B2B Marketing is really really hard. Finding effective channels that maximize a company’s budget can be even harder. Among digital marketing channels, paid search has risen to prominence as a popular tool with the potential to fuel growth and deliver impressive returns on investment. This blog post talks about how Mindful Conversion used Paid Search to help a company nearly double their ROI on a 6-figure ad spend.

Before examining this fascinating case study, it is important to lay some groundwork: what is paid search, and how does it work?

Paid Search: A Quick Overview

Paid search, or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, is a model of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked by an online user. These ads appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) and other affiliate websites. This places advertisers’ promotional messages in front of a highly targeted audience actively searching for related products or services.

The most popular platform for paid search advertising is Google Ads. Here, advertisers select relevant keywords related to their business, create ads around these keywords, and bid on them. The more competitive the keyword (based on demand), the higher the cost per click (CPC). When a user enters a query containing the chosen keyword, the search engine’s algorithms decide which ads are displayed based on factors like bid amount, ad quality, and relevance to the search query.

The Role of Paid Search in B2B Marketing

Paid search holds immense value in B2B marketing due to several reasons:

1. Reach: It offers a direct channel to decision-makers who are actively looking for solutions.
2. Targeting: It allows precise targeting based on keywords, location, time of day, language, device type, and more.
3. Measurability: It provides detailed analytics to measure campaign effectiveness and optimize for better results.
4. Speed: Unlike organic SEO, which takes time to yield results, paid search can drive immediate traffic and leads.

Paid search is considered a “pull” marketing strategy as it attracts interested potential customers who are actively searching for a product or service. This is in contrast to “push” marketing strategies such as direct mail or cold calling, where messages are sent out broadly to all consumers, regardless of their interest or buying intent.

A Closer Look at QVD’s Case Study

Despite the stiff competition and rising acquisition costs in paid search, MindfulCONVERSION managed to turn around QVD’s paid search performance by doubling the efficiency of their substantial budget. Their approach was rooted in a deep understanding of the foundational elements and subtleties of paid search before considering more complex strategies.

In just seven weeks, the following milestones were achieved:

1. Increased the Qualified Leads per Paid Search Dollar by 97%.
2. Increased the Qualified Leads from Paid Search by 36%.
3. Increased all Leads from Paid Search by 62%.

These remarkable results were accomplished through a combination of strategic initiatives that included deep business understanding, tight keyword groupings, application of negative keywords, audience modifiers, custom bidding strategies, conversion signal adjustments, ad testing, and creation of custom landing pages.

In conclusion, paid search emerges as a powerful tool in B2B marketing. With strategic planning and continuous optimization, it can effectively generate significant results – an assertion exemplified by QVD’s experience with MindfulCONVERSION.