The Role of PPC in modern B2B Marketing Strategies

Presented at Hero Conf US in September 2026

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With so much change taking place across the digital landscape, it's easy to question where PPC fits within a modern B2B marketing strategy.

The reality is that PPC remains a powerful driver of demand, pipeline, and measurable business results, even if at times it feels like it's lost its place.

In this session, Sophie will explore the role PPC plays in today's B2B marketing strategies, challenge some common assumptions, and discuss how marketers can better demonstrate value beyond Impressions and Clicks.

Transcript

1. HEADSHOT HERE
2. A short story.
3. PPC for B2B is hard.
4. The end.
5. Tactical.
6. Tactical. Efficient.
7. Tactical. Efficient. Practical.
8. A powerful driver of demand, pipeline, and measurable business results.
9. Quality vs Quantity.
10. Why I’m okay with a 0.87% Conversion Rate.
11. 5.8% Conversion Rate. $10.12 CPA. Clients looking at their dashboards
12. 0.5% of leads became Opportunities. -$21,812 ROI after 6 months. Clients after reading my findings
13. What can we do?
14. CRM integration.
15. CRM integration.
16. Actions beyond form submissions.
17. Beyond form submissions. Create Conversion Actions for all CRM lifecycle stages, so you can see the quality of your PPC leads. Just be sure to make them Secondary.
18. Enhanced Conversions.
19. Enhanced Conversions. Matches your first-party data to recover unaccounted for Conversions and feed more data to platform.
20. Remember: A form submissions does not equal PPC success.
21. PPC for B2B is just for capturing demand.
22. False.
23. What can we do?
24. Brand awareness.
25. Brand awareness. • Subtle • Educational and insightful • ‘Giving’
26. Brand awareness. • Free & ungated • No strings • Build lists Example - Kiuwan
27. Brand awareness. Demand generation.
28. Demand generation. • Intro the product/service • Address pain points and offer their solution
29. Demand gen. • Lookalike • Solution based • Trust Example – Demandbase
30. Brand awareness. Demand generation. Demand capture.
31. Demand capture. • Why us • Stronger CTAs • Now
32. Demand capture. • Copy is crucial • Use assets • OPTIMISE! Example - Beauhurst
33. But wait. There’s more!
34. Sales support.
35. Sales support. • Target active leads • Build trust • Persuasives
36. Sales support. Customer retention.
37. Customer retention. • Encourage usage/involvement • User guides, feature announcements, webinars…
38. Remember: PPC can play a pivotal role in all stages of the marketing journey.
39. PPC platforms are B2B friendly.
40. No, but with a few tweaks they can be friendlier.
42. Common B2B PPC challenges.
43. Low Conversion volumes.
44. Long sales cycles.
45. High CPCs.
46. Niche product / service
47. What can we do?
48. Micro Conversions.
49. Micro Conversions. An action which takes place in the lead up to an actual (Macro) Conversion.
52. Segment – Conversions – Conversion Actions
53. Let go of last-click.
54. Let go of last-click. Embrace data-driven attribution.
56. Check your Conversion windows.
57. Check your Conversion window. 30 days is not a realistic Conversion window for many B2B accounts.
58. For example...
59. If it takes 43 days to convert, and you're using a 30 day window for a 'new customer' Conversion, your campaign gets nothing.
61. 90+ day Conversion lag?
62. External tools.
63. External tools. Tools such a Dreamdata can offer longer historical lookback windows and thorough multi-channel attribution.
64. Remember: Make sure you're not under selling your work due to ineffective settings.
65. Summary.
66. Conversion quality is queen. Report on the quality of Conv. Radical honesty is hard but important for all involved.
67. Full strategy involvement. Be there throughout the journey. Make PPC an integral part of all marketing efforts.
68. B2B friendly settings. Platforms aren’t made for B2B. But small tweaks can make a big impact on results.
69. Sophie Logan Community & Editorial Manager at Rough Agenda. B2B PPC Specialist. Dexters Mum
70. Thank you Hero Conf San Diego!