We’re long past the days of focusing on single-channel data in evaluating B2B Marketing Efforts. B2B sales funnels are long and complex, requiring many touchpoints. While Google Paid Search is clearly mandatory for any serious marketing effort, in 2023, it’s not nearly enough. People are spending time on many different platforms and any boundaries between “work-related” activities and “non-work” activities have long since dissolved. Smart marketers are making sure that their messaging is present on each of these platforms where prospects are spending their time, no matter their current behavior on them. For example, I am compelled to watch work-related ads to get additional “credit” when I play Madden on my tablet, and I both accept and embrace the tradeoff.

It’s well-established that Google Search Advertising focuses on click-based metrics while Google Display Advertising and YouTube Advertising focuses on view-thru conversions instead of click-based conversions (with some exceptions). Brands have become much smarter about the value of view-thru conversions and with the widespread adoption of data-driven attribution, brands can not only see a view-thru conversion “number” in their campaigns but the relative value of them can be weighted algorithmically to see their impact on the Google Search investment.

I am still sometimes seeing view-thru conversion “resistance” when non-Google channels are considered. Sure, many verticals can make sales or generate leads on Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit + others. However, with the B2B clients I’ve worked with, I’m frequently challenged to generate comparable click-thru CPA’s on these other channels compared to Google and it’s frequently difficult to get budget to push on these other channels due to that fact. Conceptually, clients do know that these channels give ancillary marketing value but the data to support these efforts can be lacking.

However, view-thru conversions can be captured and measured with the various non-Google pixels. For many clients, I would suggest that the relatively small handful of click conversions can be safely ignored as not-being determinative of the campaign success level. Focus on the volume and CPA of the view-thru conversions and realize that you’ll likely see significant latency in the view-thru data (since B2B sales cycles are long). We have found that the percentages of LinkedIn / Reddit / Facebook view-thrus compared to total Google Search Conversions can be quite sizeable (which doesn’t even consider their view-thru impact on Organic or Direct conversions which are also substantial). Advanced data science can give more precise answers to the channel specific impact, but basic view-thru CPA data will give directional indications of success.

If you’re viewing non-Google platforms as contributory channels more than direct response channels, you should change up your marketing messaging in recognition of this fact. While you probably could use your direct response Google-themed marketing in other channels with some success, that would be suboptimal. Try to use different messaging and assets so not to give the sense that a particular ad is stalking a prospect around the Internet. You can focus more on Branding and less on Direct Response in these other channels. Realize that some people will have already seen your message on Google properties, but many have not. Many will click your ad (or view it) and then do a subsequent Google Search to learn more about your offering and they’re far more likely to convert from the Google Search than from the initial non-Google exposure. Were it not for the initial exposure to your ad, they would have never gone to Google in the first place. While many Google Searches are driven by direct user intent, many others are triggered by seeing something while web-surfing and investigating the offering more closely due to that trigger. Without seeing that other ad, the trigger might not have happened until much later, if at all.

In closing, the confluence of multi-channel marketing for B2B is greater than ever and it’s becoming more feasible to weigh relative channel contribution in deciding upon an optimal marketing mix. It is necessary to understand user behavior to properly evaluate marketing channels and channels that don’t offer the same level of Direct Response as Google Search should not be discriminated against because they contributed views and not clicks to the user journey.

Having done Paid Search with a B2B focus for quite some time now, I have frequently been tasked with “globalizing” US/Canada-focused accounts. On the one hand, Google makes it easy to internationalize campaigns that are just targeting a couple of countries. On the other hand, it would be extremely naive to target countries such as Romania and Algeria in the same campaign as the US unless there is a compelling business reason to do so (and there generally is not). In this post, I am going to share some tips and tricks in a typical global campaign setup that might help you expand your campaign reach in an efficient and profitable manner.

Country Segmentation

The first step in internalization is to focus on the primary English-speaking countries and segment them in a logical fashion. I will always do a separate campaign for the US and Canada. I will combine UK and Ireland and Australia and New Zealand. Sometimes, I might also segment out South Africa, Hong Kong, and Singapore, since they are also primarily English-speaking countries.

Then, I focus on logical segmentations in countries where English is not the primarily spoken language. I might combine all of the EU countries together or get more granular than that if the situation warrants (e.g., Germany/Austria/Switzerland, Norway/Sweden/Finland, Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg, etc.). I might combine the primary Asian countries together if I do not have a strong Asian focus (e.g., Japan/South Korea/Taiwan). I might combine countries by language (e.g., all the Central and South American countries that primarily speak Spanish). While each country will have both cultural and linguistic differences that will make combining them an imperfect science, for the purposes of an American company looking to quickly expand its marketing and sales footprint, this degree of segmentation will work.

Non-Translated Sites

Many clients resist marketing to countries where the primary language is not English, because they believe that a high percentage of the people will not understand the website well enough for it to be actionable. My experience is that almost everybody tasked with looking at your website for the purposes of making a business purchase will know English at least at the “second language level”. For the few that do not know any English, Google Translate will allow a basic understanding of your site. One benefit of marketing to non-English countries is the much lower cost per lead, which makes the leads more profitable when tracked all the way to closed sale.

If you are committed to making a major push into a non-English-speaking country, it will be advantageous to have at least one paid search landing page in the native language, even if it is not feasible to translate the entire site. Google uses a variety of settings to determine which language(s) a user speaks/understands. Even if Google sees the searcher as having English fluency, when you create an advertising experience in their native language, Google will likely favor it and you might achieve a competitive advantage over an advertiser with an English-only experience.

Translated Ads

Knowing that it frequently takes time and effort to create a non-English landing page experience, I will often suggest that in the interim, it makes sense to start with non-English ads for non-English speakers that send them to English landing pages. Many have questioned that technique as being weird or incongruous. However, I have worked with this technique for 10 years now, and it has worked extremely well for every client I have tried it with. People who live in non-English companies are extremely used to going between English and non-English during their workday, so they won’t be thrown when your non-English ad takes them to an English landing page.

What is also awesome is that if you are working with a Google Partner Agency, your Google rep will get your ads translated into any language for free if you commit to running Google Ads Campaigns. My experience is that the quality of the translations is generally quite good. Also, companies like Gengo will translate your Google Ads for a very reasonable cost.

Payment Issues

This is an under-the-radar issue for marketing overseas that many paid search managers do not necessarily think about. In the US, people assume that both people and businesses have easy access to a credit card. For consumer goods, we have a variety of payment options (e.g., PayPal, Amazon Pay, Google Pay and Apple Pay) that most merchants accept. However, in some countries, people do things quite differently. Visa and Master Card might be accepted outside of the US, but many people do not have access to these cards. In certain countries, bank drafts are more prevalent than credit cards. Also, the payment processor that a business works with has a huge impact on both where it is feasible to market to (and generate sales from) and how much it might cost to process payments from that location. If a business makes it too difficult to purchase from them, the non-US visitor will make their purchase elsewhere.

Also, businesses must be aware of currency exchange rates as well as the cost of doing such an exchange. The functionality to accept payment in Pound Sterling, Euros or other “important” local currencies can be a huge selling point to people in those markets. I have worked with many clients who had no problem generating leads worldwide but had difficulties closing the leads. If you don’t make it easy for people to pay for the products/services in a way they are accustomed to, you will have difficulties running your business in these countries.

In closing, if a company is able to service clients and customers worldwide, Google has made marketing to them much easier. While we cannot assume that prospects in Europe and Asia will view or value your offering in the same manner as people in the US, we can assume that these prospects are quite adept at evaluating US offerings from their “outsider” viewpoint and are also quite able to switch quickly between English and their native tongue while surfing the web for work. Targeting outside the US can frequently lead to increased sales at lower CPAs and higher profitability. So, if you are able to serve people worldwide, now is a good time to begin marketing internationally.

I’m a huge Springsteen fan who has seen him in concert 10 times since 1992 (and I’ve spent countless hours listening to his albums and bootlegs online). Bruce has shared extraordinary personal insights through his music, but few know that Bruce’s insights could be applied to Paid Search (even though Paid Search didn’t exist until around the time he released “The Rising” album). So, without further ado, here’s what Bruce has taught me.

“You Can Look But You Better Not Touch”:
Never discount the value of impression based marketing. Through the GDN or YouTube, a client can get large number of valuable views of their ad or their video for very low CPM rates. In a funnel-based marketing system, views can sew the seeds of future clicks and conversions.

“Jungleland”:
Paid Search is a very skilled undertaking, especially in the B2B space. So many large companies waste quite a bit of money with suboptimal strategies and tactics. Partnering with a trusted agency with relevant experience will generate an excellent ROI.

“Does This Bus Stop At 82^nd Street”:
Many paid search efforts will benefit significantly from localization. Looking at the data, one will likely find significant performance differences between different geos, and bidding can and should be adjusted to take advantage of this performance delta.

“Growin’ Up”:
We work with many businesses that are in early growth stage. They have big dreams for the future but have a long path to travel in order to fulfill what they wish to accomplish. We create a paid search strategy for them that will help their current situation but is also scalable for their future growth.

“Highway Patrolman”:
Having positive relationships with Google is a solid value ad for our clients. Google has offered many of our clients invaluable assistance in growing their business or helping them solve problems. However, advice given by Google needs to be taken with a very critical eye, for not all of it will be of benefit. We can separate the Google Wheat from the Google Chaff.

“Roll Of The Dice”:
Part of our job is to caution clients against making costly mistakes. For example, many clients want to bid aggressively on competitor brands. However, 99.9% of the time, this is a failed strategy with terrible ROI, so we caution our clients to stay away.

“Open All Night”:
Paid search is a 24/7 enterprise. The concept of “Business Hours” doesn’t exist, and people will be doing research and making business decisions while you’re fast asleep. Make sure you have enough budget for all 24 hours of the day.

“57 Channels (And Nothing On)”:
Google quietly started to show a low volume of ads on “Connected” TV devices. As more and more people “cut the cord”, this segment will increase exponentially in size, and the forward-thinking agencies and clients will begin to strategize specifically for this segment.

“Human Touch”:
Over the years, Google’s automation has become significantly better. Today, it’s not a question of whether to use it…it’s how best to use it. Experienced paid search marketers are extremely valuable for guiding clients through choosing, implementing, and monitoring Google’s automated strategies.

“Mansion On The Hill”:
What can be purchased with the revenue earned from a professionally managed AdWords campaign.

Hopefully, my little reminiscence will cause you to both examine your current PPC Strategy…and listen to your favorite Springsteen.

A frequent question that I’ve been asked: How do you optimize an AdWords Account? My answer (to quote an oft-used phrase): I begin with the end in mind. If I’m working with a B2B Account, I am solely focused on the Cost Per Lead Metrics, so I optimize all the elements higher up in the funnel that I have control over in order to get a most favorable CPL.

What elements do I have control over?

Bids. Bid Strategy. Ad Text. Keyword Targeting. Landing Pages (sometimes). If I’m being the best steward of my client’s money, I’m making the most relevant choices for the account…examining the account data…and tweaking my choices, all the while chasing optimum performance.

What element do I not have control over?

Quality Score.

You might point out to me that you’ve seen all these blog posts talking about quality score elements and what you might do to get your score higher. I would tell you that most of that advice is quite valid.

You might also point out to me that you’ve read studies showing that higher quality scores lead to lower CPCs and better performance. I would acknowledge that those studies (as well as reports I’ve run on client accounts) validate this theory.

So why don’t you have control over your Quality Score?

Technically, you do have some control over it. However, it plays very little into how you would optimize an account.

If I’m doing the best possible job for my client, I’ve chosen the right list of keywords; I’ve written extremely pertinent ads; I’m making the best bidding choices, and my landing pages are topically on point and contain all the right elements to convert relevant traffic.

I let my performance against client goals dictate how I manage the account…not what the quality score is telling me.

Would you ever manage an account based on Quality Score?

If for some reason I’m not hitting client goals and I’m looking for an easy way to optimize the account, I would look at the Quality Score of the non-branded keywords. What I might do is create a CPA Matrix by Quality Score (QS) with an eye towards pausing all non-branded keywords tied to a Quality Score with a substandard CPA (generally QS 1-3), investing the savings into higher QS keywords. Implementation of this tactic should improve account performance.

I have to say that I rarely resort to Quality Score-based tactics, because I’m solidly dialed in for campaign management. Were Google to take away Quality Score, it would have very little impact on my process and my results (which would still be awesome).

Position² was again a Platinum sponsor at the SiriusDecisions Summit 2017 in Las Vegas this May. Wow!! What a show it was! SiriusDecisions unveiled a new Demand Waterfall, and that was just the beginning.

We met with many amazing marketers and discussed real world advanced challenges about marketing technologies, demand acceleration, AI and anonymous visitors. Our team did two presentations on diverse and very relevant topics for today’s marketers. Niraj Swarup, Sr. VP of Products and Services, talked about the demand waterfall and I spoke about AdTech and MarTech integration.

Over the last month, I’ve had the opportunity to digest the learnings from the summit. I aligned these learnings with the challenges our clients and prospects face in their day-to-day digital marketing efforts. Optimizing the demand waterfall and tech stack continue to throw up major challenges not just for SMBs, but also for billion dollar enterprises.

In this article, I have compiled the key points from our presentations and SiriusDecisions’ sessions. My aim is to offer you direction to solve some of your digital marketing challenges. In doing so I have laid out high-level pointers to help you build a robust and scalable digital marketing model. If you require additional information or would like to just chat with us about your challenges, please write to us.

My session was titled ‘Crossing the Chasm from AdTech to MarTech’. Primary objective was to explain – (1) how to build the right technology and marketing infrastructure to track digital campaigns, (2) the need to track digital marketing efforts granularly – and benefit from – cross-channel media mix optimization, and (3) the right team for success.

Here are a few strategic and tactical tips to get you going:

1) Marketers have too many technologies or platforms on their hands that make the job of integrating AdTech and MarTech difficult. I recommend you re-evaluate your entire tech stack. Identify and keep the most critical technologies or platforms. Get rid of stuff that you do not need.

Yes, this is a slow and painful process, but it is something you will need to go through to succeed. In fact, a common theme at all the conferences we attended over the year was that successful large enterprises and smaller firms went through this exercise. Once done, these organizations had an ideal stack that best suited their needs.

2) For greater digital media efficiencies, marketers need to look for ways to capture source to close data using “Deep Funnel Metrics”. Many marketers fail to do this because they either have limited or excess technologies. Another impeding factor is an unfriendly team structure.

3) Marketers should strive to use cross-channel insights to optimize the media budget effectively. This is the best way to make sure that you and your teams will be able to migrate one channel’s successes to another. Often this effort falls flat for marketers because their teams work in silos.

4) Lean teams can be a challenge. Therefore, marketers should not shy away from hiring the right resources with diverse skills to manage AdTech and MarTech stacks. Once you have the resources on board you need to make sure that all members of your team are working together.

Niraj’s topic was ‘Add Yellowstone’s Upper and Lower Falls to Your Demand Waterfall’. Niraj drew inspiration from Yellowstone’s famous waterfalls and spoke about an augmented marketing framework that Position² uses for clients.

Below are a few high-level pointers from his presentation:

1) It is important to identify and optimize the combination of touches that actually convert suspects into a known lead.

2) We recommend that SiriusDecisions model be implemented so that you can track and optimize prospects as they convert to customers and as they flow through the waterfall, now the demand unit waterfall.

3) Typically revenue from existing customers accounts for a very significant portion of overall revenue. Therefore, loyalty, renewal, customer advocacy, and retention programs are the critical challenges to solve.

Along similar lines, another interesting topic that emerged this year was about tackling anonymous visitors hitting your website. Here are some insights:

1) Web personalization is one-way marketers are trying to solve this problem.

2) Marketers are playing around with AI and ABM to target these audiences.

3) One can connect platforms like analytics and automation tools to build your ideal profile and target anonymous visitors’ through look-alike visitors.

Of course, this is a new and emerging trend, so watch out for interesting directions to surface frequently.

I hope this article has given you a few tips to solve the challenges of scaling digital marketing Demand Acceleration. We are happy to talk with you about your current MarTech, AdTech or Demand Acceleration challenges. Just contact us and we will reach out to you soon.