PPC for Manufacturers: The Playbook for Succeeding in 2023

In this fast-paced, ever-changing world of digital marketing, a B2B paid search strategy has emerged as a powerful strategy that manufacturers can use to enhance their online presence, drive organic search traffic, and generate quality leads. 

However, manufacturers are not always well-versed in these online-focused areas, as they're busy doing what they do best - machining, assembling, and more. 

In this guide, we'll help you out by exploring how B2B paid search, otherwise more specifically known as PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, can benefit manufacturers and lead to greater business growth. 

Introduction

In 2023, manufacturers face an increasingly competitive landscape in which traditional marketing strategies (like billboards and commercials) are no longer sufficient to achieve greater business objectives. 

Manufacturers can leverage a paid search strategy - using platforms like Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Bing - to drive effective audience targeting, increase brand visibility, generate relevant leads, and exercise cost control over their search engine marketing efforts and PPC efforts. 

Benefits

All of this might sound a bit confusing or even off-putting. Still, there are several compelling benefits to using B2B paid search and, specifically, B2B PPC advertising for manufacturers this year.

Increased Brand Visibility 

Paid search results enable manufacturers to showcase their ads more visibly on search engine results pages (SERPs), thus ensuring greater brand awareness among their target audience.

By appearing at the top of search results, especially for specific audiences, manufacturers can establish themselves as industry leaders, thus gaining a competitive advantage in the market.  

Targeted Audience Reach

There's no point in having higher SERP visibility if your business shows up to completely irrelevant audiences with no interest in your manufacturing services. 

Fortunately, as mentioned briefly, PPC campaigns also allow manufacturers to precisely target their paid search ads based on demographics, location, search terms, negative keywords, and other relevant factors that can gear toward specific audiences. 

This level of precision ensures that Google Ads (or other search engines, like Bing) are showing your ads to the right audience, enhancing the chances of capturing the attention of potential businesses going to your website. 

Lead Generation

If your target audience is headed to your website, you can see why paid search can be an impactful lead general tool. 

You can use this strategy to drive traffic to dedicated landing pages optimized for lead capture (such as emails, phone numbers, and other contact information). 

This information will allow your business to engage potential customers further and increase the likelihood of converting leads into a profitable exchange, which is the ultimate goal of any form of marketing.  

Cost Control

Manufacturers love to be cost-effective, and PPC campaigns offer manufacturers complete control over how much they spend on a Google Ads campaign. You can set daily or monthly spending limits to ensure that your marketing budgets are used in an efficient manner.

This high level of control in ad spend promotes greater cost-effectiveness by eliminating the risk of overspending. 

Immediate Access to High-Intent Audiences

Finally, the last big and unique advantage of paid search strategy is the ability to connect with your audiences in a "BUY NOW" mode, which means they're ready and willing to buy at that given time. 

In other words, when someone inputs search queries for specific keywords related to your products or services, they automatically display transactional intent. 

If you strategically target these keywords, you can position yourself in front of these users, who are more likely ready to purchase. 

What Does PPC Optimization Entail

To truly succeed in paid search campaigns, manufacturers must employ optimized strategies, such as the following:

Conduct Thorough Keyword Research

The foundation of any successful PPC campaign is proper keyword research. 

As a manufacturer, you should identify relevant content and high-intent keywords that align with your business, such as "industrial manufacturing," "manufacturing solutions," "production equipment," "factory automation," and more.

By understanding search terms that potential business clients use, manufacturers can optimize their campaigns to more promising levels.  

Niching Down and Understanding the Audience 

You can even do more keyword research for specific service pages or niches like "metal fabrication," " chemical manufacturing, " or "packaging solutions."

In addition to keyword research, manufacturers can niche down by creating buyer personas and segmenting their audience, thus tailoring specific ad messages to segments of their audience that will resonate with them the most, leading to better results in the long run. 

Create Compelling Ad Copy 

Visibility is one thing, but what potential buyers do when they get to your page is all about how compelling your ad copy is. 

Crafting relevant, timely, and engaging ad copy is crucial to capturing the attention of potential buyers. Highlight the unique value propositions of your manufacturing services and emphasize how they solve the buyer's pain points. 

Using persuasive and relevant language will help your business stand out and lead to more clicks. Clear calls-to-action (CTAs) can also drive higher click-through rates and increase conversions.  

Design Dedicated Landing Pages

Furthermore, landing pages - or service pages that serve the purpose of explaining service and prompting a specific outcome (e.g., setting up a call or buying a service), play a vital role in PPC campaigns. 

Your business can create a dedicated landing page URL that aligns with your ad messaging to provide a seamless, comprehensive user experience that answers their potential questions as they go along the customer journey. 

Continuously Monitor and Refine

Of course, nothing is going to be perfect at the start, and that includes any PPC initiative. It's important to set up ongoing monitoring and optimization in order to achieve optimal results. 

By closely monitoring campaign performance, including click-through rates, cost per conversion, and conversion rate, you can make data-based refinements as you go along. 

Refinements might include adjusting bids, A/B testing ad variations, or taking a second look at targeting parameters. These adjustments will help maximize your overall revenue and ROI (return on investment). 

Updated Measure of Success

In 2023, it's imperative that manufacturers running PPC campaigns adapt to the changing landscape of analytics and conversion tracking. 

For example, transitioning from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) introduces new tracking capabilities and a more holistic, thorough understanding of user behavior. 

It's crucial for manufacturers to ensure they have the necessary tracking codes implemented to accurately measure and monitor their campaigns. 

One essential measure is the close rate equation, which calculates the percentage of leads that convert into customers and helps manufacturers determine the true value of their PPC campaigns. 

Conclusion

Digital marketing in 2023 is dynamic, but it's important to stay on top of your B2B paid search strategy by understanding how PPC works and how to monitor it. 

By implementing a well-optimized PPC strategy, you can increase your manufacturing company's brand visibility, reach your target audience, generate quality leads, and more. 

Of course, none of this is particularly simple work, which is why it can be helpful to seek the expertise of marketing professionals. Fractional Marketing offers tailored, manufacturing-oriented solutions to support your overall marketing goals. 

Reach out to Fractional Marketing for your Free Success Plan so you can succeed for the rest of 2023.