SEM Strategies for B2B vs B2C Businesses

Imagine reaching your ideal customer at the exact moment they’re searching for the products and services you offer. That’s the power of SEM.

While SEM is powerful in attracting customers, the way you use it can change depending on your audience. The strategies you use to reach consumers often aren’t as effective when trying to reach and connect with other businesses. Your audience’s behavior will dictate everything from the approach you take, the content on your landing page, and the types of keywords you’re using.

Let’s take a look at the key differences between SEM strategies for B2B and B2C businesses, as well as the strategies you can employ to market more effectively to both audiences.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN B2B AND B2C SEM STRATEGIES

While the basics of creating and running SEM campaigns, like bidding on keywords and writing copy that will drive audiences to your website, are similar, the way that you approach B2B and B2C audiences is different.

To help you better understand how to build a strategy that meets your needs, let’s look at the differences between B2B and B2C SEM campaigns.

Consumer Journey

A major distinction between B2B and B2C clients is the time between purchases. For consumers, the amount of time it takes to make a decision is often relatively short (sometimes even impulsively). Customers may search for things like “best pizza place near me” and be ready to take action within minutes.

On the other hand, businesses often take longer to make purchase decisions due to things like budgets, quote requirements, and approvals from multiple stakeholders. These constraints often slow the process down and require an SEM strategy that takes place across weeks or even months.

Targeting the Right Audience

Reaching the right person is a critical part of using SEM to its fullest. When focusing on consumers, your target audience will often be built from people who are looking for a solution to their problems, like people looking to open a checking account or meet with a new primary care doctor.

When trying to make B2B connections, you’ll instead be looking to reach decision makers among your audience. That means you’ll need to make a much more targeted and granular approach to your strategy, focusing on filters specific to businesses or industries.

Audience’s Search Intent

Because consumers are often searching for answers to an immediate problem, the intent of their search is often transactional. B2C clients are often looking at prices, reviewing products and services, and trying to find nearby businesses that can help.

Potential B2B customers are generally looking for more long-term solutions. They want to find products and services that will solve their business challenges. Because of that, they are looking to educate themselves on a deeper level about how your products and services work (and if they’re the right fit).

SEM STRATEGIES FOR B2C MARKETING

Targeting consumers with SEM is about keeping things simple and timely. Audiences are generally searching with urgency to solve their problems, which means you need to create campaigns that cut through the noise with a clear path to action.

Focus on Keywords

Because consumers often have an idea of what they’re looking for, you need to ensure your keyword strategy matches their intent — make sure you’re focusing on the keywords your audience is using.

Think of keywords and phrases like:

• credit union auto loans
• urgent care near me
• roof repair in Kalamazoo

Don’t set and forget your campaigns, either. Failing to review campaigns is an all-too-common practice, with 72% of respondents admitting they haven’t looked at their campaigns in more than a month, in a WebFX survey. That’s a problem! Regularly checking in on your keywords allows you to rework them if they are underperforming or spot trends you can take advantage of for increased ROI.

Grab Attention

Your ad copy needs to grab your audience’s attention and really say something. You’re missing out if you’re not getting your message across and showing your audience the value of your products and services.

Use active voice, make your message relatable, and try to evoke an emotional response from your audience.

Effective Landing Pages

Alright, you’ve gotten your customer to click, but now what? Ensure your landing pages are personalized to your campaigns; that extra effort can make them 5% more effective, according to Ranktracker. Keep your landing pages simple and focused on a single action or goal you want your customers to take: sign-ups, purchases, form-fills, etc. A personalized landing page is worth the extra time

Continue to build consumer trust by including reviews and/or ratings on your landing page, as well as links to relevant blogs. It’s also a great idea to make sure that the message on your landing page mirrors the messaging on your SEM ads — consistency builds trust!

SEM STRATEGIES FOR B2B MARKETING

Where B2C SEM marketing is about speed and efficiency, B2B SEM marketing is about building long-term relationships and credibility with your audience by providing value and guiding them through the consumer journey.

Refine Your Keywords

When it comes to B2B keywords, it’s not about how many you have, it’s about how precise they are. Remember, you’re attracting customers in the early to middle stages of the consumer journey, who have specific needs for their business, and need solutions.

Think of phrases like:

• bulk lumber supplier in northern Indiana
• banking solutions for small businesses
• corporate fleet auto insurance programs

While these phrases may not get the same amount of clicks as your B2C keywords, it’s important to remember that this audience is looking for the right business to build a partnership with. Your goal here isn’t to cast a wide net, it’s for your ad to appear in the right place at the right time.

Build Trust

Like B2C ad copy, you want to attract your B2B audience’s attention, but you also need to build confidence in your products and services. Focus on being credible and trustworthy. Avoid gimmicky language. Keep things professional and be clear and benefit-driven with your CTAs.

Optimize for Research

Your B2B customers will likely spend a lot more time in the research phase of the consumer journey, so ensure your landing pages are chock-full of content for them to explore! The pages you send them to should be educational, so consumers can learn about how your products and services can solve the problems their business faces. Give them a reason to take the next step with you!

The key to successful SEM campaigns is in tailoring your strategies to the types of clients you want to attract. Focusing your campaigns on the needs of your potential customers and crafting unique experiences for them is the best way to make sure you’re attracting qualified leads.

If you’re ready to take the next step and build a custom SEM strategy for your audience, FDS can help. Our team is ready to help get you started! Contact us to learn how we can help you build an SEM strategy to maximize your ROI.

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