Using Funnels to Succeed at B2B Advertising

#SMX #33C @John_A_Lee

Using Funnels to Succeed at B2B Advertising

Optimizing the Paid Search Conversion

Funnel


Who Is This Guy?

Managing Partner – Clix Marketing

Digital Advertising Geek

Emphasis on “Geek”

Prior Sentences Served:

Hanapin Marketing

Wordstream

Writer:

Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, Clix Marketing Blog, The SEM Post, Acquisio Blog, PPC Hero

Speaker:

SMX, SMX Social, SES / ClickZ Live, HeroConf, State of Search, Acquisio User Summit, Bing Ads Connect


…or put another way, #funnelception

What If I Said It Takes a Funnel to Use a Funnel?


TrackingFoundation Built on Data

Targeting

Layers Based on Status

Creative & TestingMaximize Your Efforts

Report, Take Action & Scale



Tracking


Conversion-Only Tags

Analytics

Retargeting

Dynamic Call Tracking

Landing Page Testing

Email Marketing

Marketing Automation

Tracking: Website Pixels

Still Not Using a Tag Manager?


URL Tagging Calls

UTM tags

Auto tags (gclid)

Custom tags (call tracking, etc.)

Choose URL tag nomenclature that allows for granular, segmented data to pass into your advertising, analytics and marketing automation platforms.

Tracking: URLs & Calls

Call Extensions & Call Only Ads

Click-to-call optimization for mobile

3rd party services for detailed call analysis


Ads across all paid channels were inconsistently or improperly tagged.

Cost-per-opportunity (buyer-ready lead status) stagnated at more than 2X the target of $400.

Simple fix to URL tags at the end of July allowed data to pass through CRM, provide actionable sales funnel data for the paid channels and fueled optimization to improve cost-per-opportunity.

Stats From the Trenches:URL Tags & Data Clarity for Optimization

$0.00

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$1,200.00

Cost-per-Opportunity


Call Extensions were in place for Google AdWords & Bing Ads. No other call tracking was installed. Client believed that $100+ cost-per-acquisition was too high.

3rd party call tracking installed in December that provided data on the number of calls from paid channels and passed campaign data for calls into CRM.

Overall cost-per-acquisition was shown to be significantly lower than believed, calls were properly attributed to paid channels and future optimizations could be made based on call data in the sales funnel.

Stats From the Trenches:Leads Don’t Just Happen Online

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$20.00

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$140.00

Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15

Cost-per-Acquisition: Online Leads + Phone Calls



Targeting


Search, Display, Social…

Beware the trap of pushing budget to channels based only on last click attribution.

How are you maximizing each channel for the lead stages in the buyer journey or based on your lead scoring system?

Targeting: Consider the Paid Channel Mix


Prospecting Nurturing

Generic PPC keywords

Placement targeting for display and video

Demographic, industry/job, interest and behavior targeting for display, video and social

Lookalike audiences based on customers, prospects or leads

Targeting: Examples by Sales Funnel Stage

Brand PPC keywords

Product/service specific PPC keywords

Generic and/or competitor PPC keywords

Remarketing Lists for Search Advertisers (RLSA)

Retargeting for display, video and social

Custom audiences for display, video and social



Creative & Testing


You could send visitors to your landing page. Why not just generate leads with your ad. And only your ad?

Tailor the ad message and call-to-action based on the lead status being targeted.

Creative & Testing: Lead Generating Ads


Facebook Ads – Lead Ads


Twitter Ads – Lead Generation Cards


Google AdWords – Gmail Sponsored Promotions


Over a 30 day period, Lead Ads outpaced traditional Newsfeed Ads in regards to conversion rate and cost-per-lead.

The form fields within the ad and those on the landing page were identical: Name, Email, Phone Number, Company Name.

Stats From the Trenches:Facebook Lead Ads for Buyer Ready Lead Generation

Call-to-Action Ad Type Clicks Cost Leads Cost-per-Lead Conversion Rate

Demo Request Lead Ads 18579 $ 92,378.54 2543 $ 36.33 13.69%

Demo Request Newsfeed Ads 26596 $ 60,719.81 1064 $ 57.07 4.00%


VideoVideo as a channel. Video in ad units. Video is powerful and effective.

Big, Bold ImagesSocial profiles, social ads, Gmail Sponsored Promotions and many display ad units are a big, visual opportunity to pre-qualify potential leads.

Ads That EngageFacebook Carousel Ads, Google Display Network Lightbox Ads and other ad types provide a format for telling a story and engaging with an individual before they click through to your landing pages.

Creative & Testing: Pre-Qualify Before the Click



Report, Take Action & Scale


Getting lead source data into marketing automation and tracking through to customer is key. But…

What other marketing channels influenced that lead? What other ad dollars were spent to push them down the funnel?

Sales funnel attribution is the wave of the B2B future!

Report, Take Action & Scale: Attribution


Use lead source data to optimize. Take action.

Many ad platforms can marry marketing automation and ad performance data.

Spin findings from sales funnel into new targeting within your advertising funnels. #funnelception

Report, Take Action & Scale: Data Feedback Loop


Thank You!

Questions?@john_a_lee

[email protected]

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