Lead generation isn’t just about driving leads; it’s about filling your funnel with qualified leads.
The key to achieving this lies within providing your platform of choice with the right information.
Whether you’re using LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, or Microsoft Ads, Nicole Waddington, digital marketing manager at Cypress North, offered valuable tips on optimizing lead generation campaigns for maximum performance at SMX Next.
Below is a summary of the insights she shared.
What is lead generation?Lead generation is the process of finding and learning about potential customers. The strategies leveraged to do this can vary based on your target customer, company, and industry.
However, three crucial elements ensure success in lead generation, regardless of your industry or where you advertise, Waddington said you will need:
“If you don’t have these three things, you might as well just forget about it,” Waddington said.
LinkedIn adsWhile LinkedIn Ads may have a reputation for being more expensive, the platform proves its worth by being a powerful tool for attracting high-value leads, Waddington said.
LinkedIn increases your likelihood of reaching high-value consumers, ensuring a higher concentration of qualified leads in your marketing funnel, she added. For this reason, Waddington described LinkedIn as a “great platform for B2B marketers.”
Retargeting tactics: Securing qualified leads using LinkedIn adsLinkedIn has a diverse range of audience targeting options, such as people who have:
Tailoring your content to match where your leads are in their journey is important, Waddington said. Don’t jump straight to bottom-of-funnel offers like sales outreach or free trials — nurture and warm them up first on LinkedIn.
Leverage audience targeting not just to focus but also to exclude; avoid spending on existing customers, those who’ve spoken to sales, or unengaged subscribers, making your LinkedIn ads more cost-effective. She explained:
For effective top-of-funnel content campaigns, LinkedIn’s Audience Insights tool is the platform’s best-kept secret, Waddington said. This insightful report provides valuable information to pinpoint your target audience without spending on a paid ad campaign. Waddington added:
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) on LinkedIn is versatile, with applicability beyond just creating awareness at the top of the funnel, Waddington said.
ABM can effectively nurture leads already engaged with sales, especially in the decision phase, by strategically targeting decision-makers with ad creative featuring social proof testimonials, influencing the sales process on LinkedIn.
Additionally, consider third-party audience tools to gather more data on your ideal customers and creatively target individuals based on these insights. Waddington added:
Lead generation through Google Ads starts with successful traditional tactics that have consistently delivered strong campaign performance in her experience.
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs)Leveraging Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs) can be more cost-effective for cost per click, Waddington said, adding:
A broad match RLSA campaign can yield significantly lower cost per SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) compared to a regular prospecting campaign, emphasizing the efficiency of this approach in maximizing budget and acquiring leads, Waddington said.
Audience segmentsLeveraging audience segments is powerful as it allows the application of audience segments to campaigns, enabling targeting, exclusion, and bid adjustments for enhanced campaign efficiency.
At the very least, Waddington suggested using audiences as observation, offering valuable data to identify converting customer profiles. She explained:
She illustrated her perspective using a client case study, where audience segments like “auto parts and accessories” and “Black Friday shopping” exhibited higher conversion volumes and lower costs per conversion. This information can be used to create dedicated campaigns or adjust bids upward for these high-converting segments. Conversely, segments with lower conversion volumes and higher costs per conversion can be either excluded or bid-adjusted down for cost-effectiveness.
Performance Max campaignsAlthough using PMax for lead generation “can sound scary,” it can be done as long as you optimize for lower funnel stages, Waddington said. The key to success is ensuring you feed Google good data. Explaining why she is a fan of using PMax for lead generation, Waddington added:
Some top tips and advice for maximizing the performance of PMax campaigns for lead generation from Waddington:
Demand Gen campaigns on Google Ads take a hybrid approach, using both images and videos. This campaign type differed from Waddington’s initial expectations when Google introduced it last year.
Although Demand Gen campaigns haven’t been as successful as PMax campaigns, this may not be a fair comparison at this stage, she said, adding:
Bing remains a significant player in lead generation as it continues to be the default search engine for many users. However, Microsoft Ads has undergone significant changes since 2022. Notably, there has been a decline in the accuracy of keyword matching, Waddington said.
Adapt your strategyDespite the challenges she’s encountered, you can still effectively utilize Microsoft Ads for lead generation with a robust negative keyword list. The key is adapting strategies and staying on top of optimizations as well as negative keyword management. She added:
Opting out of audience ads on Microsoft advertising is no longer an option, and it’s a reality marketers must accept, Waddington added. This shift means it’s necessary to take a mindful approach in managing accounts and reporting on ther platform. Waddington added:
Microsoft introduced its own version of Google’s Performance Max, currently in beta testing. While Google’s Performance Max typically takes around two weeks to learn and produces quick results, Waddington noted that her experience with Microsoft’s version has been very different. The learning period has extended beyond the expected two weeks, and the results have been inconsistent.
Key takeawaysSome key takeaways from Waddington’s SMX Next session: