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B2B Business Struggling with Google Ads
Hello everyone,
New here to this subreddit. I am a marketer for a Software Development Company, B2B focused, and I am the only marketer in the house. So I do everything from SEO, Social Media, Design and of course, PPC.
I have 4 campaigns running across 2 countries (UK and US), focused on Power BI / Business Intelligence Services and Custom Software Development, with 15 dollars a day for each one. I get some ROI from the Power BI ones, even if I only get like 1 good lead a month, but the normal business values make it automatically profitable.
The thing is.. I can’t get ay good leads from Custom Software Development. I have it on for two months, and I didn’t get a SINGLE good lead. Nothing. Zero. I am not an expert in PPC, by any means, and I know my budget is not the greatest thing on earth, but the campaigns are well set up, and the keywords (and search terms) are going all right. The landing page is not the greatest (I am remodeling all the website, going to launch it live by the end of the month) but its not bad either, and its built to convert.
But has anyone here got any leads from a software development campaign? And if so, how? I am desperate really. I hate spending money without results, and its driving me crazy.
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11 Replies
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The thing is with just $15/day you won’t get the click volume for you or Google to reach any sort of statistical significance to optimize your campaigns. You can’t afford any wasted or fraudulent clicks at that budget and it’s basically guesswork until you spend more.
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You should consolidate the ad spend into 1 campaign in 1 country and get results before trying to be everywhere.
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Getting leads for Software Dev Companies is one of the most expensive things I ever worked with in terms of performance marketing. The clicks can be easily more expensive than your daily budget, so already here is one thing that can lead to not having any conversions. And that’s a big one. If that’s the budget that you get for marketing – shame, but that’s not gonna work even remotely good, especially if we are talking about two big markets.
If anything – I would limit the campaigns as much as possible, find what kind of keywords lead to best interactions with the website, which type of traffic looks like it has the highest chance to convert and optimize based on that.
What’s your impression share? What’s the % of lost impression share?
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I have most of my experience in software development. You wont get anything at $15 a day for each campaign, you need hundreds if not a couple thousand for this industry.
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I would consider only running ads 2 days per week at that budget. Pick your two best days, crank up spend, and shut the others off. You’re not going to be able do more damage until you find more daily budget, and this is the way to do it.
The other option is turn of certain devices that don’t convert as well. But that might not make a big dent.
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Try running a competitor campaign
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With your budget being so small, try and limit the number of hours you run each day. Also review your geos and only target your best performing ones. Utilize audience lists if possible…. Affinity, in-market, 1P if possible. What is your average cpc?
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You probably don’t have enough ad spend for what is a highly competitive niche, where it’s hard to stand out. When it comes to high competition you need to spend pretty heavily so you can drive enough conversions to optimize.
Your campaigns may also be terrible, but I don’t have any way of knowing that.
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I fully understand your struggles. I’ve been working in this industry for almost four years now and it’s arguably the most challenging time for Google Ads. The market is saturated with tens of thousands of competitors vying for projects in the same top markets, giving your target audience a lot of choices.
Click costs for commercial keywords are at an all-time high, with some costing over $200. The number of conversions will also be low for algorithms since there are relatively few high-quality leads available for small to mid-size software development companies compared to B2C or B2B SaaS products.
Moreover, you may not always be reaching your intended audience. For instance, a search query like “top software development companies” can be used by individuals looking for jobs in the industry, by your competitors conducting market research, or by SEO, marketing, or B2B product providers trying to sell to companies in your industry.
Another major issue in this industry is click fraud, which can significantly inflate your ad costs without providing any genuine leads.
My advice would be to narrow your targeting as much as possible to find your company’s niche. Understand the industries your company specializes in (e.g., edtech) and create specific offers, landing pages, and campaigns for services in that area. You could also focus on the tech stack that your company offers (like Python engineers).
Ensure that your ads are targeted towards a B2B audience. Use lists and audiences, such as business professionals, to improve your targeting and hopefully, your conversion rate.
Additionally, you might find it easier to run ads in other markets, such as Gulf countries or South Africa.
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Have you looked at using LinkedIn remarketing?
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For software development campaigns, targeting the right audience is key. Consider refining your audience criteria based on industries or specific needs that align with custom software solutions.Since you’re already revamping your website, make sure your landing page is optimized for conversions and clearly showcases the value proposition of your custom software services.Lastly, if you’re looking for additional help with B2B lead generation, KoalaB2B at http://www.koalab2b.com offers some useful tools and strategies. It’s worth checking out to see if they can provide some insights for your campaign.
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