• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

Paid search is the biggest single item in many B2B marketing budgets, averaging 40%, according to marketing tech platform Channel99. It helps brands collect email addresses, which can then be used for further sales and marketing along the funnel.  

But it’s not easy to achieve this goal. 

“Paid search continues to be a major line item in B2B marketing budgets, but remains difficult to manage based on the quality of engagement, or the impact on the sales pipeline,” says Zak Prauer, a partner at Bain & Company, in a statement. “Measuring and optimizing keywords or campaigns at the account or segment level will enable a far more holistic, full-funnel approach, and is long overdue.”

To help brands avoid this, Channel99 has launched a product called Paid Search Optimization. It is designed to help B2B marketers improve the accountability and ROI of their paid search expenditures, the company says its announcement. 

Channel99 argues that while traditional search reporting treats all clicks as equal, the new tool connects paid search performance to account-level engagement. And email?

"Although the paid search functionality does not interact directly with email, companies can use the keyword insights from their target accounts or segments to reshape their email messages for greater impact," says Chris Golec.  CEO of Channel99.

Golec adds, "At Channel99, we have seen at least 2-3 times higher engagement using this approach. For example, by pulling a list of high frequency search terms for a specific segment, then letting Gen AI create highly relevant email content for that target audience."

According to Channel99, the new solution helps B2B marketers (and we quote): 

• Understand which ad groups and keywords engage target accounts
• Measure CFO-friendly ROI using cost-to-engage metrics. 
• Identify waste and reallocate budget using AI. 
• Score and rank keywords and ad groups for target audiences.

This is not an endorsement, and there may be similar products on the market. But if works, you'd better make sure your database can handle new email volume.