The 2017 AdWords Trends You Need to Know About

Posted by Craig Maloney | November 20, 2017 | Filed under: Adwords

Recently, Bizible released its third annual AdWords Industry Benchmark Report, offering some crucial insights into what AdWords has represented for business owners and CMOs in the last year. We found the data in this report to be compelling, and in this post, we’ll briefly summarize some of the key findings, as well as the implications for your brand.

To provide just a bit of background for the report, it encompasses both performance data and insights into the tens of millions of dollars spent on AdWords each year, including metrics from hundreds of businesses across numerous industries. The report does focus primarily on B2B contexts. Below are some of the key findings.

AdWords Performance Throughout the Sales Funnel

First, the report considers the contributions AdWords makes throughout the sales funnel. Specifically, this data shows that AdWords is invaluable for driving high quality leads. For brand awareness, however, social and display ads tend to work better.

AdWords is best when there are more targeted keywords, leading to higher-quality leads. The data also shows that AdWords is most effective when it’s used lower in the sales funnel, helping attract an audience of buyers who are already in the market for the products or services in question.

The implications for CMOs are several: AdWords is ideal for targeting buyers, but it can also be an effective way to hone in on those who are in the research phase of their consumer journey. When used strategically, AdWords ads can ultimately influence their buying decision, even during this early part of the process.

AdWords Cost-Per-Lead

Next, the report reveals some key findings about AdWords CPL. For B2B companies, the report finds CPLs to be somewhere between $100 and $300. Note that the B2B sales cycle is usually several months long and fairly complex, and the metric used here is conversions.

There are a few things that can decrease B2B CPL. One is the asset being offered. A white paper comes with a lower CPL than a demo, for instance, because it requires less of a commitment from the buyer. The nature of the business objective can also impact the CPL. Finally, targeting strategy can be a huge factor in shaping CPL.

AdWords Cost-Per-Opp

The report finds that the average CPO is around $1,200. Again, this is in the context of a long B2B buying cycle, and the longer it is, the higher the cost per opportunity. The report notes that, unless CMOs are pursuing a significant brand play or entering a new market, the number of in-market opportunities will remain pretty static YOY.

Year-Over-Year Trends

The report finds a significant year-over-year increase in AdWords’ contribution throughout the sales funnel—which frankly isn’t surprising. AdWords provides many benefits to CMOs, including the opportunity to be very highly targeted. Those targeting features are only becoming more finely-honed over time, too.

Simply put: The more targeted a marketer can get, the better he or she will be able to generate high-quality traffic—and for that reason, we agree with Bizable that investment in AdWords is only going to increase in the coming years.

Wrapping Up: Thoughts on the Data Overall

With all of that said, what are some of the big takeaways for CMOs and business owners?

First, the primary factors in AdWords success are knowing your audience, and being able to target your ads to that audience with real precision. That’s the key.

Second, it’s critically important to have a realistic CPL. Wanting to hit a $50 CPL is natural, but it’s not always feasible—especially not if you’re in a crowded and competitive market. Budgeting for something a bit higher is recommended.

Third, having compelling content is still an important part of your marketing efforts. Your AdWords placements will get a lot more traction if you have engaging assets to back them up. Driving high-quality traffic means having high-quality content—period.

And finally, testing is critical. Always be reviewing and tweaking your AdWords activity to get the best results—to zero in on what works as well as what doesn’t.

Looking for AdWords Guidance?

Helping CMOs leverage AdWords effectively is something we’re good at, and we’ve got the track record to prove it. We’ve love to tell you more about our expertise, and about what makes EverythingOnline one of the leading Orange County PPC firms.

To learn more, or to unpack this data further, we invite you to call us. Reach out to the PPC team at EverythingOnline today.