Written By Naren Kumar
Most B2B advertisers use mainstream tools like Google Ads and LinkedIn Campaign Manager to manage ads. While these tools are quite useful, depending solely on them can mean not getting the full picture, this is especially true as digital advertising evolves and becomes more complex.
With increasing concern about privacy, third-party cookies are disappearing, cross-channel attribution continues to be complex and the competition is becoming more fierce by the day. All these factors make it necessary to use more than just basic PPC tools as depending on them alone can limit optimization opportunities. By using a combination of tools you can improve data accuracy, streamline workflows and refine your targeting strategies.
Here are five lesser-known tools that can help improve your B2B PPC performance.
1. Segment
Tracking and analyzing customer behavior can be complex and it becomes even more complicated when done across multiple channels. Using a Customer Data Platform (CDP) like Segment can help bridge this gap. It collects and consolidates customer data from various sources such as websites, CRMs and email marketing tools, into one single unified system.
This can be especially useful as third-party cookies gradually phase out. Instead of depending on browser-based tracking, Segment allows advertisers to store and manage first-party data more easily. It can be integrated with over 400 marketing tools, which makes it a great choice for businesses that want to improve audience segmentation and campaign performance. However, as it’s a major investment businesses must carefully consider and ensure they have a well-structured data strategy before adopting it.
2. Stape
As privacy restrictions increase and more and more people use ad blockers, traditional tracking methods become less reliable. Fortunately, Stape is here to the rescue, it provides a cost-effective server-side tracking solution, allowing businesses to collect and process data on their servers before sending it to analytics platforms.
Client-side tracking depends on cookies and often gets blocked by browsers and user settings but server-side tracking is much more resilient. It enables businesses to get accurate data on customer behavior while complying with privacy regulations.
3. Semrush
While most companies use Semrush for SEO, it’s also a great tool for PPC. It provides valuable insights into competitors’ PPC budgets, their target keywords, search volume, cost-per-click and landing pages.
By combining Semrush with other tools like LinkedIn and Meta ad libraries and Google Ad Transparency Center, you can get additional insights about competitors’ ad strategies across different platforms. This can help you get a comprehensive view of your competitors’ strategies and you can refine your PPC campaigns accordingly.
4. Northbeam
A common challenge faced by businesses in PPC advertising is understanding how different marketing channels contribute to conversions. Northbeam is an advanced multi-channel attribution tool that helps advertisers analyze the entire customer journey across various platforms.
Often in-platform attribution models are biased toward their own platforms but Northbeam is different as it provides independent insights about campaign performance. It even allows businesses to create custom attribution models tailored to their goals.
5. Google Ads Editor
While advertisers have been using Google Ads Editor for many years, many still don’t know how to unleash its full potential. This free desktop application allows offline campaign management, bulk edits and custom rule-based automation.
By using this application you can make large-scale changes across multiple campaigns simultaneously, which can be especially helpful for businesses managing long keyword lists, ad variations and audience segments. Recently some updates have been made to custom rules, which can help advertisers identify potential campaign issues before the campaign launch.
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