There was a time when paid digital advertising was optional for B2B marketers. With changes to algorithms and more competition than ever, those days are over.
The good news is that this doesn’t need to break the bank. In fact, most ad platforms now offer dedicated lead generation formats that can drive more than 50% lower cost per lead than sending to your website.
Not all paid advertising tactics are created equal, and through countless experiments, we’ve learned the tactics that are best for driving low-cost, high-quality leads.
If you can learn and master these tactics, you’ll reap the benefits: predictable, scalable leads. Done right, this approach to marketing becomes a tap you can simply turn on and optimize over time.
In this guide, we’ll cover all the best performing paid digital ads tactics for B2B lead generation.
In each section, we’ll cover examples, tips, and guidance for a specific tactic. If you’re short on time or want a handy reference guide, then you can download the Driftrock & Close swipe file with all these tactics as a cheat sheet.
There are many reasons why digital advertising is essential today, and B2B companies are no exception. Here are some of the key reasons to invest in digital marketing:
As a marketer, your CRM platform plays a crucial role in your ability to reach and engage with your target audience. Learn about the best CRMs for marketers in this article.
LinkedIn is built for business, making it the perfect channel for B2B marketers. With over 100 million monthly users, LinkedIn represents an enormous pool of potential customers. These prospects are typically tuned into the world of business, receptive to B2B marketing, and easy to connect with.
Here are some of the methods available to you with LinkedIn marketing:
How do LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms work?
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms are a way for other users to send you their data. The forms are pre-filled with data pulled from users’ LinkedIn profiles, so they can share a ton of highly useful professional info in just a few clicks. You can easily download leads from within LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager, or integrate them with a CRM.
What makes LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms special?
Tips for LinkedIn Gen Forms
How to get your leads into Close:
In addition to LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, it’s also worth highlighting LinkedIn Message Ads and Conversation Ads specifically. We’ve seen great performance with these formats compared to other placements.
What are Message Ads?
As the name suggests, these are ads in the format of a direct message that contains a call-to-action button. They allow you to communicate with your prospects without having to worry about character limits, in a way that’s more personalized, uncluttered, and direct than a traditional ad.
With Message Ads, you can also add a Lead Gen Form to your message to collect leads directly on LinkedIn.
What are Conversation Ads?
Conversation Ads are similar to message ads, but they allow you to set up multiple call-to-action buttons. This way you can link to landing pages, drive your reader to a Lead Gen Form, or encourage engagement with more information in the next message.
What makes Message & Conversation Ads special?
These ads stand out because of their highly personal and direct nature. They feel like one-to-one messages, which makes them work particularly well for B2B audiences.
Conversation ads function as a mini chatbot in the LinkedIn inbox, so you can create conversation flows to personalize the experience for the customer and provide the info they are looking for.
Tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn Conversation and Message Ads
Google has long been popular with marketers for its Google Search PPC features, but there are many other avenues for lead generation on the platform.
Lead Generation and Search Form Extensions allow you to generate leads by letting your prospects share their personal information in a form directly in your ad.
The benefits of Google Search Ads and Search Form Extensions
YouTube’s Lead Form Ads—called TrueView for Action Form Ads—allow users to share information in a mobile-friendly form attached to the ad, without the need to leave their current page and visit a landing page.
What makes YouTube Lead Form Ads special?
With Facebook Lead Ads, it’s easy for users to share their information with you, making the lead generation process extremely straightforward. Users simply tap your ad and then complete a form, pre-populated with their Facebook contact info. They get the info they want, and you get a qualified lead. There are 3 types of lead ads:
Why are Lead Ads special?
Lead Ads have a number of significant benefits for marketers. They’re well-suited to segmentation, allowing you to target very specific demographics and interests thanks to Facebook’s advanced filtering features.
They work well with analytics, integrate easily with tools like your CRM, and work smoothly on users’ mobile devices. In short, Facebook Lead Ads are one of the most reliable and user-friendly ways to collect accurate user data.
Tips for getting the most out of Facebook Lead Ads
Quora Lead Gen forms are an excellent option for high-intent prospects seeking information on relevant and specific topics. These forms appear on mobile and desktop devices, in places like the home feed, topic feed, and question and answer pages.
Buyers on Quora are typically in the middle of their journey or funnel. They aren’t just mindlessly scrolling as they might on other social platforms, they’re actively looking for answers to questions they already have in mind.
TikTok is probably not the first platform that springs to mind when talking about B2B marketing, but they can both be valuable if used correctly.
TikTok’s Lead Generation feature allows you to interact with prospects more easily. It’s possible for users to complete a form and provide basic information like their name, email, and phone number, signaling their interest in your particular product or service.
Businesses can also create fully customizable messages with this feature, tailoring them to multiple customer segments. Leads can be downloaded manually, or immediately activated if you integrate the platform with your CRM.
If you are ready to take your B2B sales to the next level, our article on B2B CRMs discusses the pivotal role of CRM systems.
TikTok taps into a unique market. Their users typically skew very young and include people who may not be interested in platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. While TikTok is generally viewed as B2C platforms, they also include business users, many of whom will be in new and emerging niches.
Shh… Want to maximize B2B conversions? Discover the B2B Sales Funnel stages now.
Capterra (and other listing websites such as software advice) have high intent prospects researching relevant software and tools for their business. You can list your software/tool in multiple categories and add descriptions, pricing information, features, etc.
B2B marketers today are avalanched with options for growing their presence and attaining many new leads. The internet is now packed with platforms that attract enormous quantities of traffic and are filled with features aimed at helping marketers grow their businesses.
To maximize the return from your paid lead generation campaigns, Driftrock is here to help.
Sign up for a free trial and start connecting your lead generation sources to Close within minutes.
Once connected, Driftrock’s reporting will help you track leads from the campaign, channel, keyword, or ad through to Closed Won in your Close account. This helps you optimize the performance of each channel and make better decisions on where to focus your budgets.
Let us know how you get on!