7 Performance Marketing Tips for B2B & SaaS Startups

Most of my campaign management clients in the last six years have been B2B and SaaS startups. I have helped them build a high-quality lead acquisition machine. Here are my seven essential tips if you want to do the same.

1. Track the entire lead journey

You want to know what channels drive prospects to which stage at what cost. Evaluating by cost per lead is not enough. Your CRM can track this if you set it up correctly. Use integrations and UTM parameters. Push this data back into ad platforms via Offline Conversions and CAPI.

2. Advertise on specialist search engines

Specialist search engines and review sites like Capterra, G2, Select Software Reviews, and others have a pre-qualified audience. If your category is on there, they will deliver valuable leads.

3. Be crafty in Google Ads

Google Ads automation works exceptionally well for mass-market, B2C advertisers. Carving out the B2B portion of Paid Search traffic requires a lot of conversion data (which requires large budgets if your leads are expensive) or a lot of manual optimization.

4. Consider bidding on your competitors

Do this at your own risk. It is a no-go if you are on good terms with your competition. But if that is less of a concern and others are doing it: This is where you find potential customers. Do not use their names in your ads.

5. Expand your Paid Search Activities to Bing

Especially if you have a corporate audience (who are not allowed to change the default browser on their windows machines), your prospects will be searching here. I have seen good results even for a startup audience.
In English-speaking markets, beware of the search partner network.

6. Use a Clickspam Tool

Because the value of a potential customer is high, CPCs in B2B industries are often high. So if you can block bots, cheeky competitors, or clueless consumers, you save lots of money. I use Clickcease.

7. Do not use “Book a Demo” as your only CTA

You do not ask somebody on the first date to marry you – and asking a prospect to commit to a call on their first visit is the equivalent. Offer other ways to get their contact data and nurture them until they are ready.

Using the B2C digital marketing playbook to scale a B2B business leads to burned cash and frustration. It’s time to create a B2B-specific playbook.