The industrial marketing sector is often skeptical of advertising. In fact, we’ve even written about it on this blog before. Most of this skepticism is directed towards traditional print and radio ads, which makes sense, since it is difficult to measure any ROI with traditional advertising. It does, however, raise an interesting question about Adwords advertising on the Google search network. Is Adwords an effective industrial marketing tool for manufacturers, distributors, and service providers? 

The short answer is yes – if executed correctly.

Here are five reasons why industrial marketing should use Adwords:

1. Customers Are Online, And So Are Your Competitors:

Moz.com estimates that 80% of all Google searches display one or more Adwords ad.

This means that if your business is not using Adwords, your competitors likely are, and being seen by customers first. Adding to this, as the B2B buying cycle shifts, an estimated 94% of customers use online sources to influence decision making, meaning the potential impact of these search-based ads has never been greater.

2. Target Customers Who Are Already Interested:

Industrial businesses offer products and services to serve very niche markets. As a result, it may be difficult to find ad space that gets in front of the proper viewers. Adwords only displays ads which are directly related to the Google search they are appearing with. For example, a search for centrifugal pumps will display ads for pump providers at the top of the search results.

3. Be Seen First By Customers:

Positioning also becomes an important factor. Since the majority of B2B customers use search engines during the buying process, how close a business is to the top of results has a meaningful impact.

Returning to the centrifugal pumps search discussed above, thousands of search results are displayed, and for businesses that rank outside of the top 3-5, it will be difficult to stand out from the crowd. Well-developed Adwords ads are displayed at the top of results, making it easy for customers to find and click on.

4. Stay On The Top Of Customers’ Minds:

Remarketing campaigns are another important feature of Adwords advertising.  For industrial B2B firms, purchase decisions are rarely made based on a single visit to a website. In the case of larger companies, and bigger purchases, the decision-making process can be lengthy, making it difficult to stay on the top of potential customers’ minds.

Remarketing ads are shown once potential customers leave a business’s website, and are displayed as they browse the web, making it easy for prospective customers to remember who a business is and what they do.

5. Measure Cost Effectiveness:

No discussion of marketing and advertising would be complete without an analysis of cost. Adwords expenses for manufacturers and service providers will vary widely based on industry and region, however, a well-designed campaign will be able to balance maximum audience reach with minimum cost. Arguably the most important feature though, is the ability to see how many leads are generated per campaign, and monitor the cost-per-customer of advertising efforts.

Source: Google Adwords Official Blog

All of the above are strong answers to the question of whether or not Adwords advertising can be effective for industrial businesses.

The best answer however, is to simply see for yourself. This is meant quite literally. Adwords advertising allows a level of tracking and analytics that is not possible with traditional advertising. It is easy to see what is and isn’t working, and make changes to campaigns and budgets accordingly, eliminating any guess work from the process.