First Spark Digital

CEO: Google ads looks like it's performing the best out of any channel, should we double-down and cut Linkedin and Facebook spend? CMO: They're doing well, but we've already got 90%+ top impression share on our best non-branded terms, and we can't forget about our social campaigns that drive awareness and generate interest from out-of-market prospects. CEO: How do we know they're working if we don't see the attributable revenue in platform or in GA? CMO: Well, we've seen our overall GTM efficiency % improve the past 2 quarters consecutively since starting paid social ads, the number we care about most. We've also seen engagements with our target prospects & companies on Linkedin ads increase MoM, our CTRs are above benchmark, and our time on site for Linkedin ads traffic is now comparable to our top Google terms. We also have some good self-reported attribution data that show a substantial number of our Google leads saw an ad on Linkedin, or heard about us from a co-worker, so we can't totally credit Google for those. CEO: But our CFO wants to see numbers that show at least an attributed 2.5x return on spend for each channel. CMO: We can show him why that can actually hurt our marketing efforts, and we'll devise a new system for measuring the impact of ads. CEO: Agreed, our analytics tools look like they've got huge holes in how they measure. The Lesson: platform attribution is extremely limited, and if you went solely off platform data you'd end up spending every dollar on Google Ads. What you're missing is all the touchpoints and interactions that happened before someone decided to do a search for the solution you offer. There are many ways to measure, until we can read minds the attribution problem will never be solved. Focus on your key business metrics like GTM Efficiency % and higher level growth metrics that are signals for overall business and marketing health. You can measure paid social activities in a variety of ways that give good signals on performance, so don't pigeon hole yourself and get your CEO and CFO on board with how you want to measure success. #b2bmarketing #gtmstrategy #ppcads #b2badvertising #linkedinads #googleads

If you’re trying to get qualified leads and signups on Linkedin ads, you basically have two routes... Option 1: Find a single evergreen funnel that works really well, and drill into it What do you need to discover this and make it work? 1. An irresistible offer Be ready to experiment here and take some shots, but with better up-front research you cut down the trial-and-error significantly. 2. The right messaging & ads Even with a great offer, you’d be surprised how difficult it can be to nail the messaging that really resonates. I use a variety of research frameworks and a process to do this, but then you have to drill in and test it out. Ads aren’t obvious, either. Often times the ad I think will do best and put a ton of time into is a flop, while the low-effort ad that took 10 minutes absolutely kills it. Diversify creative with broad strokes to find macro patterns. 3. A good follow-up sequence You need to determine how much qualification you want to do here, and then build out your follow-up sequence accordingly. If you’re selling a $25k offering, you’ll need to qualify prospects early. Directing them into a text funnel is great for getting their undivided attention, or maybe an e-mail sequence is enough. Either way, you want to get a series of ‘yes’ actions early, which makes them more likely to say yes to your final offer. If you have a lower price-point offering, you can reduce the number of steps, but you still need to create qualifying filters so you can get the right people on calls and not waste your time or SDR time. Option 2: Build out a full demand generation-style ads setup I like this option for the long-term, it’s proven to be more robust and work better over time, and you ideally still have option 1 incorporated. In this ads setup, you have a variety of gated and ungated content, all aligning and assisting with your other marketing channels. Your content mix would look something like this: Case studies Testimonials Guides/E-books Template downloads Quizzes / Assessments Free Software tools & calculators Ungated webinars, video, podcast content Event promotion ads Direct-Response ads (sign-up, book a demo, etc) Gate and ungate as you see fit, there is value in both. But what you’ll see over time is that even ads that don’t seem to be working on-platform, will show up in self-reported attribution and sales call discussions. Word of mouth is also difficult to track. You’ll need to commit to this and get buy-in from the team, understand that you’re playing a long-game. Optimizing 100% for direct-response and attributable actions to ads will always steer you along an unsustainable route that brings diminishing returns over time. You need to generate awareness and demand for your solution, not just capture the bottom 3% who are actively in-market. #linkedinads #ppcads #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #leadgeneration #marketingstrategy #adsstrategy #ads #marketing