataÂ
â
â
Example 2: ClayÂ
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Example 3: Clay
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Play #12: Share long-form content with insights that your ICP would be interested in
â
đ to success: Donât tell everyone how great your product is â instead, show them the insights they could have access to if they used it. Also, make the content industry-specific. For example, content about conversion impact or email subject lines in B2B SaaS will be much more powerful than content about conversions or email in general.Â
â
Example 1: HockeyStack
â
Play #13: Provide practical advice based on insights from your platform
â
đ to success: Donât provide generic advice that people have heard many times. Instead, give advice that your ICP may find surprising, and always back it up with data from your platform. This strategy is powerful because potential buyers will be grateful for the thought leaderâs recommendations AND theyâll also relate the thought leaderâs content to your organization (and hopefully be interested in learning more).Â
â
Example 1: Lavender
â
Play #14: Leverage social proof from existing customers
â
đ to success: Promote content from respected customers within your target industry highlighting the use cases and overall impact of your product.
â
Example 1: UserGemsÂ
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â
Example 2: Clay
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Putting LinkedIn Thought Leader ads into action
â
If youâre excited about thought leadership ads and want to start running them right away, hereâs what I would recommend:
â
1. Find a few people at your organization that would be great thought leaders. They donât need to be influencers with 50K followers â they simply need to have a deep understanding of your product and your ICP (bonus if they also enjoy writing). Â
â
2. Once youâve selected your thought leaders, choose the top 3 strategies from this playbook that youâd like to begin with. I donât recommend starting with all 14 strategies at once, since that could get pretty overwhelming.Â
â
3. Have your thought leaders post a few times per month and boost their content to your ICP.
â
Thatâs all you need to get started.Â
â
P.S.
â
If youâre starting out with thought leadership ads, I recommend using the engagement objective to build your retargeting audiences in a cost-effective way.Â
â
And if you want a complete masterclass on LinkedIn ads objectives, ad types, and bidding strategies, I highly recommend checking out this article by Ali Yildirim.Â
â
Master B2B LinkedIn Ads with these 3 Free Courses:
â
If you want to become a LinkedIn Ads pro, check out our free B2B LinkedIn Ads courses, where you'll learn how to launch, optimize, and scale your campaigns to drive pipeline and revenue.
â
â
Here's what you'll learn in each course:
â
âď¸ B2B LinkedIn Ads 101 - The Ultimate Crash Course for New LinkedIn Advertisers
- Foundations For LinkedIn Ads Success
- Measurement: Tracking & Key Principles
- Targeting: Reaching Your Dream Buyers
- Ads: Mastering The 9 Ad Formats
â
đŻ B2B LinkedIn Ads 102 - The Blueprint for LinkedIn Ads Optimization
- Monitoring: How To Spot Performance Trends
- Auditing: How To Find The Darlings You Need To Kill
- Reporting: How To Transform Data Into Insights
- Optimization: How To Make Your LinkedIn Ads Profitable
â
đ B2B LinkedIn Ads 103 - Advanced Scaling Strategies From $25M In Ad Spend
- Concepts of Scaling
- Divide and Conquer
- Learnings From $25M+ In LinkedIn Ad Spend
â
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it đ)
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People Also Ask
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What are LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads, and how do they differ from standard LinkedIn ads?
LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads allow companies to sponsor posts from individual profiles, such as company leaders or industry experts, rather than from the company page. This approach leverages personal connections and trust, often leading to higher engagement compared to standard company-sponsored ads. ďżź
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How can I select the right individuals for Thought Leader Ads within my organization?
Choose individuals who have a deep understanding of your product and ideal customer profile (ICP), and who are comfortable creating engaging content. They donât need to be influencers with large followings; authenticity and expertise are key. ďżź
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What types of content work best for LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?
Effective content includes announcing new product features, sharing case studies, promoting events or webinars, and providing practical advice based on insights from your platform. The goal is to offer valuable information that resonates with your target audience. ďżź
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How can I measure the success of my LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?
Monitor metrics such as impressions, engagement rates, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions. Additionally, assess qualitative feedback like comments and shares to gauge how the content resonates with your audience. ďżź
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What are some best practices for creating effective LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?
Ensure the content is authentic and aligns with the thought leaderâs voice. Optimize the individualâs LinkedIn profile as it serves as a landing page for interested viewers. Use high-quality visuals, clear messaging, and include a call-to-action to guide the audienceâs next steps.
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10 Effective Account-Based Marketing Tactics For Modern B2B Marketers
Do you need to find out if ABM is the right approach for you & how you can get the most out of your efforts?Â
I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandon Alisoglu whoâs achieved a 300% increase in demo bookings for B2B companies while maintaining a 50% SQL rate from ABM campaigns.Â
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Hereâs Brandonâs top 10 tips & tactics to maximize return on effort (ROE) for your ABM ads.
(In no particular order, they all matter)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Tip #1 - Assessing the Suitability of ABM for Your Business
- Tip #2 - Embracing the Long Game in Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
- Tip #3 - Create a Dossier of Information
- Tip #4 - Breaking Content to Audience Segmentation
- Tip #5 - Focusing on Outcomes: The "So What?" Factor in ABM
- Tip #6 - Drilling Into Personas & Messaging
- Tip #7 - A/B Testing Value Propositions
- Tip #8 - Set Aside Time to Ideate
- Tip #9 - Streamlining the Process with Templates
- Tip #10 - Donât Skip Google
- Conclusion
- Resources for mastering B2B advertising
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Tip #1 - Assessing the Suitability of ABM for Your Business
When evaluating ABM for your business, consider the nature of your target accounts and the practicality of a personalized marketing approach.
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ABM is particularly effective for targeting large organizations or "whales" where the potential return justifies the extensive effort and resources required for highly tailored campaigns.
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Challenges with ABM in Smaller Companies
In smaller companies, the lack of numerous distinct roles and seniority levels may limit the effectiveness of ABM strategies that rely on granular targeting and personalized messaging.Â
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If a company is too small to segment effectively based on these criteria, the impact of a tailored ABM approach may be diminished.
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ABM often involves high-ticket offerings and significant investment in marketing resources.
If the target account does not have the financial capacity or the organizational complexity, the return on investment might not be worth it.
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Strategic Considerations for ABM
Evaluate potential accounts not just by their immediate size but by their strategic importance and the potential lifetime value they offer.Â
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Consider more generalized targeted advertising strategies for smaller accounts that do not justify a full ABM approach.Â
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These can still be effective by focusing on industry-specific pain points and solutions but do not require the level of customization and operational complexity associated with traditional ABM.
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Identifying the Annual Contract Value (ACV) Benchmark
An ACV of around $20,000 is generally seen as a threshold where ABM becomes viable.Â
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This benchmark suggests that the deal size is significant enough to warrant the detailed and personalized marketing efforts required in ABM.
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Another practical measure is whether the contract value requires CFO approval.Â
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The involvement of a CFO generally indicates that the deal is substantial enough to require careful consideration and alignment with strategic financial goals.
Tip #2 - Embracing the Long Game in Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Unlike traditional demand generation tactics that may prioritize immediate results, ABM focuses on building engagement through a more deliberate and personalized approach.
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The idea here is to build a meaningful relationship with key accounts.
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In the same way, you wouldn't ask for a hand in marriage on the first date, successful B2B marketers shouldnât ask prospects to talk to sales unless they've had some interaction before.
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The Importance of Educating and Engaging
The early stages of ABM should center around education and awareness.Â
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Allow targeted accounts to familiarize themselves with your brand and value propositions.
This foundational phase is important for setting the stage for deeper engagement.
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Jumping directly to aggressive sales tactics like pushing for demos with accounts that have minimal interaction with your brand, is less likely to yield positive results.Â
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Instead, nurturing relationships over time fosters trust and increases the likelihood of conversion when the account is ready.
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Balancing Immediate Needs with Long-Term Strategy
While the emphasis on the long game is important, we realize the need to meet short-term sales targets is a pressing reality for most B2B marketers.Â
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In such cases, employing a robust account scoring system can help identify which accounts are most ready to engage based on their behaviors such as:
- Website visits (specially high-intent pages)
- Ad engagementÂ
- Email interactions
- Webinar attendees
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For accounts that show clear signs of being in-market or closer to the decision stage, tailor your approach to convert these opportunities.Â
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This can involve more direct calls to action, such as personalized demo invitations and running incentivized offers.
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If your company is product-led, this would be a good time to offer free trials.
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Sample of free trial ad by Plauti:
Tip #3 - Create a Dossier of Information
Understanding your prospects' interests, pain points, and engagement history comprehensively is the key to crafting personalized and effective ABM strategies.
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This information equips sales teams with the required data to personalize their outreach effectively and accelerate the sales process.
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Building & Targeting Prospect
Compile data on prospect activities, including the specific ads they clicked, pages they visited, or any communications they have sent.Â
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This dossier should act as a dynamic document that sales teams can use to personalize their approaches.Â
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By understanding what content the prospect has engaged with, the sales team can address specific interests or pain points, making their pitches more relevant and compelling.
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Marketers can also use this data to launch 1:1 campaigns featuring social proof and objection handling.
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If the list of accounts is not large enough for a 1:1 approach, then gather the top 3-5 most common objections that resonate with the majority of the accounts.
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You can reduce the overall cost by dynamically excluding any account that has contacted sales.
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Implementation Tips for Effective ABM
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- Identify in-market accounts by using advanced analytics and account scoring to determine which of your target accounts are actively engaging with your content.
Tools like HubSpot or Marketo can help streamline the process.Â
â - Once these engaged accounts are listed, segment them for targeted campaigns that address their specific stages in the buyerâs journey.Â
This segmentation allows you to apply more aggressive sales tactics appropriately while continuing to nurture less-ready accounts with educational content.
â - Distribute content that educates and engages at various stages of the customer journey.Â
This tactical approach ensures that when you invite accounts to a demo or free trial they are informed and more likely to be receptive.
Successful ABM is a blend of patience and strategic agility, tailored to meet both the immediate and long-term goals of your business.
Tip #4 - Breaking Content to Audience Segmentation
The purpose of this step is to develop and deliver content that addresses specific pain points and interests identified in your prospect dossiers.
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Strategies for Deepening Prospect Engagement
As you gather more data on your prospects' behaviors, such as the ads they click or the pages they visit, use this information to guide them through a personalized buyer's journey.Â
This involves crafting content that speaks directly to their needs and leading them to web pages that provide further value and deepen their engagement with your brand.
Regularly update and refine your ads to keep them in line with your audience's changing interests and needs.
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Creating a Content "Buffet"
Offer a Variety of Content Options.
Imagine setting up a buffet of content options tailored to different tastes and preferences within your target accounts.Â
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By providing a range of topics and formatsâfrom whitepapers and case studies to webinars and interactive toolsâyou allow prospects to self-select the content that most resonates with them.
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Use the insights from observed interactions to refine your understanding of what each prospect cares about.Â
This personalized approach not only enhances the relevance of your outreach but also increases the likelihood of a prospect's deeper engagement with your content.
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Integrating Technology for Efficiency
While managing this level of personalized engagement can become complex, employing an ABM platform can streamline the process.Â
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These platforms can help organize and automate content delivery based on user behavior, keeping track of interactions across different channels to maintain a cohesive and personalized marketing approach.
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Pro tip:
Before fully investing in an expensive ABM tech stack, validate your strategy with simpler tools or minimal setups to prove its effectiveness.Â
A simple way is to use LinkedIn's demographic reporting to see which companies have been exposed to impressions, and which ones are actually engaging.
You can take it a step further and leverage a third-party data connector like data slayer to pull the demographic data from LinkedIn through API.
Tip #5 - Focusing on Outcomes: The "So What?" Factor in ABM
A critical aspect of effective ABM is ensuring that every piece of data, every content interaction, and every campaign has a clear and compelling answer to the question: "So what?"Â
Every action should educate, nurture, or capture leads, to bring you closer to revenue.
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The Importance of Outcome-Based Messaging
In ABM, it's not enough to highlight the features of your product or the hours it can save a potential clientâs team.Â
The key is to articulate what these benefits mean in the context of the customerâs specific business challenges and goals.Â
When discussing a product feature, such as "saves your engineering team 20 hours a week," it's essential to connect this benefit to tangible business outcomes.Â
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For example, what does saving 20 hours a week mean for the company?
Could it lead to faster project completions, cost savings, or better resource allocation?Â
These outcomes are what will truly capture the interest of decision-makers.
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By consistently focusing on the "so what?" of your actions and messaging, you can lift your ABM efforts from functional to transformational.
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Pro-tip:
Establish Leading Indicators to Measure ABM Progress:
By establishing clear leading indicators across your marketing funnel, you can quantify progress and tie every action back to tangible business outcomes.
From initial awareness through engagement to conversion, each stage can be monitored and analyzed to ensure marketing efforts move potential clients closer to a sale.
These indicators provide a roadmap that justifies the investment by showing how specific activities contribute to moving accounts through the sales pipeline.
If you want to learn more about creating leading and lagging indicators along with actionable free templates check out the AdConversion Paid Media Program course; Module 2, lesson 1.
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Tip #6 - Drilling Into Personas & Messaging
Within any given company, different levels of management and seniority have distinct priorities and challenges.Â
For example, C-suite executives might focus on strategic growth and scalability, directors on operational efficiency, and managers on tactical execution.
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Tailoring your messaging to address these specific concerns can dramatically increase the relevance and impact of your communications.
Beyond role-based customization, consider the particular needs and pain points of the industry or vertical your target accounts might operate within.Â
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Strategies for Effective A/B Testing
Implement continuous A/B testing across your campaigns to determine which messages resonate best with each persona.Â
Segment your target audience by role and seniority, and tailor your messages accordingly.Â
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For example, test different value propositions with managers versus C-suite executives to determine which messages drive more engagement or conversions from each group.
Understand that the preferences and behaviors of your audience can evolve, and your ABM strategy should be agile enough to adapt to these changes.
Tip #7 - A/B Testing Value Propositions
By testing two to three variations of each message, you can discover appeals and incentives that resonate with distinct groups within the same role and seniority level.
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In cases where the target company might not be large enough to segment by job titles or seniority due to LinkedInâs filtering limitations, marketers need to think creatively about how to approach personalization and segmentation.
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Alternative Segmentation Strategies:
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- Use Broad Segments:
Instead of job titles, consider using job function and seniority or even adding member skills into the mix.
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- Focus on Common Pain Points:Â
Leverage the common challenges or objectives identified in smaller organizations.Â
For example, if most employees are likely involved in decision-making due to the company's size, tailor messages that address broad business benefits that resonate across multiple roles.
As discussed earlier, knowing the top objections by vertical can guide the creation of content and ads that preemptively address concerns.Â
This is particularly useful when precise job title segmentation is not feasible.
Tip #8 - Set Aside Time to Ideate
In the fast-paced environment of account-based marketing, it's imperative to carve out dedicated time for creative thinking and experimentation.Â
By blocking out time on your calendar, preferably during quieter hours like Friday afternoons, you ensure that you have the space to think deeply and creatively about your ABM strategies.
Regular ideation sessions allow you to review current insights and performance data, enabling you to develop new approaches and refine existing ones.
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Pro tip:
Leverage Experimentation and Documentation:
Incorporate a structured approach to experimentation.Â
Try out new ideas on a small scale to assess their effectiveness before rolling them out broadly.Â
Keep detailed records of your experiments, including:
- Hypotheses
- Execution details
- Outcomes.Â
This documentation enables you to capitalize on effective strategies and avoid past mistakes.
Tip #9 - Streamlining the Process with Templates
Keeping detailed and organized documentation of ABM activities, such as experiments, outcomes, and insights will save you lots of time & effort in the long run.Â
It can be as simple as using Google Docs with structured headings and a table of contents.
Consistent documentation helps in creating a reliable record that can be referenced in reports and strategy meetings.Â
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Leveraging Design Templates
Design templates allow marketers to quickly generate new versions of ads or content without starting from scratch each time.Â
By standardizing the design elements, teams can focus on tweaking the messaging and content to better align with the target audienceâs evolving preferences.
Using templates also ensures that all materials produced are aligned with the brandâs visual identity and messaging guidelines.
Effective Use of Templates and Documentation
Develop a range of design templates for different types of content and ads.Â
This library should include templates for social media posts, email campaigns, and other marketing materials that are frequently used in ABM campaigns.
Regularly update the documents with the latest results from A/B tests, data analysis insights, and feedback from sales and marketing teams to maintain accuracy and relevance.
Confirm that all team members are trained on how to use the chosen documentation and templates effectively.Â
With the design templates in place, focus on iterating on the creatives frequently.
Especially in smaller audience segments where ad fatigue can set in quickly.
Tip #10 - Donât Skip Google
While (ABM) often focuses on direct and personalized communication channels like LinkedIn, incorporating Google Ads into your Demand Gen strategy can heavily reduce the overall cost per acquisition (CPA).
The Strategic Use of Google Ads
Google Ads allows you to address specific queries and pain points that your prospects are actively searching for.Â
By focusing on these queries, you can position your company as a solution provider right at the moment of need, effectively answering potential customersâ questions through targeted ads.
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Often, niche or less competitive keywords related to specific industry questions or problems can be much cheaper than more general, high-intent keywords.Â
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For example, targeting a specific industry debate or a lesser-known feature comparison can capture relevant traffic at a significantly lower cost.
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This, not only increases brand awareness but also positions your company as an authoritative and helpful resource.
Creating content that addresses these queries and promoting it through Google Ads can drive highly targeted traffic to your website, increasing the chances of conversion.
Practical Tips for Implementing Google AdsÂ
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- Work with your sales and customer service teams to pinpoint the questions and topics that commonly arise during the sales process.
 - Use these insights to guide your keyword and content strategy for Google Ads.
Develop content that answers these questions comprehensively.Â
This could be in the form of blog posts, FAQs, or educational articles.Â
â - Use the identified keywords to set up Google Ads campaigns.Â
Start with a lower budget to test the effectiveness of your keywords and ads.Â
Monitor the performance and adjust your strategy based on the results.
Conclusion:
In this article, we discussed the significance of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies through 10 practical tips and tactics to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
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We explored the value of a long-term engagement strategy, emphasizing the need to build relationships through educational content and gradual interactions, rather than taking a direct approach.
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Effective ABM involves understanding target accounts' specific needs and behaviors, employing analytics for better targeting, and continuously iterating on creative content to maintain relevance and combat ad fatigue.Â
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Bookmark this blog as your comprehensive guide for your next ABM efforts to make sure your strategies align with the overall company goal.
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If youâd like to reach out or get more weekly tips, please connect with Brandon via Linkedin.
Resources for mastering B2B advertising
If youâre serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.Â
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Hereâs 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:
â Â 100% free access.
â Â Taught by vetted industry experts.
â Â Have workbooks, resources, and templates.
â Â Less than 10 minutes per lesson.
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We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:
- Â Scale their ideas
- Level up their careers
- Make a positive impact
â
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
â
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it đ)
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People Also Ask
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How can I effectively measure the success of my ABM campaigns?
Utilize key performance indicators (KPIs) such as engagement levels with target accounts, conversion rates, deal velocity, and revenue growth from those accounts. Implementing a robust analytics framework will help in tracking these metrics accurately.
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What are the common challenges in aligning sales and marketing teams for ABM, and how can they be overcome?
Challenges include differing objectives, communication barriers, and data silos. Overcome these by establishing shared goals, fostering regular interdepartmental meetings, and utilizing integrated CRM systems to ensure both teams have access to the same account information.
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How can I personalize content effectively for different stakeholders within a target account?
Develop detailed personas for each stakeholder role, understanding their specific pain points and objectives. Tailor your messaging to address these unique concerns, ensuring relevance and resonance with each individual.
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What role does technology play in scaling ABM efforts, and which tools are essential?
Technology facilitates the automation and scaling of ABM strategies. Essential tools include CRM systems for managing account information, marketing automation platforms for campaign execution, and analytics tools for measuring performance.
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How can I ensure data quality and accuracy in my ABM initiatives?
Regularly update and cleanse your data to maintain its accuracy. Implement data governance policies and utilize data enrichment services to fill in any gaps, ensuring your ABM efforts are based on reliable information.
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Intro to B2B Google Ads: Crash Course For New Advertisers
Want to master Google Ads for B2B?Â
Weâll dissect Google Ads from a 10,000 foot view in this guide.Â
So you can walk away knowing:Â
- What is Google Ads?Â
- Is your ideal B2B buyer searching on Google?Â
- How can you get your ad seen on the top of Google?
- How much does Google Ads cost?
So whether youâre a SaaS founder, performance marketer, or in-house marketer looking to:Â
- Scale demo and trial requests for your new B2B SaaS startupÂ
- Run Google ads for clients or launch campaigns internally
- Work with freelancers or agencies running your Google AdsÂ
It all starts here with the fundamentals, so letâs dive in! đ
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What is Google Ads?Â
- Is Your Ideal B2B Buyer Searching on Google?
- How Much Does Google Ads Cost?
- How to Forecast Your Google Ads Budget
- Why is Google Ads So Powerful?
- How Can You Get Your Ad Seen on the Top of Google?
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What is Google Ads?Â
Google Ads is an auction place.Â
Or as I like to think about it, a battleground.Â
Where you have thousands of advertisers competing against each other to show up on the top of Google when their ideal prospect searches for their products & services.
With 8.5B + searchers happening per day on Google there is a very HIGH likelihood your ideal B2B buyer is using Google to find information, and research solutions.Â
Is Your Ideal B2B Buyer Searching on Google?
Depending on the niche youâre in Google may or may not make sense.Â
You can create a free Google Ads account and leverage the Keyword Planner to validate demand.Â
All you need to do is research the ideal keyword your dream buyer would search and review the average monthly search volume and top of page bid estimates.
In the example below, I can see that for âemail marketing softwareâ there is:
- 1,000 - 10,000 average monthly searches
- $49.75 top of page bid estimateÂ
If your ideal keyword has > 100 searches per month, Google can be a worthwhile return on effort.Â
How Much Does Google Ads Cost?
Before diving into how much does Google Ads cost?Â
With Google Ads youâre only charged on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.Â
Meaning you only pay Google if someone clicks your ad, so unlike traditional advertising youâre not being locked into a fixed contract and paying just for eyeballs (aka impressions).Â
So in short if someone sees your Google Ad and doesnât click, you wonât pay.Â
This is what makes Google Ads so attractive, but extremely competitive.
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Hereâs two ways to find out how much Google Ads will cost for your ideal keywords:
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1/ Review Top of Page Bid Estimates in the Google Ads Keyword PlannerÂ
As shown in the previous step you can leverage the Keyword Planner to find bid estimates.Â
In my experience these estimates are never 100% accurate and recommend adding 20% on top of the top of page bid estimate to be safe.Â
For example, with the keyword of email marketing software we have a $49.75 top of page bid estimate, adding 20% makes it $59.70 allowing us a margin of error to better set expectations.Â
2/ Launch a Pilot Campaign for $100
Ultimately youâll never know your real cost per click prices until launching.Â
If youâre seriously considering Google Ads I recommend launching a pilot campaign for $100.Â
The whole objective of this campaign is to understand; what is my REAL cost per click price?Â
Hereâs a simple cheat sheet for setting up this campaign:Â
- Campaign Name = {Region}_{KeywordTheme}_{MatchType}
- Locations = {Your Target Country/Region/State}
- Match Type = Exact
- Bidding = Manual CPC
This setup will allow you to have the greatest control to discover your real CPC prices.Â
How to Forecast Your Google Ads Budget
Once you know the following:Â
- Your quarterly sales goalÂ
- Average cost per click
- Opportunity win rateÂ
- Revenue per saleÂ
You can easily forecast a daily, monthly, and quarterly budget using our Google Ads Budget Calculator based on worst, moderate, and best case scenarios.Â
Give it a look, thereâs a video tutorial on the page for you explaining the process.Â
Why is Google Ads So Powerful?
Intention Is what makes search advertising so powerful đ¤
You can reach exactly the right person, in the right place, in the right location searching for your specific product or service. At that point all you have to do is show up and not mess things up.
I always say Google Ads is a blessing and a curse; they bless you with intent, and curse you with scale.Â
Given your industry search volume will vary dramatically and it can become hard to scale.Â
The key is to win Googleâs Ad Rank game to offset competitors and rising click prices.Â
How Can You Get Your Ad Seen on the Top of Google?
Every time you search for something on Google (or other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and Firefox) the results page youâre directed to afterwards is the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
I like to think of the SERP as the Battleground in which Google Ads takes place.Â
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The SERP is Divided Between Paid and Organic Results.
The Google SERP usually has about 3-4 paid ads at the top and 3 at the bottom.
Ad Rank Determines the Position of Your Ad on the First Page
Which determines if your ad is on top of the first page of or nowhere to be seen.
Your goal is to appear in the top 3 spots as click-through rates decline with lower positions.
Higher Position Doesn't Always Mean Greater Cost
The remarkable thing about Google Ads is that you can be #1 on the page and pay less than your competitors who are in positions lower than you (hypothetical example below).Â
If after reading this article you believe Google Ads is worth further exploration.Â
Build on this fundamental understanding of Google Ads for B2B.Â
Hope you found this useful!Â
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From Clicks to Conversions: Master Google Ads for B2B đĽ
If you want to become a Google Ads pro, check out our free B2B Google Ads courses, where you'll learn how to launch, optimize, and scale your campaigns to drive pipeline and revenue.
Here's what you'll learn in each course:Â
âď¸ B2B Google Ads 101 - How to Launch Dangerously Effective Campaigns for Beginners
- The Googleverse: The Game You're Playing & How To Win
- Measurement: How to Make Sure You're Profitable
- Targeting: How to Show Up For the Right Searcher
- Planning: Putting It All Together
đŻ Google Ads 102 - How to Clicks Into Profit
- Visibility: How To Find the Hole Sucking Profits
- Workflows: How to Optimize On a Daily, Weekly, Monthly & Quarterly Basis
- Experimentation: How to Test & Automate Profitability
- Troubleshooting: How To Solve Inevitable Problems
đ Google Ads 103 - How to Scale Google Ads For Advanced Advertisers
- Methodology: How to Vertically Scale Google Ads From A-Z
- Campaigns: Scaling Horizontally Through Campaign Themes
- Channels: Scaling Outside of Paid Search
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Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it đ)
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People Also Ask
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How can I effectively integrate Google Ads into my existing B2B marketing strategy?
Align your Google Ads campaigns with your overall marketing objectives by ensuring consistent messaging across all channels. Coordinate with sales and marketing teams to create cohesive campaigns that guide prospects through the sales funnel.
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What are the best practices for managing budgets in B2B Google Ads campaigns?
Regularly monitor and adjust your budget allocation based on campaign performance. Prioritize spending on high-performing keywords and ads, and consider implementing bid strategies that align with your goals, such as target CPA or ROAS.
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How can I leverage Googleâs audience targeting features for B2B advertising?
Utilize features like custom intent audiences to reach users actively searching for products or services similar to yours. Combine this with demographic targeting to focus on decision-makers within your target industries.
â
What role does ad scheduling play in optimizing B2B Google Ads campaigns?
Implement ad scheduling (dayparting) to display your ads during times when your target audience is most active. This ensures efficient budget use and increases the likelihood of engagement during peak business hours.
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How can I ensure compliance with Googleâs advertising policies in B2B campaigns?
Regularly review Googleâs advertising policies to ensure your ads meet all guidelines. This includes adhering to content standards, avoiding prohibited practices, and ensuring transparency in your ad copy and landing pages.
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B2B vs B2C Advertising: 8 Differences & Examples You Need To Know
Hey there new B2B marketer!Â
Diving into the world of B2B advertising can be confusing and overwhelming.Â
In this article Iâm going to walk you through 8 differences between B2B & B2C you need to know.Â
This article is part of our B2B learning track so if youâre serious about learning B2B advertising youâre in the right place!Â
Letâs dive into it đ
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- 8 Biggest Differences Between B2B and B2C
- The Cost of The Product
- How Purchase Decisions Are Made
- The Average Sales Length
- Smaller Audience Sizes
- Different Distribution Strategies
- Need to Support Multiple Sales Funnels
- Team Sport, Not Individual
- Go Further Than Just The First Conversion
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8 Biggest Differences Between B2B and B2C
In no particular order of importance, here are the 8 biggest differences between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) advertising.Â
The Cost of The Product
The first key difference between B2B and B2C is the cost of the product.Â
B2B marketers call this the average deal size or average contract value depending on what is sold.Â
Typically, B2B products are more expensive ranging from $1,000 to over $250,000.
How Purchase Decisions Are Made
In B2B buying, there will be more people involved in the purchase of the product compared to B2C where there is usually only one person involved.
This is often referred to as a buying committee, in B2B your job is to nurture, educate, and reach everyone in this group so they can collectively decide to purchase the product.Â
The Average Sales Length
There are more people involved with purchasing the B2B product or service and the product is typically a more expensive purchase, the length of time to purchase that product is typically longer.Â
Depending on the complexity of what is being bought, sales cycles can range from 30 days to 36 months. The higher and more complex the product or service is the longer the sales cycle typically is.
This is different from B2C because it can take me 30 seconds to buy something off an Instagram ad.Â
Iâm not sure if thatâs a good or bad thing đ¤Ł
Smaller Audience Sizes
With B2B advertising programs, youâll be targeting smaller audiences across ad channels.Â
Your audience will typically be less than 300,000 contacts with a focus on reaching the right person and company vs B2C where your audiences will typically be much broader than this since more people can purchase your product or service.
Different Distribution Strategies
Since youâll be reaching a much more targeted audience, and you may be dealing with a specific budget â the ad channels you decide to use may look different than your B2C advertising counterparts.Â
It all comes down to where your audience lives and breathes, digitally.
Believe me, Iâve been behind some powerful Facebook ads for B2B. But, you may think twice about using a TV commercial during the Super Bowl as a B2B marketer (wellâŚunless youâre Salesforce!)
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But again, this will all depend on your budget and the breath of your buyers.
Need to Support Multiple Sales Funnels
In B2B, your advertising campaigns will support and fuel multiple sales funnels and processes.Â
The big three are product-lead, sales-lead, and a hybrid of both.
You can learn more about each revenue model in our B2B Advertising Guide.Â
Team Sport, Not Individual
B2B advertising requires strategic alignment across multiple teams including sales, marketing, and customer success departments to support the buyerâs journey and close deals more effectively.
Given the fact that itâs not just about reaching a specific individual but also a company.Â
This increases the importance and complexity of working across teams.Â
Go Further Than Just The First Conversion
The B2B sales processes are more complex and there's more buyers involved.Â
Your advertising campaigns should be designed to help impact the entire buyer journey.
Not just the first conversion like B2C advertising.
I hope you found this article helpful!Â
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Connect with me on LinkedIn, and letâs keep the conversation going.
You can also visit my website here for more valuable content.
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Jumpstart Your B2B Marketing Career
If youâre serious about mastering B2B advertising, then you definitely need to check out my free course that will teach you the foundational knowledge to becoming a high-performing B2B marketer who knows how to use advertising to drive legit business and revenue impact without the fluff or wasting your time and money learning the ropes the hard way.
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- Module 1: Youâll get a crash course in the B2Bverse and master terminology, sales processes, and working across teams.
- Module 2: Youâll learn how to become your customers' psychologists and understand them deeply through buyer personas that allow you to craft effective messaging.
- Module 3: Youâll master the B2B funnel and learn how to think like a CEO to identify performance bottlenecks and convert more leads into revenue.
- Module 4: Youâll learn how to put it all together and build your go-to-market strategy that gets your ad in front of your dream buyers and converts attention.
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This course was designed with absolute beginners in mind.
Accelerate your learning curve and start the course today for free.
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People Also Ask
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How do customer expectations differ between B2B and B2C markets?
B2B customers typically expect detailed information, personalized communication, and long-term value, focusing on how a product or service can address specific business needs. In contrast, B2C customers often seek quick solutions, emotional satisfaction, and immediate benefits, valuing convenience and brand experience.
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What are the implications of these differences for customer service strategies?
In B2B markets, customer service should be consultative, offering tailored solutions and ongoing support to build strong relationships. For B2C markets, customer service should prioritize efficiency, accessibility, and positive experiences to foster customer loyalty and satisfaction.
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How do pricing strategies vary between B2B and B2C businesses?
B2B pricing often involves negotiation, volume discounts, and customized quotes based on the clientâs specific requirements. B2C pricing is generally fixed, with occasional promotions or discounts aimed at attracting a broad consumer base.
What role does branding play in B2B versus B2C marketing?
In B2B marketing, branding establishes credibility and trust, positioning the company as a reliable partner. In B2C marketing, branding focuses on creating an emotional connection and brand loyalty among consumers.
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How do digital marketing strategies differ between B2B and B2C companies?
B2B digital marketing often leverages content marketing, LinkedIn outreach, and email campaigns targeting decision-makers. B2C digital marketing utilizes social media platforms, influencer partnerships, and broad-reaching advertising to engage consumers.
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How to Craft B2B Buyer Personas For Ad Targeting
Hey there B2B marketing grasshopper đ
In this article, we're channeling our inner Mr. Miyagi from "The Karate Kid," because we're about to master the art of creating B2B buyer personas.Â
Wax on, wax off style â but with less wax and more wisdom!
Letâs dive into it.Â
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- What Is a B2B Buyer Persona?
- 3 Major B2B Marketing Personas
- How to Develop a B2B Buyer Persona
- The Five B2B Buyer Persona Segmentations
- B2B Buyer Persona Template
- Translating B2B Buyer Personaâs into Ad Targeting
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What Is a B2B Buyer Persona?
Just like Daniel-san needed to understand his opponents in the All Valley Karate Tournament, it's important to understand your B2B buyer personas to win in the market.Â
It's critical because these personas are your roadmap â they guide every marketing punch and kick you make.
If you donât do this, your marketing efforts might be as off-target as Daniel-san trying to catch a fly with chopsticks on his first try.Â
We're talking about misdirected resources and messaging that misses the mark, leaving your ROI down and out â so let's break it down, Karate Kid style:
What is a persona? Itâs the semi-fictional characters that make up your target audience. Itâs a great way to unpack who makes up your ideal customer profiles, called an âICPâ
3 Major B2B Marketing Personas
In B2B marketing there are 3 major personas or roles to understand in the sales process.
This is also referred to as a buying committee:
- Decision Maker â The person who makes the final decision to purchase
- Champion - A person who enthusiastically supports your product or service in their organization
- Influencer - A person who can influence other members of the buying committee
Your marketing and advertising efforts should address their needs and concerns when it comes to buying and using your product or service.Â
Knowing what these personas are looking for will help you tailor your messaging to make your ads stand out.
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For example: imagine your buyer persona 'Finance-Manager-Frank'. He's in his mid-40s, loves numbers more than karate, and is always on the lookout for tools that bring efficiency and balance. Where does he find his information? â LinkedIn and financial blogs
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Knowing this, youâd be able to hone in your advertising strategy to use LinkedIn ads to demonstrate how finance managers find more efficiency from their investments by using your product.
How to Develop a B2B Buyer Persona
Thereâs 5 major segmentation buckets to consider when putting together a B2B buyer persona:
- Demographic Segmentation
- Targeting potential customer based on their role (ex: Job Titles, Job Functions)
- Firmographic Segmentation
- Targeting potential customers based on company traits (ex: Industry, Company Size)
- Geographic Segmentation
- Targeting potential customers based on their company and physical location (ex:USA)
- Technographic Segmentation
- Targeting potential customers based on the tech they use (ex: Slack, Teams)Â
- Behavioral Segmentation
- Fine tune your messaging based on your potential customers Jobs To Be Done, decision-making process, and more.
Within each segmentation, thereâs key information you should collect to build your personas which will ultimately inform your advertising channel strategy, targeting, and messaging.Â
Getting crystal clear on your buyer personas will also help you maximize your resources, build internal trust with your sales and service teams, and drive better results.
Letâs dive into the five segmentations in greater detail.Â
The Five B2B Buyer Persona Segmentations:
Demographic
Target potential customer based on their role
- Role: Identify the job title and role theyâre in and what level in their organizations they fall (individual contributor, middle management, or in the C-suite â chief roles including CEO, CFO, CMO, etc).
- Responsibilities: Identify all the key areas they oversee and manage. Pulls who they report to.
Firmographic
Target potential customers based on company traits
- Company Industry: ex: Technology, ManufacturingÂ
- Company Employee Size: ex: 500 - 1,000 employeesÂ
- Company Revenue Size: $1,000,000 - $10,000,000 ARR
Geographic
Target potential customers based on their company and physical location
- Company Location: ex: United States, Canada
- Employee Location: ex: United KingdomÂ
Technographic
Target potential customers based on the tech they use
- Tools: This breaks down the tools they use or need to do their jobs (ex: Slack, Teams)
- Company Competitors: list out any relevant competing technologiesÂ
Behavioral
Fine tune your messaging based on your potential customers Jobs To Be Done, decision-making process, and more.
- Goals: This details how their job is measured by
- Jobs to be Done/Pain Points: This elaborates on the biggest challenges they face in their role
- Decision-Making Process: This goes into detail on who they need approval from when buying a new product/service, who signs the contract, who owns the budget
- Evaluation Process: This details how this persona typically decides on a product
- Objections & Concerns: this outlines what prevents them from making a decisionÂ
- Consumption Habits: how do they gain information for their job and what social media networks do they use
B2B Buyer Persona Template
To help you put this into action get a free copy of my B2B Buyer Persona template in Module 2 - Lesson 2 of my B2B Advertising Foundations Course when you sign up for free. With this template you will be able to easily map out your buyer persona across the five segmentations.
Translating B2B Buyer Personaâs into Ad TargetingÂ
After completing the B2B Buyer Persona template you should be very clear on who youâre going after.Â
Now youâll want to review your personaâs segmentation and find possible targeting opportunities in the platforms youâre considering advertising on â your options will vary greatly by channel.Â
Create a draft campaign in your ad platform of choice and review all of the audience targeting options available â sometimes youâll need to get creative! (example below of LinkedIn Ads).Â
And that my advertising friends is your way to craft a buyer persona you can use to identify the audiences youâll be targeting in your B2B advertising.
Hope you found this article useful!Â
â
Connect with me on LinkedIn, and letâs keep the conversation going.
You can also visit my website here for more valuable content.
â
Jumpstart Your B2B Marketing Career
â
â
If youâre serious about mastering B2B advertising, then you definitely need to check out my free course that will teach you the foundational knowledge to becoming a high-performing B2B marketer who knows how to use advertising to drive legit business and revenue impact without the fluff or wasting your time and money learning the ropes the hard way.
â
- Module 1: Youâll get a crash course in the B2Bverse and master terminology, sales processes, and working across teams.
- Module 2: Youâll learn how to become your customers' psychologists and understand them deeply through buyer personas that allow you to craft effective messaging.
- Module 3: Youâll master the B2B funnel and learn how to think like a CEO to identify performance bottlenecks and convert more leads into revenue.
- Module 4: Youâll learn how to put it all together and build your go-to-market strategy that gets your ad in front of your dream buyers and converts attention.
â
This course was designed with absolute beginners in mind.
Accelerate your learning curve and start the course today for free.
â
People Also Ask
â
How can I ensure my B2B buyer personas remain accurate and relevant over time?
Regularly update your personas by conducting periodic market research and gathering feedback from sales and customer service teams. This ensures they reflect current market conditions and evolving customer needs.
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What are effective methods for validating the assumptions made during persona development?
Validate assumptions by analyzing customer data, conducting interviews, and implementing surveys. Cross-referencing these insights with your personas helps confirm their accuracy.
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How can I align my sales and marketing teams using B2B buyer personas?
Facilitate workshops and regular meetings to discuss and refine personas, ensuring both teams have a shared understanding of target customers. This alignment fosters cohesive strategies and messaging.
â
What role do negative personas play in refining marketing strategies?
Negative personas represent segments that are unlikely to convert. Identifying them helps in excluding these groups from marketing efforts, thereby improving resource allocation and campaign efficiency.
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How can I leverage B2B buyer personas to enhance content marketing efforts?
Use personas to tailor content that addresses specific pain points and interests of each segment, thereby increasing engagement and conversion rates.
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5 Unconventional Ways to Use The LinkedIn Ads Library
Most marketers know the LinkedIn Ads library exists.Â
And the basics of how to use it (ex: search a competitor and voila youâll see their ads đŞ)Â
Youâre going to go beyond the basics in this article and learn.Â
5 unconventional ways experts use the library to uncover insights and inspiration.
Letâs dive into it đ
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Unconventional Way #1: Finding Conversation Ads Copy
- Unconventional Way #2: Identifying Localization Campaigns
- Unconventional Way #3: Studying Competitive Offers
- Unconventional Way #4: Creative Concept Discovery
- Unconventional Way #5: Landing Page Tear Downs
Unconventional Way #1: Finding Conversation Ads Copy
When you open up the LinkedIn Ads Library you can search %FIRSTNAME% to see conversation ad copy examples from competitors and relevant brands.
Hereâs how to find conversation ad copy examples step-by-step:
- Open up the LinkedIn Ads Library and search for a relevant competitor or brand.
- Enter %FIRSTNAME% under search by keyword and select your relevant country and date range filters.Â
- From here you can browse all available variations based on your filters đ
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If you donât see any conversation ad messages youâll likely need to adjust your filters or itâs possible your competitors or the relevant brands youâre researching arenât actively testing this ad format.
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Unconventional Way #2: Identifying Localization Campaigns
Localization campaigns are when you advertise outside your primary language and draft ads, and landing pages relevant to a specific language.Â
Weâve seen advertising outside of the English language a reduction in costs by up to 70%.Â
If you have the potential to advertise outside of English itâs definitely worth testing.Â
Hereâs how to identify localization campaigns with the ad library:
- Open up the LinkedIn Ads Library and search for a relevant competitor or brand.
- Filter by all countries and uncheck your current target locations (ex: United States)
- Browse through the results to identify different localization campaigns (look for ad copy that isnât in your primary language, example below is an ad in German).Â
- Click view details on the ad to identify the targeted locations.Â
Write down any interesting target countries and/or languages your competitors are targeting that you might consider reaching with localization campaigns.Â
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Unconventional Way #3: Studying Competitive Offers
Letâs say youâre a B2B SaaS company looking to drive more demo requests.Â
You can use the LinkedIn ad library to easily see ads from competitors or relevant brands that are also trying to drive more demo requests.Â
The same is true if weâre talking about free trials, webinar registrations, ebook downloads, and anything else you can think of.Â
Hereâs how to study competitive offers with the ad library:
- Open up the LinkedIn Ads Library and search your offer in the search by keyword filter.
- From here you can browse various ad types that mention your offer within the ad copy.Â
- You can repeat this process and narrow down your filters for further granularity.Â
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Unconventional Way #4: Creative Concept Discovery
Most advertisers using the library will just look at the ad examples provided and not dig much further.Â
Instead what you should do is look for patterns around creative concepts to understand your competitors creative strategy (or the relevant brand in question).Â
Creative concept = the format of which the creatives are designed offÂ
Hereâs 10 examples of creative concepts:
- Before & After
- UGC
- Meme
- Product Mockup
- Illustration (Drawings)
- Stats & Research
- Comedy Skit
- Animated
- Behind-the-Scenes
- AI Generated
Using the library take note of any patterns of creative concepts your competitor/brand in question might be repeating. If itâs significant you might want to consider testing a similar concept.Â
Use your best judgement when labelling concepts and look for patterns.Â
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Unconventional Way #5: Landing Page Tear Downs
When viewing ads in the library you can click on the CTA button to open up the associated landing page the ad is driving traffic towards.Â
The original UTMs are also still within the URL parameter so you can reverse engineer these to better understand your competitors ad strategy (learn how here).Â
With this valuable information you can tear down each page for inspiration.Â
Hope you found this article useful!Â
See you in the next article or one of our free courses!
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If you want to become a LinkedIn Ads pro, check out our free B2B LinkedIn Ads courses, where you'll learn how to launch, optimize, and scale your campaigns to drive pipeline and revenue.
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âď¸ B2B LinkedIn Ads 101 - The Ultimate Crash Course for New LinkedIn Advertisers
- Foundations For LinkedIn Ads Success
- Measurement: Tracking & Key Principles
- Targeting: Reaching Your Dream Buyers
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People Also Ask
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What is the LinkedIn Ads Library, and how does it work?
The LinkedIn Ads Library is a tool that lets users explore active and past ads from brands. It helps analyze competitor strategies, ad creatives, and targeting methods, offering inspiration and benchmarking opportunities.
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How can I use the LinkedIn Ads Library to improve my ad campaigns?
The library helps identify trends, successful ad formats, and messaging styles. Use it to refine your own strategies by studying competitorsâ offers, creative approaches, and audience engagement tactics.
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Are there limitations to the insights I can gather from the LinkedIn Ads Library?
Yes, while it provides access to ad creatives and some targeting details, it doesnât reveal performance metrics like click-through rates or conversions. Itâs best used for inspiration and competitor research.
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Can I track changes in competitorsâ ad strategies over time using the LinkedIn Ads Library?
Yes, by regularly checking competitorsâ ads, you can observe shifts in their messaging, offers, and formats, helping you adapt your campaigns to stay competitive.
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How does the LinkedIn Ads Library compare to other ad libraries, like Meta or Googleâs?
LinkedInâs library focuses on professional audiences, showcasing ads tailored for B2B and career-focused messaging. Metaâs library offers broader consumer insights, while Googleâs is keyword-centric. Choose based on your campaign goals.
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