Time for B2B Marketers to Rename AdWords

I think Google Adwords should cease to exist.

And any B2B marketing organisation using it should stop immediately. It’s not Google AdWords you need to be using: it’s (insert your company name here) AdWords.

I’m no Google detractor (I’ve always accepted the Green Park pub incident wasn’t their fault) so don’t abandon the platform, just make sure you carefully and thoughtfully customize their factory settings.

It might only be a daily drip of money down the drain, but it soon adds up if the wrong traffic takes a trip to your site every day and leaves without a single commercial thought. Let’s look at the typical issues we uncover at clients who had been running the out the box settings for some time.

Keywords
Usually it’s best to avoid going for broad match keyphrases unless it’s part of a carefully controlled experiment.  You need to adapt match types to get the focused traffic typical of B2B organisations. If you want a prospective customer then go for “phrase” matching or, at least, set up your negative keyphrases. If, for example, you’re an Notting Hill interior designer you don’t want traffic for an Ealing graphic designer.

Geography
Make sure you don’t advertise outside your target market. You need to customize your markets or end up wasting most of your impressions. And don’t be tempted to launch English language ads on the world without customizing the content. A blank box might do more good.

Display Networks
Don’t sign up to the Display Network unless you are carefully customizing your list. Under no circumstances should you go for automatic placements – it’s tantamount to chucking your daily budget out the window. If you’re working in a B2B technology business then you’re almost certainly in a niche. And a niche can be managed.

Mobile Networks
We used to have doubts over the mobile network. We’ve softened as browsing experience grows. If you want to make sure you’re doing the right thing then look at your site’s analytics to understand your users’ choice of technology.

Bidding and Budget
Start low and grow only if you see success in what you’re doing.  You can, however, consider higher bids for the right phrases as you tighten your control.

Position
Generally you want to bid for the top. Focus your budget on beating the competition on focused searches using the budget you’ve saved from irrelevant Display Network and broad match traffic.

Ad Extensions
You don’t really need to worry about this too much. It’s more useful for small businesses of the butcher, baker and candlestick maker variety (and I’d include Green Park publicans in that list). Put it on when you think of a reason.

Timings
If you do business in the UK probably best to restrict your adverts to working hours. Anyone searching on the internet at 3am is unlikely to be looking for ERP systems.

Ad Rotation
You probably do want to rotate our top performing adverts but you should also manage the process manually through your own tests.

Frequency Capping
If you do decide to test elements of the Display Network you should use this to ensure you keep control of the test. Your AdWords, your rules.

Conversions
Conversions are attractive. If you achieve enough conversions we can move from a CPC to a goals based CPA charging model.  You can then pay for users who complete goals rather than click through traffic that delivers no value. Set it up and consider customizing goals that are realistic for your traffic.

This list should get you started on settings. Google AdWords is a great tool but if you’re paying for it, you need to be customizing it.