This document analyzes the paid media strategies of leading B2B technology brands. It finds that while many companies aggressively bid for top search rankings, few achieve broad keyword coverage. It identifies opportunities to optimize keyword selection, ad copy, landing pages, and integration with other digital channels. The analysis of display advertising finds room to improve creative messaging and use of retargeting. Overall, the document recommends establishing goals, testing strategies, and aligning tactics to improve customer engagement across paid media for B2B technology companies.

1. CONFIDENTIAL Copyright 2014 ROSETTA. This document is confidential and proprietary
property. Please do not forward or release this document without prior consent from ROSETTA.
PAID MEDIA
BEST PRACTICES
EVALUATING THE B2B TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
APRIL 2014

2. We Reviewed Paid Media Programs for Top B2B
Technology Brands
Our analysis looked at several key areas of paid display and paid search
programs to better understand how well the channels are being
leveraged to drive engagement, including:
§ PPC keyword rank and coverage for some of the category leaders in
hardware and software
§ The quality of keyword copy and integration between keywords and
landing experiences
§ Opportunities for optimizing publisher and media partner strategies
§ The effectiveness of banner ads and creative messaging
See a snapshot of our findings on the next few slides.
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Tim
Trus
Rosetta, Director of Search & Media
Analysis completed in March 2014

3. PAID MEDIA | PPC
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4. Current Paid Search Landscape | Hardware
While a number of companies are more aggressive with respect to
rank, IBM and Dell fall into the ideal balance of rank and coverage
§ HP has an aggressive paid search
strategy dominating the premium
positions, though only holding 20%
coverage on monitored terms
§ The majority of companies hold less
than 30% coverage and an average
rank greater than 4
§ IBM and Dell fall into the “ideal quadrant,”
holding a competitive average rank and
more than 50% coverage
§ This maximizes the companies share of
voice (SOV), ensuring exposure and
consistent brand presence
Source: Benchtools (March 2014), Keywords monitored : blade server, rack server, tower server, server infrastructure management, data
center solutions, networking switches, cloud computing services, cloud computing solutions, data warehousing, storage area network
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Non-brand Coverage & Rank March 2014
B2B Campaign – Google Desktop SEM: Average Coverage and Rank
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
RANK
HP.COM
DELL.COM
IBM.COM
ABMX.COM
CISCO.COM
INTEL.COM
EMC.COM
RACKSPACE.COM
COVERAGE %
HYVESOLUTIONS.COM
SERVERSDIRECT.COM
Rank – Keyword ranking on page (1-10)
Coverage – % of times ad shows in eligible searches

5. Current Paid Search Landscape | Software
Premium ad positions are extremely competitive, though few companies
are holding more than 50% coverage on monitored keywords
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§ Competition within the top four ad
positions is extremely competitive,
though no company holds more
than 25% coverage
§ The majority of companies hold less
than 50% coverage, signaling an
opportunity to increase share of
voice (SOV) in the marketplace
§ HP and EMC fall into the “ideal quadrant,”
holding a competitive average rank and
more than 50% coverage
§ This maximizes the companies SOV,
ensuring exposure and consistent
brand presence
Source: Benchtools (March 2014), Keywords monitored : network management software, software defined networking, human capital management
software, application lifecycle management, cloud management software, automation software, analytics software, big data software, software
defined storage, networking software, crm solutions, supply chain management software
Non-brand Coverage & Rank March 2014
B2B Campaign – Google Desktop SEM: Average Coverage and Rank
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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2
3
4
5
6
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8
9
10
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RANK
TINTRI.COM
HP.COM
EMC.COM
MICROSOFT.COM
IBM.COM
MINDTREE.COM
REDHAT.COM
NEXENTA.COM
RIGHTSCALE.COM
CISCO.COM
ORACLE.COM
COVERAGE %
Rank – Keyword ranking on page (1-10)
Coverage – % of times ad shows in eligible searches

6. Ad Copy Analysis
Ideal ad copy blends effective, differentiating messaging, a strong call to action
(CTA) and use of ad extensions to provide the best user experience
Opportunities
§ Adopt “always on” strategy to fully fund and own branded search terms and drive incremental traffic
§ Include sitelinks and other applicable ad extensions to provide a deeper user experience and own
more real estate on the SERP
§ Leverage Google Betas and Enhancements such as customer reviews or remarketing lists for
search ads to increase CTR and drive qualified visitors to the site
Strong
Ad
Copy
Opportunity
for
Refinement
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7. Landing Page Experience
An ideal landing page leverages consistent, concise brand messaging and is
conversion-focused to maximize the user experience and business impact
OPPORTUNITIES:
§ Align ad copy and landing page messaging to provide a consistent user experience
§ Landing page should have clear focus and be conversion-oriented
§ Ensure text is concise and broken into bullets, avoiding large blocks of text
Strong
Landing
Page
Experience
Opportunity
for
Refinement
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8. PAID MEDIA | DISPLAY
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9. Publisher & Media Strategies
Dell utilizes a healthy portfolio of advertising networks and top portals,
allowing for the opportunity to reach differentiated marketing segments
OPPORTUNITIES:
§ Differentiate advertising networks and portals being used to reach a widespread audience
§ Reach your target audience while also expanding into “like” audience customers through
the utilization of 3rd party data and smart prospecting tactics
§ Consider aligning with “core endemic sites” of the desired audience (techcrunch or wired) to
leverage relevant content and brand association, and to market to individuals, not companies
Compe;;ve
Landscape/Partnerships
1 Facebook
2 Yahoo Sites
3 Google Sites
4 AOL, Inc.
5 Ziff Davis Tech
6 Gannett Sites
7 Curse
8 Turner Digital
9 United Online, Inc.
10 Microsoft Sites
11 CBS Interactive
12 Glam Media
13 IDG Network
14 Forbes Digital
15 WashingtonPost.com
16 Best Buy Sites
17 Fox News Digital Network
18 Deso-Tashan.com
19 Time Warner Cable, Inc.
20 eBay
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Source: comScore AdMetrix, (Date Range: Feb ‘14); Site lists are not exhaustive

10. OPPORTUNITIES:
§ Highlight brand and product-specific differentiators within banner to communicate core
message and set brand apart from competitors
§ Use consistent brand messaging across paid media channels (search and display)
§ Leverage messaging to target users in the various stages of the conversion funnel
§ Opportunity to focus on retargeting of site visitors to help close the purchase cycle
Creative Messaging Strategies
Utilize display advertising to focus on brand awareness and reach users at the
top of the conversion funnel, while using display retargeting to re-engage with
previous site visitors
Source: comScore /Moat.com
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11. Key Takeaways
While the specific strategies and goals of each company’s campaigns
will vary, clear opportunities we observed for all B2B technology brands
to improve paid media engagement are:
1. Establish Goals – There need to be guidelines that help influence
the blend of direct response and awareness efforts
2. Test Everything – Your customers will tell you what they want; listen
and then refine your approach from your targeted keywords and
copy messaging, all the way to the site copy and CTAs
3. Tactic Integration – Insight into plans and performance of other
digital efforts (SEO, Social, Email) as well as offline (Direct Mail,
Print) will allow for tactic alignment and an enhanced experience
You can find more digital media best practices on
Slideshare.com/RosettaMktg and our blog, Currents.Rosetta.com.
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12. About Rosetta
Rosetta is a customer engagement agency.
We combine human insights, technology and
next-generation storytelling to craft meaningful
connections that drive tangible results.
If you are interested in an analysis of how well you are talking to your
customers across paid media or other channels, reach out at
www.Rosetta.com/contact and we will get you in touch with our team.
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13. Thank You
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