Today on the Demand Gen Pod, Episode 26, The demandgen pod discusses maximizing ROI from paid advertising in b-to-b by targeting the right audience, using data for tracking campaign performance, and optimizing campaigns. Setting clear goals is crucial, with lead generation differing from brand awareness in KPIs and results. Key channels like LinkedIn, Google Ads, and Instagram and creative ad copy highlighting unique value propositions are essential. User experience consistency across ads and landing pages is vital for conversion optimization.
A/B testing identifies optimal layouts for better conversions, while monitoring metrics like click-through rates aids in evaluating campaign performance. Continuous testing and refining campaigns based on data analysis, along with identifying underperforming areas to adjust or remove them, are important steps towards improving ROI. Cost-saving tactics such as bid optimizations and retargeting specific audience segments enhance campaign effectiveness.
Strategically allocating budgets by scaling successful campaigns through increased budget allocation or exploring new channels is recommended for maximum ROI. Staying updated with industry trends, experimenting with new strategies, and analyzing competitors’ ads for insights ensures staying competitive in the paid advertising landscape.
Summary notes from Episode 26:
Chapter 1: Setting Goals and Targeting (01:24 – 03:57) 01:24: Emphasizes the
importance of clearly defining goals and choosing between lead generation,
brand awareness, or conversions. 02:23: Factors to consider when targeting the
audience, such as industry, job titles, company size, and purchase intent.
Chapter 2: Choosing the Right Channels and Conducting Research (03:59 – 05:17)
03:59: Discusses advertising channels like LinkedIn, Google Ads, Facebook, and
Instagram for brand awareness. 04:47: Importance of market research and
conducting Persona research to understand target audience needs and
motivations. Chapter 3: Optimize Ad Copy and Design (05:17 – 06:42) 05:17:
Focus on creating compelling ad copy with unique value propositions and key
messaging. 06:17: Highlighting the significance of aligning landing pages with
ad copy for a consistent user experience. Chapter 4: Tracking Performance and
Optimization (06:54 – 08:16) 06:54: Conducting A/B testing to identify optimal
layouts and content for better conversions. 07:27: Tracking metrics like
click-through rate, conversion rate, and return on ad spend to analyze
campaign performance. Chapter 5: Maximizing ROI through Testing and Refinement
(08:20 – 09:35) 08:20: Continuous testing and refining of ad campaigns to
improve performance and ROI. 09:03: Leveraging retargeting to reach potential
leads who have shown interest in the product or service. Chapter 6: Budget
Allocation and Scaling Successful Campaigns (09:44 – 10:36) 09:44: Allocating
budget strategically and making timely adjustments based on performance.
10:14: Scaling successful campaigns by increasing budget in high-performing
areas and exploring new channels. Chapter 7: Staying Up-to-Date with Industry
Trends (10:59 – 11:42) 10:59: Importance of staying updated with industry
trends and best practices in B2B paid advertising. 11:30: Encouragement to
test new strategies, experiment with tactics, and analyze competitor ads for
insights.
Full Transcript:
00:01
Welcome to the demandgen pod. My name is Ryan. And today, this morning. Good morning. We are talking about, I’m just kidding, maximizing ROI from paid advertising in b two B. Now the thing about paid is that it’s really process driven. And so we’re going to talk about some of that process, but it also really does require a creative eye and also some real strong smarts when you’re reviewing and optimizing. And I think at that point, if you’ve never done it before, it’s well worth hiring a professional. But let’s dive in. All right. Simply broken down, I see three different areas that we break it out to. Paid comes into identifying a target audience, tailoring the adjustment campaigns accordingly for them. Use the data and analytics to track and measure campaign performance and then optimize those campaigns for better ROI to maximize returns.
01:03
I really do think it’s that straightforward. Now, each one of those bullet points has a lot of stuff going on inside of there and it’s definitely important to be looking at kind of each step in the process and thinking through the entire journey, just as you would with email or any other marketing campaign that you build, strategic or tactical. But what about the goals? Let’s start with the goals and targeting. So clearly defining your goals like lead generation brand awareness or conversions, you really have to choose one. And then you need to consider that when you choose one of those, the results are going to differ. So if you’re looking at lead generation, you’re looking at different KPI’s than brand awareness. With lead generation, you’re looking for conversions.
01:45
And I guess realistically you could even think of conversions as a separate entity altogether as further down the funnel of conversion to a customer. Whereas lead generation is, you know, that like top of the funnel conversion brand awareness, you’re not necessarily looking for that, you’re just trying to promote the brand. You’re trying to make people aware of the identity, the meaning, the purpose of the company, the goals of the brand, all of those things. And that does not necessarily translate to lead generation or conversions. It may with lead generations or conversions, but it does not necessarily actually translate over to it. So with that said, you can consider factors when you’re targeting like industry, job titles, company size, purchase intent. And that can help you kind of target the appropriate audience.
02:35
But then also think about looking into conducting Persona research for understanding the target audience needs, pain points, motivations. You can do that either by buying it. You can host larger researches if you need to, but you know, realistically you may be hiring a company to do that if you’re of a size that has the means to accomplish that. And what about the right channels? So you can advertise in all sorts of different channels, mostly b. Two B is going to be doing paid advertising on, like, LinkedIn, Google Ads, Facebook, and industry specific platforms. But you can also have loads of success on Instagram, especially for brand awareness. And, you know, maybe Twitter. I don’t know. I’m not going that direction.
03:21
But you can conduct market research and audience analysis to determine which channels are most relevant for a target audience and then make sure that you are trying to understand how to explore new opportunities within each of those channels. So this is what I mean by going back and kind of like reviewing and enhancing, your programs is you should be doing that on a per channel basis. So how is one ad performing on Facebook versus on Instagram? It’s theoretically just about the same ish people, but not really. There’s certainly an overlap, I guess a Venn diagram, but that’s probably true for all of these. How is it performing? How is a video ad on Facebook or on Instagram performing over a video ad on YouTube? How is that different? What about LinkedIn? Are you seeing better results from image ads versus video?
04:12
Are you seeing better results the other way around? What channels are you seeing those results on? If you realize that you’re killing it on video on Facebook and Instagram, but you’re not doing so well with the exact same thing on LinkedIn, but you’re doing better on the image, then you should be pulling the video on LinkedIn and promoting the image, the video more on Facebook and Instagram. So that’s really what I mean by optimize. Regardless of where you’re posting it, think about some solid, compelling ad copy and creative. And this, I think, is actually one of the hardest parts. Highlighting unique value propositions and key messaging and ad copy, using concise and compelling language to convey the benefits of products or services, and also keeping your design simple, professional, and aligned with your brand identity.
04:58
And that last part is particularly difficult and making sure that you are keeping all of your designs interesting and fresh, but also following your brand identity. So it looks like it’s coming from you. And your brand is tough. It’s really tough, but it’s certainly doable. You can also leverage landing pages and conversions for conversion optimization, and you can optimize those pages by aligning them with ad copy to maintain consistency. And one of the things that I talk about a lot here is focusing around the user experience and the consistency of that experience. So your h one, your header, okay. And your ad should align to your header on your landing page, which should align to the header in the thank you email or the subject line in the thank you email and the request that the body copy is asking you to do.
05:51
And then the call to action on the ad should be aligning to that on the landing page. Literally the button text right on the landing page. So to submit the form and then the experience afterward really shouldn’t be like a thanks, we got your information. Do better than that. Take them somewhere that is. That makes sense in their early journey to try to keep them on the website so they can learn more sooner. Maybe that’s a blog article, maybe it’s a product page, maybe it’s a services page, maybe it’s a video that you put on the thank you page. Because now we know exactly what they’ve converted on.
06:27
And the more work that you put in upfront to make each of those experiences based on the various ads, or at a minimum, the various campaigns unique, the farther that you will go with getting those conversions and maintaining that interest. So just a few things to consider there. You can also conduct a b testing to identify different optimal layouts and content for better conversions. So you can do that on email, you can do that on landing pages. You can also use things like heat mapping on your landing pages to track what they’re looking at and basically tracks the mouse and provides kind of a heat map based on where the mouse spends the most time. Because we generally track our eye with the mouse, we learned that years and years ago. And you can also monitor and measure the campaign performance.
07:17
So you can track metrics like click through rate, conversion rate, your cost per conversion, and then the return on ad spend as well, which is obviously way further down the funnel. Don’t forget before you launch these things to set up that conversion tracking. So I’m most likely going to be, you’re going to be using Google Ads so they have their own script that you need. Facebook has its own script. So keep in mind that you really need to make sure those are all in place and you have tested them. And then you can analyze all that data to try to identify trends and then optimize underperforming areas or remove them entirely and kind of make more data driven decisions. So when you’re putting a campaign together, you might be thinking, this looks good and that looks good. And some of you might disagree.
08:03
So, well, we can test those two things. Well, the next step when you’re actually analyzing and optimizing is to be making decisions based on the data, what the data says, not what you believe. So it’s okay to be wrong? It’s okay to be wrong. Then at the end of the day, let’s optimize the campaigns for ROI. So if we continuously test and refine ad campaigns to improve performance and ROI, they will grow and grow your results, right. And if we identify the underperforming areas, we can either make the necessary adjustments, like changing the targeting or the ad copy of the landing pages, make those incrementally, by the way, or you can decide to start pulling things if things are just underperforming in certain places.
08:44
You can also then implement cost saving tactics like bid optimizations and ad scheduling, or targeting specific audience segments within the ones that you had originally created and then retargeting as well. So retargeting is really helpful because it will reach potential leads who’ve already shown interest in the product or in your services. And then you can segment audiences based on specific actions or behavior and tailor messaging accordingly. So if you have a customer list, for example, you can target to target them specifically. If you have somebody who’s converted on a form but is not yet a customer, you can retarget to them with a slightly different message.
09:18
And all of these things really add up and kind of give that, I’m going to say like provide this barrage, but that’s like a really bad word, I feel, to get it, get the point across, but this barrage of ads and for the experience, to keep the experience very consistent. And then, you know, if you have the ability to personalize those ads, to reconnect with leads and nurture them toward a conversion, what about budgets? So I think that it’s really important, especially when you’re starting out and I mean, heck, even when you’re further into it, to just allocate a budget and make choices on when you are going to look at performance, when you are going to make adjustments, and that might not be time.
10:00
So you might not be saying, well, let’s let it run for two weeks, you might want to say, let’s get x number of impressions or let’s get x number of conversions. And so, yeah, that’s definitely what you want to be considering when you’re looking into that. And then you can scale those successful bug campaigns by increasing budget in one place, expanding, targeting in another, expanding, exploring new channels. So if you’re really doing great on Facebook and you’re doing really poorly on LinkedIn turn down the budget on LinkedIn and put that over to Facebook. Regardless, analyze these things regularly and then optimize your budget allocation to ensure that maximum ROI.
10:36
I think that you need to make the decisions in a cross between a timely manner so that you’re not wasting money, but also in a manner where you’re giving the ads enough time to actually get appropriate results and statistically significant results. So what about keeping up with everything that’s going on so we can stay up to date with industry trends and best practices? In b two b paid advertising, like I’ve mentioned multiple times, test, test, experiment with new strategies and tactics and also take a look at what your competitors are doing. What are they doing? What do their ads look like? Can you pull anything from that? Not saying steal it all, but can you get an understanding about what they were trying to accomplish, what they have accomplished or possibly have accomplished, I suppose, with their ads? What can you take away?
11:26
So all of these things, I think are really interesting to think about. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have you been successful in paid advertising? Have you not? Where have you found the most struggle? Do you feel like you’re wasting money? Or are you seeing just a return left and right? I’d love to hear about it. And thanks for your time, and we’ll see you next week. Our channel.