The recent Google Ads change to BMM keywords had me thinking: “What the *** would I do if I couldn’t control my Google Ads search campaigns anymore?”. As if it wasn’t enough that the Google admins decided, on a unilateral decision, to take away the “low-volume” keywords – now they’re making another change? Looks like they are taking step after step to strap us off all of our marketing tools and starting to own everything. That means that it is time for us to brace ourselves to the “PPC without Google” world.
I won’t try to convince you to give away all your Google PPC effort – that’d be silly, but I would like to take this article to see what else is out there for marketing with a little B2B twist on it:
Did you hear about Facebook? Do you know Mark? Common, that should be obvious. Nevertheless, it’s first here on the list. The 2nd larger advertiser out there should definitely be on the top of your kill list. On Facebook, it could be quite hard for you to get proper intent data, but it has its value in the huge amount of data this system hold on each user (you should’ve deleted your app by now I hope). That means you can target like hell and spread the word about your services/product to the right people.
Talking about the right people? Our friends at LI loves a good targeting ability. They do that by making the platform mandatory for job seekers and professionals in general. That guarantees probably the most accurate DB for business out there. BUT, it costs a lot! In order to get your ROIs on this platform, you gotta be a LinkedIn targeting ninja and also be generous about your spending.
Bing
Only 3rd on the list? Dear Microsoft, maybe if you didn’t copy Google Ads exactly I would’ve put you first here. Bing grows over the years and slowly taking a larger piece of the search cake. Talking about B2B – a lot of businesses work with Windows OS that uses this search engine as a default. A lot of times you can find yourself surprised by the amount of potential that is in there.
Quora
Did you notice I keep asking questions all the time? That’s because people nowadays LOVE asking questions and get quick answers to them. Quora gives the platform to people to ask thos stupid questions (almost) without being judged. Do you offer an answer to a specific question? Make sure to be there when people are already searching for it – outside the Google network!
Taboola/Outbrain
(commentator’s voice:) THEY LOVE MAKING MONEY! They love showing themselves on strange I-thought-you-may-like-this-topic-as-well boxes. This is really about putting 1000s of buttles in the ocean and hoping the right person will get the message. You could get more accurate by targeting the right placements. This will require some digging into your audience and seeing where they get their day-to-day information from.
Direct Website Ads
Remember those days before Google Display Network was everywhere? You can display your ads on specific websites by talking directly to them. That will make sure you have less competition on placements and will probably show better results than having GDN campaigns on the same website. You could also save on CPC as you guarantee the pricing before the campaign had even started running.
Have any other ideas for Google Ads alternatives? Let me know here in the comments or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn.
Yuval Tessler 