PPCChat | B2B Lead Gen PPC in 2025 | 28th October 2025

During this week’s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchini sought experts views on B2B lead generation, clients’ or stakeholders’ biggest concerns and requests, which platforms are best for retargeting for B2B lead generation? and more

Q1: Do you do any B2B lead generation PPC strategy or management? If so, for what types of products or services?

Mostly SaaS..@NeptuneMoon

B2B is all we do! Our clients are mostly SaaS or tech. @beyondthepaid

We do a lot of B2B – lots of SAAS, a little bit of wholesale, some services, etc. @revaminkoff

Yes, lots and lots – funny how I slowly transferred from e-commerce. Nowadays, 70% of my work is in B2B lead gen. Office furniture, corporate training, SaaS. @BorisBeceric

It’s kind of amazing how diverse B2B can be. @revaminkoff

I actually did some B2B construction back in the day too..@NeptuneMoon

Oh, forgot about software licences…big business. BorisBeceric

And have done some non SaaS services..@NeptuneMoon

I have done fintech, EDU, manufacturing, food/beverage B2B in the past. @beyondthepaid

Oh yeah, manufacturing and education too – in my defense I have been doing this for 25+ years…@NeptuneMoon

Yes! Mostly for my utility partner. Lots of rebates to accept. @JuliaVyse

Haha @NeptuneMoon it’s hard to remember over so many years, isn’t it?..@beyondthepaid

So hard @beyondthepaid

Yes..B2B SaaS and Marketplaces. Lead Gen for Local Services. A few SME’s looking to expand their online footprint – Manufacturers, Exporters, etc. @alimehdimukadam

I’m late to the party, but B2B lead gen. I’ve got one client who does training and another who sells valves. I’ve had others in the past, including one who offered to ship me a sample grenade launcher (until I told him Google didn’t allow guns).. @Pete_Bowen

Q2: Which platforms do you use for your B2B lead generation? Which do you find perform the strongest? And does that vary by what you’re advertising?

Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn with some Quora and Reddit mixed in there! @NeptuneMoon

Heavy in Google Ads and LinkedIn. Some Microsoft Ads, META, Reddit – plus content syndication and display in there too. @beyondthepaid

Varies slightly depending on the business, but Google Ads have generally been the most effective and most scalable. LinkedIn, Microsoft Ads, and Quora also play nice supporting roles these days, with a little bit of Meta. @revaminkoff

Generally speaking Google Ads, MS Ads and then some LI / Reddit etc. Depends on if users are problem aware or solution aware. @BorisBeceric

Google is most effective in lead volume across the board for established needs/markets. Microsoft has it’s weird little niches where it goes bananas. Otherwise, it is a nice companion to Google search. But let’s be real – LinkedIn has the best targeting of any platform for B2B audiences. And yes, that is why clicks are so expensive. @NeptuneMoon

LI is great for creating retargeting audiences and for ABM…@beyondthepaid

It varies, Google, Microsoft. A few industry newsletter partnerships for whitepapers/pdfs LI we get the team to post organic content – that outperforms paid. @alimehdimukadam

But I also don’t like to sleep on the little answer engines like Quora and Reddit. When you are trying to get in with the people researching options to take back to the VPs, these places are amazing. @NeptuneMoon

Google ads, some Bing, Meta weirdly works really well, and some LinkedIn. Testing Reddit for certain programs. @JuliaVyse

Reddit is an interesting one. Not a lot of direct conversions, but a very engaged audience. It’s a consideration tactic for sure.. @beyondthepaid

Meta is working for B2B as a big touchpoint, and it lifts the organic search well. More so for retargeting. Haven’t seen huge success with TOF ads yet. @alimehdimukadam

I always talk about it like this (Quora and Reddit-type sites) – if you can get someone in the organization to be your evangelist, that is the best possible outcome. Being present on those platforms organically helps with that, which then supports the credibility of your ads there! @NeptuneMoon

Google Ads…@runnerkik

@alimehdimukadam YT for TOF B2B is very cool! and a lot of acronyms! @JuliaVyse

I get clients and my team to get the pixels implemented from Day 1 regardless of whether we are going to spend or not. Why let data go to waste. @alimehdimukadam

YES to YT! I wrote an article for Search Engine Land on this that was published last week..@beyondthepaid

YT can be great for TOF and also for down funnel, especially if the solution needs to be seen to be understood. @revaminkoff

@JuliaVyse Yess, YT – forgot about it. If done right, with a solid strategy – I’ve seen YT outperform. @alimehdimukadam

We run YT for almost all our clients. It boosts search performance at a low cost. Totally different from what it was 3-4 years ago (ie expensive and a heavy lift) @beyondthepaid

Yes, and I’m still trying to figure out what to call it now that Video for Action is technically Demand Gen, but that has worked wonders too. @revaminkoff

yes – Demand Gen is also coming into its own, finally! @beyondthepaid

I like Demand Gen, but it is just such a clunky product to me. Like the intricacies when setting up, targeting can be done at ad group level etc…make it make sense. @BorisBeceric

Q3: Which platforms are best for retargeting for B2B lead generation?

I swear I’m not watching for IBR to organically be brought up..@navahhopkins

We get good results with LinkedIn retargeting. @beyondthepaid

Is anyone taking audiences of people who visited via one platform’s ads to then retarget on another platform? Like building an audience from LinkedIn ad viewers to use in say Google Ads? @NeptuneMoon

I feel like must be to be there’s nothing that is going to be perfect. But I really do see Google ads succeed at times. @runnerkik

old school RLSAs and as much non-pixeled lift as possible. @JuliaVyse

I think where it’s tricky is when there’s consumer overlap and not a big price point or it’s SUPER niche… but a lot of times that’s about contextualizing the data too. @runnerkik

@NeptuneMoon your point is why Microsoft’s Audience ads are such a steal – build the audience at a discount and then target aggressively on other platforms (if you need to). LinkedIn is a placement in Audience ads. @navahhopkins

There will be trade offs. @runnerkik

To @navahhopkins ’s point – this is an often-overlooked benefit of Microsoft Ads! @beyondthepaid

I know it’s naughty of me, but I don’t like retargeting that much for b to b or in general but for b to b I don’t feel like people need to be reminded that they have to do something like purchase something. Normally, it’s a cadence or something they are charged with actively researching @runnerkik

Google can be great – It’s gotten a little harder to set up/link remarketing audiences, but the connection to analytics still makes it a very useful player. @revaminkoff

Does anyone want to write a guest post about Microsoft Ads retargeting? @NeptuneMoon

And a lot of times it’s not the same person…@runnerkik

I think for B2B we also need to be talking with clients about their nurturing processes because most B2B purchases require actual sales support to get across the finish line. @NeptuneMoon

Yes! It’s often purchase by committee…@JuliaVyse

@runnerkik 100% on this, “I think where it’s tricky is when there’s consumer overlap” E.g. targeting doctors, MDs, biopharma engineers and then realizing that there are a bunch of weight lifters completely unrelated to the leads you’re trying to get also searching for the same KWs because some article told them about a new thing and then your non-brand or RLSAs get all wonky. @timmhalloran

EXACTLY – the final sale takes place outside the digital media ecosphere. @beyondthepaid

If anyone volunteers to write the post, happy to provide screenshots and answers to technical questions!  @navahhopkins

GDN, Meta & LI with RLSA . Can use platforms for visitor identification – huge unlock for B2B – subject to privacy policy. @alimehdimukadam

I have a large audience that I remarket to on Microsoft Ads, LinkedIn, Meta and Google… this month I had someone reach out and realized we were talking back in 2013, and another lead who was a client in 2018 signed up with 2 accounts that day… they said they see my ads every so often, and the timing was right. @Liorkrolewicz

@alimehdimukadam what do you use for user identification? There are a lot out there – also would love to chat about what you do with that data. @Liorkrolewicz

RB2B is my favorite…@alimehdimukadam

I say LI is top tier. Generally, I don’t like to retarget a whole lot – once you have generated interest through a relevant, generic keyword or creative, they shouldn’t need to be retargeted to? @BorisBeceric

@alimehdimukadam What’s your success rate on GDN? @brendan

GDN works extremely well. Desktop > Mobile. Mobile-specific placements only. Need to keep an eye diligently on placements.. And have some scripts to keep running in the background. I would say 7 or 8 / 10..@alimehdimukadam

Q4: What are clients or stakeholders biggest concerns and requests when it comes to B2B lead generation PPC?

Can we get more leads at a lower CPA but also a high ROAS????? I am sort of kidding, but also not @NeptuneMoon

Haha that is totally not kidding.@beyondthepaid

Just get us more traffic to the site. I know we briefed an awareness program, and I know we limit how many platforms you can be on. But we need TRAFFIC! @JuliaVyse

Also… why is there not more lead activity from Google search (when we have maxed out available demand)? I wish I had more conversations about awareness. As in, you need to spend money on this to grow. @NeptuneMoon

Lead quality X 100. @revaminkoff

It’s the disconnect between knowing their lead to close time and other processes. If your sales cycle is 6 months. And you are expecting revenue to show up in month 2 – won’t work. And how leads are nurtured, followed up, tracked, CRM integration etc. All those factors which are technically outside the control of the PPC professional causes huge disconnect and issues. Not knowing what their cost per qualified lead number is and so on….@alimehdimukadam

Disengaged sales team – how I wish this was a client concern. @NeptuneMoon

Quality…. but most don’t have a great system to assess quality (connect sales to leads – especially when long sales cycles). @Liorkrolewicz

I literally just spoke to a lawyer who told me he doesn’t care about quality. “Our sales team is top notch and they can close enough calls, so just bring us the leads.” Uhm nooooo? @BorisBeceric

Every time I give a talk on lead gen I ask the audience how much they trust their sales team to close. No one does until that get solved, I don’t know how much any of the metrics matter. @navahhopkins

Also, the amount of companies without a CRM where you have to do Google Sheets & Zapier trickery is absurd. @BorisBeceric

Life cycle of a B2B leadgen..@timmhalloran

• We want leads…any leads.
• We have leads. Now let’s get that CPA down.
• We have leads and a decent CPA, but quality is lacking.
• Nice. We have leads, a decent CPA, solid quality but sales team says they’re losing them before final sale. So start looking at MQL, SQL.
• Cool, we have leads, decent CPA, good quality, tracking MQL/SQL. But, now we’re noticing that we’re not getting a good enough impression share on this specific term and also we don’t have enough sign ups on this webinar and this whitepaper needs more downloads, and our new CMO wants to meet to discuss an article about a book about why marketing isn’t real. And we’re going to move the goal posts because of a new attribution SaaS that sales is spearheading so we need to reset everything except expectations on CPAs that are now 2.5x harder to achieve.
• We’re looking super profitable, so we’re about to get sold. We need to cut costs.
• New owner: hello. I have my own marketing contacts I’m going to have take over now. Goodbye.

Omg @timmhalloran that is SO spot on. @beyondthepaid

@timmhalloran That answer is chef’s kiss amazing. @NeptuneMoon

Who said I’m jaded?! @timmhalloran

Q5: What is your biggest frustration running B2B lead generation PPC? Does it vary by platform or industry?

Difficulty in separating B2C searches and generally low search volume, with the associated struggles. @Pete_Bowen

I think my top frustration is that ad platforms are not built for lead generation; they are built for e-commerce and we have to constantly figure out how to make them reasonably work for lead gen. @NeptuneMoon

Expectation management and platform optimization. So many platforms are geared towards ecom, with conversion thresholds that don’t make sense for longer sales cycles. And my favourite clients sometimes don’t get that and think there’s a magic ‘get leads’ button. @JuliaVyse

Data & Transparency – Getting the systems to talk to each other. Sales & Marketing, Brand & Agency..@alimehdimukadam

Also, if you have a long sales cycle, it can be so hard to have the relevant data pushed back into an ad platform and have it be used/useful due to time lag. @NeptuneMoon

Biggest frustration is not knowing the REALITY of how things are performing. Between spotty crm integrations or setups, sales team performance and getting any feedback from the client… we’d really just love to know how much a conversion is actually worth! @Liorkrolewicz

Like I would love to have conversion data feeding back in so the machines can find us better and more likely converting traffic, but when conversion volume is low and/or slow that is SO hard.. @NeptuneMoon

Same search, different persona. Have a pharma client, and a lot of searches are from people researching diagnosis, etc. Very hard to separate. What I’ve found is that you sometimes have to be super blunt in your ad copy. “Only for SaaS teams with XY”. Long sales cycle can be super tricky. Or when you run a great campaign, but their sales team just doesn’t care. Or or or…@BorisBeceric

Note: this is the perfect time to voice areas where Microsoft could be a better partner for you. @navahhopkins

@BorisBeceric the self-qualifying via ad copy is SO REAL… @JuliaVyse

@navahhopkins, you know our big dream is Microsoft Ads and LinkedIn Ads become one big happy platform. @NeptuneMoon

In the meantime, any additional integrations between them would be great. Honestly, all clients want the targeting level of LinkedIn, but they get so weird about paying for it..@NeptuneMoon

@NeptuneMoon seconded!~@timmhalloran

And no matter how many times you explain that it costs more to get that level of detailed professional title, biz, etc. targeting their eyes glaze over and they say things like “but on Google it’s…”@NeptuneMoon

I saw some targeting options in Microsoft Ads which were similar to those of LI @alimehdimukadam

LinkedIn data is part of Microsoft targeting…@navahhopkins

not all of it. @JuliaVyse

However, it’s worth noting we all want Microsoft and LinkedIn to be one big happy platform. @navahhopkins

I think the biggest challenge is when client is newer to lead gen…. I had clients get leads and tell me they are bad. Me: “Why?” .. C: “Because I sent an email and they didn’t reply.”  Me: “Did you try calling” … C: “OMG Great lead” (was an actual celebrity!) @Liorkrolewicz

@Liorkrolewicz, yeah, there’s definitely a disconnect between the amount of effort and capital put into getting a lead and sales perception of said lead. Granted, I know there’s a bunch of junk/spam. But I’ve done audits of my own leadgen across platforms, and the amount of times amazing contacts are ignored because they came through paid is staggering. I think it’s partially antiquated commission models from 1995. A lot of SaaS could have way more powerful leadgen engines if they flipped everything on its head and went for a product-led marketing focus. But easier said than done on average. @timmhalloran

Q6: What do you wish platforms would do to make B2B lead generation PPC easier, better and/or more efficient?

Clients really want benchmarking – how are they doing vs all other advertisers in their category. How do their CPA, ROAS, CPC, etc. stack up against the average @NeptuneMoon

If someone really cracked tracking / OCI and make it super simple (think Shopify App but for Lead Gen) I’d be all over that. @BorisBeceric

I want Google to make it possible to accept lower conversion volume for longer sales cycles, and not just microconversion stuff. And I wish there were more accessible lead scoring tools out there for smaller teams, or teams doing B2B that’s NOT SaaS. @JuliaVyse

Also actual bid strategies SPECIFICALLY for low volume / long sales cycle advertisers. How about vetted scripts that could be automatically added to an account or campaign? I’d take that for B2B…@NeptuneMoon

Make it easier to put in the longer tail lead quality data. And yes, bid strategies for long sales cycles 100%…@revaminkoff

 @BorisBeceric, we get pretty into data and analysis. We add self-hosted Matomo for all clients and use raw data back into crms, click_ids, dashboards, to help clients get clarity (one view of lead in Matomo) @Liorkrolewicz

@Liorkrolewicz ahhhh, the plug & play solution I was talking about..@BorisBeceric

Agreed with all of these. Benchmarking would be great. And customizing benchmarking by adding your own competitors in manually, or using Auction Insights would be a great start. I’m not looking for the top of the bell curve. I need the specific sub-set benchmarked of 3-4 competitors – and I’m not looking for all the data. Just some of the data. Also, data in general. Long B2B sales cycles and KW data don’t play nice together. @timmhalloran

Sorry, not meant to be sarcastic at all…@BorisBeceric

Didn’t take it that way, it’s an upfront investment, but now to set up a new client is 2 minutes and puts ALL the data in or hands to analyse as we need quick example of dashboard. @Liorkrolewicz

I’d like to also get alerts if the platform predicts a rise or fall in interest in the account’s targeted keywords. Or predicted change in CPC or CPA too And WHY…@NeptuneMoon

The 90 day lookback for OCI is too short. B2B cycles are 18-24 months.and OCIs are way too hard to set up @beyondthepaid

Honestly it would be great if as part of new account set up some questions were asked about sales cycles and their length. @NeptuneMoon

Yes!!  @beyondthepaid

@NeptuneMoon But right now even if they ask about sales cycles and their lengths (as we’ve had many reps ask) there doesn’t seem to be anything they can DO because the platforms can’t accommodate the longer cycles given the lookback windows etc. So I think the first key is to have offerings that allow for the longer cycles. @revaminkoff

PPCChat Participants

• Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
• Melissa L Mackey @beyondthepaid
• Reva Minkoff  @revaminkoff
• Boris Beceric @BorisBeceric
• Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
• Ali Mehdi Mukadam @alimehdimukadam
• Peter Bowen @Pete_Bowen
• Sarah Stemen @runnerkik
• Navah Hopkins @navahhopkins
• Lior Krolewicz @Liorkrolewicz
• Bredan @brendan
• Tim Halloran @timmhalloran

Related Links

• Digital Ads Benchmark Report by Tinuiti | Q3 2025 | Key Highlights
• PPC Competitor Secrets: How to Monitor, Analyze & Track Their Google Ads
• Keywords & Negative Keywords in Google Ads: What Every Advertiser Should Know in 2025