I don’t need to be the one to tell you this, but B2B tech companies have it hard when it comes to getting their advertising to perform.

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They’ve got complicated products. And sophisticated audiences (who are all but totally allergic to buzzwords and fluff). And together, they make communicating your company or product’s value super hard.

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Having helped countless B2B companies over the past 9 years I’ve learned more than a thing or two about writing copy for these companies. 

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And today I’m sharing with you my top 10 copywriting tips – tips you can use right away (literally, try them out after you finish reading this) to evaluate your existing ad campaigns and improve their performance, stat.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Tip #1: Sell The Click, Not The Product
• Tip #2: Take Something Out Of Your Ad Instead Of Putting More In
• Tip #3: Write First, Edit Later
• Tip #4: Remember How People Interact With Ads
• Tip #5: Use The Slippery Slope
• Tip #6: Don’t Be Afraid to Try Long Copy
• Tip #7: Try to Use Your Voice of Customer As Much As Possible
• Tip #8: Clear Before Clever
• Tip #9: Tie Benefits Back to Something Realistic
• Tip #10: Make Sure Your Copy Passes the “So What” Test

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Tip #1: Sell The Click, Not The Product

The first tip is more of a mindset shift: remind yourself that your ad is selling the click, not the product (as a whole). 

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Prospects don’t see your ad in isolation. They see it in the context of everything else that happens throughout their day, AND in the context of everything else they see on LinkedIn, Google, Facebook or whichever platform your ad is served to them. So unlike an ecom ad, the goal of your ad here is to build excitement and anticipation. You want your prospect to be inspired enough to click on the ad and go where they can learn more about what you have to offer. 

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This still applies even if you’re providing a free trial, or something else that is free.

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Because if you have an average contract value of $50,000-$100,000/year your prospect is NOT going to click on your ad and buy right away. 

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Instead focus on giving the prospect something – a tip, an idea, an emotional twinge – that will motivate them to click.

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This could be through: 

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• The  messaging you use (make sure you’re talking about how you solve business problems, not just “hey our product is really cool”)
• The type of call-to-action (CTA) (making sure it’s not too pushy for people who didn’t know you existed until now)
• The visual in your ad creative (making sure it hits an emotional soft spot)

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Remember: You can always go into more depth on the landing page. But that won’t happen if your prospect doesn’t click through in the first place. 

Tip #2: Take Something Out Of Your Ad Instead Of Putting More In

Focus on getting one really memorable takeaway across in your ad copy. 

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Writing copy by committee is never a great strategy and it’s easy to end up with ads that are saying so many different things that the prospect won’t take away any one thing in particular. 

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Let’s say your product’s main value propositions are: it’s fast, it’s easy to use, and it saves money. 

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Instead of stuffing all of that information into the same ad, I would write 3 variations:

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• Ad Variation 1: Fast 
• Ad Variation 2: Easy
• Ad Variation 3: Saves Money

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Test each message separately so you can see which performs better AND so the prospect can remember your core value proposition. 

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Pro tip: you can say the same message 1,000 different times or more by repurposing the way you communicate that message to the market through different creatives, ad types, and copy. 

Tip #3: Write First, Edit Later

There are so many times when we sit down to try to write an ad and it’s really hard.

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First get all your thoughts, ideas, and concepts out in a document, then let it sit for a couple of hours, and finally go back to it with fresh eyes.  

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If you just try to write it in one session it’s going to be messy and you’ll spend forever tweaking it. 

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The idea is that you get to write a really stupid first draft. But you KNOW that it’s going to be bad. So that gives you the chance to get the bad ideas out to make way for the good stuff. Your goal is to come back later to edit and make it better. 

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I’ve lost count of how many times my first line in the body copy becomes my headline or other parts of my copy shift places with each other because they’re better suited for a different part of the ad. But I’m only able to make these connections with fresh eyes. 

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Pro tip: you can use ChatGPT for brainstorming but even still you need to let the copy sit. Give yourself time to process it so you can edit it and not just run with it at face value.

Tip #4: Remember How People Interact With Ads

Each element of your ad is a part of the puzzle. 

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People will stop the scroll because the creative caught them. Then they'll look at the headline. Then they go up and read the body copy. And finally they go back down to the headline before clicking.

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The prospect's eyes are going all over the place which means you can’t afford to have copy that’s disjointed.

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The headline leads into the body copy and should support the creative. And the body copy should support the headline. All the elements have to work together. 

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As Eugene Schwartz once said “copy is not written, it’s assembled".

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Treat each element of your ad with equal importance and make sure it makes sense when you look at it from the eyes of your prospect.

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Pro tip: you can’t create ads in isolation, you need your designer and copywriter working together to ensure each variable in your ad works together (headline, body copy, creative).

Tip #5: Use The Slippery Slope

Your first line of copy should get the reader excited to read the second line. The second line should motivate the reader to read the third line. And so on. Direct marketer Joseph Sugarman calls this the “slippery slope”. It makes sure your ad is interesting to read and that the ideas inside it are easy to digest.

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The best way to check and test your messaging for clarity and word choice is to read it out loud. 

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If you’re in the middle of a sentence and you paused for breath, you should place a period.  That will help your sentences flow more naturally one into the other.

Tip #6: Don’t Be Afraid to Try Long Copy

I have a bone to pick with people who say “nobody reads online!” Because of course they don’t – if they don’t have something interesting to read. 

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People binge on Netflix series, video games, novel trilogies, and more for hours in one go. 

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When you have people's attention you can keep sharing with them new details. But you have to earn their attention, first. (Which won’t happen with clickbait.)

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What can you give them in your ad that will make them feel they got value from this interaction, no matter how fleeting it was? 

• Did they learn something new?
• Did you make them feel something?
• Did you make them think for a second?

If you can do at least one of those three things you’ll earn their attention. 

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It’s hard to do this in 150 characters which is why long form copy is so powerful. 

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Don’t be afraid to push up until that 600 character limit if needed. 

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Long copy will also lead to a greater dwell time and provide so much more context and opportunity for you to build motivation so they have a reason to click through. 

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The takeaway here is that people will read your long form ads if it’s interesting to them. But they won’t read even short copy if it’s terrible.

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Side note: When writing ad copy I create 2-3 variations for the headline and the body, usually testing out different lengths (short vs long). 

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Here’s my simple but effective copywriting template I use in Google Docs:

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LinkedIn ads template | Eden Bidani

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Pro tip: it’s easy for ads to get stuck in the same creative loops, don’t forget to brainstorm new creative concepts to test. 

Tip #7: Try to Use Your Voice of Customer As Much As Possible

If no one in the product marketing or CS team is interviewing your customers do this ASAP. 

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Get on a call with them and ask them questions such as: 

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• How do you use the product?
• What is the impact of your product?

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The goal here isn’t to get testimonials, it’s to understand how your customers talk. 

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You’ll walk away knowing the benefits that matter to them and challenges. 

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I’d also recommend talking with sales and asking them what are the top customer objections that prospects say and exactly how they describe it. 

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Using the same words and language your customers use allows you to communicate in their voice. 

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These insights are so powerful that not even ChatGPT can brainstorm this for you. 

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For example I used to work with a company that created $700 work bags and I interviewed a customer that mentioned she used to carry around a “mom bag”.

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What did she mean by that? “A shapeless, old ugly bag.” 

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That word “mom bag” is so unique and reflective of the voice of our customers that using that in our landing page copy instantly resonated and resulted in tremendous lifts in conversion rates. 

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Five customer interviews can be all it takes. 

Tip #8: Clear Before Clever

Jay Abraham once said sometimes the easiest way to sell a horse is to say “horse for sale”. 

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You have a fleeting moment with your prospects engaging with your ads. 

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So even if you have to use specific, complicated terms (for your sophisticated audience) you need to focus on making your copy as clear as possible.

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For example, try to simplify your language as much as possible. Yes, this might result in you using less voice of customer, or using a different brand tone of voice, and other elements of your messaging. But clear will always convert best. 

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Consider the words you are using and find synonyms that imply the same meaning with less cognitive load. 

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John Carlton refers to these as “power words” for example: 

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Sometimes you want to say fast but you should be saying swift. 

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Swift implies a very different connotation than fast. 

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It’s a whole different level of sophistication above “fast” but it’s still a simple word. 

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How would you say this same thing to a friend? Is a great frame to have. 

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Remember to avoid complicated and overdone words like omnichannel 🤮

Tip #9: Tie Benefits Back to Something Realistic

Everyone LOVES to talk about benefits – think: “Grow your business!”, “Transform your workplace!", “Win more customers!”, or “Optimize your life…!” 🙄

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It’s not that it’s not true. They are. But they’re just so high-level and vague people struggle to grasp them.  You need to tie them back to something tangible  – something realistic that your prospects identify with. Otherwise, they just come off as fluff. 

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So make sure the claims you make in your ads are specific. And even better, back up your claims by connecting them to a feature or capability of your product.

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Take the step to connect your benefits back to something realistic. 

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Pro tip: even better than talking about how your benefits connect to something realistic, SHOW PROSPECTS HOW this happens with supporting images or videos. 

Tip #10: Make Sure Your Copy Passes the “So What” Test

You should be totally skeptical about your copy (just like prospects will be). 

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People aren’t stupid — even if they fall victim to clickbait they will bounce from your landing pages. 

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Every time you look at your copy ask yourself so what? And pick it apart to see where it’s fluff. 

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Sit back and look through to see where you’re missing proof points or what can be removed. 

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You’ll be able to find all those tiny things that will throw people off reading your ads. 

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At the end of the day your audience will look at the total sum of your ad (headline, body copy, creative) and if there are elements out of place such as:

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• Run on sentences
• Improper formatting
• Typos and obvious errors

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All of these details will affect whether the audience feels they can trust you with their click. 

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So what allows you a third person frame to find what looks off, and what can be stronger. 

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Pro tip: search for free ad mockup software on Google to find tools you can use to see what your copy will look like to your audience within the platform you’re advertising. 

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Hope you found this article helpful! 👏

‍Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s keep the conversation going. 

And if you’re in need of copywriting assistance check us out at CAPE Agency.

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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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✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

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Working with an advertising agency, freelancer, or consultant?

After the past 12 years working in-house I know what good and bad looks like. 

In this article I’m going to share with you my hard lessons learned on working with these partners. 

And if you’re an agency owner, freelancer, or consultant reading this (take notes!) 📝

These tips are bucketed into four parts: people, product, process, and results.

Let’s dive in! 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Tip #1: Be clear on your communication needs and expectations 
• Tip #2: Decide your meeting cadence
• Tip #3: Get clear on who and what for your tools
• Tip #4: Review your brand foundations
• Tip #5: Make sure your extended team knows the audience targeting
• Tip #6: Define your operational plumbing 
• Tip #7: Share your historical benchmarks
• Tip #8: Be clear on your naming conventions
• Tip #9: Have clear trackable goals 
• Tip #10: Set clear timelines and deliverables

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[process] Tip #1: Be clear on your communication needs and expectations 

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You have to be upfront about this from the beginning. 

Where and how often are the two key questions here:

• Where will we be communicating? (ex: Slack)
• How soon should you expect a response? (ex: within 24 hours)
• How fast can I expect a certain task to be completed? (ex: 72 hours) 

You need to tell your partners what you expect from them in terms of communication. 

Steal this template:

“Hey {Name}, I want to be really clear that with the agencies I work with I expect a response from my slack or emails within {timeframe, ex: 12  business hours}”. 

This is equally as important for those of us managing clients as it allows you to more effectively prioritize your communications with clients and triage your day. 

[process] Tip #2: Decide your meeting cadence

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This tip connects with the previous around framing expectations. 

You have to get clear on how often you’re going to be meeting, is it weekly, bi-Weekly, monthly?

Communicate your expectations on how often you’ll meet and the options available. 

By getting clear on your needs and how fast you want to get things done will allow you to answer this. 

The best part about defined meeting cadences is that it allows you to hold people accountable. 

It’s a forcing function that makes sure you’re getting what you need fast enough. 

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My preferred meeting cadence:

Weekly for the first six weeks to build trust and create momentum then move towards bi-weekly. 

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Within the first 6-weeks of working with a new agency or consultant  you’ll want to ensure they are set up with:

• Systems access
• Clearly defined goals 
• Clarity on your ICP and audience 

From here everything is addressed and you can move to a bi-weekly cadence. 

Again this is my personal preference align according to your needs!

If you want some tips on how to run an effective meeting check out my LinkedIn post 🎉 

[process] Tip #3: Get clear on who and what for your tools

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The last thing you want is for it to take four weeks for your agency to get plugged into your system. 

Get your new partners access to your systems as fast as possible so they can begin adding value.

Build a document with a clear list of all the primary tools they’ll need access for and who to contact. 

If the agency, consultant, or freelancer you’re onboarding already has clear documentation already on how you can provide them access to their primary tools this is a green flag! 🟢

If you can take the initiative to build an internal version of this document even better.

You know your marketing operations person's name, make sure they know as well. 

The more people working together across teams the more important this becomes.

[product] Tip #4: Review your brand foundations

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Make sure your agency, freelancer, or consultant understands your brand.

Your brand foundations consists of:

• What does your solution do?
• What’s your unique value prop?
• What’s your origin story?
• Who are your competitors? 
• What’s your tone of voice? 

Even better if your partners can sit in on a live demo (or at the minimum watch a recording). 

If your partners don’t get sold on the unique value you provide they will never be able to make an impact with the campaigns they create for you (and red flag if they don’t want to know! 🔴). 

[product] Tip #5: Make sure your extended team knows the audience targeting

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We touched on this on tip #4 but this is so important it deserves its own tip. 

Audience targeting is the foundation of everything you’re going to be doing.

You need to be absolutely clear on: 

• Job titles
• Job functions
• Company size
• Industries

Really, really, really hone in on this! 🙏

Make sure your extended teams knows this as well. 

This is where your buyer persona comes into play, if you need help on how to craft one check out Module 2 of my B2B Advertising Foundations course where I show you how to piece it together. 

Give them as much customer information as possible because they have to know this. 

They need to know what good vs bad leads look like. 

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Pro tip: 

Keep all this customer information in a shared document so your partners can refer back to it in the future when needed and setup a shared channel to monitor lead quality 🔥

[process] Tip #6: Define your operational plumbing 

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You need to be specific on how things should be tracked. 

The goal isn’t to just drive leads, it’s to scale legit qualified pipeline and revenue. 

Work with your extended teams to map out your customer lifecycle operations. 

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For example, they should be clear on: 

• Once someone fills out a form, now what?
• How are leads being handed off to sales? 
• How is the team being notified on new leads? 
• How are they being followed up with? 

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From here it’s piecing together the right UTM conventions for measurement, connecting forms in our marketing automation tools so be able to route appropriately.

Walk through all of these steps and the points in-between so things are tracked. 

Take my word for it, defining this will save you a lot of headaches at the end of the quarter! 😅

[results] Tip #7: Share your historical benchmarks

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You need to first understand your historical benchmarks so you can share them. 

Reverse engineer your funnel to understand your performance between steps.

This will look different for every company but here’s an example for sales led:

• Meetings Booked
• Meetings Completed
• Opportunities
• Pipeline
• Revenue

Knowing the difference between steps is crucial to improve efficiency. 

If your agency or consultant  isn’t trying to reverse engineer your funnel that’s a red flag! 🔴

Share these historical benchmarks and hold them accountable. 

[Process] Tip #8: Be clear on your naming conventions

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Your partners need to be able to jump inside your ad accounts and understand what’s happening. 

The first step is making sure they are informed on your naming conventions.

Align on naming conventions for: 

• Forms
• Campaigns
• Creatives

And if you’re reading this and don’t have existing naming conventions, ask yourself: 

What are the questions I’d like to answer from my campaigns? 

For example, I want to know:

• What’s my performance by region? 
• What’s my performance by campaign objective?
• What’s my performance by ad?

Then use these answers to include them in your naming convention. 

This is a really small in the weeds tactical step but worth sharing. 

[results] Tip #9: Have clear trackable goals 

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Determine the metrics that matter that your advertising partners should track and the frequency in which they should be reporting on these goals to you. 

I personally like to report on these weekly to make sure everything is pacing appropriately. 

This also allows you to pivot quickly when things start to go off track.

When determining the metrics that matter, also brainstorm your leading indicators. 

Leading indicators are clear metrics that help you determine early signs of success.

For example, depending on your campaigns objective it might look a bit different: 

• Lead gen = qualified leads created
• Awareness = engagement rate by ad type

Just choose something that can happen quickly within the first 7 days of a campaign going live and is a relevant milestone that will ultimately lead to your end goal. 

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🟢 An early and specific goal is better than no goal at all.

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Without this clarity you or your partners won’t be able to prioritize what needs to be done. 

If you’re struggling with deciding on your goals go back to tip #7 and understand your benchmarks. 

[results] Tip #10: Set clear timelines and deliverables

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Defining the success metrics that matter and the roadmap to get there is CRUCIAL.

You have to be clear upfront timelines for both parties or it’s going to get squirrely 🐿😅

If it’s not defined upfront as you go things will go sideways. 

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Communicate to your agency, consultant, or freelancer:

Here’s what we expect from month 1, 2, and so on…

You’re hiring these experts to come in and solve a specific problem. 

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The goal is to hold your partner accountable to the outcome and not tasks. 

This keeps you focused on the things that matter (ex: funnel optimization, benchmarks, goals). 

I hope you found these 10 tips helpful and the best of luck in your future partnerships! ♥️

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Connect with me on LinkedIn, and let’s keep the conversation going. 

You can also visit my website here for more valuable content.

‍

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. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

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Mastering quality score is essential if you want to pay less per click and outrank competitors.

In this article you’ll learn the 80/20 of what you need to know about quality score. 

Let’s dive into it! 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Quality Score Simplified 
• How is Quality Score Calculated?
• How to audit your Quality Score?
• How to improve your Quality Score?
• Quality Score FAQ

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Quality Score Simplified 

Back in 2005, Google released Quality Score. 

This is a number from 1-10 that Google created to determine how relevant your ads are to what people are searching for (1 being the lowest relevance, and 10 being the highest). 

Google want’s people who search to find what they are looking for.

This way they come back to Google and search again in the future.

Quality Score is how they gamified the system to achieve this objective. 

It’s the perfect trinity between advertiser, searcher, and Google: 

• Advertisers are rewarded with lower costs when having higher quality scores
• People searching for answers on Google will now find more relevant information 
• Because people find relevant information they use Google again in the future 

Before Quality Score was introduced Google was filled with tons of  irrelevant ads leading to a poor experience for searchers and ultimately less people using Google in the future. 

(In my opinion) Quality Score was one of the most important features released that transformed Google into the most dominant search engine in the world. 

The secret to improving Quality Score is relevance.

How is Quality Score Calculated?

Ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected CTR are the three variables that go into calculating your Quality Score. Depending on how relevant each is to your keywords you’ll have a final score between 1-10 (1 being the lowest relevance, and 10 being the highest). 

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Ad Relevance

A metric that determines how relevant your keywords are to your ad copy. 

Above average signifies great relevance, below average signifies room for improvement, below average signifies poor keyword and ad copy relevance. 

Ad relevance is 100% in your control and below average ad relevance is usually the result of poor ad group structure resulting from too many keywords and/or few variations of ad copy. 

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Landing Page Experience

A metric that determines how relevant your keywords, ads, and post click experience matches the search intent of the user. 

It’s not just about having your keywords on the page, it also takes into consideration page load speeds, page structure (ex: H1, H2s, H3s), and mobile optimization. 

Above average signifies a great landing page experience, average signifies room for improvement, and below average signifies poor post click experience. 

Expected CTR

A metric that determines the likelihood of someone clicking on your ads once seen in the Google search results. 

In my experience auditing Google Ads accounts this is the #1 most common variable that drags down quality score for most accounts since it’s the least in your control. 

This is Google’s perception based on historical and predicted performance on how well you believe your ad will be engaged with. 

Above average signifies a highly engaging ad, average signifies room for improvement, and below average signifies poor ad engagement. 

How to audit your Quality Score?

Once you understand the basics of quality score that it is a factor of relevance and three components that determine whether you’re a 1-10 the next logical question becomes:

What’s impacting my quality score performance?

Here’s how to run a Google Ads quality score to find what’s impacting your performance. 

[EMBED YOUTUBE VIDEO]

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Step 1 - Download a keyword report 

Within your Google Ads manager navigate to the keywords section within your account:

Campaigns > Keywords (press G + K for a keyboard shortcut)

Modify your keyword columns to include:

• Quality Score
• Ad Relevance
• Landing Page Experience
• Expected CTR

Once completed download your keywords into a CSV.

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Step 2 - Summarize your keywords into a pivot table

Pivot tables are great for summarizing large amounts of data. 

Within Excel navigate to Insert > PivotTable to summarize your keyword report. 

Once complete format your table as follows:

• Rows = Quality Score
• Values = Count of Keywords
• Filter = Quality score 1-10 (exclude —) 

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Step 3 - Drill down to understand Quality Score performance

With your table setup now you can easily see overall quality score performance and drill down into specific elements such as ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected CTR. 

Switch your rows to drill down into each element of quality score to diagnose performance: 

• Ad Relevance; rows = Ad Relevance, values = count of keywords
• Landing Page Experience; rows = Landing Page Experience, values = count of keywords
• Expected CTR; rows = Expected CTR, values = count of keywords

How to improve your Quality Score?

After completing your Google Ads Quality Score audit it should be pretty clear which factor of QS is hurting your performance? (ex: ad relevance, landing page experience, expected CTR).

Here’s some recommendations on how to improve each QS factor: 

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Improving Ad Relevance

Below average ad relevance is a symptom of poor ad group structure. 

If you have below average ad relevance, fear not! Because this is 100% in your control.

Here’s some tips to improve your ad relevance: 

• Add more headline variations to your responsive search ads to include the keywords within your ad groups. 
• Keep your ad groups tightly grouped with thematic keywords, for the keywords that can’t fit the theme consider putting it into its own group with relevant copy.  
• Consolidate your active keywords and remove below average ad relevance variations that are not receiving any worthwhile impressions or clicks. 

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Improving Landing Page Experience 

Below average landing page experience is a symptom of poor post click experience. 

If you’ve been neglecting your landing pages this is where it’s going to bite you. 

Here’s some tips to improve landing page experience: 

• Include your primary keyword in your headline 1 to match search intent and your ad copy. 
• Run your landing page through PageSpeed Insights to find how you can improve the mobile and desktop experience. 
• Follow on page SEO best practices and have proper headline, and content formatting. Remember Google will crawl your landing pages so make sure it’s technically sound. 
• Install  a session recording tool to see how users behave on your landing page, the insights here are invaluable at understanding gaps. 

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Improving Expected CTR 

This is Google’s perception on how likely your ads will be clicked. 

Unfortunately this aspect of Quality Score is the least in your control but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything you can do to improve it. 

Here’s some tips to improve your expected clickthrough rate: 

• Use as many ad extensions as possible (ex: sitelink, image, structured snippet, etc). Ad extensions provide more info to the searcher and make your ads larger. 
• Test new RSA ad copy on a monthly basis to consistently try and improve your ad clickthrough rate performance on an ongoing basis. 
• Monitor your account clickthrough rate trends month over month to combat negative trends. You can set up an automated rule within Google Ads to be notified automatically via email. 
• Audit your search terms report and build your negative keyword lists. Block  irrelevant impressions of your ads so that you can actually drive clicks. 
• Experiment with dynamic keyword insertion to see if it positively affects your ad CTR.

Quality Score FAQ

How long does it take to improve your quality score? 

Technically every time your keyword enters an auction quality score is recalculated to determine placement of your ad in relation to your competitors. 

However in my experience it usually takes a month to see significant changes in your overall score. 

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Should you worry about low quality scores? 

Yes, low quality scores should cause concerns but it shouldn’t be your initial priority. The first goal should be to drive relevant traffic and convert users. 

If you’re not currently accomplishing this then stressing about quality score is pointless as it’s really only a factor of reducing your costs and improving visibility. 

If you’re not already converting the visibility you do have, getting more of it won’t help. 

‍

What is a good quality score? 

A good quality score will fluctuate depending on your keyword strategy but overall I’d recommend having 70% of enabled keywords in your account with a score > 7. 

Just know this is highly circumstantial and if you’re running a competitive keyword strategy you will have lower quality scores by default given the difficulty of including your competitors in your ads. 

Hope you found this article helpful! 🔥

Check out our video tutorial linked if you want a visual walkthrough. 

‍

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. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

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 😂)

There’s nothing worse than making bulk changes natively in Google Ads. 

If you’re ready to save hours bulk uploading campaigns, ads, and keywords. 

Mastering the Google Ads Editor is essential. 

Let’s cover everything you need to know 👇

‍

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• What is the Google Ads Editor?
• How to get started with the Google Ads Editor?
• How to bulk upload campaigns, keywords, and ads with the Google Ads Editor

‍

‍

‍

60-second crash course on the Google Ads Editor

What is the Google Ads Editor?

It’s a free tool that you can install to update your campaigns offline including altering campaign settings, adjusting keyword bids, and creating new campaigns, ads, and ad groups. 

Any serious Google advertiser uses the editor to save hours performing tedious tasks. 

Make sure you download the latest version of the editor to follow along in this article. 

How to get started with the Google Ads Editor?

After installation add your Google Ads account within the Account Manager and download all campaigns so you have the most recent version of your account. 

The Google Ads Editor follows the same account structure:

Account > Campaign > Ad Group > Keyword > Ads

Highly recommend using the Hide Empty Types filter to reduce irrelevant options visible. 

How to bulk upload campaigns, keywords, and ads with the Google Ads Editor

The easiest way to bulk upload campaigns into the editor is using a google sheet template. 

This template should have the following fields fields available (at minimum): 

• Campaign 
• Ad Group
• Keyword

Get a copy the example template below here <<

Once you have your template copy you’re ready to get started. 

‍

Step 1: configure your campaign import template

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Fill in your import template with all the relevant campaign names, ad group, keywords, and ads. 

Do not modify the column headers as these are meant to match the editors default fields. 

Feel free to fill in whichever fields you find most relevant. 

‍

Step 2: Upload your campaign import template

‍

Once you’ve completed setting up your campaign import template with all your relevant details it’s time to import your campaigns into the editor. 

Navigate to Account > Import > Paste Text to begin the import process:

Once complete copy all of the column headers and rows you filled in in your import template and paste them into the import from text window:

Don’t worry about the blank “Not importing” columns this is due to the formatting of the import template I provided, instead review the fields that are filled in the column headers. 

Make sure everything is looking accurate according to what you want to import. 

Once complete click Process to import the campaigns, keywords, and ads. 

‍

Step 3: Configure your campaign settings and publish

‍

After reviewing your changes make sure to select Keep in order to retain them. 

Now you should have all of your campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and ads that you filled into your import template visible within the Google Ads Editor. 

The final step is to configure your campaign and publish your changes. ‍

Highlight each of your new campaigns at the sametime to apply the same campaign settings across of all them at once 🚀

Review all available campaign settings and uncheck the Display Network for search.

If you don’t want your campaigns to spend when published, change the status to Paused.

Once your campaigns are ready to be published into your live Google Ads account.

Select Post > Post Changes > Selected Campaigns 

That’s it! 🎉you’ve just saved hours and created campaigns in bulk.

Hope you found this article helpful, see you in the next one!

‍

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. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

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 😂)

‍

With so many different tools available for competitor research it can be a bit overwhelming. 

I’ve lived and breathed paid ads over the past eight years, and in this article I’m going to share with you 10 tips on how to conduct competitor research for free using ad libraries. 

Grab a notebook and let’s dive in!

‍

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Tip #1: Familiarise yourself with all the available ad libraries
• Tip #2: Leverage time and location filters
• Tip #3: Estimate platform demand by volume of creatives
• Tip #4: Build a swipe folder of ad inspiration
• Tip #5: Research brands in adjacent industries 
• Tip #6: Build a matrix to document your competitors’ movements
• Tip #7: Build a checklist to uncover strategic insights
• Tip #8: Review the ad formats being used 
• Tip #9: Clickthrough to review landing pages in use
• Tip #10: Review your competitors’ UTM string

Tip #1: Familiarise yourself with all the available ad libraries

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The first step is to know what options you have available.

Here are the primary ad libraries available for the top 3 ad platforms: 

LinkedIn Ad Library

Meta Ads Library

Google Ads Transparency Center

Within each library you can study creatives for your competitors and relevant brands. 

Using them on a quarterly basis to spy on your competitors is a key habit to develop. 

Tip #2: Leverage time and location filters

You can filter by time and location within each ad library to understand: 

• Which markets are my competitors investing in?
• How many creative variations are my competitors testing?
• Are they testing localised campaigns outside of english?

You won’t know exactly how much your competitors are investing but you can use the volume of ads as a proxy to estimate the level of investment, and interest for a given market. 

If you spot certain markets where you’re finding organic traction AND you see your competitors have gone through the commitment of localising these regions,these are great signals for you to consider running a pilot campaign. 

Tip #3: Estimate platform demand by volume of creatives

‍

We touched on using the volume of as a proxy to estimate the level of investment for a market.

The same logic applies to also understanding the demand for a specific ad platform. 

Let’s use a hypothetical example, imagine you see the following for your competitor:

• LinkedIn Ads = 20 active ad variations in the past month
• Meta Ads = 10 active ad variations in the past month
• Google Ads = 5 active ad variations in the past month

Based on the volume of ads you can assume LinkedIn could be their primary platform followed by Meta, and finally Google. Look up your competitors and take note of their volume of ads by platform.

You’ll never know with 100% certainty but it’s a good approximation for at least the effort they are expending on each channel, if not their level of success.

‍

Pro tip: get buy-in from leadership to test new ad platforms by showing them how active your competitors are within those channels, this creates FOMO which is quite powerful. 

Tip #4: Build a swipe folder of ad inspiration

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A swipe folder is a simple collection of screenshots of ads, landing pages, and offers that stand out.

As you’re going through the ad libraries take note of the ads that catch your attention from competitors, relevant brands, and from scrolling through social platforms.  

Inspiration comes from all sources and by building this swipe folder you can:

• Better communicate and share guidance with your creative team
• Avoid reinventing the wheel with tested concepts
• Reduce the time to produce new creatives

This can be as simple as a folder in a Google Drive, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

If you want to be organised about it you can also group ads by concept, such as:

• Social Proof
• Thought Leadership
• Product Marketing

The most important piece to takeaway from this is you have some sort of folder to refer to. 

‍

Pro tip: create a shared slack channel for people across teams to upload examples of great ads they come across to crowdsource inspiration. 

Tip #5: Research brands in adjacent industries 

‍

Oftentimes your competitors might be behind the ball when it comes to advertising. 

In these instances researching them won’t be very helpful or worthwhile. 

Instead what you can do is research brands in adjacent industries, for example:

• eCommerce 
• E-learning
• Retail 

You can take what works in other industries and adjust it to fit in yours. 

Creativity is often taking what works from one sphere and applying it to another. 

Tip #6: Build a matrix to document your competitors’ movements

‍

If you want to take your competitors’ research to the next level, build a documented matrix. 

This can be as simple as:

• Competitor Namesome text
  • Month/Year
  • Channel
  • Ad Count

It will take a bit of work to put this together but the primary benefit is you can now monitor your competitors’ activity by ad platform on a quarterly basis. 

Here’s a simple example of what this can look like in Google Sheets: 

Pro tip: if you’re looking for a role in paid media, do a competitor research analysis on the brand you’re applying for. It's a great way to differentiate yourself against other candidates. 

‍

Tip #7: Build a checklist to uncover strategic insights

‍

When reviewing your competitors’ ads in the library you’ll want to think deeper than just the surface level of the styles and examples of ads in front of you to uncover strategic insights. 

Create a simple checklist to remind yourself to think about: 

• Are the ads running to gated or ungated content?
• Is there a mixture of content that focuses on demand creation or capture?
• What stage of the funnel are their ads focused on? (ex: ToFu, BoFu)
• What mixture of offers are they testing? (ex: Conferences, Webinars) 
• Are they driving to a landing page or lead form? 

Compare the insights you uncover against your current approach.

If you notice 3 of your competitors are promoting events and you’re not then it’s worth testing. 

Tip #8: Review the ad formats being used 

‍

This was touched on slightly before but it deserves to be in its own tip. 

As you’re reviewing competitors in the library take notes of the ad formats being used. 

For example, when it comes to LinkedIn are they testing: 

• Image 
• Video
• Spotlight
• Carousel
• Document
• Conversation

If you notice a large volume of a certain ad format it’s safe to say it must be working. 

Compare the formats they are using against your own to inspire future experiments. 

For videos take special note of aspect ratio, short vs long form, and other nuances like humour. 

‍

Pro tip:assign your competitor research tasks to an intern or junior person as pulling these insights is quite time-consuming and  can be done by an entry level team member.

Tip #9: Clickthrough to review landing pages in use

‍

The remarkable thing about these libraries is that you can click through on the ad and view the landing pages your competitors are using. This insight is  not otherwise easily discoverable. 

This all of sudden opens up a lot of homework for you to perform landing page teardowns. 

• What are the calls to action on the landing page?
• How is the page structured compared to yours?
• Do they have better social proof than you?

Now suddenly your swipe folder can be filled with print screens of their entire landing pages. 

Which can be shared with your team to test new page variations. 

Pro tip:

If you’re using Google Chrome you can use the extension called GoFullPage to take screenshots of entire pages with the click of a button. 

Tip #10: Review your competitors’ UTM string

‍

To close out on our final tip, I wanted to share a more advanced approach.

When you’re clicking through to the landing page of your competitors’ ads take note of the UTM string in place to potentially uncover insights on how they’ve set up their campaigns. 

By reviewing the URL structure I might 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 

‍

Hope you found this article helpful! 👏

Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s keep the conversation going. 

‍

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. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

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 😂)

‍

LinkedIn has become an essential platform for B2B marketers, offering a variety of ad formats designed to reach professionals and decision-makers. 

But with so many options, how do you choose the right one for your campaign? 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into LinkedIn's diverse ad formats, uncovering detailed insights and actionable best practices. 

Whether you're looking to increase brand visibility, generate quality leads, or drive traffic to your website, mastering LinkedIn's ad formats can give you a competitive edge in the market.

‍

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Overview of LinkedIn Ad Formats
• Single Image Ads
• Video Ads
• Carousel Ads
• Thought Leader Ads
• Text Ads
• Conversation Ads
• Message Ads
• Spotlight Ads
• Follower Ads
• Document Ads
• Lead Gen Forms
• Connected TV Ads
• How to Choose the Right Ad Format
• How to Measure Performance of Each Ad Format

‍

Overview of LinkedIn Ad Formats

Selecting the right ad format depends on your marketing objectives and target audience.

Let’s explore each primary LinkedIn ad format in detail, and reference this article for all ad specs:

Single Image Ads

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Single Image Ads are a staple of LinkedIn advertising.

These ads feature one static image and appear directly in the LinkedIn feed, making them highly visible and engaging.

• High engagement with minimal content.
• Simple to create and easy to manage.

Pro tip: Use images and copy that resonate with your target audience. The best-performing ones often use your Ideal Customer Profile's (ICP) language or even direct words. Remember, in B2B, we are still advertising to people, not to robots! 😃

Video Ads

‍

Video Ads are perfect for storytelling and driving engagement.

They allow you to share dynamic content that captures attention and conveys your message effectively.

• Excellent for storytelling and capturing attention.
• Engaging format that can explain complex ideas

Pro tip: Video ads excel at both brand building and showcasing testimonials. They are particularly effective for demonstrating product functionality. Make sure to add subtitles, the videos usually autoplay on mute.

Carousel Ads

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Carousel Ads allow you to showcase multiple images or videos in a single ad unit, each with its link.

This format is ideal for highlighting different aspects of a product or telling a story more interactively.

• Interactive format that encourages engagement.
• Multiple visuals to showcase different products or features.

Pro tip: Carousel ads can be used for explaining the product, showcasing use cases and features, or explaining customer success stories in the feed. Ensure you have a consistent flow across all cards.

Thought Leader Ads

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Thought Leader Ads are a powerful way to build brand credibility and engage your audience by leveraging the influence of key figures within your organization.

These ads allow you to sponsor posts from your company's thought leaders, positioning them—and by extension, your company—as industry experts.

• Build Credibility: Sponsoring posts from thought leaders enhances your brand's authority and trustworthiness.
• Engagement: These ads typically receive higher engagement rates as audiences are more likely to interact with content from recognized industry experts.‍
• Content Variety: Showcase a variety of content, from personal insights to industry analysis, that resonates with your audience.

3 tips for implementing thought leader ads:

‍

• Authenticity: Ensure the content from thought leaders is authentic and reflects their genuine perspectives.
• Consistency: Regularly publish thought leadership content to maintain engagement and visibility.‍
• Interactive Content: Use content that encourages interaction, such as questions or calls to action, to drive higher engagement rates.

For more insights refer to 14 Powerful LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad Strategies Worth Testing. 

Text Ads

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Text Ads are simple yet effective.

They appear on the right-hand sidebar of LinkedIn and are great for driving traffic to your website or landing page.

• Cost-effective and easy to set up.
• Ideal for driving traffic to your website.

Pro tip: Text ads are very effective, allowing you to stay top of mind at a low cost in front of your target audience. Also, they always help to keep your logo in your ICP’s LinkedIn Feed.

Conversation Ads

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Conversation Ads offer an interactive way to engage your audience by allowing recipients to choose their own path through multiple call-to-action buttons.

This format fosters engagement and ensures high visibility in LinkedIn Messaging inboxes.

• Highly engaging format that fosters engagement.
• High visibility in LinkedIn Messaging inboxes.
• Great for generating leads

Pro tip: Create engaging and relevant conversation flows tailored to your audience's needs and interests. The message subject can be a game changer for open rates! Also, try incentivized ads, sometimes they can work miraculously 🚀

Message Ads

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Message Ads are direct messages sent to LinkedIn members’ inboxes, making them highly personal and effective for driving immediate action.

• High visibility in LinkedIn Messaging inboxes.
• Personalized and direct communication.

‍

Pro tip: Craft personalized messages that speak directly to your target audience’s pain points and offer clear, actionable solutions. Keep the tone to the one that your target audience is using.

Spotlight Ads

‍

Spotlight Ads are personalized ads that appear on the right-hand side of the LinkedIn feed.

These ads use the viewer's LinkedIn profile data, such as their photo, company name, and job title, to dynamically personalize the ad content.

• Lower CPM and High Ad Recall
• Personalized Ad Content

‍

Check out LinkedIn Spotlight Ads In 2024: Are They Worth The Investment? to dive deeper into this ad format.

‍

Pro tip: Spotlight ads are particularly effective for remarketing, allowing you to stay top of mind at a low cost in front of audiences that already know and trust your brand​.

Follower Ads

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Follower Ads help increase the number of followers for your LinkedIn page, promoting your company to a wider audience.

• Effective in promoting LinkedIn pages to acquire followers.
• Increases organic reach on LinkedIn.

Pro tip: Highlight the unique value your LinkedIn page offers to followers. Use eye-catching visuals and compelling copy that resonate with your target audience.

Document Ads

‍

Document Ads allow you to share in-depth content directly within the LinkedIn feed.

You can share whitepapers, e-books, or case studies that members can view and download without leaving LinkedIn.

• Share in-depth content directly within the LinkedIn feed.
• Options to gate content with a Lead Gen Form to capture leads or share freely to build brand awareness.

Pro tip: Offer valuable content that addresses your audience's challenges or interests. Use a strong call-to-action to encourage downloads and interaction with your documents. Some say they prefer Document Ads to Carousel Ads because you can build retargeting audiences for Document ads.

Lead Gen Forms

‍

Lead Gen Forms are a versatile tool that can be used with various ad formats to capture quality leads directly on LinkedIn. These forms are pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data, making it easy for users to submit their information.

• Captures quality leads with pre-filled forms.
• Provides a seamless user experience.
• Can be used for booking demos, downloading guides and templates, event registrations

Pro tip: Minimize the number of fields in your form to reduce friction. Use pre-filled form fields to make it easier for users to submit their information quickly. Don’t use “work mobile” or “work email” because they are usually not pre-filled.

Connected TV Ads

‍

Connected TV Ads allow you to reach professional audiences through streaming content.

These ads appear on connected TV platforms and are ideal for reaching a hard-to-reach professional audience in a large-screen environment.

• Reach professional audiences through streaming content.
• High visibility on large screens.

For detailed ad specifications and additional tips, check out 50+ Ad Specs for The Top 10 Ad Platforms.

How to Choose the Right Ad Format

‍

Choosing the right LinkedIn ad format is crucial for achieving your marketing goals. Here’s a guide to help you align your campaign objectives with the most effective ad formats and measure their performance.

‍

 What's Your Primary Campaign Goal?

‍

First, identify your primary campaign goal. Are you aiming to capture demand, create demand, accelerate open cases, or brand awareness?

‍

How to Measure Performance of Each Ad Format

‍

Effectively measuring the performance of your ad campaigns is key to optimizing and achieving your marketing goals. 

‍

Here are the KPIs and bidding recommendations for each ad format:

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‍

By aligning your ad formats with your campaign goals and following these tips for measuring performance, you can create more effective LinkedIn ad campaigns that drive results and maximize your ROI. 

You can read more about Objectives and Bid strategies here.

Hope you found this article helpful! Connect with me on LinkedIn, and reach out with any questions.

‍

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. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

• Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

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 😂)