The internet has turned the entire world into a global village. There are millions of websites that contain almost every information you can ask for. However, can you simply navigate through thousands of websites to get answers to your queries? Thanks to search engines like Google and Bing that make your searching task quite easier. It is a common practice to head over to Google and type in certain keywords to get the appropriate information in a jiffy. This behavior has led companies to pay attention to search engine marketing, an important aspect of digital marketing.
Digital marketing is all about the promotion of products and services through digital channels, and search engines are one of the crucial online marketing channels. So, search engine marketing involves any advertising done on the search engine results page. Basically, there are two concepts involved in search engine marketing – Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). However, people usually refer to PPC advertising when they use the term search engine marketing. These two concepts have become an essential component of an organization’s overall digital marketing strategy. In fact, they look for candidates with PPC certification to hire for their open positions in search engine marketing.
This article focuses on how search engine marketing is beneficial for B2B companies.
Is SEM Beneficial for B2B Companies?
B2B businesses may initially consider search engine marketing an ineffective means to attract more customers as their buying journey is often too long and their target audience is quite small compared to B2C companies. However, SEM shouldn’t be overlooked as it too can bring value and help companies find your product at the right time and right place. You just need to be skilled enough to apply a coherent strategy to take full advantage of SEM and outshine your competition.
A survey conducted in 2019 found that around 38% of the executives surveyed buy around 75% of the products or services online for their company. A further 6% even carried out this process through their supplier’s online shops exclusively. Another rising trend in the B2B space is that almost 50% of the buyers on the company side make their decisions online. Moreover, business buyers spend 27% of their time independently looking for potential purchases online.
It is important to note that B2B companies have a higher customer lifetime value than B2C companies. Thus, when the former opts for an SEM campaign, the value of a lead is worth more to their company. Evidently, with a higher cost per conversion, they get an impressive Return on Investment (ROI). Moreover, PPC advertising is quite effective in immediately grabbing the attention of the target audience when they are looking for your product at the exact moment. Companies need to be very strategic in bidding aggressively on keywords based on their relevance and high intent. The messaging and design of the landing page should also be taken care of.
Another benefit of a PPC strategy is that you can get clicks to your website instantly after you set up the Google Ad campaign. Moreover, you can track how the campaign is performing and do integrative adjustments depending upon the campaign’s structure and size within a few minutes. By using the most appropriate keywords, you can bring in more lead conversions.
One of the advantage of B2B marketing is the search volume for their keywords. Compared to B2C environment, there are only a limited number of companies that can be considered as prospects for their own products. For this reason, there is less search for B2B keywords then is the case for products in the B2C environment. Evidently the transaction volume is much higher in B2B scenario.
Next, international markets can be put to test much faster online. Companies can use Google Ads to effectively advertise foreign market in a short time. It is noticed that the export quota is considerably higher in the B2B space. So, it makes sense to design your company’s own search marketing strategies internationally and bot limit it nationally. This is specifically important when companies want to become active worldwide. Search engines like Bing and yahoo must also be taken into account apart from Google. Bing, the search enigne by Microsoft has, in particular, made its reputation as the ideal B2B channel for the past few years.
Bottom Line
To sum up, having an offective search marketing strategy is crucial for businesses to generate more high-quality leads. Prospects found through search engine marketing, especially PPC ads, have been observed to have a high customer lifetime value and increased ROI. With many larger B2B enterprises not yet seeking aggressive search engine marketing, a smart company can identify a strategic advantage by going after high search rankings. So, now is the right time to take action and assemble a team of qualified marketers and strategists who can take your company’s search engine marketing to the next level.
