Getting Started With Paid Media and PPC for Manufacturers

Perhaps you are a newcomer to marketing for manufacturing, which means learning about the nuances in niche audiences, lengthy buying cycles and targeting to reach multiple personas involved in the process. Or maybe your marketing responsibilities have increased to include paid media, which also can be complex.

Paid media and PPC for industrial companies can be particularly challenging for several key reasons:

• Niche Audiences: Identifying and accurately targeting these individuals or businesses through paid media platforms requires a deep understanding of the problems they are trying to solve. You will also need to understand a platform's specific targeting options, such as job titles, company size, and industry.
• Long Sales Cycles: Translating technical information into compelling and concise ad copy that resonates with the target audience is difficult. Another huge factor in the manufacturing sector is that the sales cycle involves research, evaluation, and approval. It also involves multiple stakeholders (operations, purchasing, finance), so you will need different messages to different stakeholders at different stages.
• Budget Constraints: Marketing newcomers may face pressure to demonstrate quick results and a clear ROI for their paid media activities, especially with potentially limited budgets. This involves accurately reporting on key metrics such as cost per lead (CPL), and cost per acquisition (CPA). You will also need to learn how to navigate ad auctions and develop cost-effective bidding strategies.

Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of an expert or trusted advisor. There are many areas to master, such as leveraging keywords that are related to buyer intent but have lower volumes and are more attainable. Paid media is not a "set it and forget it" activity. Optimizations through monitoring, A/B testing ad copy and landing pages, are essential for maximizing performance.

In this blog post, we'll explore what you need to know about getting started with paid media and PPC for manufacturers.

Paid Media Channels for Manufacturing Ads

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)/Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

• Platforms: Primarily Google Ads for manufacturers, Microsoft Advertising
• How it Works: You bid on keywords to have ads appear in search engine results pages (SERPs). You pay when someone clicks your ad.
• Noteworthy: Good copywriting is key, and you should also develop matching landing pages to track results and optimize performance.

Social Media Advertising

• Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), TikTok, Pinterest, etc. Each platform has its unique audience and ad formats.
• How it Works: Creating ads that appear in users' feeds or other placements based on their demographics, interests, behaviors, and more.
• Noteworthy: There are many audience targeting options (lookalike audiences, custom audiences, interest-based). There also are options for creative (images, videos, carousels) and campaign objectives (awareness, engagement, leads, sales).

You can also pay for social media promotion, also called boosting. Social media promotion is not an ad; you are paying for additional distribution of your original post. But it can be an inexpensive way to get your message in front of more targeted prospects.

Display Advertising

• Platforms: Websites of digital publishers, ad display networks.
• How it Works: You provide an ad to meet the specifications of a digital publisher (banners, images, videos) or ad network.
• Key Concepts: Given the niche targeting in manufacturing, it is worth learning about where your prospects and customers go to learn about service offerings.

Programmatic Advertising

• How it Works: You pay a service for some level of targeted performance. The provider uses algorithms to determine the most relevant ads to show to the right users at the right time.
• Noteworthy: Programmatic allows you to target specific job titles, industries, company sizes, and even online behaviors of key individuals involved in purchasing decisions, minimizing wasted ad spend.

Video Advertising

• Platforms: YouTube (Google Ads), social media platforms, and programmatic providers.
• How it Works: Running video ads before, during, or after other video content, or in users' feeds.
• Noteworthy: Video advertising is expensive, but manufacturing is a visual process, so videos can be a powerful differentiator in marketing.

Native Advertising

• What it is: Ads that blend in with the surrounding content of a website or platform, making them less disruptive. Examples include sponsored content and in-feed ads that look like organic posts.
• Platforms: Taboola, Outbrain, social media platforms.
• Noteworthy: There may be disclosure requirements, and you need to be sure you are creating content that aligns with your messaging and the platform's style.

Geo-Targeting and Local Search Ads

• How it Works: Targeting users based on their geographic location (country, region, city, radius around a business).
• Platforms: Google Ads (location extensions, local service ads), social media platforms, location-based advertising platforms.
• Noteworthy: This is crucial for workforce recruiting and other location-based concerns.

Strategic Considerations for Your Manufacturing Ads

Paid media and PPC for industrial companies should not be done in a silo. It’s imperative that they are part of an integrated marketing campaign that is aligned with your keyword strategy, organic social approach, website content, content marketing, and email marketing. It’s worth investing time to learn how PPC for manufacturing works with your other marketing channels to create a cohesive strategy.

Set clear objectives for what success looks like with your manufacturing ads. Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track progress.

It’s also important to recognize that driving traffic is only half the battle; landing pages, form fills and automated responses need to be relevant and optimized for conversions.

Another tactic to help get started with PPC for industrial companies is to do a competitive analysis. Research what your competitors are doing in the paid media space.

Know Your Tech Stack So You Can Realize Actionable Insights

You will also want to learn about the different ways to attribute conversions to marketing efforts. Attribution models can be complex (first-click, last-click, linear, etc.) so understand how each marketing effort contributes to moving a prospect closer to a decision. This is why it is important to know your marketing tech stack. A good Customer Relations Management system (CRM) can help you see when prospects drop out of your funnel. It can also help identify the key actions that correlate with a purchase.

Google ads for manufacturers are lower volume because they are so niche, but the upside is the great amount of intentionality to those searches. By closely monitoring their effectiveness, you can play offense and defense at the same time, putting more resources into the ads that work at the expense of the ones that don’t.

Become Your Company’s Paid Media Authority

Becoming proficient in paid media and PPC for manufacturing requires a significant learning curve. But with dedication and the right resources, you can grow into your company's paid media authority.

The paid media landscape changes rapidly. Commit to continuous learning through industry blogs, webinars, and certifications. Take a deep dive into the mechanics of various paid media platforms, cultivate analytical skills, and stay curious.

Visit our INDUSTRIAL Strength Marketing services page to learn more about paid media and PPC for industrial companies. Request a consultation to see how we can help you.