Audience research is critical in B2B PPC advertising. Learn the steps you should take to avoid making common mistakes with targeting when doing B2B PPC.

1. B2B Audiences:
How To Create &
Effectively Use Them
For PPC
1CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY

2. Why SPEND TIME ON AUDIENCES?
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3. Why SPEND TIME ON AUDIENCES?
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Transactions don’t typically happen online

4. Tip
Establish connections
with content online
OFFER VALUABLE INFORMATION
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5. Why SPEND TIME ON AUDIENCES?
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Audience research in content (PPC) marketing is as
important as keyword research in search PPC.
Melissa Mackey, beyondthepaid.com
“
“

6. Why SPEND TIME ON AUDIENCES?
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Your audience is targeted (and small)
B2B markets demand higher CPCs
You won’t know ROI for a while
It’s easy to send the wrong message to the wrong
people
Buying can involve multiple departments
It’s easy to cast too wide a net

7. Possible
Impressions
Queries that would match to this
keyword
Keyword
Choice
“energy savings”
Energy Savings
Products For Large
Buildings
E X A M P L E
B2B
Company
Better defining your audience should keep you from
bidding on search terms that are superficially related to
your offering, but don’t actually indicate any relevant
search intent.
CASTING TOO WIDE A NET
@GranularMarketing@GranularPPC 7

8. 8
Why SPEND TIME ON AUDIENCES?

9. Decide on your Firmographics
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10. Location Yearly Revenue
FIRMOGRAPHICS
Industry
@GranularMarketing@GranularPPC
In the B2C world, demographics hold the weight. For B2B, firmographics are king.
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Job Titles Company Names

11. Sketch Out Your Buyer Personas
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12. BUYER PERSONAS
@GranularMarketing@GranularPPC
These are real people making decisions to purchase from you or not.
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Buyer
Persona
Biggest Fears
SummaryChallenges
Common Objections
Frustrations With Current SolutionsProblems they want to solve
Important Information Needed
Goals
Role in Purchase Process

13. Tip
Go beyond the basics
Other Types of Information
What
Facebook
Pages they
like
Groups
they’re a part
of
Where they
buy other
stuff
Keywords
they would
search for
Industry
events they
attend
Content formats
they prefer
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How they currently
solve the problem

14. @GranularMarketing@GranularPPC 14
Joe
Engineer
Biggest Fears
• Their system won’t integrate with your
solution
Summary
Joe is the Director of Engineering at a luxury hotel.
He’s responsible for the building’s efficiency when
it comes to overall costs of energy and
maintenance. He’s aware that energy
management systems exist, but has been hesitant
up to this point because of issues with believing in
the accuracy of the technology and the long-term
ROI that the large up-front cost would bring. In
order to be attracted to what we have to offer, he
would have to have enough information to believe
that the investment is worth it. Therefore, he
would be attracted to content like whitepapers
and case studies that prove our solutions.
Challenges
• Guest complaints about room temperatures
when they arrive (either too hot or too cold)
Common Objections
• Occupancy sensors are traditionally
inaccurate
Frustrations With Current Solutions
• Guests are able to set their own temperatures in
their rooms; creating extreme conditions that waste
energy and frustrate subsequent guests
Problems they want to solve
• High energy bills
• Lost budget due to room maintenance issues
Important Information Needed
• Typical energy cost savings post-implementation (and overall ROI)
• Per room install cost
• Integration capabilities
Goals
• Save on energy costs
• Increase guest comfort
• Improve brand and property loyalty
Role in Purchase Process
• The main researcher, but has to present the
solution to the hotel General Manager for
final approval
BUYER PERSONAS
Create profiles for each key segment of your audience.

15. Basic Tips For Audience Research
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Ask the customers (surveys)
Ask those who talk to the customers (client or sales team)
Use what you already have (top accounts)
Listen to online conversation (common questions and concerns)

16. Apply What You Know
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17. Apply What You Know
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Layer audience characteristics to get granular
Target audience

18. Offer
How they enter your buying funnel
Messaging
What you’re going to say
Platforms
Where you’ll target your audience
I n f o r m e d S t r a t e g y
Firmographics
+
Buyer
Personas
Firmographics + Buyer Personas
@GranularMarketing@GranularPPC 18

19. Thank You!
info@granularmarketing.com
414-436-2200
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