LinkedIn Ads vs. Google Ads: What is Best for B2B Marketing?
With all the competition in the B2B marketing arena, the advertising platform is the key to success and the correct audience reach. Two of the most widely used advertising platforms for B2B marketers are LinkedIn Ads and Google Ads Both have their benefits and can be very effective based on your business objective, target audience, and marketing strategy. At Grow Mutually, we’ve witnessed firsthand how every platform can deliver success to B2B campaigns, and we’ve distilled the main differences to make it easier for you to determine which is best for your purposes.
LinkedIn Ads: The Power of Networking and Targeted Outreach
LinkedIn Ads shines at reaching professionals and is a perfect option for B2B marketing. As more than 900 million people are members of LinkedIn, it offers access to a highly targeted audience—decision-makers, business owners, managers, and other professionals across many industries.
Targeting Capabilities
One of the most valuable advantages of LinkedIn Ads is that it can provide highly targeted ads based on professional criteria. You can target job title, industry, company size, skills, seniority, and even company name. That is, you are targeting decision-makers who are probable leads or clients.
Real-Life Example
A good example of LinkedIn Ads’ success is HubSpot, a top inbound marketing platform. HubSpot has used LinkedIn’s targeting ability to target decision-makers at firms seeking marketing automation software. Using Sponsored Content and LinkedIn’s targeted audience feature, HubSpot efficiently generates high-quality leads and boosts brand awareness among its target audience.
Content-Driven Approach
LinkedIn’s professional atmosphere has users who are more likely to consume thought leadership content. InMail, carousel ads, and Sponsored Content enable you to bring prospects to related content, for example, industry reports, webinars, whitepapers, or case studies. This can position your brand as a thought leader in your space.
Drawback
While LinkedIn Ads is great at targeting, it can potentially be more expensive than other mediums since it is so precise in targeting. Therefore, it is very important to be very careful about your goals and price when investing in LinkedIn Ads.
Google Ads: The Power of Search Intent
Google Ads enables you to target potential customers via search engine marketing (SEM), display advertising, and YouTube. Google Ads is a suitable choice if your B2B product or service addresses an urgent issue and if prospects are searching for solutions actively.
Search-Based Intent
Google Ads’ greatest strength is that it can target search intent. When someone searches for a term such as “best CRM for small business” or “marketing automation software for enterprise level,” the chances are high that they will purchase. This intent-based model is one where your advertisement appears precisely when users are searching for the products you offer.
Real-Life Example
Take, for example, the case of Salesforce, a cloud software company. Salesforce uses Google Ads to generate leads from companies actively looking for CRM systems. Through bidding on specific keywords such as “CRM software” or “sales automation tools,” Salesforce appears at the top of search pages when prospects are most probably to make a purchase, resulting in good leads and sales.
Widespread Reach
With Google’s Display Network, your ads will also be shown on millions of websites, and you can leverage it in order to drive brand visibility and awareness at the top of the funnel. For B2B marketers, that means you can engage business professionals who may not be searching for your product in the first place but could be persuaded by contextual display ads.
Drawback
Whereas Google Ads is highly useful, particularly for achieving high-intent traffic, it is also highly competitive and expensive, at least in the case of industry-specific terms. Also, Google’s targeting options are centered more around behavior and interest instead of professional categories, which creates somewhat of a problem with identifying specific B2B decision-makers.
Which is Best for B2B Marketing?
The choice between Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads relies on your own unique objectives, target audience, and buyer’s journey stage.
– If your B2B company is selling a high-value or specialty product that needs a targeted, professional following, LinkedIn Ads will probably be the best option. It’s best suited for creating brand awareness and lead generation via content-focused campaigns.
– If your company has a lead in capturing high-intent traffic, where the prospects look actively for a solution, then Google Ads could be the safest bet. It’s particularly suitable for companies with products that provide fast solutions.
We advise you at Grow Mutually to use the two sites complementary to each other. Employ LinkedIn Ads to make brands and sponsored campaigns and Google Ads for searches by leads. Between them, they can shape a solid performance-led B2B marketing strategy.
Conclusion
No matter what platform you use, knowledge of your audience, objectives, and budget will be the deciding factor. Both Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads have their own strengths in B2B advertising, and when combined, used in a strategic manner, they can drive tremendous business growth.