How to Audit B2B Google Ads Accounts [+Free Template]
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Google Ads is not getting any cheaper, so frequently auditing your account is critical to keep your campaigns profitable.
In this step-by-step guide, I will walk you through the exact same process we use internally to audit our clients’ Google Ads accounts.
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.
So let’s get started 👇
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
First and foremost, you can’t improve your account performance without mastering the basics. So let’s dive in!
1. Billing Information
Is your billing information correct?
Checking this will ensure that your ads continue to run smoothly and you don't face any unexpected billing issues.
To check your billing information, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Click on the "Billing" icon on the left-hand menu.
- Click on "Settings" to view your current billing information.
Here, you can view your payment method, payer details (name, address, etc), and other important details.
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.
It's important to note that any changes you make to your billing information may take up to 24 hours to take effect.
Additionally, if you have any pending charges on your account, you won't be able to make changes until those charges are paid off.
2. Is your time zone correct?
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.
You cannot change your time zone manually, and it can only be reset once, so as Google advises, choose your new time zone carefully.
To request a change, you’ll need to fill out this form and follow the instructions below:
- The form must be filled out by an Admin user of a manager account.
- Your time zone can only be shifted eastward, for example, from GTM (Greenwich Mean Time) to IST (India Standard Time).
3. Do you have auto-tagging turned on?
Auto-tagging is an easy 3-step process:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account
- On the left-hand side, under admin> click on Account Settings
- Click on “Auto-tagging” - check the box and save.
Once you enable this feature, Google will automatically mark your source_medium as “cpc”
4. Did you turn off ad suggestions?
Have you ever gone to your Google Ads account and noticed a bunch of changes that weren’t made by you or anyone on your team?This probably happened because you didn’t turn off the ad suggestions 😅
So follow these steps to have peace of mind:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Click on the "Campaigns" on the left-hand menu.
- Click on "Recommendations" and go to “Auto-apply”
Make sure you turn off all of the recommendations that aren’t relevant to your account.
I personally like to turn off all of them, so I don’t have any changes made by Google without my consent.
5. Is your conversion tracking still working accurately?
This is crucial because if your conversion tracking is not working correctly, you won’t feed Google’s algorithm with essential data to make the best bidding choices for your conversion-based strategies.
Here’s how you can check if your tracking is in place:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Click on the "Goals" on the left-hand menu.
- Click on "Conversions" and go to “Summary”
- You’ll be able to see the status of your conversions - you want to see “Active”
Pro-tip: If you see the status “No recent conversions” - search for your keyword on Google and submit a test.
If you don’t see any activity and have been running Google Ads campaigns for a while, it probably means you’ll need to see what’s going on to ensure the tracking setup is in place.
Part 2 - Campaign Review
Depending on the size and organization of the account, this step will take longer or shorter. So let’s go 👷♂️
1. Do your campaigns follow a logical naming convention?
Having a solid naming convention in place isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s the foundation for good account management.
My campaigns usually have a naming convention that follows this structure:
- Region (NA, EMEA, APAC)
- Campaign Theme (Brand, NonBrand, Generic, Competitor)
- Keyword Topic
- Network (Search, Display)
- Keyword Match Type (Exact, Phrase, Broad)
- Device (Desktop, Mobile, All Devices)
- Offer (Demo, Trial, etc)
So if you have disjointed campaign names, it’s an opportunity to adjust that and make your life easier.
2. Are you targeting the right networks (display unchecked)?
You want to focus on the Search Network and search partners, avoiding the Display Network unless it’s a separate campaign.
- Select the desired campaign
- Go to “Campaign Settings” (on the right-hand side)
- Click on Networks
- Choose the desired Network and save
- At the campaign level
- Scroll over your campaign
- Setting logo will appear
- Click on the logo
- Under Networks, choose the desired Network and save.
3. Is your location targeting and options still accurate?
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.
Similar to Networks, there are two ways to check your locations:
- Select the desired campaign
- Go to Locations (on the left-hand side - Audiences, keywords and content)
- Click on the pencil icon
- Choose the desired locations and save
- At the campaign level > Scroll over your campaign
- The settings logo will appear
- Click on the logo
- Under Locations, Enter location(s) and Save.
4. Are you targeting one language per campaign (with relevant ads + landing pages)?
In a perfect world, your ads and landing pages should match the primary language of the targeting locations.
Here’s how you can change the language of your campaigns:
- At the campaign level, toggle over your campaign name
- Click on the icon setting once it appears
- Under “Languages” you can select the desired language and click Save.
5. Is your daily budget still aligned with your goals?
Being an effective marketer involves strategically allocating your budget over the designated campaign duration while achieving the goals.
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 it’s pacing well.
Generally speaking, I don’t recommend running campaigns with less than $50/day for B2B campaigns, but this will obviously depend on your average cost per click.
Check our Google Ads Budget Calculator tool if you need help to define your budget 🙌
6. Are you using the correct bidding strategy?
When you’re first starting out, getting as many clicks as possible is important to get some early conversions, so the “Maximize Clicks” strategy is a good option.
If you have more than 15 conversions, you can switch to the “Maximize Conversions” strategy if your goal is to get as many conversions as possible.
If you have offline conversions set up, you can use the “Maximize Conversion Value” strategy or the “Target ROAS” strategy. These will help you get more relevant conversions.
Here are two ways to check your bidding options:
- Select the desired campaign
- Go to Setting (on the right-hand side)
- Click on Bidding > “Change bid strategy”
- From the dropdown menu, select the desired bidding strategy and save.
- At the campaign level > scroll over your campaign > Setting logo will appear
- Click on the logo
- Under Bidding, “Change bid strategy”
- From the dropdown menu, select the desired bidding strategy and save.
7. Do you have the correct conversion actions set? (if applicable)
Campaigns can inherit account-level conversions or have specific conversion actions set.
Both approaches are valid, but it’s essential to use the one that aligns with your campaign goals.
For instance, if a campaign-specific conversion action set is used, make sure it includes all relevant actions in the conversion funnel.
Follow the steps below to add/check conversion actions:
- At the campaign level > scroll over your campaign
- Setting logo will appear, click on the logo
- Under Goals, “Use campaign-specific goal setting”
- Click the pencil icon
- Select the appropriate (previously tested) conversions and save.
8. Are your ad rotation settings still accurate?
Generally speaking, I recommend using the “Best Performing Ads” option. This way, the Google algorithm will analyze your ads' performance and prioritize delivering the the ads with the best performance.
But if you see that Google is serving some ads dramatically more than others, then you can select “Rotate Ads Indefinitely” and Google will distribute each ad individually.
For conducting A/B testing on multiple ads, I recommend selecting the "Do not optimize" setting to make sure you’re collecting more precise data.
To review your ad rotation settings, follow these steps:
- At the campaign level > scroll over your campaign
- Setting logo will appear, click on the logo
- Click on additional settings > Ad rotation
- Click the pencil icon
- Select the preferred method and save.
You can also follow the steps above at the Ad Group level
9. Is your ad schedule still up to date?
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:
- Click on “Overview” on the left-hand side
- Under the “Day & Hour” table, you can choose the metrics that matter the most to you to view performance by Day and/or Hour.
Now that you know which days and times generate the best results, you can tailor your ad scheduling accordingly.
- Select the campaign or ad group
- Click on Ad Schedule on the left-hand side
- Click the pencil icon
- Choose the optimal time and save.
10. Are you targeting the right devices?
Similar to the ad schedule, you can follow the same steps to find the best performance by device and make adjustments. Steps as follows:
- Click on “Overview” on the left-hand side
- Under the “devices” table, you can choose the metrics that matter the most to you.
You can now update your targeting by device accordingly.
- Select the campaign or ad group
- Click on “When and where ads showed” on the left-hand side
- Edit bid adjustment
- To stop showing on a specific device, choose “Decrease with 100% ratio > Save
If you’re using the device on the campaign naming convention, you want to make sure the campaign is targeting the device it has on its name.
11. Are you excluding existing leads and sales from your campaigns? (bonus)
A practical approach to lowering costs involves not targeting existing leads and customers.
Google enables the upload of first-party data for use primarily in Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) and for creating exclusions. Steps below:
- Select audiences on the left-hand side
- Edit exclusions
- Select the Campaign or Ad group
- Choose the previously uploaded audience > Save
12. Do you have observational audiences added to your campaigns? (bonus)
Gain insights into how different audiences interact with your campaigns without altering who sees your ads:
- Select audiences on the left-hand side
- Audience segments
- Select Campaign or Ad Group
- Under observation, choose what is important to you and save.
13. Have you been actively running campaign experiments in the past? (bonus)
With the Experiments feature, you can execute A/B tests without needing to set up new campaigns.
If the outcome proves successful, the winning campaign can then be chosen as the primary one.
Part 3 - Ad Group Review
1. Are your ad groups broken out logically into related themes?
There are generally 6 buckets of themes for search ads:
- Brand
- Non-brand
- Competitive
- RLSA (Search Remarketing)
- Content
- Dynamic Search Ads
A clear naming convention aids in quickly identifying campaign and group themes. Example:
Campaign: NA_Non-Brand_Search_EN_Exact_All-Devices_Demo
Group: Non-Brand_Software
If there is no proper naming convention, then we have some cleaning to do:
- Download the data at the keyword level
- Delete: Ad spend < $ 1
- Open a new column called “Theme” beside the Keywords
- Tag the Theme of the campaign/group according to the Keyword
- Turn it into a pivot table to get the data by Theme
- Update the naming convention
If you don’t do a good job separating your keywords into themed ad groups, it will hurt your quality score.
Because if you have too many keywords in your ad group, it’s hard to make sure that the ads are relevant to all these keywords.
2. Do you have less than 15 keywords per ad group?
This is not a set-in-stone law, but it will help you mitigate the damage to your ad relevance.
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.
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.
3. Are your ad groups filled with relevant keywords, ads, and landing pages?
Each group’s 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.
Here’s a good example of a great message match from the CRM software folk.
They’re bidding on the keyword “CRM software for startups”, their ad mentions “CRM for startups”, and if you click on the ad, their landing page talks exactly about CRM for startups. Everything is aligned.
4. Are your best ad groups receiving enough budget?
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:
- 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 that’s eating up all the budget and then put a larger one on the one that hasn’t spent enough.
Part 4 - Keyword Review
1. Are your search terms as close to perfect as possible?
Regularly checking the search term report has 2 main benefits:
- 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:
- Under “Campaigns” on the left-hand side > Click “Insights and reports”
- Select “Search terms”
- Filter by campaign
- Evaluate the above recommendations.
2. Do you have a strong negative keyword list in place?
Negative keywords help us reduce the wasted budget and increase the overall quality of ads.
The broader the match type, the more important it is to have an extensive list of negative keywords.
However, even with Exact match type, search terms must be regularly checked, and negative keywords constantly be updated.
Maintaining a universal negative keyword list for your entire account can be beneficial. This list might include words related to profanity, employment, bargaining, etc.
Below you can access a sample list we use in our agency.
👉 Master Negative Keyword List
To 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:
- Select “Tools” on the left-hand side
- Under “Shared library” click on “Exclusion lists”
- Select the “plus sign”
- Add the list of desired negative keywords and name the list accordingly.
3. Do you have the appropriate match types for your keywords?
If you don’t know which match type you should start with, then always start with the Exact match type and work your way up.
If you don’t get quality conversions with the Exact match type, then changing the match type won’t help.
Generally, Broad match types have the highest wasted budget - unless the campaign is layered with a first-data party audience.
4. Do you have underperforming keywords you can pause or optimize?
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.
However, before pausing, analyze the relevance of search terms against keywords.
If they align, evaluate the click-through rate (CTR) to determine if the ad copy requires updates.
If users are still clicking on the ad without converting, consider revising the landing page.
5. Are your keyword bids set at an optimal amount? (if applicable)
If you're using automated bidding, you don't have to worry about this step.
But if you're using manual bidding, sometimes your manual bid is too low, so your ads won’t show on the first pages of the results.
I recommend that your Max. CPC amount is at least high enough to the first page bid estimate.
You can find the keyword bid simulator by hovering over the small chart in the Max. CPC field.
Part 5 - Ads & Extensions Review
1. Are your keywords in your ad copy?
This is an easy way to increase ad relevance and ultimately get more clicks.
I can’t stress enough the importance of having a strong message match.
When users encounter their specific search terms within your ad—especially if these terms are variations of your targeted keywords—the likelihood of them proceeding to your landing page significantly increases.
2. Are you title-casing the beginning of each letter in your ad?
Title casing is when you capitalize the letter of each important work in the sentence.
In my experience, title casing works better on paid search because your ads will look more professional, and it will enhance readability.
3. Do you have a minimum of two ads per ad group?
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.
By consistently testing ads, you’ll 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.
4. Are you speaking one-to-one, communicating benefits, answering objections, and providing a CTA?
You want to make sure you are speaking one-to-one In your copy and not using corporate speak, where it seems you’re 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?
Here’s a good example from Brevo:
- We can instantly see the benefit: 9000 emails free per month
- One-to-one communication: Don’t let them overcharge you
- CTA that motivates: Stop overpaying for email and get the best value in email delivery & email marketing tools.
5. Are you using all the characters available in your headline, description & path fields?
You don’t have to use every single one, but I recommend you use as many as you can.
Utilizing all available characters in Google Ads' headline, description, and path fields increases message clarity and impact, boosting click-through and conversion rates.
6. Are you using as many ad extensions (assets) as possible? (Especially core ones)
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.
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.
How to create new ad extensions in Google:
- Select “Campaigns” on the left-hand side
- Under “Assets” click on “Assets”
- Select the desired extension to see the ones you already have.
- Click on the “plus sign” to add new ad extensions.
7. Are you consistently testing new ad copy, types and modifiers?
If you are not doing this, you’ll know because you will see the click-through rate consistently going down week over week, month over month.
If you’re auditing someone else’s account, you can check the “Changes history” option to see if they are constantly testing new ads.
For modifiers, you can use dynamic keyword insertion in your ad copies to dynamically test different variations.
8. Are you sending searchers to relevant landing pages?
In my opinion, this is the most important thing.
If your prospects search for “CRM for startups”, your ads should say “CRM for startups”, and your landing page should say “CRM for startups”.
This sounds basic and trivial, but the amount of people who miss this is dramatic.
So make sure that you have a strong message match.
Part 6 - Landing Page Review
Remember 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.
1. Are you mirroring the message from your ad on the landing page?
As I mentioned in the last step of Part 5, the landing page experience is a crucial element of the quality score.
A page that fails to align with your ad's messaging is unlikely to offer value to the user.
2. Can the searcher understand what you do & why in 5 seconds or less?
This is called the five-second rule, and it’s 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?
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.
It’s also used by 100k+ sites worldwide and is GDPR & CCPA-compliant.
You don’t want to be vague on your landing pages, and you want to make sure that they have the following:
- Clear and concise headline
- Engaging subheadlines
- Visual elements
- Call to action (CTA) throughout the page
- Quick loading time for all devices
To learn more about landing page best practices, dive into the article below by Pedro Cortés:
10 Proven Landing Page Tips To Boost Your Conversion Rates
3. Is your landing page loading fast enough?
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.
I recommend you run your page through PageSpeed Insights and apply anything applicable.
You’re probably going to need the help of a developer, but it’s definitely worthwhile to improve the page speed because this is a big factor in terms of your landing page experience for quality score.
A simple thing to improve your landing page loading time is compressing the website images to reduce the file sizes.
4. Do you have one clear call to action on your landing page that mirrors your ad?
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.
Align landing page CTAs with ad promises to ensure a seamless user experience and encourage conversions.
5. Are you communicating benefits, answering objections, and providing a CTA?
The higher the ask, the more context must be provided on the page. This is specifically true for the “Book a Demo” CTA.
Ensure you address objections while emphasizing the key benefits of your product that will solve the users' problems.
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.
6. Does your form, chatbot, or online booking widget still work?
Before launching any new offers, test the page to make sure everything is working as intended.
- Submit a fake test lead and see if it actually routes into your CRM.
- Go look for your lead record.
- Check if the page isn’t broken.
- Review what the experience looks like.
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
1. What is the spread of budget and performance by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
This is where you will need to export a lot of data from Google Ads and use Excel/Google Sheets.
👉 I recommend watching the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on exporting and labeling the data to perform this analysis.
Here’s a common successful budget distribution you can use as guidance:
- Brand: < 20%
- Non-brand > 60%
- Competitive > 20%
You can use our free Google Ads Budget Calculator to find your ideal Google Ads budget.
2. What is the spread of budget and performance by region?
If you are targeting multiple regions, break out the campaign as such (ex: NA, EMEA, APAC).
👉 Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
Look for the highest-performing locations for each region and make sure low-quality conversions are not wasting your budget. If you’re not separating your campaigns into regions, you can still check how the budget has been spread around different locations through the Locations report:
- Select “Campaigns” on the left-hand side
- Go to “Locations”, under “Audiences, keywords, and content”
- Select the desired campaign
- Download the data under Location
- Summarize into a pivot table to get:
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
3. What is the spread of budget and performance by offer?
If you are separating the campaigns by offer, break out the campaign as such (Demo, Trials, eBooks, etc)
👉 Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
Here’s how to download the landing page report:
- Select “Campaigns” on the left-hand side
- Go to “Landing Pages”, under “Insights and Reports”
- Select the desired campaign
- Download the data
- 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
6. What is the spread of budget and performance by match type?
If you are separating the campaigns by match type, break out the campaign as such (Exact, Phrase, Broad)
👉 Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
Here’s how to download the match type report:
- Select “Campaigns” on the left-hand side
- Go to “Search Keywords”, under “Audiences, keywords, and content”
- Select the desired campaign
- Add the column “Match type”
- Download the data
- On Excel, summarize into a pivot table to get:some text
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
7. What is the spread of budget and performance by device?
If you are separating the campaigns by devices, break out the campaign as such (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet, All Devices)
👉 Check out the Part 7 video above if you need a walkthrough on the data analysis methodology using Excel.
If the campaigns are not separated into devices, here’s how you can check the spread of budget and performance by device downloading the device report:
8. What is the spread of budget and performance by week days?
Check if you’re targeting all days of the week and if there’s opportunities to exclude some days when the performance is not good, so you can free up budget for the strongest days.Here’s how to download the day of the week report:
- Select “Campaigns” on the left-hand side
- Go to “When and where ads showed”, under “Insights and reportst”
- Select the desired campaign
- Choose “Day” in the right-side navigation if you only want to see the day of the week
- Download the data
- On Excel, summarize into a pivot table to get:some text
- Ad spent
- Conversions
- Cost per conversion
To learn more about how to create a winning Google Ads budget strategy, dive into the article below:
How to Create a Winning Google Ads Budget Strategy for B2B SaaS
Part 8 - Visibility Review
Here’s where we will talk more about Impression Share and Quality Score.
1. What is the search impression share by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
There are different ways you can see the impression share by the campaign theme.
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.
👉 Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
2. What is the search lost rank by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
The process here is the same from the previous task. The only difference is that you need to add the “Search lost IS (rank)” column.
👉 Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
3. What is the search lost to budget by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
The process here is the same from the previous tasks. The only difference is that you need to add the “Search lost IS (budget)” column.
👉 Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
4. What is the search top IS by campaign theme? (NonBrand, Brand, Competitive, RLSA, Content)
The process here is the same from the previous tasks. The only difference is that you need to add the “Search top IS” column.
👉 Check out the Part 8 video above if you need a walkthrough on how to find this data.
5. Do 70% of your keywords have above 7 quality scores?
This is something I learned from Brad Geddes years ago, the OG of Google Ads.
Check the video below to see a complete guide on Quality Score and how to perform a Quality Score analysis:
6. What aspects of quality score do you need to improve?
After going going through the data in the previous task, summarize your findings to know where you have opportunities to improve.
Example:
- 100% of keywords have a Quality Score below 7.
- 94% of keywords are rated as “Below Average” for landing page experience.
- 45% have “Above Average” ad relevance.
- 100% have “Below Average” expected CTR.
Optimization strategies you can adopt to improve your Quality Score:
- Improve Landing Page Experience:
- Ensure pages are fast, relevant, and mobile-friendly
- Align ad copy with landing page content for a seamless message match.
- Ensure pages are fast, relevant, and mobile-friendly
- Refine Ad Relevance
- Group keywords into tightly themed ad groups.
- Write ads tailored to the specific intent of each group.
- Group keywords into tightly themed ad groups.
- Boost Expected CTR
- Test compelling ad headlines and descriptions.
- Use ad extensions to enhance visibility and clickability.
- Test compelling ad headlines and descriptions.
I hope you received a ton of value from this Google Ads Audit guide.
If you have any questions, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
From Clicks to Conversions: Master Google Ads for B2B 🔥
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:
⚙️ 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
🎯 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
🚀 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
Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.
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People Also Ask
How can a Google Ads audit improve my campaign performance?
- A Google Ads audit can significantly enhance your campaign performance by identifying inefficiencies and areas for optimization within your account.
How often should I conduct a Google Ads audit?
- 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.
What are the key components of a Google Ads audit?
- Budget Allocation: Analyzing how the budget is distributed across various channels and campaigns to identify opportunities for reallocation.
- Campaign Themes: Reviewing the balance between branded, non-branded, and competitive campaigns to ensure optimal allocation for reaching new customers.
- Device Usage: Evaluating performance across devices (mobile, computer, tablet, TV) to tailor strategies for each device type.
- Match Types: Assessing the use of exact, phrase, and broad match types in campaigns to ensure efficient targeting.
- Quality Score: Examining the quality score of keywords, focusing on ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected CTR to identify areas for improvement.
- Visibility Metrics: Analyzing impression share and losses due to rank and budget to optimize bid strategies and campaign visibility.
How often should I perform a Google Ads audit?
It’s 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.
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.
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Once you understand the basics and set up initial campaigns, start A/B testing and experimenting. You could test many things, for example, different ad formats, creatives, messaging, campaign objectives or targeting - all of which can lead to better performance. From my experience, any significant improvement in advertising efficiency starts with a (sometimes random and "long shot") test. To make the testing process smooth and successful, I recommend starting with a hypothesis, creating a testing plan, and having clear KPIs and ways of tracking those.
Kris Wojcik
#1 tip for marketers getting into B2B advertising is to have fun with it. A lot of B2B brands take themselves really seriously to appeal to Enterprise buyers, but the reality is we're all human and you're marketing to humans.
Jess Bahr
People buy different, not better. So when you're advertising in B2B, it's crucial to sniff out your differentiator and explain that in a way that your buyers will clearly understand it, consume it, and resonate with it. Each of your buyers is different too so it's important to have a good mix of how you explain the difference.
Tim Davidson
One valuable tip I'd offer new marketers entering the realm of B2B advertising is to prioritize understanding your target audience deeply. B2B advertising differs significantly from B2C advertising in that you're not just targeting individual consumers but engaging with businesses, often involving nuanced decision-making units.
To effectively connect with your B2B audience, invest time researching and profiling your ideal customer profile (ICP). This means identifying their industry, company size, and job roles and delving into their pain points, challenges, and aspirations – try to get in the minds of your ICP from entry-level to executive.
By going that extra mile in understanding your audience, you can craft messaging and content that resonates with them—addressing their specific needs, providing solutions, and positioning your products or services as the standout choice.
Tyler Ray
Before you create any adverts, you need to figure out what your message is going to be. Don't rush into it until you know 'what problems you solve, how you solve them, and why your customer should solve them.' One sentence on each of those creates your elevator pitch, which should be present in some way, in all of your ads. It also represents the business case for your product. If you can't explain your story easily, how on earth do you expect your audience to remember it?
Joseph Hill
You know that crazy Marketing 'funnel' everyone talks about? Always start from the bottom up. Meaning, the first place to start is to know who your customers are and how they equate to revenue. Then work yourself up the funnel to drive the most impact.
Bryttney Blanken
Adopt the 'kill your darlings' mantra. You have to be ready to cut what you love if it isn't delivering results—be it an ad, keyword, or campaign. What was once a good performer might not stay that way, so never 'set and forget.' Always monitor and optimise.
Three macroeconomic principles should guide you:
1- Budget is limited.
2- Benchmark against your own metrics, not industry fluff.
3- Make trade-offs based on what performs better.
Kill the darlings that don't contribute to the revenue to make room for what does.
Canberk Beker
Focus on the audience/ICP first, not being the best/all-in-one product. When you address the pain and call the audience out, it resonates far more than simply stating 'We're #1/the best in ... category'. No one gives a shit about fancy review badges, Gartner, or other reports (maybe just a tiny bit) & enterprise studies/research. Everyone wants to know how your product will solve their pain or problem.
The best way (for me at least) to find out the actual problem of a customer is to go to G2 and your biggest/well-known competitor and read/scrape all the 'What problems is PandaDoc solving and how is that benefiting you?' answers. You'll find out that most answers are about one/two specific cases, and so then it's your job to address it right via website/ad copy messaging.
Alex Panchuk
Shift your mindset. You'll generate leads, but it's not just about lead generation. When they convert, focus on quality and intent. To do that, you need to understand the customer and how to reach them with the right and interesting message in the right places, consistently. Make it easy for them to remember you, find you, and buy from you when they are ready. For practical advice, Go through the LinkedIn ebook 'How B2B Brands Grow", study demand generation, join communities, and ask questions there.
Roman Krs
Before you blame the channel, do the research to see if there are some other reasons why leads aren't converting to opportunities.
For example:
WEBSITE
- Does the ad align with the landing page?
- Is it easy to understand how it works, who it's for, how much it costs, and the outcome it drives?
- Do you have relevant social proof?
CONVERSION
- Is the form simple and short?
- Does it offer an easy way to schedule a meeting?
- Are there clear CTAs across the website?
- Do you address common objections on the demo page?
LEAD HAND-OFF
- How long does it take to set up a meeting with a buyer after the form is filled take?
- Did we align the follow-up with the intent level?
- Do we offer a demo at the first meeting?
- Do we identify the core problems of the buyer and how our solution can help solve those issues?
SALES CYCLE
- Did we create a close plan?
- Have we gotten all key decision-makers involved?
- Do we add value along the sales process?
- Do we always set up the next meeting with a clear agenda?
- Have we properly differentiated ourselves against competitors and keeping with the status quo?
80% of the above don't directly involve the "channel"
Jonathan Bland
For someone starting with B2B advertising, I highly recommend following the right B2B content creators on LinkedIn, as well as other paid media ones - then block some time to go through their posts/videos to learn new strategies/tips, or merely understand their point-of-view. Then, find ways of testing those strategies/quick wins with your own clients to get your own insights and takeaways - plus, it's a great way of implementing what you learn
Gonçalo Prates
Make sure that you nail your fundamentals before you launch your campaign. Know where your ICP spends time online and what they are searching for.
If you don't, you won't be able to nail down your targeting for paid social and you won't go after the right keywords on paid search.
Start with the understanding of your buyer (the qualitative and quantitative) insights, and then go and build your strategy based off of that. There are a lot of great resources on how to technically set up your campaign - just keep it as simple as you can to begin with.
The final part of the fundamentals is to make sure you have tracking in place in your CRM. You need to be able to know what leads came in from your paid ads, and be able to track them throughout the sales process. Otherwise you'll never be able to answer the question at the executive level, "How are our ads performing?
Blake Strozyk
Seasonality in B2B is real & should be taken into account when optimizing & experimenting with paid ads.
Here is what I mean: We have grown very rapidly over the last 1.5 years and therefore don't have reliable base data from last summer, so only this year we started to feel the summer slow down properly. Many experiments that we ran have to be pre & post (sometimes it's technically not possible to run A/B), so if you launch an experiment in June & compare results with May the results will be heavily impacted by external factors (summer period slowdown).
It's not something new, but something we faced a lot this summer. So don't disregard the importance of taking seasonality into account.
Borys Khodan
1. When building advertising campaigns, be hyper focused on audience and targeting. Your best advertising campaign won't be successful unless you target the right people at the right time.
2. The biggest gold mine for ad copy is customer calls. If you have a tool like Gong, you should be listening to calls every day to find insights on what your customers care about.
Liam Barnes
The B2B Buyer's journey is complex, make sure you are filling all the content gaps on your paid ad strategy.
Miguel Sánchez
Offers are the most underused and underappreciated lever in B2B ad performance, and it’s not even close.
People associate Offers with e-commerce style, “buy one get one free” marketing messages. But the category is so much broader than that - it’s offering different things to your audience to see what they respond best to.
In short: Everything you promote with an ad is an Offer, whether you think of it that or not. Some example Offers that B2B companies can use:
a.) Click this ad and schedule a sales call
b.) Click this ad and get access to a demo
c.) Click this ad and get an eBook
d.) Click this ad and get an incentive.
You should start with an Offer when building campaigns, don't make it an afterthought.
Kevin Lord Barry
Advertising can be daunting as a new B2B marketer, when you don't have a full grasp on how the ad platforms work or you haven't spent as much money on them, you might feel like you are not ready to run ads.
But here's the thing, you will never be 100% ready till you actually take action, and as scary as this might feel, there's a great thing about this too, you are also more prepared than you actually think.
That first campaign won't be perfect, you will make mistakes, and you will lose some $$$ in the process (sad reality about advertising 😅), but as long as you see this as a learning experience, you will accelerate your knowledge about the platforms and become strong in them in no time.
Diego Oquendo
Never skip out on creative. With all the targeting features that we have access to as B2B marketers, creating content specific to the persona you're going after is important. Whether it's copy or the images you use, I recommend investing time into making sure they resonate with your ICP.
Ali Yildirim
Ultimately it boils down to establishing trust. Your objective is to educate prospects from various angles and persuade them to take the desired action. Providing value upfront through various means is the most sustainable approach to accomplish this.
Rory Conroy
Put a real effort into the ad creation on social channels. Create a list with the prospects’ pain points, their headaches, and how your product could solve any of these pain points, then transform it into ad copy that talks directly to your prospect in a humane language, it’s B2B but we’re talking to people, this will make ads that will stand out on the crowd. We can have the best audience and an infinite budget, but if we don’t master the message (and have a compelling design), chances are that our ads will not be noticed.
Jessica Amaral
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LinkedIn Spotlight Ads In 2024: Are They Worth The Investment?
Should you invest in LinkedIn Spotlight Ads?
In this article you'll learn:
- The pro's and con's of LinkedIn Spotlight Ads
- How much LinkedIn Spotlight ads cost
- Examples of LinkedIn Spotlight ads
- 3 LinkedIn Spotlight ad strategies
By the end of this article you’ll know if this ad type makes sense for you.
Let’s dive into it! 👇
Contents
- What are LinkedIn Spotlight Ads?
- LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Specs
- 4 Reasons to Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads
- 4 Reasons You SHOULD NOT Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads
- 3 LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Strategies Worth Testing
What are LinkedIn Spotlight Ads?
Spotlight ads are only seen on desktop devices and use a combination of your audience's LinkedIn profile data such as photo, company name, and job title to dynamically change based on the user.
LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Specs
When creating a spotlight ad you’ve got the following options:
- Ad headline = 50 characters
- Company name = 25 characters
- Company Image = logo or image in JPG or PNG that is < 2 MB
- Background Image (optional) = 300x250 in JPG or PNG
I’d personally recommend not adding a background image as it removes the ad description, and the users profile photo will not be shown, which defeats the purpose of this ad type 😅
4 Reasons to Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads
Reason 1: 74% Lower Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM)
After reviewing $1,726,264.56 in spend by ad type for our B2B SaaS clients, we found linkedin spotlight ads have an average CPM of $5.23, 74% lower than single image ads.
Reason 2: Increased Ad Recall
Spotlight ad placements are very “low key” and unintrusive.
They only appear on Desktop and are served on the right side of the newsfeed.
Given an average CPM of $5.23 and subtle placement you can rack large frequencies > 20 without negatively impacting your audience’s experience.
The combination of high frequency and low impression costs = greater potential ad recall
Reason 3: Low Creative Effort
Spotlight ads only require an image that is < 2MB making it an EXTREMELY low creative effort.
Compare this to formats like single image, carousel, or even video ads.
If you want more exposure without a ton of effort they’re an easy addition.
Reason 4: Flexible Bidding Strategies
Spotlight ads allow you to multiple bidding strategies depending on your campaign objectives.
- Maximum delivery = LinkedIn will automatically adjust your bids for the most exposure
- Cost cap = set a target cost per landing page click
- Manual bidding = set a specific bid per landing page click
With each of these bidding strategies you have flexibility to test and leverage the one that allows you the greatest exposure for the lowest cost.
4 Reasons You SHOULD NOT Invest In LinkedIn Spotlight Ads
Reason 1: 83% higher average CPC prices
After reviewing $1,726,264.56 in spend by ad type for our B2B SaaS clients, we found linkedin spotlight ads have an average cost per click of $7.93, 83% higher than single image ads.
Reason 2: You want to generate the most conversions
Spotlight ads have horrible engagement rates compared to other LinkedIn ad types.
If your primary objective is to drive conversions then spotlight ads are not the ideal ad type to use.
Reason 3: You’re trying to drive the most traffic to your site
Spotlight ads have below average clickthrough rates compared to other ad types which makes using them to drive site traffic a poor use case of budget.
Reason 4: You’re not already investing in other ad types
Spotlight ads are not a game changer ad type. They should be used in support alongside other more dominant ad types such as (image, video, or conversation).
The best use of spotlight ads is remarketing, allowing you to stay top of mind at a low cost in front of the audiences that already know/like/trust you.
3 LinkedIn Spotlight Ad Strategies Worth Testing
In no particular order, here’s 3 strategies worth testing with spotlight ads.
Strategy #1: Remarketing
The real advantage of spotlight ads are low distribution costs with an average CPM of $5.28.
This in combination with the fact that spotlight ads are a non-intrusive ad type on desktop devices and limited right-hand placements makes them great for remarketing.
You can leverage spotlight ads to remarket:
- All website visitors
- Company page visitors
- Past event attendees
- Contacts of customers, and leads in nurture
If you want to learn more about building a LinkedIn remarketing strategy check out our in-depth article on How to Build a Multichannel B2B Retargeting Strategy (Step-By-Step).
Strategy #2: Company Page Growth
Another potential strategy to test spotlight ads is growing your LinkedIn company page.
You can leverage this ad type to drive visitors to view your page (which will then hopefully lead to a follower), check out this example from Aurora who is using a CTA of “Follow”.
Strategy #3: Job Recruitment
Spotlight ads are available with the Job applicants campaign objective and given it’s dynamic element (automatically pulling the photo of the user) you can create personalized recruitment ads.
I hope you found this article useful!
And as promised, now know if this ad type makes sense for you.
Master B2B LinkedIn Ads with these 3 Free Courses:
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.
Here's what you'll learn in each course:
⚙️ 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
🎯 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
🚀 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
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 😂)
People Also Ask
How can I measure the long-term impact of Spotlight Ads on brand awareness?
While immediate metrics like impressions and clicks are helpful, track metrics like increased brand searches, company page followers, and repeat website visits over time to assess long-term brand impact.
Are Spotlight Ads effective for industries outside of B2B, such as B2C or non-profits?
While Spotlight Ads are tailored for professional audiences, they can work for B2C or non-profits if targeting aligns with LinkedIn’s user demographics and the campaign leverages professional-related messaging.
How should Spotlight Ads be used in multi-channel marketing campaigns?
Spotlight Ads are most effective when reinforcing messages seen in other channels. For instance, use them to retarget LinkedIn users who interacted with your Google Ads or visited your website from email campaigns.
How can Spotlight Ads support account-based marketing (ABM) efforts?
Pair Spotlight Ads with LinkedIn’s account targeting to focus on specific companies or industries, delivering highly personalized ads that tie directly into your ABM campaigns.
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Beginner’s Guide to Google Ads Competitor Analysis In 2024
Looking to research competitor's Google Ads?
In this guide I'll walk you through how to find their best ads, and reverse engineer their strategy.
Regardless of if your budget is as low as $10/day or $10,000/day, the same process applies.
We’ll first focus on analysis in this guide and then dive into strategy.
Let’s get into it! 👇
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- How to Find & Research Competitors Google Ads
- Free Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads
- Paid Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads
- How to Break Down Your Competitors Google Ads Strategy
How to Find & Research Competitors Google Ads
Pablo Picasso once said “good artists copy, and great artists steal” taking inspiration from what works from your competitors and transforming it into “your own” way is a sound approach.
Just remember this can sometimes lead to a situation where everyone is copying each other and no one has any real idea of what their doing in the first place 😅
Ultimately beating your own baseline performance is what you should obsess about.
With this disclaimer out of the way, you first need to know what competitors you want to research.
You can find who you’re up against with the auction insights report in Google Ads.
Find this report by navigating to Keywords > Auction Insights within your Google Ads account.
- Sort this report by Impression Share to understand how visible you are against your competitors for your targeting criteria (ex: keywords, locations, audiences).
- Review the Top of page rate as well to understand how often you and your competitors appear within the top 3 positions of Google.
Now that you have an understanding of who your competitors are.
Let’s dive into the free and paid tools you can use to conduct Google Ads competitor analysis.
Free Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads
Each of the following competitor analysis tools can be used for free, leverage whichever resonates.
Google Ads Transparency Center
Source: https://adstransparency.google.com/
The Google Ads Transparency Center was released on March 29, 2023 as a way to help you quickly and easily learn more about the ads you see on Search, YouTube and Display.
Since the release of this tool it’s become an absolute goldmine for Google advertisers.
Here’s how you can leverage the Google Ads Transparency Center for competitor analysis:
1. Visit the Google Ads Transparency Center and enter your competitors domain URL
2. Scroll down to see the most recent Search, YouTube, and Display ads
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When scrolling through the results take note of the following:
- Number of total ads to understand how active your competitor is.
- The language the ads are written in to know if your competitor is running localization strategy.
- The primary keyword your competitor is trying to target in the ad copy.
- {Parameters} in the ad copy to know if your competitor is using dynamic search ads or keyword insertion.
3. Once you find an interesting ad click on it to reveal the target location
- Click on the show anywhere button to reveal the target location for the ad.
Armed with this information you can decide if you want to advertise to these same regions.
If you only used 1 tool for Google Ads competitor analysis I’d recommend the Transparency Center.
ISearchFrom
Source: https://isearchfrom.com/
If you’re planning to advertise somewhere you’re not physically located and want to know which competitors are bidding on your target keywords, ISearchFrom is a great free tool to use.
Here’s how you can utilize ISearchFrom for google ads competitor analysis:
1. Visit ISearchFrom and enter your target country and keyword
2. Review the ads to uncover advertisers in your target location you might not be aware of
From this simulated result for someone “physically” located in the United Kingdom I can see Coursera is advertising on google ads courses in this region.
From here I can leverage the Transparency Center to uncover more ad examples from them.
Again this is a great tool for finding competitors you’re not familiar with in locations you’re not in.
Paid Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads
Each of the following competitor analysis tools can be used for a fee, use whichever resonates and fits your budget.
SpyFu
Source: https://www.spyfu.com/
Price: $39-$79/month
If you’re looking for a simple tool to review examples of competitors Google Ads copy, target keywords, and landing pages.
SpyFu is a great tool to start off with, here’s how you can use it.
1. Visit SpyFu and enter your competitors domain
2. Review your competitors estimated Google Ads budget and quantity of paid keywords
3. Navigate to “PPC Research > PPC Keywords” to see all paid keywords
4. Head to “PPC Research > Ad History” to see all competitor ad examples by keyword
5. Uncover other top competitors “PPC Research > Competitors” you might know of
With this one tool you can get estimates of competitors' Google Ads budgets, review keywords, ads, and uncover opportunities across new competitors you might not know of.
Other paid tools:
There’s no shortage of paid tools you can use to research your competitors.
Here’s a list of some others worth exploring:
Don’t get hung up on the tools.
Achieving the end outcome is ultimately key.
Now that you know how to find and research your competitors Google Ads.
Let’s walk through how to break down their strategy.
How to Break Down Your Competitors Google Ads Strategy
Knowing what keywords and ad copy your competitors are using is a great starting point.
But getting answers to questions like:
- How are my competitors structuring their campaigns?
- How are they allocating budget?
are crucial insights that can separate you from them.
1. Reverse Engineering URL Parameters
Once you know your competitors landing pages, which you can get from:
- Searching keywords in Google and clicking on their ads
- Reviewing landing page URLs in SpyFu’s Ad History report
You’ll want to review their UTM parameters to get insights on the goal of this campaign, target keyword, and anything else around how it was set up.
URL Parameter Example #1 - Zoho
For example, I searched CRM software and clicked on this ad from Zoho:
When reviewing the URL post click I can see the following parameters:
/?network=g&device=c&keyword=crm%20software&campaignid=14928929712
&creative=552506800726&matchtype=e
&adposition=&placement=&adgroup=130022006802&gad_source=1
&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3tCyBhDBARIsAEY0XNlAKXey
TKDzEJQDpeNh2giI4p8sVSnWKqsvlND5bvZa_J
q62wCqSFoaAsc1EALw_wcB
By reviewing the URL structure I can gather the following information:
- Network = g | they’re advertising on Google Search
- Device = c | they’re running ads on Desktop devices
- Keyword = crm software | they’re bidding on crm software
- Matchtype = e | they’re using exact match
URL Parameter Example #2 - Freshworks
Let’s use one more example to drive this home with the Freshworks ad that was underneath Zoho:
?tactic_id=6071454&utm_source=google-adwords&utm_medium=FSales-Search-InsideEU-FSE-RLSA-New
&utm_campaign=FSales-Search-InsideEU-FSE-RLSA New&utm_term=crm%20software&device=c
&matchtype=p&network=g
&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3tCyBhDBARIsAEY0XNkaG_AiGqCRYj-AEcuQcnvJS_3eI0bS6jIKu_
M7JRmqOYwSIGwuc6UaAvYqEALw_wcB&gad_source=1
Here’s what I’m able to gather from the URL structure:
- Source = google-adwords | they’re advertising on Google Search
- Campaign = FSales-Search-InsideEU-FSE-RLSA-New | they’re advertising in the EU and running a remarketing list for search ads campaigns.
- Term = crm software | they’re advertising on the keyword crm software
- Device = c | they’re bidding on desktop devices
- Matchtype = p | they’re using phrase match
With this information you can start to get answers into how your competitors are structuring their campaigns and it’s freely available and ready for those advertisers that are savvy enough to look.
2. Keyword Classification
How are your competitors allocating budget?
Now you’ll never know the answer to this question with absolute certainty but with some manual work here’s how you can try and piece together a sense of their strategy allocation.
You’ll need one of the paid tools listed above in order to perform this keyword analysis.
I’ll be using SEMRush for the sake of demonstration but the general process is the same across tools.
1. Export all of your competitors paid keywords into a CSV
2. Filter the Last Seen column by the most recent month to see active keywords
3. Add a new column called “Theme” and classify each keyword by campaign theme.
This step can take some significant time but can be well worth the effort to understand your competitors keyword strategy and budget allocation priorities.
With your custom column of “campaign theme” you’ll want to manually classify each keyword.
Here’s the four campaign themes you’ll utilize for classification:
- NonBrand = high-intent keywords that don’t include your brand name
- Brand = keywords containing your brand name
- Competitive = keywords that represent your competitors
- Content = keywords that are informational and research oriented
Watch this video for a deep dive on how to perform this advanced classification:
4. Summarize your classified keywords into a pivot table to understand your competitors strategy and budget priorities
From here we can make some assumptions about what is working for our competitors.
- 87% of Udemy’s keywords are NonBrand, 9% Brand, 4% Content, and barely 0% Competitive.
- It’s safe to assume that the majority of the budget is supporting NonBrand, followed by Brand, Content, and ultimately Competitive.
Based on this allocation I might want to focus on NonBrand first given the volume of investment Udemy seems to be spending on it, and avoid competitive keywords to start.
This isn't 100% exact science but an advanced way to research your competitors Google Ads.
Need help calculating your stating Google Ads Budget?
If you’re in need of help calculating your starting Google Ads budget check out our calculator.
Hope you found this article useful!
See you in the next article or one of our free courses!
From Clicks to Conversions: Master Google Ads for B2B 🔥
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:
⚙️ 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
🎯 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
🚀 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
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 😂)
People Also Ask
How can I identify indirect competitors in Google Ads?
Beyond direct competitors, consider businesses offering alternative solutions that address the same customer needs. Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to discover who is bidding on related keywords, revealing indirect competitors.
What are the ethical considerations when analyzing competitors’ ads?
While it’s acceptable to study competitors’ public ads, avoid deceptive practices like clicking on their ads to deplete budgets. Focus on gathering insights without engaging in unethical behavior.
How often should I conduct a competitor analysis for my Google Ads campaigns?
Regular analysis is crucial. Aim to review competitors’ strategies quarterly to stay informed about market trends and adjust your campaigns accordingly.
Can competitor analysis help in identifying new market opportunities?
Yes, by examining competitors’ ad strategies, you can uncover underserved niches, emerging trends, or gaps in the market, allowing you to capitalize on new opportunities.
How do I ensure my Google Ads stand out in a competitive landscape?
Focus on unique selling propositions, compelling ad copy, and high-quality visuals. Regularly test and optimize your ads to differentiate your offerings from competitors.
How To Get Your Ad Budget Approved In 2024
Looking to ask your boss or client for more ad budget?
This can feel really uncomfortable the first time but I promise it gets easier.
With a simple shift in mindset and some solid tactics you’ll be securing budget in no time.
Here are 3 simple but effective steps for you to implement before having that budget conversation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Step 1: Pull the numbers
Your client or boss wants to be successful.
They want to surpass their goals (just like you).
If you can show them how your increased budget will make this happen, they will gladly give it to you.
Remembering this will help you release the anxiety associated with asking for more budget.
The key is you need to sell your stakeholders on WHY they should invest more and the way you'll do that is by building a case that makes them as certain as possible.
Don’t assume your clients or managers will be able to realize this on their own.
Build a no-brainer case that makes saying anything but yes sound illogical.
This starts with pulling the numbers 👇
Answer your critical questions
Put your investor hat on and answer critical questions such as:
- Which channels are performing best?
Ex: Google Ads driving the most opps at the lowest cost
- What's the overall blended trend? (paid + organic)
Ex: Opps are increasing QoQ at a 25% lower cost
- What's the current return on investment?
Ex: $6 pipe-to-spend and 150% ROI
Depending on your company, goals, and what you’re asking budget for this will vary.
Brainstorm all of the key questions you’ll need to pull data to answer.
The difficulty of this step will vary on your current level of reporting.
If you don’t already I HIGHLY recommend building a Paid Media dashboard that connects your ad spend to pipeline and revenue performance reported in your CRM.
Here’s an example of our Paid Media Dashboard Template in our Building a Paid Media Program course:
You can get free access to this template and learn how to set it up in Module 3, Lesson 3 of the course.
It’s going to be hard to ask for more ad budget if you can’t prove that your current campaigns are actually contributing to the bottom line.
Don’t have any data?
If you’re reading this and saying, Silvio how can I pull numbers if I don’t have any?
Maybe you’re trying to secure budget for a new channel.
If this is the case I have two recommendations:
1. Run a pilot campaign for $100
Let’s say you’re trying to secure budget to test X (Twitter) Ads.
Put together $100 (most companies can afford this) and launch a pilot campaign.
The only goal of this campaign is to understand what are your real costs (ex: CPM, CPC).
Once you have this information you can work backwards from your goals to create a starting budget.
For example:
- $3 CPC at a 5% landing page conversion rate = $60 cost per lead
- $60 cost per lead at a 3% lead to opportunity ratio = $1,980 cost per opportunity
- $1,980 cost per opportunity at a 20% win rate = $9,900 cost per closed won deal
If you need help running the numbers, check out our Google Ads budget calculator.
From here you’ll have a good idea of what a starting budget would look like.
You’ll also have a sense of what’s possible on this channel.
2. Do some research
Ask around or search for benchmarks associated with the channel you’re looking to invest in.
Even just collecting anecdotal evidence (ex: screenshots of others) talking about how much success they’ve had with this specific channel, tactic, etc can go a long way.
LinkedIn polls are a great way to collect this feedback:
You can DM the respondents asking for more information.
The TL;DR here is don’t let lack of data be an excuse to show up empty handed.
Once you’ve pulled all the necessary information it’s time to find the story.
Step 2: Find the story
Behind the data there is a story being told, it's your job to find it and tell it.
Here's some key questions to answer to help find it:
- What went well? (the highlights)
- What went bad? (the lowlights)
- Where are we today vs before? (the journey)
- What were the biggest blockers? (the obstacle)
- Where do we go from here? (the opportunities)
Data alone won't persuade, and stories without data are subject to suspicion.
A combination of both is required in order to effectively present your case.
Image above is Module 6, Lesson 1 of our Building a Paid Media Program course
For example, perhaps I’m trying to secure more budget for Google Ads:
- What went well? (the highlights) some text
- Google Ads contributed 25% more opportunities at a $7 pipe-to-spend ratio.
- What went bad? (the lowlights)some text
- We missed out on 57% more volume due to budget limitations.
- Where are we today vs before? (the journey) some text
- We’ve optimized our pipe-to-spend efficiency from $3 to $7.
- What were the biggest blockers? (the obstacle)some text
- High search lost to budget for our top contributing campaigns.
- No landing page testing due to limited development resources.
- Where do we go from here? (the opportunities)some text
- With an additional $25,000 in budget we can scale our top contributing campaigns and yield up to 35% more demo requests at a $15 CPC and 5% landing page conversion rate.
Here’s a simple presentation template you can use to present your case and answer each key question:
Once you've found the story and pulled the numbers you're ready to present.
Step 3: Present your case
After steps 1-2 the majority of the prep work is done.
Now it’s time to get the meeting scheduled with your boss or client.
You could have the most beautiful slides and compelling case but if you can’t effectively communicate the significance of what you’re asking it won’t matter.
Thankfully, like any skill, communication is something you can improve on with practice.
5 unconventional tips to implement in your budget presentation:
1. Remember you both want the same thing.
Ultimately, your stakeholders want you to be right. If you can drive more pipeline/revenue they'd happily give you the budget (assuming financial availability).
The challenge though is like an investor they are analyzing the potential upside and downside of your plan, and don't believe the promises you're making.
You need to addresses their concerns with a combination of data and storytelling that makes them as certain as possible.
Just remembering this simple truth will help you show up differently.
2. It’s a conversation, not a lecture.
You’ll want to keep this discussion conversational.
Make sure to check-in frequently with your boss or client and ask things like:
- Is this making sense?
- Did you have any questions?
- Are there any concerns you have that I haven’t addressed?
The last thing you want to do is to speak to them for 30-minutes and then ask:
“soooooo did you have any questions…..? 😅”
3. Replace “I think” with “the data suggests”
You’ve pulled the data and done the homework.
Don’t water down your points by saying “I think” get in the habit of replacing this with “the data suggests” and then calling out the data point that comes to mind.
This will make your perspectives and points of view far more compelling.
Which ultimately lead to more certainty from the decision maker.
Greater certainty = greater chance of budget approval
4. Don’t forget to smile.
This might sound silly 😂 but it’s really easy to forget to smile.
This conversation is about new opportunities, and that’s exciting.
Instead of telling yourself I’m nervous, reframe it as I’m excited.
This is called anxiety reappraisal and Alison Wood a psychologist at the Harvard Business School found evidence to support.
Here’s a quick excerpt from her abstract: “Across several studies involving karaoke singing, public speaking, and math performance, I investigate an alternative strategy: reappraising anxiety as excitement. Compared to those who attempt to calm down, individuals who reappraise their anxious arousal as excitement feel more excited and perform better” — Alison Wood Brooks
Don’t knock it until you try it!
5. Turn your weakness into a strength
Maybe you’re reading this article and saying to yourself:
- I’m not a good presenter because I’m an introvert
- I’m not a good presenter because English isn’t my first language.
Whatever your weaknesses are, turn them into strengths with humor.
When you start budget approval call begin by addressing your big weakness with humor.
Here’s what this might look like for the weaknesses above:
- Hey {First Name} thanks for the time today. As you might have noticed I’m not going to be giving a Ted talk anytime soon with my English so if you’re having trouble understanding just stop me at any point.
- Hey {First Name} thanks for the time today. I just wanted to start off by saying I’d rather chug a bottle of hot sauce then give a presentation but I believe so much in what I’m going cover today that I had to do this – so I appreciate you baring with any mishaps I might have.
Whatever your weaknesses are don’t run from them.
Embrace it and transform it into a strength.
Additional Resources
If you want to learn more about securing budget checkout Module 6 - Lesson 1 of our Building a Paid Media Program course, it’s 100% free and takes < 90 seconds to sign up.
If you want to dive deeper into B2B advertising check out some of our other top articles:
- B2B Advertising in 2024: The Definitive Guide
- How to Build a Multichannel B2B Retargeting Strategy (Step-By-Step)
Thanks for reading, good luck on getting your budget approved!
(you got this) 🎉
People Also Ask
How can I address concerns about the risks associated with increasing the ad budget?
Acknowledge potential risks by presenting a risk mitigation plan. This could include strategies like phased budget increases, continuous performance monitoring, and predefined criteria for scaling back if certain KPIs aren’t met. Demonstrating proactive risk management can build stakeholder confidence.
What if my initial pilot campaign doesn’t yield strong results?
If a pilot campaign underperforms, analyze the data to identify areas for improvement. Adjust variables such as targeting, ad creatives, or bidding strategies, and consider running a second pilot. Use these learnings to refine your approach before requesting a larger budget.
How do I align my ad budget request with broader company objectives?
Ensure your proposal clearly connects the ad spend to company goals like revenue growth, market expansion, or brand awareness. Illustrate how the investment will contribute to these objectives, using data and projections to support your case.
What are some common pitfalls to avoid when presenting a budget proposal?
Avoid using jargon that stakeholders may not understand, overloading the presentation with excessive data, or failing to anticipate potential objections. Practice your presentation to ensure clarity and conciseness, and be prepared to address questions confidently.
How can I demonstrate the potential ROI of the proposed ad budget?
Utilize tools like the Google Ads Budget Calculator to forecast potential returns based on different budget scenarios. Present these projections along
Top 10 LinkedIn Tips on Mastering Objectives & Bid Strategies
Looking to increase your return on ad spend (ROAS) on LinkedIn?
Your bidding strategy and campaign objective play a critical role.
Here’s my 10 tips from over $10 million investment in LinkedIn paid ads.
(In no particular order, they all matter)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Tip #1: The Power Behind Manual Bidding
- Tip #2: Fine-Tuning Your Bids
- Tip #3: Aligning Ad Type & Offer with Objectives
- Tip #4: The Optimal Objective for Thought Leader Ads
- Tip #5: When to Leverage Video Views Objective
- Tip #6: Match Your Content to the Most Suitable Objective
- Tip #7: Take Advantage of Document Ads
- Tip #8: Scale Conversions with Conversation Ads
- Tip #9: Top 3 Objectives for Single Image Ads
- Tip #10: When to Avoid Reach Objective (Brand Awareness)
- Conclusion:
- Resources for Mastering B2B Advertising
Tip #1: The Power Behind Manual Bidding
Unlike automated bidding, which leaves bid amounts at LinkedIn's discretion, manual bidding allows advertisers to set clear cost boundaries.
This ensures that your campaign expenses align with your budgetary constraints and campaign goals, offering a level of precision that automated bidding simply can't match.
By specifying the maximum amount you're willing to pay for clicks, the manual bidding places you in the driver's seat.
The LinkedIn algorithm, while powerful, may not always allocate your budget most economically when given full control.
Start collecting data quickly for your new campaign by bidding above the minimum threshold recommended by LinkedIn.
When to Consider Automated Bidding:
Automated bidding can be the best choice for specific situations, such as focused Account-Based Marketing (ABM) or retargeting campaigns with small audiences.
Once the campaign starts spending and there’s a benchmark, you can switch to manual bidding to regain full control.
Tip #2: Fine-Tuning Your Bids
A successful manual bidding requires daily checks on your spending against your budget to avoid overbidding or underbidding.
This is a straightforward yet insightful process, comparing the previous day's spend against the current daily budget to adjust your bids for optimal performance.
The Process of Bid Adjustment:
By subtracting your daily budget from the previous day's total spending, you gain clear insights into your bidding strategy's effectiveness.
A negative result suggests underbidding, where you're not fully utilizing your daily budget
While a positive result indicates overbidding, where you're potentially overspending.
Previous day spent - allocated budget = + number indicated bid is too high
The previous day spent - allocated budget = - number indicated bid is too low”
One challenge of manual bidding is finding the sweet spot where your bid is high enough to consume your daily budget fully but not so high that it leads to inefficient spending.
Side note:
If your audience size is too small, even a high bid will not cover the campaign’s full budget.
Tip #3: Aligning Ad Type & Offer with Objectives
LinkedIn ad campaigns' success deeply depends on the alignment between the chosen ad type and the content you're promoting.
Understanding the nuances of each ad + offer and matching it to the applicable objective is key to maximizing engagement and conversion rate.
Selecting the Right Ad Type for Your Objective:
Video Ads:
When promoting video ads, gravitate towards the Video View or Engagement objectives.
These objectives are designed to maximize viewership and interaction with your video content, making them ideal for capturing and retaining audience attention.
Example of a video ad:
Document Ads:
The Engagement objective tends to yield the most success for document ads, which include PDFs, presentations, and other downloadable content.
Keeping document ads ungated and focusing on engagement allows your content to reach a broader audience, enhancing brand visibility and thought leadership.
Example of a document ad:
Single Image Ads:
Engagement and Website Traffic objectives can be effective when using single-image ads.
Your choice depends on whether your primary goal is to foster interaction with the ad or drive traffic to your website or landing page
Example of a single image ad:
Tip #4: The Optimal Objective for Thought Leader Ads
If you're looking to boost your presence and authority on LinkedIn, thought leader ads present an attractive option.
These ads turn organic content from individual profiles into sponsored messages, maintaining the authentic voice and personal touch that resonates with audiences.
These campaigns can achieve lower costs per engagement by leveraging the engagement objective, enhancing their effectiveness and reach.
Understanding Thought Leader Ads:
Personal Touch:
Unlike standard ads that originate from company pages, thought leader ads come from personal profiles, offering a humanized approach to advertising.
This method harnesses the inherent trust and relatability of individual thought leaders, amplifying their messages across targeted audiences on LinkedIn.
As of March 2024, businesses can promote content from any connected user on LinkedIn with Thought Leader posts, as opposed to just verified employees.
Seamless Integration:
To the audience, thought leader ads appear as regular posts but with the added benefit of targeted reach and visibility.
This seamless integration into the newsfeed portrays a natural engagement experience, hence fostering higher engagement rates compared to traditional ad formats.
Implementation and Best Practices
The success of thought leader ads hinges on selecting organic content that has already demonstrated shares and engagement.
By sponsoring high-performing posts, you capitalize on proven interest and ensure your ad budget is allocated to content with the highest potential return.
Pro tip:
When creating a new single-image campaign, you can click “browse existing content” to find the post by searching for the LinkedIn member and sending a request for approval.
Since these ads will not be sent to a landing page, it’s best to place the intended page link in the first comment and pin the comment.
Tip #5: When to Leverage Video Views Objective
When promoting video ads, selecting the Video View objective will increase the likelihood of getting the highest percentage of videos watched at the lowest cost.
This objective is designed to maximize the number of views your video receives, optimizing for visibility and engagement among your target audience.
Creative Specifications:
For video creatives, the recommendation is to use a square format (1080x1080 pixels) and include captions.
This format is not only visually appealing but also takes up the most space in the feed property.
Cost Efficiency and Performance:
The cost for video views on LinkedIn typically ranges from 10 to 15 cents per view.
While this might be higher compared to other platforms like YouTube, which has been gaining traction in B2B sectors for its cost-effectiveness, LinkedIn's targeted audience can justify the investment.
Best Practices for Video Campaigns on LinkedIn:
Starting with the lowest feasible cost per view (CPV) in your bidding strategy can help manage costs while assessing the content's performance.
Adjustments can be made based on initial results to find the optimal balance between reach and budget efficiency.
Tip #6: Match Your Content to the Most Suitable Objective
Understanding the type of content you're promoting determines the most effective objective and ad type for your campaign.
For event promotions, for example, certain ad formats have proven to yield higher results and drive registrations at a lower cost.
Let’s break down what type of assets yield the highest results for this example:
Lead Generation Forms (LGF):
The premier choice for driving event registrations.
Lead-gen forms provide a seamless and streamlined user experience, with pre-populated forms making the conversion process as frictionless as possible.
The convenience of instantly filling out forms within the LinkedIn platform significantly increases conversion rates for registrations.
Pro tip:
To improve the performance of LGF, it's best to keep the number of custom fields below three.
While leveraging pre-populated fields can maintain high conversion rates, adding more than two custom questions or actions can deter completions.
Event Ad Format:
This is one of the most effective ad types for event registries, but it is important to note that it cannot be combined with any of the conversion objectives.
Unique to this type of ad is the inclusion of social proof directly within the ad, such as the number of people who have shown interest or are planning to attend the event.
While its conversion rate may not match that of Lead Generation Forms, the added visibility and credibility from social proof make Event Ads a valuable tactic.
To learn more about promoting events, dive into these articles below:
- 4 Unique LinkedIn Ad Strategies to Drive More Webinar Registrants
- 10 Insider Tips on Event Promotion From $1M+ In Ad Spend
Website Conversion:
Directing users to a landing page for event registration is generally less preferred due to higher costs and lower conversion rates compared to previous tactics.
Exceptions exist, such as directing traffic to a calendar link or for specific targeting scenarios, but overall, this method is seen as less efficient for event promotion.
Design and Copy Considerations:
For campaigns opting to use landing pages, prioritizing copy over design is key.
The hero section, or above-the-fold content, is critical in capturing user interest.
Ensuring message consistency between your ads and landing page, alongside efficient conversion tracking, will set you up for success.
To learn more about landing page best practices, dive into the article below by Pedro Cortés:
10 Proven Landing Page Tips To Boost Your Conversion Rates
Pro-tip:
Streamlining Campaign Tracking with Dynamic URL Parameters:
LinkedIn's introduction of dynamic URL parameters at the campaign level presents a major leap forward in simplifying and enhancing tracking capabilities.
This feature allows marketers to set up the tracking once for the entire campaign, eliminating the tedious process of manually tagging each ad with unique UTM parameters.
Tip #7: Take Advantage of Document Ads
Document ads have proven highly effective for marketers looking to deepen engagement and build a robust retargeting pool.
They typically have impressive click-through rates, often reaching 6-7% or higher.
The best results from document ads are seen when paired with the engagement objective.
Users who interact with this ad type demonstrate a clear interest in your content, making them ideal candidates for subsequent, more targeted marketing efforts.
For more information on setting up your first document ads, check out this guide provided by LinkedIn
Tip #8: Scale Conversions with Conversation Ads
Conversation ads offer a unique, direct method of engaging with your target audience by delivering messages right into their LinkedIn inboxes.
These ads are billed on a cost-per-send basis, making it crucial to manage bids effectively to maximize both reach and budget efficiency.
Start your bid as low as possible and make adjustments depending on how well it’s pacing.
A good starting point is a $1 bid.
Due to LinkedIn’s second-price auction model for convo ads, they typically keep the actual cost close to the average historical cost per send.
This model charges you just enough to outbid the next highest bidder, not the maximum amount you're willing to pay.
Adaptation to Platform Changes:
Despite recent updates like the focus inbox change on LinkedIn, conversational ads have continued to perform well.
The direct nature of these ads keeps them effective, maintaining their status as a top-performing ad type.
Best Practices for Conversational Ads:
Because convo ads are more intrusive than other ad types, it’s important to ensure your targeting is precise. This precision prevents user annoyance and increases the likelihood of engagement.
The content of your conversation ads should be compelling and offer clear value to a specific job function.
Pro-tip:
The sender should resonate with the target audience for the highest credibility.
Choosing someone with a similar job function or an industry expert/influencer can immediately boost credibility.
For additional tips on convo ad’s best practices, check out this post by AdConversion
Tip #9: Top 3 Objectives for Single Image Ads
Single-image ads are versatile and can be tailored to meet various objectives, but understanding which objective to prioritize can have a noticeable impact on the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Lead Generation:
The primary objective for many single-image ad campaigns is lead generation.
LinkedIn’s Lead-gen focuses on gathering user information through forms that are pre-populated with LinkedIn profile data, making it easier for users to submit their information without leaving the platform.
Engagement:
The second most common objective for single-image ads is engagement.
This objective aims to maximize interactions such as likes, comments, and shares.
It's particularly useful for increasing brand visibility and engagement within your target audience.
Fostering interactions also enhances the organic reach of your ads through the network effects of user engagement.
The visual appeal and message of your single-image ad should resonate with your audience and encourage interaction.
Regular testing and adaptation of your ad creatives can help maintain high engagement levels.
Website Visits:
The third objective focuses on driving traffic to your website or specific landing pages to achieve conversions.
Whether your goal is to increase sign-ups, sales, or another conversion action, directing users to your website allows for more detailed tracking and nurturing of potential leads in your sales funnel.
Tip #10: When to Avoid Reach Objective (Brand Awareness)
Brand awareness, which prioritizes impressions and broad visibility, often comes under scrutiny due to its cost implications and lower engagement metrics compared to other objectives.
The reach objective operates on a cost-per-impression (CPM) model, where you are charged each time your ad is displayed, regardless of user interaction.
This can lead to higher expenditure without the guarantee of equivalent engagement or conversions.
The inherent nature of paying for mere visibility rather than actionable engagement makes this objective less appealing for many advertisers seeking tangible returns on their investment.
This objective is also inefficient for retargeting.
Building retargeting audiences requires not just impressions but meaningful interactions that signal interest or intent.
The reach objective's focus on maximizing views rather than fostering engagement makes it less effective for gathering a meaningful contribution toward the retargeting pool.
Conclusion:
In this article, we covered 10 actionable tips for matching the most suitable objectives and bidding strategies to your LinkedIn campaigns.
Whether it’s choosing manual bidding to control costs, aligning ad types with your marketing objectives, or understanding when to leverage specific ad formats, each tip offers a pathway to better performance.
By implementing these top 10 tips, you can navigate through the complexities of LinkedIn paid ads with greater precision and efficiency.
I hope you found this article insightful and that it leads to successful outcomes for your future campaigns.
If you’d like to reach out or get more tips, please connect with me via LinkedIn.
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People Also Ask
How can I determine the optimal bid amount for my LinkedIn ad campaigns?
Begin by setting bids slightly above LinkedIn’s recommended minimum to gather initial data. Monitor daily performance, adjusting bids to ensure your budget is fully utilized without overspending. Regular analysis helps in finding the balance between cost-efficiency and achieving desired reach.
What are the best practices for aligning ad creatives with specific campaign objectives?
Ensure that your ad format and content match your campaign goals. For instance, use Video Ads with the Video View objective to maximize engagement, or Document Ads with the Engagement objective to share downloadable content effectively. Aligning creatives with objectives enhances campaign performance.
How do I choose between manual and automated bidding strategies?
Manual bidding offers control over costs, allowing precise budget management, while automated bidding leverages LinkedIn’s algorithm for potentially broader reach. For Account-Based Marketing (ABM) or retargeting campaigns with small audiences, automated bidding can be effective. However, starting with manual bidding can provide valuable insights and control.
What factors should I consider when selecting the appropriate campaign objective?
Identify your primary marketing goal—brand awareness, lead generation, website traffic, etc. Choose objectives that align with these goals and consider the ad formats that best support them. For example, use the Engagement objective for Thought Leader Ads to boost authority and reach.
How can I effectively measure the success of my LinkedIn ad campaigns?
Track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, cost per click (CPC), and return on ad spend (ROAS). Regularly analyze these metrics to assess performance and make data-driven adjustments to your strategies.
How to Build a Multichannel B2B Retargeting Strategy (Step-By-Step)
With long sales cycles staying top of mind is half the battle when it comes to B2B.
In this blueprint you’ll learn how to build a multichannel B2B retargeting strategy across:
- Meta (Facebook & Instagram)
- X (Twitter)
- & YouTube
So you can stay omnipresent and convert users across channels.
I know you’re going to love it, let’s get started! ❤️
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Recommended Channels
- Step 1: Confirm Your Remarketing Pixels are Installed
- Step 2: Create all possible retargeting segments by time frame
- Step 3: Adjust targeting and exclusion parameters
- Step 4: Align on retargeting content and offers
- Step 5: Build all Relevant Retargeting Campaigns
- B2B Retargeting FAQ
- Launch Checklist
- Conclusion & Free Courses
Recommended Channels:
- LinkedIn Ads
- Meta (Facebook & Instagram)
- X (Twitter)
- YouTube
Minimum Budget:
- $1,000/month (for 1 channel)
Recommended Targeting:
Step 1: Confirm Your Remarketing Pixels are Installed
This is a mandatory first step, and something that needs to be done first.
These pixels are how the ad platforms are able to track users activity and provide you the ability to remarket them with various campaigns and offers.
Even if you’re not planning to advertise soon on any channels, I HIGHLY recommend creating a free ad account and installing that platform pixel on your site to start building your remarketing pool.
Here’s what this will look like for each channel.
How to Install the LinkedIn Ads Pixel In 4 Steps
- Create a free LinkedIn Ads account
- Navigate to the “Analyze” → “Insight Tag” section
- Choose how to install your tag (recommend Google Tag Manager aka GTM)
- In Google Tag Manager, create a new tag type with LinkedIn Insight and fire on all pages
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How to Install the Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads Pixel In 6 Steps
- Create a free Facebook Ads account
- In the Ads Manager navigate to “Events Manager” → “Connect Data Sources”
- Connect “Web” as a new data source and name your pixel (ex: Meta Pixel)
- Select your new pixel under “Data Sources” and navigate to “Overview” → “Setup Pixel”
- Choose how to install your pixel (recommend Google Tag Manager aka GTM)
- In Google Tag Manager, create a new tag type with Custom HTML and fire on all pages
How to Install the X (Twitter) Ads Pixel In 4 Steps
- Create a free X (Twitter) Ads account
- In the Ads Manager navigate to “Events Manager” → “Add Event Source”
- Install with “Pixel code” and allow 1st-party cookies
- In Google Tag Manager, create a new tag type with Custom HTM and fire on all pages
How to Install the Google Ads Pixel In 5 Steps
By installing the Google Ads pixel you’ll be able to remarket to website visitors on YouTube because Google owns YouTube and all campaigns are created in the same ads manager.
- Create a free Google Ads account
- In the Ads Manager navigate to “Audience Manager” → “Your Data Sources”
- Select “Google Ads Tag” → “Edit Source”
- Select “Tag Setup” recommend “Use Google Tag Manager” and copy your ID
- In Google Tag Manager, create a Google Ads Remarketing tag and fire on all pages
Once complete, confirm all pixels are installed correctly on your website with GTM Preview:
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Remarketing audience size requirements for Meta, YouTube, LinkedIn & X (Twitter)
- Meta (Facebook & Instagram) = 1,000 audience members
- YouTube = 100 audience members
- LinkedIn = 300 audience members
- X (Twitter) = 100 audience members
Now that you’ve installed all the pixels for the platforms you’re interested in you’ll need to allow the pixels time to build your cookie pool to meet audience minimums.
I’ve seen it take 7-30+ days depending on monthly engagement or traffic volumes for the retargeting segment you’re trying to build (ex: website visits, video views, post engagement, etc..).
Step 2: Create all possible retargeting segments by time frame.
Once your remarketing audience has met minimums it’s time to build your segments.
This step will vary depending on how large your retargeting audience is.
In a perfect world we’ll want to create retargeting segments for the following timeframes:
The advantage of creating retargeting segments by time frame is:
✅ Easily see which cohort performs best
✅ Allocate more budget to the top performing time frame
✅ Align offers and messaging accordingly
Watch this video to better understand the thought process behind leveraging different remarketing segments by timeframes:
In addition to testing timeframes we want to combine as many relevant remarketing segments together in each cohort so we can scale up our overall audience size (more on this in Step 4).
Depending on the channel you’re advertising on, the available remarketing segments will vary.
Here are my go to choices for each channel below.
Top 10 LinkedIn Ads retargeting segments:
Top 9 Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads retargeting segments:
Top 5 X (Twitter) Ads retargeting segments:
Top 4 YouTube Ads retargeting segments:
Depending on your audience sizes you might not be able to use shorter timeframes.
If that’s the case, default to the next longest one:
For example:
❌30 days < 1,000 audience size? Try 90 days
❌90 days < 1,000 audience size? Try 180 days
❌180 days < 1,000 audience size? Hold off on remarketing until your audience sizes build
Build out each relevant remarketing combination for the channels you want to advertise on.
Step 3: Adjust targeting and exclusion parameters.
Equally important to who you’re targeting is who you exclude.
With all your retargeting segments created it’s clear who you’re going to target.
Now it’s time to get clear on who you’ll exclude for each cohort (e.g. 30, 90, 180 days).
Exclusion audiences allow you to remove users who aren’t a good fit for your targeting.
Here’s my go-to exclusions by channel.
Top 8 LinkedIn Ads Exclusion Audiences:
Top 9 Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads Exclusion Audiences:
Top 6 X (Twitter) Ads Exclusion Audiences:
Top 6 YouTube Ads Exclusion Audiences:
Feel free to remove and add the exclusions that make sense for your business and who you’re ultimately trying to reach with your retargeting campaigns.
By no means should you only use the ones I outlined above, some will make sense others won’t.
Once you’re clear on who you’ll exclude it’s time to align on content and offers.
Step 4: Align on retargeting content and offers.
Now that you’re clear on who you’ll target and exclude for each cohort. Let’s chat about what content and offers you’ll want to show them.
First things first, don’t make the mistake of only showing offers to people in your remarketing audience. This is the equivalent of following someone all day asking them to buy something.
This is what Corporate Bro has to say about that 😂
Recommended B2B Remarketing Budget Allocation:
Avoid leaving a bad impression and potentially hurting your brand by also adding content in the mix.
50% of your remarketing budget should go towards adding value to your audience, and 50% goes towards asking them to convert on something (ex: Demo, Trial, Event, etc…)
With this budget allocation you’re rotating offers and content equally to your remarketing cohorts (e.g. 30, 90, 180 days) and letting the users decide which asset they're interested in.
Which leads us to common remarketing mistakes you’ll want to avoid.
4 Common Mistakes to Avoid with Retargeting:
1. Only promoting offers
Avoid a pitch fest and split your remarketing budget 50/50 between content and offers as outlined above.
2. Retargeting on assumption instead of action
Don’t create these crazy retargeting flows where someone must do X then Y and finally you’ll give them Z. This kills your retargeting audience size and you’re assuming that you’ll be correct 3/3 times (idk about you but I’m not great at guessing).
Instead show them everything equally (content and offers) and then once they decide to click on an ad, watch a video etc… you can now create unique campaigns to remarket off that activity (now you’re no longer assuming they are interested).
3. Not using all available retargeting segments
Don’t rely on 1 segment alone like a website visitor segment. Instead combine multiple segments together with an OR statement in the same timeframe to scale up your overall retargeting audience so you have more flexibility to layer filters.
4. Failing to refresh creative to offset fatigue
There’s nothing worse than seeing the same ad 1,000 times. This can be easily avoided by creating a workflow to refresh your creatives on a monthly basis.
Just changing the creatives for the same offers and content will create a new experience for users and help offset ad fatigue.
Watch this video to learn more about how to monitor and overcome ad fatigue:
When we talk about remarketing content and offers equally – what exactly does that mean?
- White papers?
- Webinars?
- Tutorials?
- Demos?
- Trials?
The list goes on, and on…
There are 1,000s of offers and content you could potentially promote.
To help simplify and conceptualize this, here are 4 useful remarketing buckets inspired by Canberk Beker, Global Head of Paid Media at Cognism from episode 2 of Behind the Ads.
Recommended Remarketing Buckets by Timeframe:
B2B Retargeting Ad Examples:
Product Marketing
(Content that focuses on promoting the capabilities of your product)
Social Proof
(Leveraging others words and results in our ads)
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Thought Leadership
(Content that educates your target audience and positions you as an expert)
Offers
(Any other type of ad where you’re asking your target audience to convert)
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Armed with your content and offers by time frame there’s one last step to do.
Step 5: Build all Relevant Retargeting Campaigns.
After going through steps 1-4 you should be clear on:
- Which channels you’re going to advertise on
- What retargeting segments you’ll leverage
- Which exclusion audiences you’ll block
- What content/offers you’ll showcase
Let’s wrap up with how these campaigns should be built.
B2B Retargeting Campaign Structure:
Here’s what the retargeting campaign structure will look like at 10,000 feet:
Couple of important call outs:
Every campaign has its own unique timeframe and retargeting bucket.
This makes pacing, optimization, and reporting really easy.
All retargeting segments within the same timeframe are grouped together as an OR.
This allows you to scale your retargeting audience size overall within the cohort.
Combine segments together with OR not AND.
Naming conventions are clear and consistent from the campaign to ad level.
This allows you to easily find your campaigns and reporting on performance.
Here’s how to build these campaigns out for each channel.
How to Build LinkedIn Retargeting Campaigns:
Make sure to disable Audience Expansion and the LinkedIn Audience Network for all LinkedIn retargeting cohort campaigns.
This will prevent LinkedIn from serving your ads to people not in your retargeting audiences and outside of the LinkedIn platform.
Create the following campaigns in the LinkedIn Ads campaign manager across whichever timeframes are applicable for your account:
Cohort #1: 30-Day LinkedIn Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (30D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (30D) | Image | Awareness
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (30D) | Video | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (30D) | Carousel | Engagement
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Brand Awareness, Engagement, Video Views
- Conversion focus = Lead Generation or Conversion
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences (layer titles or function if possible):
- All website visitors (30D)
- All company page visitors (30D)
- All document interactions (30D)
- All past event attendees (30D)
- All lead gen form opens and submits (30D)
- All single-image ad interactions (30D)
- All 25-97% video viewers (30D)
- All closed lost contacts (30D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Maximize delivery
- Conversion focus = Manual CPC
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial)
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Cohort #2: 90-Day LinkedIn Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (90D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (90D) | Image | Awareness
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (90D) | Video | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (90D) | Carousel | Engagement
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (90D) | Image | Awareness
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Brand Awareness, Engagement, Video Views
- Conversion focus = Lead Generation or Conversion
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences (layer titles or function if possible):
- All website visitors (90D)
- All company page visitors (90D)
- All document interactions (90D)
- All past event attendees (90D)
- All lead gen form opens and submits (90D)
- All single-image ad interactions (90D)
- All 25-97% video viewers (90D)
- All closed lost contacts (90D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Maximize delivery
- Conversion focus = Manual CPC
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
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Cohort #3: 180-Day LinkedIn Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (180D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (180D) | Image | Awareness
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (180D) | Video | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (180D) | Carousel | Engagement
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (180D) | Image | Awareness
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Brand Awareness, Engagement, Video Views
- Conversion focus = Lead Generation or Conversion
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences (layer titles or function if possible):
- All website visitors (180D)
- All company page visitors (180D)
- All document interactions (180D)
- All past event attendees (180D)
- All lead gen form opens and submits (180D)
- All single-image ad interactions (180D)
- All 25-97% video viewers (180D)
- All closed lost contacts (180D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Maximize delivery
- Conversion focus = Manual CPC
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
Optional: 30-Day LinkedIn Offer Bouncers Campaign
If you have the audience size available creating an offer bouncer campaign that shows personalized creative to folks who visited your intent pages and didn’t convert is worth testing.
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | {Offer Name Bouncers} (30D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | Demo | Demo Page Bouncers (30D) | Conversation | Lead Gen
Recommended Objectives:
- Conversion focus = Lead Generation or Conversion
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences (layer titles or function if possible):
- All pricing, demo, trial, and case study bouncers
- All meeting no-shows
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Conversion focus = Manual CPC
Ads: Offers
How to Build Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Retargeting Campaigns:
Highly recommend selecting manual placements of feeds and stories for Facebook & Instagram with creative in the correct dimensions to prevent your ads from appearing in the wrong formats.
Also don’t recommend delivering on the Audience Network or Video Feeds based on our past results, and make sure to not to run on Reels unless you have unique creative for that placement.
Always make sure your creative matches the placement it appears for.
Create the following campaigns in the Meta Ads campaign manager across whichever timeframes are applicable for your account:
Cohort #1: 30-Day Meta Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (30D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (30D) | Image | Awareness
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (30D) | Video | Sales
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (30D) | Carousel | Traffic
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Awareness, Traffic, Engagement
- Conversion focus = Leads or Sales
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (30D)
- All Facebook page visitors (30D)
- All Instagram page visitors (30D)
- All past event attendees (30D)
- All lead gen form opens and submits (30D)
- All 25-95% video viewers (30D)
- All closed lost contacts (30D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Maximize reach of ads, link clicks, engagement, or views
- Conversion focus = Maximize number of conversions or leads
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial)
Cohort #2: 90-Day Meta Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (90D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (90D) | Image | Awareness
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (90D) | Video | Sales
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (90D) | Carousel | Traffic
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (90D) | Image | Engagement
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Awareness, Traffic, Engagement
- Conversion focus = Leads or Sales
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (90D)
- All Facebook page visitors (90D)
- All Instagram page visitors (90D)
- All past event attendees (90D)
- All lead gen form opens and submits (90D)
- All 25-95% video viewers (90D)
- All closed lost contacts (90D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Maximize reach of ads, link clicks, engagement, or views
- Conversion focus = Maximize number of conversions or leads
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
Cohort #3: 180-Day Meta Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (180D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (180D) | Image | Awareness
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (180D) | Video | Sales
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (180D) | Carousel | Traffic
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (180D) | Image | Engagement
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Awareness, Traffic, Engagement
- Conversion focus = Leads or Sales
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (180D)
- All Facebook page visitors (180D)
- All Instagram page visitors (180D)
- All past event attendees (180D)
- All lead gen form opens and submits (180D)
- All 25-95% video viewers (180D)
- All closed lost contacts (180D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Maximize reach of ads, link clicks, engagement, or views
- Conversion focus = Maximize number of conversions or leads
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
Optional: 30-Day Meta Offer Bouncers Campaign
If you have the audience size available creating an offer bouncer campaign that shows personalized creative to folks who visited your intent pages and didn’t convert is worth testing.
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | {Offer Name Bouncers} (30D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | Demo | Demo Page Bouncers (30D) | Image | Leads
Recommended Objectives:
- Conversion focus = Leads or Sales
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All pricing, demo, trial, and case study bouncers
- All meeting no-shows
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Conversion focus = Maximize number of conversions or leads
Ads: Offers
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How to Build X (Twitter) Retargeting Campaigns:
With X (Twitter) we don’t have the ability to filter by time frame so we’ll create the following campaigns in the ads manager:
Cohort #1: All Time (Twitter) Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (All Time) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (All Time) | Image | Reach
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (All Time) | Video | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (All Time) | Carousel | Engagement
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (All Time) | Image | Reach
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Reach, Video Views, Engagement, Website Traffic
- Conversion focus = Conversions or Keywords
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (All Time)
- All 50-100% video viewers (All Time)
- People who saw your tweets (All Time)
- Followers of your X (Twitter) profile (All Time)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content or conversion focus = Autobid
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
Optional: All Time X (Twitter) Offer Bouncers Campaign
If you have the audience size available creating an offer bouncer campaign that shows personalized creative to folks who visited your intent pages and didn’t convert is worth testing.
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | {Offer Name Bouncers} (All Time) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | Demo | Demo Page Bouncers (All Time) | Image | Conversions
Recommended Objectives:
- Conversion focus = Conversions or Keywords
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All pricing, demo, trial, and case study bouncers
- All meeting no-shows
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content or conversion focus = Autobid
Ads: Offers
How to Build YouTube Retargeting Campaigns:
Create the following campaigns in the YouTube Ads campaign manager across whichever timeframes are applicable for your account:
Cohort #1: 30-Day YouTube Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (30D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (30D) | In-Stream | Views
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (30D) | In-Stream | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (30D) | In-Stream | Views
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Get views
- Conversion focus = Drive conversions
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (30D)
- All YouTube video viewers (30D)
- All YouTube subscribers (30D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Max CPV
- Conversion focus = Maximize conversions
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial)
Cohort #2: 90-Day YouTube Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (90D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (90D) | In-Stream | Views
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (90D) | In-Stream | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (90D) | In-Stream | Views
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (90D) | In-Stream | Views
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Get views
- Conversion focus = Drive conversions
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (90D)
- All YouTube video viewers (90D)
- All YouTube subscribers (90D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Max CPV
- Conversion focus = Maximize conversions
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
Cohort #3: 180-Day YouTube Retargeting
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | Remarketing (180D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | PM Content | Remarketing (180D) | In-Stream | Views
- EX: USA | Demo | Remarketing (180D) | In-Stream | Conversions
- EX: USA | Social Proof | Remarketing (180D) | In-Stream | Views
- EX: USA | Thought Leadership | Remarketing (180D) | In-Stream | Views
Recommended Objectives:
- Content focus = Get views
- Conversion focus = Drive conversions
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences:
- All website visitors (180D)
- All YouTube video viewers (180D)
- All YouTube subscribers (180D)
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Content focus = Max CPV
- Conversion focus = Maximize conversions
Ads: Product marketing content, social proof, offers (ex: Demo, Trial), thought leadership
Optional: 30-Day YouTube Offer Bouncers Campaign
If you have the audience size available creating an offer bouncer campaign that shows personalized creative to folks who visited your intent pages and didn’t convert is worth testing.
Campaign Name: {Location} | {Offer} | {Offer Name Bouncers} (30D) | {Ad Type} | {Objective}
- EX: USA | Demo | Demo Page Bouncers (30D) | In-Stream | Conversions
Recommended Objectives:
- Conversion focus = Drive conversions
Recommended Daily Budget: $25-$100/day
Recommended Audiences (layer titles or function if possible):
- All pricing, demo, trial & case study visits
Recommended Bid Strategies:
- Conversion focus = Maximize conversions
Ads: Offers
B2B Retargeting FAQ
There’s no shortage of questions around implementing successful retargeting campaigns.
We completely understand the complexity (especially when it’s your first time building them).
Here’s 5 of the most common retargeting questions we hear from clients:
How long does it take to build a retargeting audience?
- 7-30+ days depending on monthly engagement or traffic volumes for the retargeting segment you’re trying to build (ex: website visits, video views, post engagement, etc..)
How many channels should you advertise on?
- Focus on one advertising channel at a time when you have a limited budget (ex: < $3,000/month) master it and then expand to other channels over time.
How do you calculate your starting retargeting budget?
- $25-$100/day is a general rule of thumb you can follow as it’s enough to support the average costs per platform and coverage for small retargeting audiences when starting out.
How does retargeting work?
- Leveraging first party and third party data ad platforms are able to track user behavior in-app and out of platform allowing you to remarket to them based on past behavior.
How often do you need to refresh creatives for retargeting?
- A smaller audience size (ex: < 50,000) typically requires more frequent creative refreshes vs a larger one (ex: > 50,000) to prevent ad fatigue. At minimum you should aim to refresh ad creatives on a monthly basis to stay ahead of ad fatigue.
Launch Checklist
We’ve covered quite a bit in this blueprint!
Here’s a checklist we put together to help you easily reference when launching your retargeting campaigns to make sure you don’t forget anything and avoid common pitfalls.
- LinkedIn Retargeting: Launch Checklist
- Meta Retargeting: Launch Checklist
- X (Twitter) Retargeting: Launch Checklist
- YouTube Retargeting: Launch Checklist
Conclusion & Free Courses
Hope you received a tremendous amount of value from the blueprint! 🎉
If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.
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• Scale their ideas
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Insider Benchmarks From $1,041,978 In YouTube Ads Cost Data
If you’ve ever asked yourself:
- How much does YouTube Ads cost?
- What’s a good view rate for YouTube Ads?
- What’s a good CTR for YouTube Ads?
We analyzed $1,041,978 In YouTube Ads data from 2023-2024 to find the answers.
Now It’s important to stress that benchmarks and stats should not be seen as law.
Use these benchmarks and stats as helpful starting point for perspective.
But ultimately you should hold yourself accountable to your own results.
The data set is comprised of the following sample:
- Companies with > $10,000 in YouTube spend
- Historical performance from 2023-2024
- 100% B2B SaaS organizations
For my fellow nerds 🤓 you can review and play with the anonymized data set here <<
Let’s jump into the insights!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- How much does YouTube Ads cost?
- Average Cost Per Click (CPC)
- Average Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
- What’s a good view rate for YouTube Ads?
- What’s a good CTR for YouTube Ads?
- Additional Resources
How Much Does YouTube Ads Cost?
Average Cost Per View (CPV)
The average cost per view for YouTube in-stream ads is $0.05, ranging from $0.01-$0.19.
A view is only counted if someone watches at least 30 seconds of your video.
Average Cost Per Click (CPC)
The average cost per click for YouTube Ads is $3.56, ranging from $0.05 - $10.71.
Average Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
The average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for YouTube Ads is $9, ranging from $1 - $23.
What’s a Good View Rate for YouTube Ads?
The average view rate for YouTube in-stream ads is 29.24%, ranging from 3.47% - 51.39%.
What’s a Good CTR for YouTube Ads?
The average clickthrough rate for YouTube in-stream ads is 0.51%, ranging from 0.09% - 1.64%.
Additional Resources
If you’re looking to uplevel your paid advertising skill set check out our free on-demand courses and join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their skill sets.
If you want to dive deeper into B2B advertising check out some of our other top articles:
- B2B Advertising in 2024: The Definitive Guide
- How to Build a Multichannel B2B Retargeting Strategy (Step-By-Step)
- How to get LinkedIn-like Targeting with YouTube Ads for B2B
Hope these benchmarks and stats gave you some insight on YouTube Ads.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article benchmarks should only be used as a starting point.
Your performance and beating your current benchmarks is ultimately all that matters most.
People Also Ask
How can I optimize my YouTube Ads to achieve a lower Cost Per View (CPV)?
To reduce CPV, focus on creating engaging content that resonates with your target audience. Utilize precise targeting options to reach viewers more likely to engage with your ad, and experiment with different ad formats to determine which yields the best performance.
What factors influence the Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) for YouTube Ads?
CPM is affected by factors including audience demographics, geographic location, industry competition, and seasonal demand. Understanding these elements can help in strategizing your ad placements and budgeting effectively.
How does the bidding strategy impact the overall cost of YouTube Ads?
Choosing between bidding strategies like Cost-Per-View (CPV) and Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions (CPM) can significantly influence ad costs. Selecting a strategy that aligns with your campaign objectives—whether focusing on views or impressions—can optimize spending.
What are some best practices for achieving a higher click-through rate (CTR) on YouTube Ads?
Enhance CTR by crafting compelling ad creatives with clear calls-to-action, ensuring relevance to the target audience, and conducting A/B testing to refine ad elements. Monitoring performance metrics allows for continuous optimization.
How can I effectively measure the return on investment (ROI) for my YouTube Ad campaigns?
Calculate ROI by comparing the revenue generated from the ad campaign to the total ad spend. Utilize tracking tools to monitor conversions and assess the profitability of your campaigns, adjusting strategies as needed to improve outcomes.
14 Powerful LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad Strategies Worth Testing
Everyone knows that B2B buying has changed.
People trust people more than they trust companies, making thought leadership ads more important than ever before.
If you’re looking to use thought leader ads in your LinkedIn ad strategy but aren’t sure how to get started, this article is for you.
Here are 14 thought leader ad plays and examples you can test.
Let’s jump into it! 👇
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 customers
- 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
Play #1: Announce new product features, integrations, and partnerships
🔑 to success: Trust your audience. Target the experts and speak to them like they’re experts. Show them all the cool things they’ll be able to achieve with your product.
Example 1: Dreamdata
Example 2: Gong
Example 3: UserGems
Example 4: Dreamdata
Play #2: Highlight the main problem your product solves + the solution it provides
🔑 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 can’t, you need to simplify your messaging.
Example 1: Apollo
Play #3: Highlight a case study featuring your own company
🔑 to success: Show how your team is using YOUR tool to reach YOUR goals – your company can serve as its own case study.
Example 1: UserGems
Example 2: Apollo
Example 3: Sendoso
Example 4: Salesloft
Play #4: Highlight a case study featuring one of your customers
🔑 to success: Clearly articulate how you’ve been helping an existing customer achieve their goals.
Example 1: Lavender
Example 2: Loxo
Play #5: Generate buzz before attending an in-person event
🔑 to success: Use an ABM list of attendees or ABM list of companies + key job functions to make sure you’re getting in front of the right people.
Example 1: HockeyStack
Play #6: Stay top of mind after an event
🔑 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 isn’t to push your product, but to keep raising awareness within key accounts.
Example 1: Sendoso
Play #7: Promote your own event
🔑 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 – speakers will feel supported and your event will get more registrations.
Example 1: Gleanin
Example 2: Gleanin
Play #8: Promote an upcoming webinar
🔑 to success: Clearly highlight the value of the webinar for your audience – what will they learn by attending? Make sure to tag the speakers to generate more interest.
Example 1: Sendoso
Example 2: Copy ai
Example 3: DoWhatWorks
Play #9: Promote your newsletter
🔑 to success: Keep it simple & highlight what people will get out of subscribing.
Example 1: Motion
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Play #10: Celebrate customer wins
🔑 to success: Highlight customers when they win an award or achieve something big. This strategy provides social proof to help with prospecting efforts, but it’s also a great retention play, as it makes existing clients feel supported.
Example 1: Sendoso
Example 2: Lavender
Play #11: Demo different use cases of your product
🔑 to success: Have a senior leader – from your own company or one of your customers – educate prospects on how they can use your product to achieve their business goals.
Example 1: Dreamdata
Example 2: Clay
Example 3: Clay
Play #12: Share long-form content with insights that your ICP would be interested in
🔑 to success: Don’t tell everyone how great your product is – 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.
Example 1: HockeyStack
Play #13: Provide practical advice based on insights from your platform
🔑 to success: Don’t 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 leader’s recommendations AND they’ll also relate the thought leader’s content to your organization (and hopefully be interested in learning more).
Example 1: Lavender
Play #14: Leverage social proof from existing customers
🔑 to success: Promote content from respected customers within your target industry highlighting the use cases and overall impact of your product.
Example 1: UserGems
Example 2: Clay
Putting LinkedIn Thought Leader ads into action
If you’re excited about thought leadership ads and want to start running them right away, here’s what I would recommend:
1. Find a few people at your organization that would be great thought leaders. They don’t need to be influencers with 50K followers – they simply need to have a deep understanding of your product and your ICP (bonus if they also enjoy writing).
2. Once you’ve selected your thought leaders, choose the top 3 strategies from this playbook that you’d like to begin with. I don’t recommend starting with all 14 strategies at once, since that could get pretty overwhelming.
3. Have your thought leaders post a few times per month and boost their content to your ICP.
That’s all you need to get started.
P.S.
If you’re starting out with thought leadership ads, I recommend using the engagement objective to build your retargeting audiences in a cost-effective way.
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.
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- Foundations For LinkedIn Ads Success
- Measurement: Tracking & Key Principles
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🎯 B2B LinkedIn Ads 102 - The Blueprint for LinkedIn Ads Optimization
- Monitoring: How To Spot Performance Trends
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- Concepts of Scaling
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People Also Ask
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. 
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 don’t need to be influencers with large followings; authenticity and expertise are key. 
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. 
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. 
What are some best practices for creating effective LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?
Ensure the content is authentic and aligns with the thought leader’s voice. Optimize the individual’s 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 audience’s next steps.
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?
I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandon Alisoglu who’s achieved a 300% increase in demo bookings for B2B companies while maintaining a 50% SQL rate from ABM campaigns.
Here’s Brandon’s top 10 tips & tactics to maximize return on effort (ROE) for your ABM ads.
(In no particular order, they all matter)
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 - Don’t Skip Google
- Conclusion
- Resources for mastering B2B advertising
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.
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.
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.
If a company is too small to segment effectively based on these criteria, the impact of a tailored ABM approach may be diminished.
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.
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.
Consider more generalized targeted advertising strategies for smaller accounts that do not justify a full ABM approach.
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.
Identifying the Annual Contract Value (ACV) Benchmark
An ACV of around $20,000 is generally seen as a threshold where ABM becomes viable.
This benchmark suggests that the deal size is significant enough to warrant the detailed and personalized marketing efforts required in ABM.
Another practical measure is whether the contract value requires CFO approval.
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.
The idea here is to build a meaningful relationship with key accounts.
In the same way, you wouldn't ask for a hand in marriage on the first date, successful B2B marketers shouldn’t ask prospects to talk to sales unless they've had some interaction before.
The Importance of Educating and Engaging
The early stages of ABM should center around education and awareness.
Allow targeted accounts to familiarize themselves with your brand and value propositions.
This foundational phase is important for setting the stage for deeper engagement.
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.
Instead, nurturing relationships over time fosters trust and increases the likelihood of conversion when the account is ready.
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.
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 engagement
- Email interactions
- Webinar attendees
For accounts that show clear signs of being in-market or closer to the decision stage, tailor your approach to convert these opportunities.
This can involve more direct calls to action, such as personalized demo invitations and running incentivized offers.
If your company is product-led, this would be a good time to offer free trials.
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.
This information equips sales teams with the required data to personalize their outreach effectively and accelerate the sales process.
Building & Targeting Prospect
Compile data on prospect activities, including the specific ads they clicked, pages they visited, or any communications they have sent.
This dossier should act as a dynamic document that sales teams can use to personalize their approaches.
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.
Marketers can also use this data to launch 1:1 campaigns featuring social proof and objection handling.
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.
You can reduce the overall cost by dynamically excluding any account that has contacted sales.
Implementation Tips for Effective ABM
- 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.
- Once these engaged accounts are listed, segment them for targeted campaigns that address their specific stages in the buyer’s journey.
This segmentation allows you to apply more aggressive sales tactics appropriately while continuing to nurture less-ready accounts with educational content.
- Distribute content that educates and engages at various stages of the customer journey.
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.
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.
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.
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.
By providing a range of topics and formats—from whitepapers and case studies to webinars and interactive tools—you allow prospects to self-select the content that most resonates with them.
Use the insights from observed interactions to refine your understanding of what each prospect cares about.
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.
Integrating Technology for Efficiency
While managing this level of personalized engagement can become complex, employing an ABM platform can streamline the process.
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.
Pro tip:
Before fully investing in an expensive ABM tech stack, validate your strategy with simpler tools or minimal setups to prove its effectiveness.
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?"
Every action should educate, nurture, or capture leads, to bring you closer to revenue.
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 client’s team.
The key is to articulate what these benefits mean in the context of the customer’s specific business challenges and goals.
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.
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?
These outcomes are what will truly capture the interest of decision-makers.
By consistently focusing on the "so what?" of your actions and messaging, you can lift your ABM efforts from functional to transformational.
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.
Tip #6 - Drilling Into Personas & Messaging
Within any given company, different levels of management and seniority have distinct priorities and challenges.
For example, C-suite executives might focus on strategic growth and scalability, directors on operational efficiency, and managers on tactical execution.
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.
Strategies for Effective A/B Testing
Implement continuous A/B testing across your campaigns to determine which messages resonate best with each persona.
Segment your target audience by role and seniority, and tailor your messages accordingly.
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.
In cases where the target company might not be large enough to segment by job titles or seniority due to LinkedIn’s filtering limitations, marketers need to think creatively about how to approach personalization and segmentation.
Alternative Segmentation Strategies:
- Use Broad Segments:
Instead of job titles, consider using job function and seniority or even adding member skills into the mix.
- Focus on Common Pain Points:
Leverage the common challenges or objectives identified in smaller organizations.
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.
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.
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.
Pro tip:
Leverage Experimentation and Documentation:
Incorporate a structured approach to experimentation.
Try out new ideas on a small scale to assess their effectiveness before rolling them out broadly.
Keep detailed records of your experiments, including:
- Hypotheses
- Execution details
- Outcomes.
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.
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.
Leveraging Design Templates
Design templates allow marketers to quickly generate new versions of ads or content without starting from scratch each time.
By standardizing the design elements, teams can focus on tweaking the messaging and content to better align with the target audience’s evolving preferences.
Using templates also ensures that all materials produced are aligned with the brand’s visual identity and messaging guidelines.
Effective Use of Templates and Documentation
Develop a range of design templates for different types of content and ads.
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.
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 - Don’t 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.
By focusing on these queries, you can position your company as a solution provider right at the moment of need, effectively answering potential customers’ questions through targeted ads.
Often, niche or less competitive keywords related to specific industry questions or problems can be much cheaper than more general, high-intent keywords.
For example, targeting a specific industry debate or a lesser-known feature comparison can capture relevant traffic at a significantly lower cost.
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 Ads
- 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.
This could be in the form of blog posts, FAQs, or educational articles.
- Use the identified keywords to set up Google Ads campaigns.
Start with a lower budget to test the effectiveness of your keywords and ads.
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.
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.
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.
Bookmark this blog as your comprehensive guide for your next ABM efforts to make sure your strategies align with the overall company goal.
If you’d like to reach out or get more weekly tips, please connect with Brandon via Linkedin.
Resources for mastering B2B advertising
If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion.
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We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:
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Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)
People Also Ask
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
We’ll dissect Google Ads from a 10,000 foot view in this guide.
So you can walk away knowing:
- What is Google Ads?
- Is your ideal B2B buyer searching on Google?
- How can you get your ad seen on the top of Google?
- How much does Google Ads cost?
So whether you’re a SaaS founder, performance marketer, or in-house marketer looking to:
- Scale demo and trial requests for your new B2B SaaS startup
- Run Google ads for clients or launch campaigns internally
- Work with freelancers or agencies running your Google Ads
It all starts here with the fundamentals, so let’s dive in! 👇
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What is Google Ads?
- 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?
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is an auction place.
Or as I like to think about it, a battleground.
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.
Is Your Ideal B2B Buyer Searching on Google?
Depending on the niche you’re in Google may or may not make sense.
You can create a free Google Ads account and leverage the Keyword Planner to validate demand.
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 “email marketing software” there is:
- 1,000 - 10,000 average monthly searches
- $49.75 top of page bid estimate
If your ideal keyword has > 100 searches per month, Google can be a worthwhile return on effort.
How Much Does Google Ads Cost?
Before diving into how much does Google Ads cost?
With Google Ads you’re only charged on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.
Meaning you only pay Google if someone clicks your ad, so unlike traditional advertising you’re not being locked into a fixed contract and paying just for eyeballs (aka impressions).
So in short if someone sees your Google Ad and doesn’t click, you won’t pay.
This is what makes Google Ads so attractive, but extremely competitive.
Here’s two ways to find out how much Google Ads will cost for your ideal keywords:
1/ Review Top of Page Bid Estimates in the Google Ads Keyword Planner
As shown in the previous step you can leverage the Keyword Planner to find bid estimates.
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.
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.
2/ Launch a Pilot Campaign for $100
Ultimately you’ll never know your real cost per click prices until launching.
If you’re seriously considering Google Ads I recommend launching a pilot campaign for $100.
The whole objective of this campaign is to understand; what is my REAL cost per click price?
Here’s a simple cheat sheet for setting up this campaign:
- 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.
How to Forecast Your Google Ads Budget
Once you know the following:
- Your quarterly sales goal
- Average cost per click
- Opportunity win rate
- Revenue per sale
You can easily forecast a daily, monthly, and quarterly budget using our Google Ads Budget Calculator based on worst, moderate, and best case scenarios.
Give it a look, there’s a video tutorial on the page for you explaining the process.
Why is Google Ads So Powerful?
Intention Is what makes search advertising so powerful 🤝
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.
Given your industry search volume will vary dramatically and it can become hard to scale.
The key is to win Google’s Ad Rank game to offset competitors and rising click prices.
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 you’re 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.
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).
If after reading this article you believe Google Ads is worth further exploration.
Build on this fundamental understanding of Google Ads for B2B.
Hope you found this useful!
From Clicks to Conversions: Master Google Ads for B2B 🔥
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:
⚙️ 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
🎯 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
🚀 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
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 😂)
People Also Ask
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.
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.
How can I leverage Google’s 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.
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.
How can I ensure compliance with Google’s advertising policies in B2B campaigns?
Regularly review Google’s 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.
B2B vs B2C Advertising: 8 Differences & Examples You Need To Know
Hey there new B2B marketer!
Diving into the world of B2B advertising can be confusing and overwhelming.
In this article I’m going to walk you through 8 differences between B2B & B2C you need to know.
This article is part of our B2B learning track so if you’re serious about learning B2B advertising you’re in the right place!
Let’s dive into it 👏
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
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.
The Cost of The Product
The first key difference between B2B and B2C is the cost of the product.
B2B marketers call this the average deal size or average contract value depending on what is sold.
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.
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.
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.
I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing 🤣
Smaller Audience Sizes
With B2B advertising programs, you’ll be targeting smaller audiences across ad channels.
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 you’ll be reaching a much more targeted audience, and you may be dealing with a specific budget – the ad channels you decide to use may look different than your B2C advertising counterparts.
It all comes down to where your audience lives and breathes, digitally.
Believe me, I’ve 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 (well…unless you’re Salesforce!)
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.
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.
Team Sport, Not Individual
B2B advertising requires strategic alignment across multiple teams including sales, marketing, and customer success departments to support the buyer’s journey and close deals more effectively.
Given the fact that it’s not just about reaching a specific individual but also a company.
This increases the importance and complexity of working across teams.
Go Further Than Just The First Conversion
The B2B sales processes are more complex and there's more buyers involved.
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!
Connect with me on LinkedIn, and let’s keep the conversation going.
You can also visit my website here for more valuable content.
Jumpstart Your B2B Marketing Career
If you’re 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.
- Module 1: You’ll get a crash course in the B2Bverse and master terminology, sales processes, and working across teams.
- Module 2: You’ll learn how to become your customers' psychologists and understand them deeply through buyer personas that allow you to craft effective messaging.
- Module 3: You’ll master the B2B funnel and learn how to think like a CEO to identify performance bottlenecks and convert more leads into revenue.
- Module 4: You’ll 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.
This course was designed with absolute beginners in mind.
Accelerate your learning curve and start the course today for free.
People Also Ask
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.
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.
How do pricing strategies vary between B2B and B2C businesses?
B2B pricing often involves negotiation, volume discounts, and customized quotes based on the client’s 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.
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 👋
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.
Wax on, wax off style – but with less wax and more wisdom!
Let’s dive into it.
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 Persona’s into Ad Targeting
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.
It's critical because these personas are your roadmap – they guide every marketing punch and kick you make.
If you don’t do this, your marketing efforts might be as off-target as Daniel-san trying to catch a fly with chopsticks on his first try.
We're talking about misdirected resources and messaging that misses the mark, leaving your ROI down and out — so let's break it down, Karate Kid style:
What is a persona? It’s the semi-fictional characters that make up your target audience. It’s a great way to unpack who makes up your ideal customer profiles, called an “ICP”
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 – 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.
Knowing what these personas are looking for will help you tailor your messaging to make your ads stand out.
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? → LinkedIn and financial blogs
Knowing this, you’d 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
There’s 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)
- Behavioral Segmentation
- Fine tune your messaging based on your potential customers Jobs To Be Done, decision-making process, and more.
Within each segmentation, there’s key information you should collect to build your personas which will ultimately inform your advertising channel strategy, targeting, and messaging.
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.
Let’s dive into the five segmentations in greater detail.
The Five B2B Buyer Persona Segmentations:
Demographic
Target potential customer based on their role
- Role: Identify the job title and role they’re in and what level in their organizations they fall (individual contributor, middle management, or in the C-suite – 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, Manufacturing
- Company Employee Size: ex: 500 - 1,000 employees
- 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 Kingdom
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 technologies
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 decision
- 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 Persona’s into Ad Targeting
After completing the B2B Buyer Persona template you should be very clear on who you’re going after.
Now you’ll want to review your persona’s segmentation and find possible targeting opportunities in the platforms you’re considering advertising on – your options will vary greatly by channel.
Create a draft campaign in your ad platform of choice and review all of the audience targeting options available – sometimes you’ll need to get creative! (example below of LinkedIn Ads).
And that my advertising friends is your way to craft a buyer persona you can use to identify the audiences you’ll be targeting in your B2B advertising.
Hope you found this article useful!
Connect with me on LinkedIn, and let’s keep the conversation going.
You can also visit my website here for more valuable content.
Jumpstart Your B2B Marketing Career
If you’re 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.
- Module 1: You’ll get a crash course in the B2Bverse and master terminology, sales processes, and working across teams.
- Module 2: You’ll learn how to become your customers' psychologists and understand them deeply through buyer personas that allow you to craft effective messaging.
- Module 3: You’ll master the B2B funnel and learn how to think like a CEO to identify performance bottlenecks and convert more leads into revenue.
- Module 4: You’ll 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.
This course was designed with absolute beginners in mind.
Accelerate your learning curve and start the course today for free.
People Also Ask
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
5 Unconventional Ways to Use The LinkedIn Ads Library
Most marketers know the LinkedIn Ads library exists.
And the basics of how to use it (ex: search a competitor and voila you’ll see their ads 🪄)
You’re going to go beyond the basics in this article and learn.
5 unconventional ways experts use the library to uncover insights and inspiration.
Let’s dive into it 👇
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.
Here’s 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.
- From here you can browse all available variations based on your filters 🎉
If you don’t see any conversation ad messages you’ll likely need to adjust your filters or it’s possible your competitors or the relevant brands you’re researching aren’t actively testing this ad format.
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.
We’ve seen advertising outside of the English language a reduction in costs by up to 70%.
If you have the potential to advertise outside of English it’s definitely worth testing.
Here’s 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 isn’t in your primary language, example below is an ad in German).
- Click view details on the ad to identify the targeted locations.
Write down any interesting target countries and/or languages your competitors are targeting that you might consider reaching with localization campaigns.
Unconventional Way #3: Studying Competitive Offers
Let’s say you’re a B2B SaaS company looking to drive more demo requests.
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.
The same is true if we’re talking about free trials, webinar registrations, ebook downloads, and anything else you can think of.
Here’s 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.
- You can repeat this process and narrow down your filters for further granularity.
Unconventional Way #4: Creative Concept Discovery
Most advertisers using the library will just look at the ad examples provided and not dig much further.
Instead what you should do is look for patterns around creative concepts to understand your competitors creative strategy (or the relevant brand in question).
Creative concept = the format of which the creatives are designed off
Here’s 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 it’s significant you might want to consider testing a similar concept.
Use your best judgement when labelling concepts and look for patterns.
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.
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).
With this valuable information you can tear down each page for inspiration.
Hope you found this article useful!
See you in the next article or one of our free courses!
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People Also Ask
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.
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 competitors’ offers, creative approaches, and audience engagement tactics.
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 doesn’t reveal performance metrics like click-through rates or conversions. It’s best used for inspiration and competitor research.
Can I track changes in competitors’ ad strategies over time using the LinkedIn Ads Library?
Yes, by regularly checking competitors’ ads, you can observe shifts in their messaging, offers, and formats, helping you adapt your campaigns to stay competitive.
How does the LinkedIn Ads Library compare to other ad libraries, like Meta or Google’s?
LinkedIn’s library focuses on professional audiences, showcasing ads tailored for B2B and career-focused messaging. Meta’s library offers broader consumer insights, while Google’s is keyword-centric. Choose based on your campaign goals.
