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B2B Marketers Should Embrace "Tire Kickers"

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:33:00 -0700

April 18, 2008
By Patricia Hursh

Should marketers avoid paying for prospects who are early in the buying process and not ready to submit personal information or be contacted by a sales person? Should these "tire kickers" be avoided so that marketers can focus their attention on generating more valuable, sales-ready leads? While this approach may seem logical at first, I believe it is short-sighted and ultimately leaves a lot of money on the table.

Early-buying-phase searchers

One of the biggest challenges I've experienced working with B2B marketers is overcoming their belief that if a searcher doesn't immediately register, sign-up, download, or complete a Contact Us form, then the prospect is not valuable and not worth the effort or the price of the click.

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. I believe there is huge value in utilizing search marketing to reach prospects early and frequently throughout the entire buying cycle - including the very first stages. Getting in front of prospects early allows you to cost-effectively support your brand, generate a larger volume of high-quality leads, and improve overall marketing ROI.

Understand how business buyers use search engines

According to recent research from Forrester and Enquiro's 2007 B2B Survey, business buyers use search engines most frequently at the beginning of the buying process, during the awareness and research phases. Buyers actually use search engines less frequently when they are ready to negotiate and purchase a high-consideration product or service.

My colleague Jon Miller also supports this premise and recently wrote about buyers using search engines early in the process and long before they are ready to engage with a sales person.

Align your search programs with buyer behavior

Instead of being frustrated by this fact or ignoring the realities of buyer behavior, B2B marketers should embrace this process and proactively align their marketing programs with the various phases of the buying cycle.

For example, let's look at a search advertising campaign for a company selling database software.

Early-Phase Campaign
A successful pay-per-click (PPC) search ad campaign designed to reach early-phase
prospects would have the following attributes:

Keywords include general, broad search phrases such as database application software and database software information.
Ad copy appeals to researchers and fact finders and might include statements such as database market trends or database application tips and advice.
Landing pages provide general market information and calls-to-action such as download market trend report or review database application options.

Late-Phase Campaign
In contrast, a late-phase search campaign would look like this.

Keywords are much more specific and include many long-tail phrases, such as web based medical databases.
Ad copy may focus on specific features, product comparisons, and buying tips. For example, Compare database application features or Find the right application for you.
Landing pages offer information and downloadable assets that address specific buying needs, such as Download product and pricing options. View software comparison chart. Request a custom quote, or, yes... Contact Us.

Manage multiple types of programs

To reach the largest number of qualified prospects, marketers must manage multiple
types of programs designed to proactively reach prospects at various phases of the buying process.

Understanding this requirement is critical to search marketing success, because the brutal reality is that not everyone who finds your site is a sales-ready lead. Remember, not all conversions are qualified inquiries and not all inquires are qualified leads. A lead scoring and nurturing program is required to fully capitalize on search-generated inquires and to convert web inquiries into bonafide sales leads.

Track prospects' behavior over time

How can you determine if first time clickers later become inquiries, leads, and customers? Marketers should track first-time visitors, and their subsequent visits, and their online actions over time. Segment your web analytics data as needed, but at least identify and separate all visitors, search visitors, and paid search visitors. The idea is to understand prospects' behavior before they become a conversion or a lead.

You will see that over time, a percentage of first time clickers who do not take any desired action (i.e., tire kickers) return to your website and sign-up for email information, download a white paper, or register for a webinar. And eventually, some will request to be contacted by a sales representative, becoming leads and ultimately customers.

Embrace the buying process

Remember, business buyers go through a process that involves search engines, especially at the beginning. Very few searchers become qualified sales leads on their first visit. More often, the process takes time and requires multiple searches and visits before a meaningful sales interaction can take place.

Embrace the fact that prospects use search engines early and frequently, and are in control of their own buying process. Get your brand in front of these prospects. Proactively penetrate the market segments you want to pursue. Differentiate yourself from the competition.

Strive to track prospects after the first click and before the conversion event. Measure repeat visits and website actions over time. I think you'll find that tire kickers are a lot more valuable than you originally thought!

Patricia Hursh is president and founder of SmartSearch Marketing, a Boulder, Colorado-based search engine marketing agency. You can reach Patricia at patricia@smartsearchmarketing.com. The Strictly Business column appears Wednesdays at Search Engine Land.

Lowering Your Quality Scores To Increase ROI

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:37:00 -0700

March 19, 2008
By Patricia Hursh

B2B search advertisers must confront an annoying paradox. For most advertisers the billable event is the click. Yet for most B2B advertisers success depends not on clicks, but rather on conversions: the percentage of visitors who take the desired online action, such as downloading a white paper or registering for a webinar. B2B marketers must weigh the pros and cons of focusing on response rate versus conversions.

Quantity of clicks vs quality of conversions

Many search marketers run their campaigns to maximize the volume of prospects driven to a website. The idea is, load more prospects into the top of the funnel, and more sales will be generated at the bottom.

B2B marketers don't necessarily think this way. For many of us, it's not so much about the quantity of clickers as it is the quality of converters.

B2B clicks are more expensive than B2C

B2B search advertisers pay, on average, a bit less than $3.00 per click ($2.77 on Google, according to Marketing Sherpa's 2006 Benchmark Report). This is more than twice the average cost for a consumer product click ($1.36).

$3.00 might not seem unreasonable, but some B2B firms advertise in highly-competitive sectors where click costs are in the $15 to $40 range! At this price, it's important to convert as many visitors as possible into action takers.

Using ad copy to pre-qualify clickers

When faced with a limited pool of potential buyers, and when each click comes at a significant cost, B2B search advertisers must do everything they can to pre-qualify clickers to reduce the number of clicks coming from searchers who will simply not complete the conversion process.

Ad copy is a powerful tool that can help you accomplish this pre-qualification step. This may seem challenging, but even within the limits of ninety-five characters, advertisers can send strong signals about who should and should not click on an ad.

Reducing response rate

Unlike B2C ads, where generally it's the more the merrier, any B2B search ads are actually designed to reduce response rate. For example, I work with a company in the IT Outsourcing sector. Here are two ads we recently tested.

Ad #1

IT Outsourcing Service
Reduce costs. Improve reliability.
IT Outsourcing Resource Kit.

Ad #2

IT Outsourcing Provider
Serving firms with 20 - 300 users.
IT Outsourcing Resource Kit.

Ad #1 is fairly general and focuses on user benefits and a call to action. Ad #2 specifically describes the target audience.

The first ad had a 5.6% click-through-rate (CTR). Ad #2 was much lower at 3.1%.

The Quality Score trade-off

The second ad, with the reduced CTR, will receive a lower quality score than Ad #1 (all other things considered equal), resulting in lower ad position for the money.

Why would a marketer purposely lower CTR, and thus impair the Quality Score? The answer lies in conversion rate and cost/conversion. Our client discovered (through an online survey) that many people who clicked on Ad #1 were too small to qualify for their service (companies with fewer than 20 users). Not surprisingly, clickers from these smaller companies never converted into qualified prospects or leads. For this reason, the generic ad had a much lower conversion rate than the pre-qualifying ad.

Based on this, the IT Outsourcing company decided to test multiple versions of only the pre-qualifying ad copy—thus lowering CTR and Quality Score—but ultimately improving conversion rate and cost/conversion.

The balancing act

Current Quality Score algorithms, based partially on CTR, penalize B2B marketers who use ad copy to pre-qualify clickers. B2B marketers must evaluate the pros and cons of maximizing response rate versus maximizing conversions.

If your campaign is focused primarily on lead generation (versus brand building or market positioning), or if clicks are especially expensive in your category, or if you are trying to reach a very specific, fairly small niche audience, I recommend using ad copy to pre-qualify clickers—even at the expense of lower CTR and Quality Score.

All this might change in the future of course, if ad networks move toward cost-per-action models (as many predict). But, for now, I advocate the "Don't Click Here" method for most B2B search advertisers.

Eight B2B Landing Page Conversion Tips

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:31:00 -0700

Driving prospects to your website is only half the battle. What can B2B marketers do to entice visitors to take desired online actions... and improve conversion rates? Here are eight easy-to-implement tips designed to improve landing page relevance, persuade action, build credibility, and maximize response rate.

Improve relevance. Searchers like nothing more than to see an ad, or a natural search listing, that exactly matches their query. And it's even better when these same words are visible on the page they click through to. A tight alignment between a searcher's query, the search listing, and landing page copy conveys—in a word—relevance.

To improve alignment and relevance, marketers must, at a minimum, repeat the searcher's query (i.e. keyword) in their ad headline, and then again, if possible in the ad copy. Better yet, repeat the word or phrase in the headline on the landing page.

This strategy requires a large number of finite ad groups and multiple, unique landing pages, but I think you'll find the results are worth the effort... especially for your most important search words and phrases.

Use persuasive calls to action. Just because someone clicks on your ad, or listing... doesn't mean they are going to take the desired action on your landing page. Marketers must continue to give prospects compelling reasons to engage. Don't stop "selling" on the landing page. Here are three specific ideas on how to persuade visitors to take action.

Focus on benefits. Answer the visitor's question: "What's in it for me?" "What is the benefit I can expect to receive if I register for this white paper or webinar?" Be as specific as possible. Use benefit statements such as: Download our 3-page case study which illustrates how CompanyABC reduced IT expenses by 30% in four months.

Alleviate concerns. People worry about wasting time, the value of what they will receive, and their privacy. So, do all you can to proactively alleviate these concerns. Provide a link to your Privacy Policy. Proactively state the number of steps or the time an online action will take. For example: Qualify for a personalized demo in 3 quick steps, or Take our 60 second Virtual Tour.

Ask a compelling question. Appeal to your audience's curiosity. Entice people to take action by posing a leading question, such as "Are you spending too much for IT services? or, "Is IT Outsourcing right for your company?" These are great statements which entice people to take action to discover the answers.

Build credibility. Don't forget, website visitors (especially first-time visitors) don't know your company as well as you do! The truth is, even large firms and big brands must establish credibility, and landing pages are a great way to do this.

To this end, test landing pages that include: product photos, guarantees, customer testimonials, client case studies, team bios, and executive videos. In general, these items boost conversion rates.

Maximize response rates. When it comes to registration forms... test everything! Test what you call the downloadable asset, test where you place the form, and test how many fields are required.

I have experienced dramatic differences in conversion rates based solely on what the asset is labeled. For example: Virtual Tour, Video Demo, and Online Demo can all refer to the same piece of information, but may deliver quite different results.

Also, test placing the registration form directly on the landing page as well as an internal page. Some audiences seem to appreciate the streamlined approach. But, others don't want to be confronted with a form immediately... they need to learn more about a product or company before they are willing to provide personal contact information.

I've previously written about the importance of testing shorter forms, collecting data, and then making an informed decision regarding lead volume versus lead quality. There is no doubt about it...overall, you will collect more inquiries with shorter, simpler forms. Each business needs to experiment and find their "sweet spot"... the registration form that provides the maximum number of inquiries at an acceptable quality level.

Implement both pre- and post-click improvements for maximum results. When it comes to landing pages I urge marketers to take steps to actively test and improve relevance, persuade action, build credibility and maximize response rate.

Only by combining pre-click campaign management techniques with post-click landing page improvements can marketers maximize search marketing results.

Brutal Realities of the B2B Lead Qualification Process

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:19:52 -0700

January 23, 2008
By Patricia Hursh

So, your pay-per-click campaign has generated 100 registrations for the download of a white paper. One hundred conversions may sound pretty good, but the real questions are: How many of these are valid, qualified prospects... what percentage will become sales leads... and ultimately, customers?

Understanding the lead qualification process is key to B2B search marketing success.

I've previously written that website registrations should be viewed as inquiries, not sales leads. In this column, I'd like to further explore the difference between inquiries and leads, and discuss a common approach to lead qualification.

The lead qualification process

I like to think of the qualification process as a funnel. At the top of the funnel are all the registrations collected, and at the bottom are only the high-quality leads worthy of follow-up. How does a company move web inquiries through a qualification process, and what is a typical trim rate as marketers qualify leads?

Total inquiries

B2B marketers start by measuring all conversions (or registrations). We capture contact information for everyone who ends up on a Thank You page. This is the number of conversions registered by the search engine or third-party tracking program. It's easy to become fixated on this conversion data, but if this is all you're looking at, you're probably overstating the true value delivered to your business.

Valid inquiries

As you review the contact information, you quickly see that some of it is bogus. I've witnessed firsthand just how creative people can be when it comes to completing registration forms!

Marketers should remove duplicate entries as well as invalid names, email addresses, and phone numbers. There are several tactics used to weed out invalid entries prior to submission... but it's impossible to eliminate all of it. I urge marketers to recalculate conversion metrics based on only the valid contacts. The amount of bogus information collected varies industry-by-industry. It also varies based on the perceived value of the downloadable asset and how onerous the registration process is. Valuable assets with very simple forms tend to generate less invalid data than lengthy, time consuming forms required for information perceived as questionable in value.

My experience is that the average trim rate is about 20%. This means that 20% of the contact info collected is likely to be meaningless right from the start.

Qualified inquiries

After the invalid contact information has been removed, it's typical for a business, or their agency, to remove additional entries based on specific marketing requirements or limitations. For example, companies may remove foreign email addresses, student email addresses, or contacts in locations or industries they don't serve.

Usually another 5 - 10% of entries are removed during this process, bringing the total trim rate to about 25 or 30%. Again, I suggest that marketers recalculate conversion metrics based on this shorter list of qualified inquiries.

At this point, the validated and qualified contacts remaining are the ones worthy of follow-up - either directly by a sales team or perhaps via an interim email or telemarketing effort.

Sales leads

As the sales force contacts and interacts with these leads, they need to provide feedback to the search marketing team. Many B2B firms have long sales cycles, so it may take three to six months (or longer) to receive meaningful information on which web inquiries become valid leads and ultimately customers.

Whenever possible, search marketers should pass parameters from their ad campaigns to landing pages and lead databases. This enables the mapping of sales back to the specific search engine, keyword, and listing that generated the original web inquiry. This feedback loop is invaluable as it allows marketers to better manage campaigns to maximize not just inquiries and leads, but more importantly, customers and sales.

Set realistic expectations

Previous Strictly Business columns have discussed the importance of implementing a lead nurturing program and the benefits of tracking website activity even when it doesn't lead to an immediate registration or conversion. In addition, I advocate that marketers take the time to evaluate and remove invalid and non-qualified conversions as part of a systematic lead qualification process and implement a feedback loop with the sales team. This helps to set realistic expectations and ultimately improves search marketing ROI.

B2B Search Marketing: Measuring Success Beyond Conversions

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:54:31 -0700

December 19, 2007
By Patricia Hursh

Today, the majority of b2b search marketing programs are focused on lead generation. Prospects are driven to landing pages where they register for white papers, demos, webinars, and other informational assets. A certain percentage of these registrants become sales leads, and ultimately customers. While lead gen programs do produce inquiries, this type of campaign may be short-sighted in the long run.

Lead generation success metrics

Because of this emphasis on lead generation, I've found that most b2b search marketers are focused on only a few success metrics, including:

# registrants
cost/registration
quality of registrations (i.e. how many registrants ultimately become leads and then customers)

This limited set of metrics adequately measures registrations (I discussed in my last column that registrations are not necessarily sales leads), but if this is all you're tracking, you're leaving a lot of marketing value on the table, in my opinion.

Budget allocation based on conversions only

Here's a common scenario you might relate to. A b2b executive knows that her company is running a search advertising campaign... she goes to Google and conducts a search for a phrase that she thinks is exactly what the firm should be advertising on. She's dismayed when NO ad is displayed. In fact, the firm's ads are conspicuously missing on several searches she conducts.

Marketers are spending money on keywords, but obviously not the phrases she is searching for. Where's the disconnect? They are likely focusing solely on lead gen metrics, and often times the most obvious, popular phrases don't convert as well (or as cost-effectively) as less popular and more specific words. So, the marketers are diverting funds away from these big-volume, common phrases and focusing on only the best converting keywords.

This strategy may make sense from a pure lead gen perspective, but the executive intuitively knows that her company is not getting all the potential marketing value from this search program.

Search campaigns for branding and market positioning

The fact is it may be unacceptable not to show up for certain critical search phrases—even if these phrases don't produce the most leads. It can be difficult to measure... but marketers must ask themselves, what is the opportunity cost associated with not being on the results page? Even if an organic listing is prominently displayed for a critical search query, many marketers want to write (or change) the message, provide a compelling call to action, and drive prospects directly to a specific landing page - so PPC ads may still make sense.

Recent studies from Forrester, Enquiro, and others indicate that business buyers use search engines extensively... and particularly in the awareness, research, and selection phases of the b2b buying cycle. Marketers should consider the value associated with reaching prospects early in this process... even if these searchers don't complete a registration form and count as a conversion.

The moment of relevance

Although it's not discussed nearly as often as lead generation, search advertising can be a great way for b2b marketers to build a brand, associate a product or service with a particular solution, and position a firm uniquely against the competition.

Putting your brand in front of a searcher at the moment they are online conducting research, looking for answers, or comparing solutions is a very powerful thing. Search uniquely gives marketers the ability to reach prospects at this moment of relevance.

Success metrics beyond conversions

Defining success for this type of branding or market positioning campaign is quite different than a lead gen effort and involves different success metrics. Marketers must focus on metrics like: number of ad impressions, share of total market impressions, cost-per-impression (CPM), click-through rate, volume of visitors, and cost-per-visitor.

Multiple marketing goals achieved simultaneously

I recommend that marketers prioritize their goals and implement specific search programs to achieve each of their objectives. I work with several companies who run both lead gen and market visibility campaigns simultaneously and successfully.

I feel it is best to establish a separate search campaign for each goal. This allows marketers to better allocate funds and manage each campaign based on its unique success metrics.

Do continue to track registrations, inquires, and leads—for all of your campaigns, but don't ignore the additional value search can deliver in terms of brand building, market positioning, and reaching prospects early and throughout the entire buying process.

Are Online Registrations REALLY Sales Leads?

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:10:00 -0700

Nov. 14, 2007
By Patricia Hursh

One of the most common B2B search marketing practices is offering whitepapers, demos, trial software, and other assets in exchange for registration information. Many companies immediately turn these registrations over to the sales team, but this may not be the best approach based on lead quality and a lengthy sales process.

Is a registration a lead?

Marketers must determine if an online registration is really a sales lead. In my opinion, just because someone downloads a white paper doesn't mean they should be contacted by a sales person.

It depends on the specific action, of course, but I've found that many registrants are actually still early in the buying process... conducting general market research. These contacts are very valuable and should be nurtured and managed over time—but these folks clearly aren't people who are ready to buy.

If marketers pass ALL web registrations directly to the sales team, reps quickly become frustrated with lead quality and complain about too many tire kickers. Marketers must be honest with themselves, and the sales team, about what the search marketing effort is designed to achieve and is capable of accomplishing.

Or maybe just a web inquiry?

It's important to set realistic expectations with the sales team, and terminology can be a big part of this. I prefer to use the term web inquiry or online registrant instead of LEAD. I think sales lead is misleading and ultimately disappoints people.

In fact, when multiple actions are presented, such as download a white paper, take an online tour, and complete a Contact Us form, I urge marketers to label, score and track each of these actions, and the corresponding registration data, separately. I think you'll find that all inquiries are not created equal.

Cultivate and qualify inquiries

Instead of immediately turning registration data over to the sales team, marketers should consider implementing an interim process designed to further qualify and cultivate inquiries.

Two of the most common and effective follow-up methods involve email or telemarketing. Using these channels, marketers are able to nurture web registrants, learn more about each prospect, and provide personalized and relevant information over time. The idea is to spoon-feed prospects, provide truly valuable information, and proactively move people through the buying process.

So, for example, instead of loading white paper registrations directly into a sales tracking system (such as SalesForce.com), marketers place the data into a separate leads database. Only after a robust email and/or telephone follow-up process has occurred, are the qualified leads entered into the sales system.

My colleague, Jon Miller, recently wrote about the importance of lead management and lead scoring.

Keep registration forms simple
This approach allows marketers to keep online registration forms simple and maximize response rate. The form no longer needs to include every field the sales department finds valuable—because much of this information will be collected during the follow-up process. With this approach, the objective is to get as many registrants as possible into the funnel. Then let the lead management process do the rest.

One software company I work with moved all the way to an extremely simple, two-field registration form. Conversion rate more than tripled with this form simplification. At the same time, the company expanded their email follow-up process and was able to increase the total amount of personal data collected over time. What's an inquiry worth? All this begs the question: if I'm collecting inquiries (not leads)... what's an inquiry worth?

This is a difficult question to answer for B2B marketers, especially those with long, complicated sales cycles, high consideration products and services, multiple buyers, and a robust offline negotiation process.

Yet in order to run an effective marketing program, every company must understand how their sales funnel operates:

• What percentage of website visitors become inquiries?
• What percentage of inquiries become sales leads?
• What percentage of leads ultimately become customers?

Based on this funnel and the average value of a customer, marketers can estimate what an online inquiry is worth.

Marketing through the entire buying process

My advice: Measure what you can. Estimate what you can't. Whenever possible, pass parameters such as search engine and keyword from your ad campaigns to your leads database, and then through to your sales management system.

Even if the metrics aren't perfect, marketers must strive to understand what they can afford to pay for a white paper download, a webinar sign-up, and all other online actions. Savvy marketers understand what a registration is worth—not just at the very bottom of the sales funnel... but all along the buying path.

B2B Search Tips: More On Writing Killer Ads

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:06:00 -0700

Oct. 17, 2007
By Patricia Hursh

It seems so obvious, yet many B2B marketers don't focus on the most fundamental element of any successful search ad campaign—the copy. I've found that writing great ads comes down to five simple principles:

1. Uniqueness
2. Relevancy
3. Focus
4. Action
5. Intrigue

My last column addressed ad copy that is unique and relevant. Today I'll discuss ads that are focused, actionable, and intriguing.

Stay focused. Focus can be a tricky thing for B2B marketers in smaller, niche markets. It's so easy to be tempted by those popular, high-volume keywords! My advice: Don't overshoot. Focus on click quality not quantity. Stay true to your target audience, and the way they search. Stick to your unique points of differentiation. Select keywords that are specific, and embrace marketing in the tail.

For example, enterprise software is a popular search term, but it is fairly nondescript. If you sell Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, this term is probably too generic. Furthermore, searchers entering enterprise software are not nearly as qualified as those entering a more specific query, such as web-based ERP software.

Marketing focus is also dependent upon the way you set up your campaigns. Don't lump all your products and services into one campaign, or, worse yet, one ad group. Remember, ad distribution, targeting, and budgets are all set at the campaign level. Granularly allocating funds and effectively managing ad programs will most likely require several separate campaigns.

I suggest that B2B marketers run individual campaigns for each product group or target audience. For example, one large software vendor I work with manages one campaign for their mid-market solutions and another campaign for their enterprise solutions. Why? These audiences have very different needs and pain points, and the company wants to allocate marketing funds differently to these two audiences.

Give them a reason to click. In my experience, the best ad copy includes a very specific call-to-action. Instead of generic statements like: learn more or download now, test more specific statements such as take our 60 second tour or qualify in 3 simple steps.

Take a look at what your competitors are saying and make sure your call-to-action is different, and, if possible, more specific. Download whitepaper is a very common (and fairly generic) ad statement. I find that response rate increases dramatically if you tell prospects something about the paper. For example, View Manifesto for Manufacturing Efficiency, or Free Paper: Just in Time Sequencing.

Intrigue me. It's a cold, hard fact, but most prospects just don't find statements about your company all that compelling. Statements like: in business since 1980, or largest systems integrator in the region aren't as intriguing as statements that address the searcher's needs, such as reduce system integration costs by 40%.

Questions can be a great way to get prospects engaged and hungry for more information. Successful questions I've incorporated into ad copy include:

Do you manage projects by the calendar or the clock?
What's the true cost of your ERP software?
Is IT outsourcing right for you?

People are naturally compelled to discover the answer to these questions. Try to ask questions that address some of the biggest concerns or issues in your industry. Ask the right question, and I predict you'll see click-through-rate increase substantially!

Five principles of effective ads. To summarize, the five principles of effective ads are:

Differentiate yourself from the competition
Write copy that is relevant to your prospect's needs, problems, and issues
Stay focused on your niche market
Give people a compelling reason to click
Use statements or questions to get prospects engaged and intrigued

B2B marketers: don't overlook the obvious. Spend some time reviewing your ad copy. Test a few new copy points based on these tried and true principles. Remember, ad text is a huge determinant of click-through-rate (CTR) and Quality Score.

Take a fresh look at your ads through the eyes of your customers. You may find that some testing is in order.

B2B Search Tips: Writing Killer Ads

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:00:00 -0700

September 19, 2007
By Patricia Hursh

One of the most fundamental elements of any successful B2B advertising campaign is the ad itself... The message... The copy.

I've found that writing great ads really comes down to five simple principles:

1. Uniqueness
2. Relevancy
3. Focus
4. Action
5. Intrigue

It's the copy... stupid

Many B2B advertisers are so busy analyzing Quality Score algorithms, testing new targeting methods, and implementing advanced management techniques, that they have lost sight of the most basic yet powerful tool in their arsenal -writing a killer ad!

For search marketers, creating effective ads can be a real challenge. It's not easy to convey a highly-targeted, compelling message in 90 characters.

This column focuses on the principles of Uniqueness and Relevancy. In my next article, I'll provide tips related to Focus, Action and Intrigue.

Stand out from the crowd

In my opinion, too few B2B advertisers pay attention to what their competitors are doing online. How long has it been since you've reviewed the search ads served for your most important keywords?

It's amazing how often all the ads are alike. This is especially true in smaller niche markets with specific customer needs and common selling points. The only way to stand out from the competition is—say something different!

Focus on your unique points of differentiation. If you serve a specific geographic region, or sell a hard to find or superior brand, or have a unique methodology—state this in your ad copy.

Similarly, if everyone in your space is offering the same thing—maybe a white paper—provide a different call to action. Promote a virtual tour, a demo, or a trial instead.

Write ads that are relevant to the searcher

Typically, ads with the highest response rates aren't self-serving messages focusing on the advertiser, but rather ads that focus on the searcher. Which statement do you find more compelling:

Accounting software firm in business since 1985 or
Reduce accounting costs by 40% in 60 days

If you do nothing else, implement the #1 tactic proven to improve relevancy and boost response rate. You've heard it before—and I'll say it again: Repeat the keyword in your ad title, and again in the description if possible.

Of course, this approach means that advertisers must set-up and manage multiple, granular ad groups. It's impossible to lump many different words and phrases into a single group and write relevant ad copy for the entire lot.

In fact, having reviewed many B2B campaigns, I'd say this is the single biggest problem I've see—the use of very broad ad groups with too many dissimilar keywords. This can be a real problem, and experienced competitors will eat your lunch with their tightly aligned campaign structure and superior quality scores.

For really popular or important keywords, consider putting only the single keyword into an ad group so you can manage and measure it precisely. You might include the keyword three different ways: exact match, phrase match and broad match. This enables you to really analyze the way people search and further expand/improve the words offering the biggest opportunity.

Relevancy includes landing pages too. Searchers love it when there is a tight correlation between the words they enter into the search engine, the words they see in an ad, and the words on the landing page. BINGO! Connection made.

Relevancy is also dependent on truly understanding your audience. Various types of prospects search for different information as they move through the buying cycle. Using a personna analysis tool can be helpful when determining types of searchers and their needs and pain points. Make sure your ad copy specifically addresses their needs.

Review your ads for uniqueness and relevancy

I encourage B2B search advertisers to review your ad copy with a fresh eye toward uniqueness and relevancy, and review your competitors' ads as well. Do your ads stand out in the crowd? Does the message speak to the specific needs and problems of your target audience?

If not, test some additional copy points that are both unique and relevant. I suspect you'll see a significant increase in both click-through and conversion.

Next, I'll offer tips on writing ad copy that is focused, actionable and compelling.

Patricia Hursh Video Interview: Local Search Marketing Tips

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:07:58 -0700

Aug. 24, 2007

President and Founder of SmartSearch Marketing, Patricia Hursh gave an interview with WebProNews at SES San Jose 2007. Hursh talks about Local Search Marketing Tactics. She says there are three main ways to reach local searchers. These include: there is more than one way to reach local searchers, you need to utilize local speak, and focus on decision criteria the customers have. Hursh also discusses the reasoning for multiple ad campaigns. For more information on SES tune into WebProNews.

If you cannot view the video, please click here to listen to the interview

Maximize online leads with actionable downloads

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:56:34 -0700

August 23, 2007
By Patricia Hursh

Some consumer-oriented companies and the majority of business-to-business firms don’t actually sell products or services online. Rather, their Web sites are designed to educate, differentiate, build relationships and foster interaction. In short, the vast majority of these sites are intended to generate inquiries and leads. The ultimate goal — a sale — likely occurs offline in a store, on the phone or, in the case of many BTB firms, many months later.

One of the most common ways companies generate online leads is asking Web site visitors to register for information and assets. Examples include whitepapers, industry research, software downloads, online newsletters and webinars. Getting a completed registration form is equivalent to a conversion and increasing conversion rates becomes even more important. Here are five ways to maximize your online leads.

Identify Web site visitor personas. Broaden your perspective to appeal to more prospects at various stages of the buying cycle. Many different types of people visit your Web site, not just buyers who are ready to make a decision or take an action immediately. I recommend that marketers proactively identify and analyze various visitor-types or personas. Think about this person’s role, their title, the type of company at which they work. Think about their specific needs and how those needs will change as they move through the buying cycle.

Map their needs to your assets. Map specific visitor needs to potential assets you can offer. Turn these items into actionable online conversions. For example, if you have a compelling success story, create a downloadable case study. If you’re giving a presentation, record it and turn it into a downloadable Webinar. If you have great product literature, create a downloadable product tour.

Early in the buying process visitors might be interested in big-picture market research. Toward the middle of the cycle, product, service or vendor comparison information is very helpful. Only later in the cycle will a buyer be interested in taking actions like completing a custom quote form or a “contact me” form.

Offer multiple action choices. Your goal may be to entice visitors to download a trial version of your software. This is the primary conversion for your Web site. But many visitors will not be ready to take this action, especially those early in the buying process. For this reason, it’s important to offer several action options.

Visitors who are not ready to trial your product may still be interested in learning more about it via a white paper or an online product tour. By adding these options to the landing page as secondary (perhaps less prominent) conversions, you will appeal to more visitors.

One BTB software company used its site primarily to drive trial software downloads, but by adding two secondary action options to their landing page, they increased overall leads by more than 30 percent.

Test and improve landing pages. I can’t stress enough how important it is to test all aspects of landing pages. A rapid, systematic approach to testing will allow you to improve conversion rates quickly and dramatically. You’ll want to test general look and feel (colors, fonts, background), page layout, images, core messages, action triggers (the words you use to motivate people to take an action) and the names and descriptions associated with downloadable assets.

For example, one company offered a “Product Overview” on its site. Based on this title, most visitors expected to download a marketing brochure, but the overview was actually much more robust. It was an interactive, self-guided tutorial. When the company changed the way it described the content to a “Virtual Tour,” conversion rates more than doubled based on this simple name change.

Simplify registration forms. One of the most critical elements of the landing page is the registration form. In my opinion most online forms are too long and cumbersome. The amount of personal information required is out of line with the value delivered.

How long should your form be? The answer is different for every company, and can only be determined through market testing and measurement. I recommend that marketers test at least three different forms to determine what works best. Create a simple form, a medium-length form and a robust form. The simple form might require only e-mail address and name. The medium form could also include phone number and/or mailing address, and the detailed form might ask for additional information about the registrant and their company. Experience shows that, in general, shorter forms generate more inquiries than longer. It’s also interesting to note that response rates drop significantly when marketers move beyond name and e-mail to also require phone number. Of course, shorter forms deliver less qualified leads. The challenge for marketers is to find their “sweet spot” — the online registration process that delivers the maximum quantity of leads at an acceptable qualification level.

Marketers who implement a continuous test, measure and improve processes reap the benefits by maximizing site conversion rates, better serving prospects and increasing online leads. This all translates to a huge competitive advantage.

Patricia Hursh is president and founder of SmartSearch Marketing, Boulder, CO, which offers search engine marketing solutions for clients in consumer and business-to-business markets.

SmartSearch Advises B2B Marketers to Think Beyond the Click

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:31:01 -0700

Many aspects of a business’s operations need to be focused on its customers, and much of SES San Jose has been focused on that basic fact.

Not all businesses have the same clients, though, so one session concentrated exclusively on business-to-business tactics.

(Our on-scene WebProNews staff has passed along this latest news from SES San Jose 2007. If you can't be there, you need to be here with WebProNews this week, for videos and reports.)

Karen Breen Vogel, the president and CEO of ClearGauge (“a specialized online marketing services and analytics consultancy”), led the way. In her case for prioritizing SEO in B2B, she listed some of the “pros” as higher click-thru rates on organic, credibility and branding from organic, and a cost that is mostly upfront and not ongoing.

“Cons” were limited to the immediacy of results and competition, and so Breen Vogel recommended going vertical; unconverted clicks on broad engines are more likely to be from the wrong people, while unconverted clicks on vertical engines are at least more likely to be from the right people.

Paul Slack, a co-founder and CEO of Webdex (an Internet marketing consulting firm), later suggested that business target specific or high-level searches.

The former may be as many as four words long, and searchers should respond to a call to action; the latter are likely closer to two or three words. Either way, Slack urged listeners to remember that their sites exist for the customer.

The session ended soon after Patricia Hursh advised people to “think beyond the click.” Hursh, who serves as the president of SmartSearch Marketing, also suggested that businesses constantly test and improve their landing pages.

Patricia Hursh Provides Six Tips for Local Search Advertisers

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:24:49 -0700

A session on Local Search Marketing Tactics just finished up at SES San Jose, the speakers provided a number of tips on local search.

(Our on-scene WebProNews staff has passed along this latest news from SES San Jose 2007. If you can’t be there, you need to be here with WebProNews this week, for videos and reports.)

Patricia Hursh, president of SmartSearch Marketing spoke about local search advertising. She offered six tips for local search advertising.

1. Integrate multiple targeting methods
2. Focus on the customer’s decision criteria
3. Capitalize on "local speak"
4. Drive in-store visits and phone calls
5. Understand all possible ad positions
6. Utilize local search advertising for big brands

She then spoke on the types of PPC campaigns. Geo-targeted ads should be used to reach the maximum number of local searchers and improve local relevance. Local keywords should be used to reach target audience not in a designated area. Brand campaigns should be used for visibility and brand building.

She added you should capitalize on "local speak" by writing culturally relevant ads and using local lingo. The ad should be focused on the local aspects of your business and you should differentiate yourself from big national competition.

She went on to say you should focus on local ad products that provide maps. She pointed out that Google Local Business Ads are displayed on Google Maps results pages but there is lots of cross over with ad placement. Local ads also appear on main page results.

She closed by saying that local search advertising equals brand integrity and local relevance.

Patricia Hursh Offers Local Search Marketing Tips

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:52:33 -0700

Aug. 23, 2007
Source: Steve Krull

This session looks at ways search marketers are tapping into an an audience using local search engines, online yellow pages and other local search methods.

Moderator:
Chris Sherman, Co-Chair, SES San Jose

Speakers:

Patricia Hursh, President, SmartSearch Marketing

Justin Sanger, President, LocalLaunch!

Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster

First to start the session is Justin Sanger. Of the 2.2 billion monthly queries most of them are for local needs - restaurants, shops, restaurants.

SMEs have begun to move ad money into search marketing. This is a total of 98% of the 22 million US businesses. Between 5% to 6% of the SMEs have started using online marketing! These people target on the basis of

Local search tools

Paid inclusion

IYP's

All of this is confusing to the SME's

Justin suggests 6 steps to give small businesses an edge over others.

1. Content control and dispersion: Driving the marketplace is content. All of the local search sites want to add local business and resource content. Think beyond your website. Think about how your content can live and breathe on each of these unique locations. Start with the base content, meaning the basic information and optimize the profile. You goal is to ensure that the majority of places online know you exist and know what you do. You content needs to live and breathe in this environment. The structured content catalyst. Drives local search. Drives positive local experience. Reach new business prospects.

2. Empowering ratings and review channels: User generated content is a critical driver for your business online. Qualitative content in the form of user reviews and ratings should be embraced. You can propagate social reviews and ratings for your business. Kick start it yourself. User reviews help determine rank in the search engines. Provide incentives to your customers to rate your service. Search engines are polling review and rating sites to provide local search content. These can support your business profile online.

3. Riding the coattails of the authorities: Becoming more difficult for companies to optimize for a local search against the local directories. Use these directories you can increase your own visibility. Your job is to ensure your business is there! IYP are not dying - there are dominating very specific searches.

4. Understanding Google references: Study Google Reference to find out what authorities Google is relying on

5. Simple and structured optimized pages: Make sure your pages are structured and can be crawled. - Follow the very simple best practices. Complete address information. Global footer. Mix up your address construct. Mix up state names and abbreviations. Each address derivative is an opportunity to tell something a little different.

6. Local link building and strategic IYP purchase: Use Google references. Find out who the authority is locally and make sure your information is clean and available. Use solid linking including geography and vertical.

Second speaker is Patricia Hursh of SmartSearch Marketing.

Tips for local search advertising. To should remain focused on Pay Per Click and local advertising. Integrate, meaning use more than one method of targeting. Focus- Try to find out what it is that clinches the buyer's decision. Capitalize Get local and become competition to the big names. Drive Make the search user to visit your business or call you up. Understand. Know the options for ad placement. Utilize Remember that local markets can be helpful to big names too.

Last to speak was Matt Van Wagner of Find Me Faster. Matt brings up the example of two previous case studies. One of a college where they had to increase the rate of MBA enrollment and the other was a care provider. Van Wagner says that the most important lesson and tip to remember is to learn from old mistakes.

SOUND BYTES:

Justin Sanger:

Tourism has been profoundly impacted by local search. 80% of all business takes place within a 20 mile radius. Target the entire national because customers can come from anywhere.”
"Spend the money, log in to Google business center. Pay the money to manage your listing”.
'Have any of you targeted wireless ads to local search? Ans: Best answer is to deal with the Internet in its current form - use Google maps, use content tools that create mobile content. Look into Google mobile syndication. Make sure you are out there as these companies move more and more to mobile.”

Matt Van Wagner:

"Use broad match for research and then start to move things to exact and phrase as you refine your campaign."

Patricia Hursh Shares B2B Search Advertising Tips

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:36:45 -0700

Aug. 22, 2007
Provided by Steve Krull

Session Overview:
Forget consumers. You want only the business-to-business audience! This session explores options and issues in targeting B2B.

Moderator:

Gordon Hotchkiss, President & CEO, Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.

Speakers:

Patricia Hursh, President, SmartSearch Marketing

Paul Slack, CEO, WebDex

Karen Breen Vogel, President and CEO, ClearGauge

Karen
Karen is planning to cover some things that will give us the insights that support complex selling cycles, dealers and distributors.

Agenda
• What's different from B2C
• Making the case for SEO in B2B
• Key Challenges and Solutions
» Who is the searcher
» Low sample sizes for testing
» Avoiding waste
» Qualifying visitors
» Measuring the value of a visit or a conversion

B2B goals is more about starting or continuing a relationship. You are not closing the deal.
If you are successful, it is likely you are not only using the major search engines - look at Business.com and specific verticals.

Users will use different keywords depending where they are in the buying cycle.
Given the long buying cycle, you cannot give just one offer in B2B.
• Highlight one offer but provide other opportunities

Track ROI through the pipeline - put a financial value to it.

The Case for SEO
• 64% of users are searching related to business search.
» Odds are good if you are only doing PPC you are leaving money on the table.
» PPC costs are going up
• Organic CTR is much higher
• Can get a wider buying cycle through organic versus paid.
• SEO cost is upfront and you don't pay over and over.
• Need to know the value of the form completion on the site.
» If you don't know the math, you might be spending too much money.

• Cons
» Algorithm shift
» Competition
» Lack of immediate results
• Conclusion - Get it started.

B2B Challenges
• To whom is the messaging directed? You often don't know who the searcher is.
» Do you want the user to go through a Pain Point link, a Buy Cycle Link or Functional link?
• Low Sample Sizes
» Perform A/B testing as it will get the job done.
» Multivariate testing is ok, but you need to limit your variables because of the lack of traffic.
» Vertster.com is good resource to check out your A/B testing or multivariable results.
• Get Vertical
» Investigate the verticals - narrows the scope for your users. Google is more like a needle in a haystack.
» Must test and measure the vertical engines - sometimes the backfire.
• Qualifying the leads through the cycle
» Specifically tailor the message to weed out users you do not want.
» Tag your form fields and use that data to optimize keywords.
• Measure the entire buy cycle
» Don't just measure the final activity.
» Measure all of the smaller activities as they occur along the way.
» Award points for each step of the way.
» Tie it all back to a keyword or a form and award points to keep score.
» Map out the cost per point which keyword buy makes the most sense.
» Look at the entire funnel and assign appropriate credit.
• The best thing you can do is to turn the points into dollars.
• Calculate your threshold or breakeven CPA's

Paul Slack
B2B Sales Cycle
• Uncover the need on the client side - whatever the need they start by doing research and looking to solve the business problem.
» Research solution
» List of vendors
» Bid
» Make the decision

Search Engine Buying Funnel
• Awareness
• Consideration or Research
• Decision
• Purchase
When there is a long sales cycle group the users into buckets - Influencers and decision makers.
If you intention is to generate leads, the web site needs to be an influencer/catcher.
Influencers are not as inclined to follow a PPC trail because they are in the research mode.

Targeting the Decision Makers- Late cycle and are using the web find the right company.
• Influencer recommends the finalists and the decision maker goes out to look. They may not even click, they just want to see.
• Don't be fooled into thinking that the site needs to be tailored to the decision maker
• (Speaking too fast…tough to keep up)

To target the Decision Maker use bulleted text and a strong call to action but the key is still the influencer.

It's about the user/influencer and how you can satisfy their need for knowledge. It's important to define the goals and measure against them to make improvements.

For each client compare and measure all of the clients marketing efforts and determine what the lead cost is. At that point, move on to determine the cost per acquisition. If you want this spreadsheet send him an email.

Run the breakeven analysis and see how many leads you need to generate. It creates a solid benchmark that it realistic to meet or exceed with SEO/SEM.

• Begin with the end in mind.
• What do you want them to do?
• How do you measure success?
• Make sure they can find your content on either paid or organic.

Patricia Hursh
Agenda
1. B2B Marketing Trends
2. Think beyond the click - post click marketing
3. Four ways to improve your results

B2B marketers are slow to embrace search
• Search marketing was in 11th place among marketing practices
• Good news is that in 2006 online tactics and search marketing were poised for growth.
• Where does the money come from?
» These programs are being funded by taking money from traditional channels.
» Money shifting as results are promising

Think beyond the click- Find
• Drive
• Convert
• Measure

4 Tips
1. Map Visitors Needs to Solutions - Not every visitor is the same.
2. Offer Action Options - Offer options to different users. Not everyone wants a call or to fill out a form.
3. Simplify Registration Forms - Test your forms. Simplify.
4. Continuously Improve Landing Pages - Test and improve the landing pages.

Map Visitors Needs to Solutions- Needs are different by user and place in the buying cycle.
• Turn their pain points into actions on the web site.
Offer Action Options
• Provide options - downloads, tours, webinars, etc.
• Think in terms of primary and secondary conversion.

Simplify Registration Forms- Long forms don't convert.
• Don't make the form a wish list for the sales team - make it about the user.
• Test the forms and use the data to make better business decisions.
• Simplify the form and create a robust follow up process to get the additional data you need. Send follow up emails, engage the prospect.

Continuously Improve Landing Pages
• Test the look and feel, layout, images, messages, action triggers, names and descriptions of downloadable assets, registration forms.

Summary
• Search is a potential killer app (Forrester) for B2B customer acquisition
• Marketers will follow their customers online
• Missed this one
• This trend will continue.
Verticals are becoming more and more important over time. The verticals are maturing and providing better results and information.

Think of information in terms of random access - quick information available for download. They want to assemble the information, process it, and move it through their organizations.

Q and A
Q - How do I convince the decision makers that we need to reduce the form?
A - Karen - Get them to do a test. Usually the data speaks for itself. Also, would ask what they are going to do with the information? Question the purpose of the data. Think of it as volleyball - just touch the ball back over to the prospect.
A - Paul - Yes, please test. When we encounter that issue, we toss it back to sales. “If we don't need an address to deliver a white paper, why do we ask for it?” Test, test, test!
A - Patricia - softly suggest a test. Be honest about what you're getting when the customer downloads a white paper - is it really a lead or is it an inquiry?

Q - Can you share link building strategies and link-baiting you will share?
A - Karen - When we work on link building. Find the credible sites, but its research. Associations and academics are a great place to look.
A - Patricia - It comes down to content. What is unique and valuable? Sometimes B2B companies miss the obvious - links from partners, suppliers and others.
A - Paul - Block and tackling works well. Get a press release and article strategy in place.
A - Gord - Anything you do with link building has to consider your end user.

Q - Is there any 3rd party tool to use with SalesForce to track the full circle?
A - Karen - Integrate the leads into SalesForce then it comes down to commitment. Get the sales people to manage the data. If you do this, you should be able to follow it all the way through and report it back to the campaigns.

Low B2B Click-Through-Rates: Inexperience Or Wisdom

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:43:20 -0700

August 22, 2007
By Patricia Hursh

Have you ever analyzed the click-through-rates associated with B2B search listings? Organic versus paid? Business versus consumer? The data is interesting... and can be interpreted in several ways.

It's hard to tell if business marketers are simply behind their consumer counterparts in terms of expertise and experience—or if they are smart enough to focus on success metrics that are more important than response rate.

Organic vs paid listings

A recent survey by Enquiro analyzed click-through rate (CTR) by position for B2B sites. Overall, seventy-four percent of business searchers click on an organic listing, versus the nineteen percent who click on a paid listing. This data is fairly consistent with past eye tracking (or heat map) studies that show where people tend to focus on a search results page.

While not shocking, these numbers often lead people to jump to an inaccurate conclusion: that search engine optimization (SEO) is much more effective than paid advertising for B2B sites. Those of us who have been involved in managing hugely successful B2B search advertising campaigns realize that statistics like these are interesting, but tell only a very small part of the story.

Business vs consumer

How do these stats compare with consumer CTRs? According to MarketingSherpa's Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, click-through-rate varies greatly by individual site, but the average CTR for all consumer ads is three percent while the average for all B2B ads is less than two and a half percent.

Again, most search advertisers realize that 2.4%—which represents the overall B2B average—is an interesting data point... but may not be very meaningful based on ultimate ROI. Let's explore the possible reasons for lower B2B response rates.

Lack of expertise and experience

One possible reason for the difference is that B2B marketers are not as experienced or savvy as their B2C counterparts, many of whom have been writing pay-per-click (PPC) ads for a longer period of time or hire a search agency to manage their campaigns.

A quick review of ads in several popular business categories indicates that, indeed, many advertisers are (1) not re-stating the search query (keyword) in their title or description, (2) not writing ad copy that is unique and differentiating, and (3) not providing a compelling call to action.

So, yes, there is definitely room for improvement, and as more B2B advertisers start to implement these best practices, CTR will likely increase. However, it's unlikely that these mis-steps are the sole reason for lower response. In fact, a similar review of consumer ads often leads to the exact same conclusion!

Lower response—by design

Perhaps it is not an issue of know-how or expertise. Perhaps B2B marketers are generating lower CTRs... by design.

For many advertisers, a high click-through-rate is not necessarily desirable. As I've written, many business marketers strive to pre-qualify clickers.

Why? B2B clicks are, in general, more expensive than B2C. Marketing Sherpa reports that the average B2C eCommerce click in 2006 cost about $1.12. Compare this to the average B2B service click cost of $2.20—nearly double. Yet, these averages hide the real challenge faced by many marketers, in very expensive categories where click costs are in the $20 - $45 range.

Pre-qualifying clickers

At twenty-five dollars a click or more, it's important to get the right person to respond. For many B2B campaigns, it's not about volume, but rather about the specific needs and characteristics of the clicker.

For example, if a B2B software company is targeting Fortune 1000 clients, they don't want to pay for small business clicks. To prevent this, their ad copy (and even their organic listing) may include words like "large enterprise solution" or "serving the Fortune 1000."

Qualifying statements can eat up precious real estate - especially when all you have is ninety-five characters! But, most B2B advertisers have found that pre-screening is worth the space and the effort.

But what about Quality Score?

As search advertisers know, two important factors in determining "relative ad position" are what you're willing to pay for a click (i.e. bid) and your ad's popularity or response rate. The more clicks you receive, the better position you'll enjoy for your investment. This is true of ad placement algorithms for Google, MSN and Yahoo.

Unfortunately, this focus on click-through-rate undermines a pre-qualification strategy. Regardless, I've found that, in general, pre-screening clickers improves overall campaign ROI—especially in expensive categories—even though Quality Score will suffer.

Balancing click quantity with click quality has always been a challenge, especially for B2B advertisers. The only way to find the "sweet spot" for your business is to test, measure, and evaluate ROI.

Determining ROI is relatively straight forward for B2B eCommerce sites. Things get a bit trickier for lead generation campaigns, which require a method of determining lead value as part of an often lengthy, complicated, offline sales process.

In my next column I'll offer tips on B2B lead generation campaigns. I'll cover the difference between an online inquiry and a true sales lead, the importance of a follow-up process, and ways to incorporate a quality feedback loop into your advertising programs.