More conversion with AI advertising in B2B

"Make smart use of the knowledge Google has about your target audience with AI advertising."

The longer you wait with AI advertising, the harder it becomes

Google started with bidding strategies, but in the meantime, they have gone further in automating your campaigns. So Google also figures out what your ads should look like, what are the best keywords, visuals and texts. And probably we can expect more "smart" things from them. Therefore: if you are not using Smart Bidding yet, you are not only missing out on opportunities for better conversion, but the threshold to ever start using it will only get higher. So better to dive in!

What is Smart Bidding?

Smart Bidding is an umbrella term for Google Ads' automated bidding strategies. Based on machine learning, the algorithm learns what works and what doesn't. It stores what people respond to. And if they make a purchase, for what amount. And on which channels. Based on all that data, it makes a probability calculation of whether the target you entered - because that's all you have to do - can be achieved.

Google then delivers the ad to the people and on the channels with the highest conversion probability. The difference with manual bidding is that you yourself bid on everyone who searches for a particular keyword. So also the people who have a search intention other than conversion. This makes it clear why Smart Bidding offers more value for your marketing budget. And it's free too!

Let AI advertising help you achieve your B2B goals

Start your campaign by setting your goal for Smart Bidding. Do you want to sell products from your online store? Then choose the Target ROAS objective . This sets the conversion value against the advertising costs, keeping you within a predefined return. Are you going for a campaign to generate leads? Think of a contact request, demo request or registration for an event. Determine in advance how much a lead may cost and choose Target CPA. That way, Google optimizes your campaign for the maximum number of conversions within your set cost.

"AI advertising increases the quality of your leads in B2B through automated optimization."

These are all possible options, depending on your goals:

AI advertising for B2B retailers

In B2B, marketers are often reluctant to advertise online. And that's a shame, because for B2B retailers in particular, AI advertising is especially important for several reasons:

• Overlap between B2B and B2C searches. Searches for B2B and B2C can be close to each other. And of course, you don't want to waste money on customers who are not relevant to you. By setting the right conversion goals, Google matches the search queries of your (potential) B2B customers.
• B2B lead generation is becoming more complex. It's becoming increasingly difficult to generate B2B leads. By always coming up with the right information at the right time in the customer journey on the right channels, you keep your pipeline filled with leads from the top down.

• More value for your marketing spend through AI advertising in B2B. Advertising is getting more and more expensive. To (continue to) get results, you want to use your marketing budget as smartly as possible.

Here's how to get the best results from AI advertising

Ok, you got the picture. With all that data at its disposal, Smart Bidding has tremendous brainpower. With it, it identifies patterns faster and is more accurate in calculating the odds of what can be successful than anything you could ever do manually. But that brainpower only comes into its own if you also use it intelligently.

Like cooking, it's all about applying the right ingredients at the right time. If you do it the right way, the ingredients reinforce each other and you end up with a dish that tastes better than the ingredients individually.

Avoid these mistakes

But then you have to know what you're doing and what you're working toward. After all, Smart Bidding does not work by itself. Where it regularly goes wrong is, for example: a bidding strategy that does not match the objective, no clear KPIs, drastic changes during the algorithm learning process, insufficient knowledge of testing and evaluation, many different campaigns with different objectives, etc.

Want to avoid these mistakes and know exactly how to get the most out of your B2B marketing budget with Smart Bidding? And which other channels contribute to more and better leads in B2B? Then download our white paper: More results from B2B marketing in a world without cookies.

And also immediately put our event on the importance of advertising for B2B lead generation in your calendar on Wednesday, September 20 at 9 a.m.! Keep an eye on our website for more information.