Paid Search for Lead Gen 101

Lead generation is an essential aspect of any business’s growth strategy. It is the process of identifying and attracting potential customers, also known as leads, who may have an interest in your product/service. The goal is to convert these leads into paying customers through nurturing and engagement.

A lead is anyone (person or business) who has shown interest in your offerings. This interest can be expressed in various ways, such as filling out a contact form, signing up to a newsletter, or downloading a brochure/document etc. However it’s important to note that leads vary in quality, some are more likely to convert into customers than others.

There are four main types of leads

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): Shows interest through marketing interactions like downloading a resource, webinar attendance or filling out a form.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL): These leads are vetted by sales and considered ready for direct sales engagement. They tend to demonstrate stronger intent to purchase and often match the characteristics of an ideal customer.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL): These leads have used a product, often through a free trial, showing interest in converting to a paying customer.

Service Qualified Lead: Engages with service offerings, like consultations or requests for additional information.

Lead generation is crucial for business success in particular those businesses with a longer sales cycles. With over 30% of B2B sales taking one to three months to close, capturing potential customers’ information early allows businesses to influence their purchasing decisions throughout this period.

By gathering leads, companies can qualify prospects, focusing on those most likely to generate revenue. Establishing a lead generation system that produces high-quality leads and scales effectively is key to driving sustainable growth for any business.

A good lead aligns with your target audience and shows a clear intent to purchase. A high-quality lead generally has the following green flags:

• Fits Your Buyer Persona: They fall into your ideal customer demographics, such as industry, job role, company size, location, age, income etc.
• Demonstrates Engagement: Good leads will actively interact with your content and brand, whether that’s by visiting your website frequently, downloading resources, or signing up for webinars.
• Clear Need or Pain Point: The lead should have a problem your product or service can solve, indicating a strong potential for conversion.

The important thing to bear in mind here is that quantity does not necessarily equal quality. So we want to be focusing on what we can do to get quality leads and what we can do to filter our “bad” leads.

Paid search is a powerful method for driving high-quality leads directly to your website. It allows businesses to capitalise on people who have high intent, targeting specific keywords and audience demographics. Here’s why it’s integral:

Targeted Reach With paid search, you can target individuals searching for solutions related to your product or service. This precision helps you connect with potential leads at the exact moment they’re looking for what you offer.

Scalability Paid search campaigns can be easily scaled based on budget and performance. You can adjust your ad spend and reach more leads as your business grows.

Measurable Results PPC platforms provide detailed metrics, allowing you to track clicks, conversions, and ROI in real-time. This data helps you refine your strategy for better lead quality over time.

Speed Unlike organic search strategies, paid search delivers immediate visibility. Once your campaign is live, your ads can start appearing and start driving leads almost instantly.

To maximise the effectiveness of your paid search campaigns for lead generation, it’s crucial to follow some best practices. Here are our top tips:

Audience Observation & Targeting

• Audience observation allows you to see which segments are driving leads and where there might be wasted spend.
• Exclude audiences that generate poor quality leads
• Consider using remarketing campaigns to target users who visited your site but didn’t convert. Tailor your messages to encourage them to complete the desired action.

Ad Copy Musts

• Using numbers, percentages, prices in your ad copy. A tailored approach addressing pain points or offering solutions resonates better with potential leads.

Customised Landing Page & Lead Form Optimisation

• Your landing page should be focused on driving conversions. Make sure the content matches the ad, the lead form is easy to complete, and you’re asking only for necessary information to avoid overwhelming your potential leads.

Do Your Research

• Understanding what people are searching for and the intent behind those searches is crucial. Use keyword research tools and review your search term reports to identify those high-intent queries that align with your product or service.

Data Analysis Is King

• Connect your paid search data to your CRM, such as Salesforce, to understand which campaigns, keywords, and audiences are driving high-quality leads. This data allows you to go beyond surface metrics like clicks and leads to focus on quality.
• Pro Tip: Aligning lead data with CRM insights can help you distinguish between campaigns that generate high-volume leads and those that produce leads with true conversion potential.

Bing – An Extra 10% with Minimal Effort

• While Google Ads dominates the market, don’t overlook Microsoft ads. Bing reaches millions through partners like AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo & Ecosia. Its audience skews towards older, more affluent users and often decision-makers in businesses because Bing is the default browser on Microsoft laptops. It’s a great platform to capture additional, high-quality traffic with minimal extra effort, all you need to do is upload your Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads!

Continuous Test & Learn

• Test, test, test. Continuously A/B test different elements of your campaign, such as headlines, ad copy, keywords, landing pages to find what works best.

Tracking Is Essential

• Accurate tracking is critical to success. Make sure you’re telling your platform what to optimize for by setting up conversion tracking correctly. Identify the most valuable conversion points, such as lead form submissions or demo requests.

Feedback Loop

• Establishing a feedback loop between your marketing and sales teams to refine your targeting and messaging is one of the most important things you must implement. This can help identify what the high-value leads look like and ensure campaigns are optimised for the right audience.

Combining lead generation efforts with paid search creates a strong, data-driven strategy that can accelerate business growth by delivering high-quality, targeted leads that are ready to become paying customers.

If you want to speak to one of our PPC experts, feel free to enquire here.