Paid ads for manufacturers, grow faster.
Paid media campaigns are critical if you want to drive growth when operating in the competitive manufacturing sector. As time goes on, more and more manufacturing brands are shifting to marketing strategies that go far beyond driving clicks.
Instead, businesses are now focusing on PPC for manufacturing as a way to drive conversions. Conversion rate optimisation, or CRO is critical if you want to turn your website traffic into a tangible result, whether it be qualified leads, customer loyalty, or even sales.
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Targeting the right audience
A click represents interest, but what showcases success is the conversion. A conversion can be anything, whether it is a demo request, white paper download, or product purchase. These don’t happen automatically, but if you adopt a paid media campaign, there are several steps that help to drastically increase the chance of a conversion.
Within the manufacturing sector, you’ll want to make sure that you’re reaching decision-makers. Manufacturing brands should leverage LinkedIn and Google Ads to hone in on their target audience.
Google’s Keyword Planner also gives you the chance to segment your audience, according to their interest, title, or industry. Over-targeting your campaign is the worst thing you can do, as it can lead to low-quality conversions.
If you optimise for specific audiences, such as plant managers or even production engineers, your click-to-conversion rate will skyrocket.
Crafting ads with high intent
Ads should also be driving traffic to your landing pages, but at the same time, you should ensure they load quickly, and that they are mobile-responsive. Research from HubSpot shows that businesses that have over 40 landing pages generate on average, 12 times more leads than those that only have up to five pages.
Using this information, it’s important to create pages that align with specific user intent.
Broad, generic ads may help you raise brand awareness, but ads that align with user intent will result in much higher conversion rates. You need to align your ads with where your buyer is in terms of their journey.
Manufacturing buyers often go through a long process when making decisions, usually by making comparisons and conducting research. If you offer value-driven content, such as case studies, product demos, testimonials, and more, you’ll be able to encourage your audience to take that next step.
Retargeting as a way to nurture leads
Retargeting is an essential strategy for manufacturers who want to maximise their return on paid media. Retargeting allows you to display targeted content to people who have interacted with your website, or who didn’t complete the action you wanted them to.
With research from WebFX indicating that 26% of users will go back to a site as a result of remarketing, it’s not hard to see how powerful this can be. Manufacturers can use this as a way to guide people back into the sales funnel, ensuring a higher ratio of clicks to conversions.
This is especially important in sectors that have a longer sales cycle, such as manufacturing, as decisions often require several touch points to be made, and as a result of this, people often drop off in the sales funnel.
Data-driven decision making and A/B testing
Manufacturers should also be exploring A/B testing, alongside their manufacturing PPC campaign. This is the best way to assess which ad copy, images, or targeting strategies are working, and which ones aren’t.
By testing different variations, and by refining your approach based on real-time data, it becomes possible to ensure maximum conversion rates across every vertical. Facebook Ads Manager, Google Analytics and even LinkedIn Analytics all provide detailed insights into how your campaign is performing, so you can assess the effectiveness of your strategy.
Monitoring the cost-per-conversion, or CPC is a very useful strategy here, as bids can be adjusted based on this metric to ensure conversions but at an efficient cost.
Paid media FAQs for manufacturers
1. What is the main goal of a paid media campaign in manufacturing?
The main goal is to generate qualified leads and conversions—not just clicks. That could include demo requests, brochure downloads, or direct inquiries from decision-makers.
2. What platforms are best for running paid media campaigns in manufacturing?
LinkedIn and Google Ads are ideal. LinkedIn is great for targeting job titles like plant managers or engineers, while Google Ads helps capture search intent with targeted keywords.
3. How do I know if my campaign is converting well?
Track metrics like conversion rate, cost-per-conversion (CPC), and return on ad spend (ROAS). High traffic with low conversions suggests your landing page or targeting needs refinement.
4. What is conversion rate optimisation (CRO), and why is it important?
CRO is the process of improving your website or landing pages to turn more visitors into leads or customers. For manufacturers, this could mean better CTAs, clearer messaging, or industry-relevant content.
5. Should I focus on brand awareness or lead generation?
It depends on your goals, but most manufacturing businesses benefit from a mix. Use high-intent ads for conversions, and broader campaigns to build awareness in new sectors.
6. How can I make sure I’m targeting the right people?
Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner and LinkedIn Campaign Manager to filter by industry, job title, company size, and more. Avoid over-targeting, as it can reduce campaign efficiency.
7. Why are landing pages so important for PPC?
Landing pages aligned with your ad message and user intent dramatically increase conversion rates. They should load fast, be mobile-friendly, and focus on a single, clear call to action.
8. What is retargeting and how does it help manufacturers?
Retargeting shows ads to users who’ve visited your site but didn’t convert. For manufacturers with long sales cycles, this keeps your brand top-of-mind and increases the chance of re-engagement.
9. How often should I test or update my ads?
Continuously. A/B testing helps you compare variations of headlines, visuals, or targeting to optimise performance. Weekly or bi-weekly testing cycles work well for most campaigns.
10. Can Red-Fern help improve my existing paid media strategy?
Absolutely. We combine AI-powered bidding, conversion tracking, and years of manufacturing insight to help you generate more leads at a lower cost-per-conversion.
Work with Red-Ferns manufacturing PPC experts today
If you’re ready to increase your Paid Media conversion rate, then let’s work together. When you come to Red-Fern, you’ll find that we use AI-powered bidding strategies, as well as years of experience, to ensure optimal cost-efficiency, along with A/B testing to improve ad performance.
With performance tracking across multiple platforms, Red-Fern will make sure your manufacturing business stays ahead in a highly competitive market.
Ready to take that next step?
Get in touch with us today to discover how our specialists can fully maximise your manufacturing business’s Paid Media performance.
