What do ground-penetrating radar, hydraulic tie-rod cylinders, and third-party PPC (pay-per-click) software platforms have in common? Not much, really — but all three are examples of B2B (business-to-business) products that B2B companies can sell via PPC advertising. PPC advertising offers B2B companies the ability to capture leads quickly and cost-effectively. In a nutshell, your target audience is raising its hand to express interest specifically in your product or service, and does so by typing in search keywords on Google or Bing. This expert guide from WordStream covers B2B market characteristics and how they relate to PPC, and arms you with real-world B2B PPC tips to help create successful B2B paid-search campaigns. For more information, visit www.wordstream.com

2. THE PPC GUIDE FOR B2B PROFESSIONALS
TIPS FOR MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
COMPANY THROUGH PAID SEARCH
Quick: What do ground-penetrating radar, hydraulic tie-rod cylinders, and third-party PPC
(pay-per-click) software platforms have in common? Not much, really — but all three are
examples of B2B (business-to-business) products that B2B companies can sell via PPC
advertising.
PPC advertising, specifically through Google AdWords and Bing Ads, is a system that
offers B2B companies the ability to capture leads fast and efficiently. Your target market is
basically raising its hand and saying it’s interested in your product or service, and it does
so by typing in search keywords on Google or Bing. The beauty of it is, they’re looking
for you, instead of you standing around a trade-show booth for ten hours at a time
asking people — who are schlepping around bags of swag and smelling like last night’s
rager went a bit too long — what their biggest business challenges are. If you ask us, PPC
is much more appealing than a trade show. It can also be far more cost-effective.
In this guide, we’ll touch on B2B market characteristics and how they relate to PPC, and
then we’ll review some real-world B2B PPC tips to help you crush it in your own B2B
paid-search campaigns. I’ll refer to my own experiences with ground-penetrating radar,
hydraulic cylinders, and software along the way to add some context.
(Full disclosure: there are, of course, exceptions to some of the examples I use because
PPC is not just a science — it’s an art.)
B2B MARKET CHARACTERISTICS TO REMEMBER FOR PPC
B2B professionals already know their audience is smaller than the B2C audience. This
is because they’re targeting other businesses, not the mass population. As a result, you’ll
see keyword search volumes are lower in B2B than in the B2C space.
For example, there are more searches for “shoes” in a day (shoot, probably in an hour)
than there are for “ground-penetrating radar” in a year. This means that in B2B, you’re
targeting a unique subset of the overall population — this is market segmentation within
market segmentation, several times over.
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B2B professionals
already know their
audience is smaller
than the B2C audience.
As a result, you’ll
see keyword search
volumes are lower in
B2B than in the B2C
space.

3. Your B2B buyer could be one of many people from various departments at a company.
It may be the end-user, the CEO, someone from IT, or a company accountant — and
you have to design your PPC campaigns (keywords, ad copy, landing pages, etc.) with
this in mind.
B2B buyers tend to do a lot of comparison shopping too, especially if we’re talking about
expensive purchases, long-term contracts, and possible ongoing relationships. Thus, you
need to provide a lot of buyer-oriented information, like case studies and white papers, in
your PPC campaigns, as opposed to the “hot deals” that drive immediate transactions in
the B2C world.
The sales cycle is generally longer in B2B — in fact, it’s often three to six months or more.
So your PPC return on investment will often come months down the road. Just tell your
boss PPC is an investment in the future — because it is!
PPC TIPS FOR B2B BUSINESSES
At its core, a B2B PPC campaign is just like a B2C one. You have campaigns, ad groups,
keywords, and so on, just like B2C — but you’ve got to keep the market characteristics
in mind.
1. RESEARCH
For types of clients like the previously mentioned examples — ground-penetrating radar
and hydraulic tie-rod cylinders — and really any B2B PPC situation, you’ll have to dig in
and conduct some serious research to run a top-notch B2B campaign. Why is this?
Because even though you might understand your market, applying it to the PPC channel
is a different matter, one that’s full of pitfalls.
An example of this is my client in the hydraulic cylinders business. Through the course
of my research, I learned there are tie-rod cylinders and there are welded-body cylinders.
My client sells only tie-rod cylinders, but when I looked in the account he set up (and had
been running for a few months, spending thousands of dollars), I noticed he was getting
clicks for welded cylinders, too.
Had I not bothered to do some research, I would have assumed “a hydraulic cylinder is
a hydraulic cylinder” and not caught this wasteful spend. As a result, I made sure to add
“welded” as a negative keyword and called out “tie-rod cylinders” in the ad copy to avoid
the shoppers looking for welded-body cylinders, pre-qualifying clicks and saving the client
some dough along the way.
The takeaway is this: Even though you understand your market, be aware that Google and
Bing do not, and they’ll try to match you to as many types of keywords as possible.
© 2013, WordStream Inc. All rights reserved. WordStream technologies are protected by pending US patents.
The sales cycle is
generally longer in
B2B — in fact, it’s
often three to six
months or more.
Even though you
understand your
market, be aware that
Google and Bing do
not, and they’ll try to
match you to as many
types of keywords as
possible.

4. © 2013, WordStream Inc. All rights reserved. WordStream technologies are protected by pending US patents.
2. KEYWORDS
Now that you understand the market and who your buyers are (right?), you can address
the keywords themselves.
Keyword research and match type strategies are essentially the same for B2B as they are
for B2C. One caveat, however, is the preponderance of acronym searches in B2B. The
acronym “GPR,” for example, gets four times the search volume of “ground penetrating
radar.” Whatever your industry, find out what words the customers are using.
On that note, B2B tends to have part and model numbers that sell frequently and get
lots of searches. Going back to the tie-rod example, business searchers will use a model
number, like “TX-2500 cylinder,” which comes in handy when bidding on exact-search
terms and crafting ads.
You can also tie in the specific application for your B2B product or service when conduct-
ing research. Append the target market, like the construction industry or farming, to find
valuable long-tail terms like “GPR for construction” or “farming hydraulic tie-rods.”
Business searchers
will use a model
number, like “TX-2500
cylinder,” which comes
in handy when bidding
on exact-search terms
and crafting ads.

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When it comes to bidding and CPCs, they can be all over the board, just as in B2C.
Without a doubt, though, there’s more room for “loose” bidding when you’re talking about
high-dollar items and services. In other words, B2B typically has higher profit margins, so
last month’s dollar increase in CPC isn’t a big deal.
Because we’re talking B2B, think also from the viewpoint of the company who’s looking
for you. Their internal nomenclature includes words like “vendor” and “supplier,” so make
sure you explore those, along with “companies,” “providers,” and “tools,” in your keyword
combinations, e.g., “PPC software vendors” or “GPR suppliers.”
As in B2C, negative keywords for B2B will typically include words like “reviews,” “jobs,”
and “free.”
3. CAMPAIGNS & AD GROUPS
Due to the research-heavy nature of B2B, it’s a good idea to put your keywords in
campaigns and ad groups that address the various stages of the purchase funnel — and
follow the same strategy with landing pages. At the top of the funnel you have research,
followed by consideration, then the commitment (purchase) decision at the bottom of
the funnel.
Over time, you’ll be
able to measure your
ROI at the various
stages of the purchase
funnel and plan your
budgets accordingly.
Think in terms of the research stage all the way down to the commit stage, and build your
campaigns and ad groups around this. So might have a research campaign/ad groups,
consideration campaign/ad groups, and conversion campaign/ad groups.
The benefits of this are invaluable: You’ll know your campaign and/or ad groups with
“vendor” in them are the folks who are at the research phase of the purchase process.
Knowing this, in your ad copy it might be best to tout your recent awards or a white paper.
Over time, you’ll be able to measure your ROI at the various stages of the purchase funnel
and plan your budgets accordingly.

7. 4. AD COPY
Ad copy presents a major difference in the B2B market when compared to B2C, though
best practices are still to be followed. Because of the multiple stakeholders and various
stages of purchase, when you craft your ad copy, be cognizant of appropriate calls-to-
action (CTA’s) and offers.
For example, in the B2B PPC world, you rarely, if ever, would use the CTAs “buy now”
or “order today” — more likely you’ll say “get more information,” or “contact us today,”
or “download our free white paper.” The reason behind this is you’re dealing with buyers
who need a lot of time (remember that long sales cycle), are just conducting research, and
wouldn’t be able to “buy now” even if they wanted to due to their internal processes and
the potentially hefty price of your product or service.
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Are there exceptions to this? You bet there are — it just depends on the product or
service.
If you don’t know who your typical buyer is (is it the CEO? the accountant? the marketer?)
then write ads targeted to these groups and measure their performances. Use phrases
like “cost-effective,” “easy to use,” “easy to integrate,” “ranked best in class,” and so on
to see what resonates with your potential buyer.
ADDITIONAL AD COPY TIPS:
Specificity is key — for example, you don’t just sell hydraulic cylinders, you sell
hydraulic tie-rod cylinders.
Use your ad copy to prequalify customers. Mention price points so you can avoid
the people who are looking for cheap tools. For example, “Starting at $500 per
month…” will quickly disqualify the people who can’t afford your product or service.
Buyers are looking for suppliers for possible long-term relationships. You need to
make sure your copy speaks to the buyer’s pain points in a clear, compelling
way. You feel their pain, you have the solution, and you can walk them through all
phases of the purchase funnel.
Use social proof — show off your Google plus-ones in your sitelinks. If you don’t
have that set up, get started on it.
Buyers are looking
for suppliers for
possible long-term
relationships. You need
to make sure your copy
speaks to the buyer’s
pain points in a clear,
compelling way.
Learn 10 best practices
and creative strategies
to increase your PPC
click-through rates.
TRICKS TO
GET THE CLICK

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Use credibility examples whenever you have them — phrases like “top-rated,”
“award-winning,” and “voted best-in-class.”
Show prospects how easy it is to do business with your company. Do this in
your ads by calling out GSA (government) pricing if you offer it, the fact you accept
POs (purchase orders) if you do, or that you offer financing terms, if that’s the case.
Be the trusted source for information — use your sitelinks to share white papers,
ebooks, case studies, downloadable forms, financing calculators, and anything else
someone might need in the research phase.
5. MEASUREMENT
With the longer sales cycle, it’s imperative that you track your site’s visitors closely with
Google Analytics or another analytics software package.
Over that three- to six-month sales cycle, your prospects might come back repeatedly to
get more information—so hopefully you’re adding more information to your site regularly.
Or, you can try remarketing to make sure you’re in front of your prospects on a consistent
basis.
What this really means is today’s click costs may not actually be conversions for 180 days
or more — so hang on for the long haul.
CONCLUSION
By now you realize the B2B PPC world requires a long-term view, especially when
compared to the wham-bam world of B2C PPC. It is, however, a highly effective way
to get your B2B organization in front of new prospects — and without pulling trade-
show duty.

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ABOUT WORDSTREAM
WordStream Inc. provides search marketing software and services to small and medium-
sized businesses that want better results from paid search. WordStream’s easy-to-use
PPC Advisor software facilitates more effective PPC campaigns by providing a customized
workflow, the 20-Minute PPC Work Week, to help advertisers increase relevance across
Google, Bing, and Yahoo and get expert-level results in a fraction of the time. Whether
you’re new to search marketing or are an experienced PPC manager, WordStream’s PPC
management software can provide the boost you need to grow your business and drive
better results.