PPC for Lead Generation – How to Create a Winning Strategy

All businesses are looking for one thing and one thing only – more customers. You may have a large database of loyal customers, but businesses need new customers to fuel growth. Before these people become customers though, they are called leads. So how do you go about generating high-quality leads? 

There are all sorts of different ways of going about gathering fresh leads, but one of the best and most effective methods for lead generation is using what’s known as a PPC strategy. We’ll take you through how to create a winning PPC lead generation strategy, with the end result giving you a substantial database of leads.

How do you generate leads through PPC?

Having a strategy in place for key tasks can mean that you reap the rewards and reach your aims. The same applies to business, so having a rock-solid lead generation strategy can be really helpful for getting you where you need to be. When it comes to PPC though, how do you generate leads?

PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, creates an avenue for driving traffic and more importantly, leads. Google Ads, which you may remember as being called Google Adwords, is the most important element in creating a PPC strategy. There are many different types of B2B leads that can be generated, and that you should familiarize yourself with.

Keywords

Keywords are used to basically find your target audience. Dependent on your budget, you can either have a select few target keywords, or you can have a variety of keywords. On top of keywords, you also have to consider negative keywords, which will actually give you more relevant keywords. 

According to Komarketing, well over 50% of marketers said that their top priority was lead quality. As your PPC lead generation strategy is working, you’ll want to continually analyze your results. You can end up with junk leads, which basically are leads that will never become qualified. So you’ll want to consider how the quality of leads can be improved. Things like URL tracking, ad schedules, and targeting keywords can all help you to generate higher-quality leads from your PPC lead gen strategy. 

What is the difference between SEO and PPC?

When it comes to SEO or PPC, there are two key differences that you should be aware of. The first major difference between SEO and PPC is that paid ads appear at the top of the search page (Google, for instance) – often above the organic SEO-influenced listings. 

The second big difference between SEO and PPC is that lead traffic from SEO is free – PPC traffic basically has a cost for each and every click. The million-dollar question is which one is better. However, there isn’t actually a ‘right’ answer to this. Depending on your current situation, the objectives you wish to achieve, and your marketplace you’ll find that each can benefit your lead generation strategy in different ways.

How is a PPC Campaign structured?

Your next step towards successfully using a PPC campaign is knowing how to structure it. Contemplating keyword ideas, social media marketing, and search engine optimization are all important elements in your PPC campaign, and will all go towards optimizing it. 

But the way you structure your PPC campaign is incredibly important. It is effectively the backbone of your account, and if you have a really strong structure to your campaign, it can really support other parts of your account too – including performance. 

There are, however, infinite ways of structuring your account. As long as you consider certain criteria though, the structure you use doesn’t matter too much. You’ll want to make sure that you can get to the bottom of how you can generate lots of quality leads from your PPC campaigns too. Here’s how you can optimize your PPC campaign.

Reporting your goals

The structure you choose to use for your PPC campaign can really help you with your goal analysis. If you need to supply reports on all the teams, you might be able to split up the different divisions or accounts, and thus have easy access to your separate goals. Segmenting out branded keywords on their own campaigns so you can see their results is also worth doing.

Target locations

Structuring your PPC campaign around specific regions can be a really good way of having focussed and bespoke targeting. It also means reporting your goals in these regions is much easier as well, as all the results are separate. Plus, you can take stock of what worked best and where thereby optimizing your PPC campaign. Click-through rates and open rates can be clear indicators of locations you could target as well if you gather the data.

Optimization and budgeting

Segmenting your keywords into thematic groups will mean that you can control how you spend the budget you have for the project. Similarly, if you have a keyword that has more volume than another, you may end up spending a large proportion of your budget on that one keyword. Performance can easily be gauged by grouping together your keywords and optimizing them.

Setting up your structure

One of the best ways of structuring your PPC campaign is by grouping your keywords thematically. You can separate match types by ad groups, for instance. The tighter the groups of keywords are, the easier it will be for you to gauge the performance of your campaign. Combined with engaging copy and content, along with a suitable reporting method in place, you should have a very solid structure.

Understanding your Competitors and doing Keyword Research

This is a really important thing to go through. Knowing who you’re up against in an already incredibly competitive market is some essential research you should carry out. On top of this, keyword research can help you with PPC campaign optimization too. 

At the end of the day, Google is there to make some money, so your hand is forced to try and follow the best and most appealing practices to create the most relevant online search process you can. One way of understanding your competitors is following the 5 W’s – who, what, where, when and why.

Who are your competitors?

It’s a really important marketing strategy to take a look at who your competitors are. You may think that your online competitors are the same as your offline competitors, but this isn’t true at all. Be sure to take a look at the domains that share the same keywords you’re using. Familiarising yourself with Google Ads can give you lots of data like the overlap rate, the top of page rate, and how often your competitors appear at the top of the page before you. Use this data and make it actionable.

What sort of competitors are they?

It’s worth understanding that your competitors will take all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Some will be major players in the scene, whereas others will be small fry. Make sure you carry out some research into which keywords your competitors might be using and track the impressions they might be getting. You’ll also want to determine whether you are getting the whole story from them too, as these PPC strategies aren’t clearcut.

Where in particular are they competing with you?

If you try and keep track of where your competitors are up against you at every moment, you’ll end up wasting lots of energy. There are other methods you can use for PPC campaign optimization, such as using third-party bidding tools to monitor any changes to your keywords or even automated Search Impression Share reports for the best performing campaigns or keywords which you can get sent straight to your email.

Why are they competing?

Sometimes you’ll come across a competitor who is determined to drive you into the ground. More often and not, though, they’ll simply be trying to do the same thing as you. They’ll also want to share and show ads using your keywords, which you are actually capable of monitoring using third-party software. While you can’t control what your competitors are using in their ads, you can test your own messaging. Are you using clear calls to action? What are your competitors offering? How can you stand out from the crowd?

When should you take action?

You may suddenly feel rather worried about what your competitors are getting up to. However, it doesn’t help anyone if you spend every waking moment thinking about what they’re doing and what you’re not. Your boat may have been rocked – but the next thing you should do is work out where to steer it next.

Creating a Memorable Ad

A great ad is a memorable one. With the right planning and concept, you can create an ad that leads won’t forget in a hurry. A memorable ad will contain a solution to a problem, an emotional engagement, and something memorable that will make your customers want to return to you. The brand value is really important too, and being able to entertain as well as communicate the value of the brand is essential to creating a memorable ad.

Creating an Attractive Landing Page

An effective landing page is the absolute cornerstone of successful marketing. You may be making an unmissable offer, and your PPC strategy could be optimized to perfection, but if you don’t have a good landing page, you’re bound to suffer and it could all be for nothing. Keep your landing page cleanly designed, and use a header to broadcast offer value. It’s also worth looking into making your page mobile-friendly too.

And maybe you don’t even have a landing page. You may think that you won’t be able to use Google Ads if you don’t have a landing page – in fact, you just need to create a My Business page on Google and you can carry on with your PPC strategy. 

How much should a lead cost?

When you are trying to generate online leads, it’s critical that you focus on what works rather than what doesn’t work. In B2B lead generation, the cheapest lead is often a junk lead, and doesn’t take you anywhere. However, even when you spend a lot on a lead, it might not go anywhere, so it’s a bit of a game to work out how much you should be spending on a lead.

Sales gamification can come into play here, which can really determine the worth of a lead, and how much a lead should cost – or at least how much that lead is worth to you. In the B2B industry, the price of a lead can vary dramatically, depending on which industry you are in. The Integrated Market Association has a really concise table of the average prices people have been paying for leads.

Conclusion

Creating a PPC lead strategy for lead generation can be a bit of a process, but it can put you in really good stead for obtaining new and qualified leads. It’s really important to keep an eye on all the intricacies and elements of your PPC campaign, as things change very quickly and suddenly. 

Targeting the right prospects is an essential part of an effective PPC strategy, and you can easily do this using the bant.io dashboard. It helps you optimize your campaigns, as well as offering help from our dedicated team, putting your campaigns on auto-pilot. Book in a demo today and start bringing in qualified leads right away.