B2B Lead Gen: Tactics, Traps & Triumph

Presented at SEM Stories and More in October 2025.

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In this session, seasoned B2B marketer Sophie will reveal three proven tactics to boost your results, along with three common traps that could be quietly sabotaging your efforts.

You’ll walk away with clear, actionable strategies to boost lead quality, optimise ad spend, and maximise your lead-to-sale conversion rate.

Transcript

1. B2B Lead Gen: Tactics, Traps & Triumphs.
2. Sophie Logan
3. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist.
4. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist. Platinum Google Ads Product Expert.
5. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist. Platinum Google Ads Product Expert. Pug mum.
6. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist. Platinum Google Ads Product Expert. Pug mum. @marketingsoph
7. I’m a context queen.
8. let’s learn about B2B lead gen traps to avoid and tactics to test.
9. Trap - “Everyone already knows about us...”
10. AKA:
12. No.
14. If people don’t know about you, they can’t search you. (And they definitely aren’t going to be submitting your lead gen form if they never even make it to your site)
15. To capture demand, you need to create it.
16. Tactic time.
17. This needs to be wider business and marketing discussion, as the weight of building brand awareness should not rest on the shoulders of PPC alone.
18. Content: Thought leadership Educational Guest blogs Event presence and/or sponsorship Influencer marketing (yes in B2B) Public speaking PR...
19. AKA, building brand awareness with a relevant audience.
20. More PPC focused: Display campaigns - Google Ads AND Microsoft Advertising
21. Custom Segments
22. LinkedIn Demographics
23. More PPC focused: Paid Social - Reach people during their ‘down time’ and also utilise their extensive targeting options
24. Build your ideal customer audience in LI Ads
25. Kirk Williams ‘Rethinking Growth in Search Advertising’ at ADWorld experience 2025
26. Why this leads to triumph?
27. PPC is not the “short term fix” we were all once promised.
28. You will unlikely see a significant increase in leads once you start improving your brand awareness.
29. But you should see...
30. An increase in brand searches
31. An increase in brand searches An increase in social followers
32. An increase in brand searches An increase in social followers Being part of more industry conversations
33. Which ultimately results in...
34. Becoming top of mind when someone is ready to convert.
35. Trap - Focusing on vanity metrics.
36. I decreased CPC by £0.51, and increased Impressions by 25%!
37. Lead-to-Sale rate has decreased by 35%.
38. Whats more important? Impressions and Clicks or Leads and Sales?
39. Stop sabotaging your performance by focusing on vanitry metrics. (Especially OptiScore and Ad Strength...)
40. Tactic time.
41. Shift your mindset.
42. Ask yourself these 4 questions to help change your mindset...
43. 1. Why are you even running PPC campaigns? What does the campaign really need to do to be a success?
44. 2. What new KPI’s can you set? Think less about ad engagement and more about added value.
45. For example: CPA, Conversion Rate, Lead- to-Sale Rate and Avg. Sale Value, instead of...
46. Impression Volume, CTR, Click Volume, CPC...
47. 3. Where can you find that data? Every B2B Lead Gen advertiser needs to know what’s happening once those leads are submitted.
48. 4. Why can you do with this information? Poor fit leads? What can you do to improve targeting? Great Lead-to-Sale rate for a specific campaign? Can you divert more spend?
50. I changed the ad copy to better resonate with our target audience by mentioning use cases.
51. I amended the keyword lists to focus on high intent keywords and phrases, and away from top of funnel topics.
52. I stopped our ads from reaching ‘just anyone’, and focused on quality not quantity As as result...
53. Lead-to-Sale rate has increased by 34%, and average contract value by 8%.
54. Why this leads to triumph?
55. More accurately report on the value of PPC.
56. More accurately report on the value of PPC. Optimise campaigns for qualified leads and sales (aka cold hard cash).
57. Stop getting distracted by all of the noise. Optimise your efforts based on the metrics which matter.
58. Trap - Google Ads Tunnel Vision.
59. There is more to B2B Lead Gen than Google Ads Search campaigns.
62. Outages Court cases Increasing CPC’S and competition Negative public perception
63. And PPC is more than just Search.
65. Tactic time.
66. Diversify your PPC portfolio.
67. Unsure on how to start?
68. 1. Check GA4 and see where your existing traffic is coming from.
69. For example: Are you seeing a lot of referral traffic? Can you advertise on those sites?
70. 2. Ask your current customers about their online activities and preferences.
71. For example: Do they use niche forums or apps? Can you advertise on those?
73. 3. Deep dive into what your competitors are doing.
74. Example: Your competitor doesn’t appear to be advertising on YouTube. Do you have video content? Is this a relevant opportunity for you?
75. 4. Explore industry specific platforms.
76. For example: You’re a SaaS brand. Could you advertise on software marketplaces like G2 or Capterra?
78. 5. If you like Google Ads, you’re probably going to like using Microsoft Advertising.
79. For example: You’ve had success running Display campaigns on Google Ads. How about a Audience Network campaign using LinkedIn profile targeting?
80. But remember...
81. Don’t go full hog.
82. Be open minded.
83. Test and react accordingly.
84. Why this leads to triumph?
87. Be where your target audience is.
88. Summary.
90. Expecting everyone to already know who you are
91. Expecting everyone to already know who you are Focusing on vanity metrics
92. Expecting everyone to already know who you are Focusing on vanity metrics Putting all of your eggs in a Google Ads shaped basket
94. Including Brand Awareness and Demand in your PPC strategy
95. Including Brand Awareness and Demand in your PPC strategy Optimising based on the metrics which really count
96. Including Brand Awareness and Demand in your PPC strategy Optimising based on the metrics which really count Diversifying your portfolio and reaching your target audience outside of Google properties
97. Thank you! LinkedIn: Sophie Logan BlueSky: MarketingSoph Speakerdeck: MarketingSoph