Capturing demand in B2B advertising isn’t just about placing ads; it’s about strategically reaching prospects at the right stage of their journey.
For SaaS and B2B companies, Demand capture often involves a mix of high-intent targeting, effective retargeting and strong alignment between marketing and sales. Platforms like LinkedIn and Google Ads allow us to reach ideal customers but tailoring our approach based on intent signals and buying readiness makes all the difference. By leveraging both first-party and third-party data, aligning ad messaging and refining the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) you can significantly your qualified conversions.
The key is to focus on quality interactions not quantity. Ensuring each campaign drives valuable leads that are more likely to turn into paying customers In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything I’ve learned about capturing existing demand for software companies and how our SaaS PPC agency creates campaigns that drive revenue and pipeline—or at the very least, help you optimize your ad spend.
Key takeaways
- Target Intent Wisely: Capturing the demand isn’t just about ad placement; it’s about reaching buyers with the right intent. Focus on high-intent keywords and actions to connect with leads ready to buy, while using demand generation for those not actively searching yet.
- Leverage LinkedIn for Awareness: LinkedIn ads work best for creating brand awareness and staying visible among your ideal customers. Use retargeting and firmographic data to keep your brand in front of prospects, building recognition for when they’re ready to engage.
- Optimize Google Ads for High-Intent Searches: With Google Ads, focus on high-intent keywords that match active buyers’ search behaviors. Target specific product terms, brand keywords, and competitor searches to reach leads ready to evaluate solutions, maximizing your budget on those most likely to convert.
- Use First-Party and Third-Party Data: Combine first-party data from your CRM with third-party insights to sharpen your targeting. This approach lets you focus on in-market accounts and tailor content, increasing the chances of converting high-quality leads.
1- Understanding the Different level of intent
B2B SaaS paid marketing is all about intent.
There are different levels of intent that a potential customer may display, and each has its own unique characteristics. For example, high-intent leads are those actively looking for your product and eager to connect with your sales team. This is the ideal scenario everyone wants.
Examples of high-intent actions:
– Completed a self-guided product tour
– Made a free account
– Signed up for free trial
– Requested a demo
Medium-intent leads are a bit more challenging to identify. They show a combination of signals across the web suggesting they might be interested in your product. This is where third-party intent data becomes useful.
Examples of medium-intent actions. Users who have visited high intent pages but didn’t convert:
/Pricing
/Product/Feature
/Case-Study
/Integrations
/Demo
/Signup
Low-intent leads are those who download an e-book, sign up for a webinar, and so on. While not as valuable as high-intent leads, they still demonstrate some interest in your product.
Example of low-intent leads:
- Read a blog article
- Download an educational resource on your website ( guide, ebook)
- Register to a webinar
Finally, there are zero-intent leads. These are the ones your sales team reaches out to cold using third-party data and/or social media. They haven’t shown any direct interest in your product.
Why do these different levels of intent matter? Because they each have different conversion rates.
High-intent leads are the most likely to convert into paying customers; they are the ones to focus on to capture existing demand, followed by medium, low, and zero-intent leads. In short, we all want more high-intent leads, as they provide the best chance of turning into customers.
2- Capture Existing Demand vs. Creating Demand (Demand Generation)
To build an effective SaaS PPC strategy, it’s essential to understand the difference between capturing existing demand and creating new demand. Capturing demand is about engaging leads who are already aware of a need and are actively searching for a solution. These high-intent leads can be reached through targeted tactics like SEO, SEM, and retargeting, which help you appear in front of prospects who display clear buying signals.
Demand generation, on the other hand, is focused on creating demand where it doesn’t yet exist. This involves positioning your product in front of medium- and low-intent leads who may not yet recognize a need but could become high-intent leads in the future. Demand generation builds awareness, educates potential customers and helps shape perceptions creating opportunities in the pipeline for tomorrow’s buyers.
When deciding which strategy to focus on timing and placement of paid marketing can be complex. It depends on the type of SaaS product you’re selling, its maturity, and the length of your sales cycle.
Before starting demand generation, first capture the demand that’s already waiting for you. Most industries already have some level of existing demand; the hardest part is crafting the right message for the right audience. Since demand generation tactics aren’t a shortcut to paid marketing success, maximizing your efforts on existing demand first is key before jumping onto the demand generation wagon.
Balancing both approaches will allow you to reach your immediate buyers while nurturing future opportunities to support sustainable growth.
Expert Tip: Most companies focus solely on capturing existing demand, competing for a small share of active buyers. However, the real opportunity lies in creating demand by engaging the 99% who aren’t yet in “buy mode.” Also, building awareness and driving differentiation early in the process can give you a significant competitive advantage.
3 – How to capture the demand with Google Ads
To effectively capture existing demand, it’s important to cover a range of keywords that align with different levels of buyer intent. In B2B SaaS targeting these keywords helps you reach active buyers ready to evaluate solutions, as well as those who are just beginning to explore options. Here are the five main keyword categories to prioritize for capturing demand at every stage:
3.1 – High-Intent Terms
Also known as software category keywords, these terms define the category your software belongs to. They are high intent, searched by decision-makers who are evaluating or approving software purchases. For example:
- Workflow automation tools
- Task automation software
Expert Tip: Include variations of the solution-related terms, such as “tool,” “system,” “platform,” “software,” “app,” “vendors,” and similar.
3.2 – Brand Keywords
Brand keywords are searches that include your company’s name, product name, or variations of them. These keywords capture users who are specifically looking for your brand and are often high-intent leads. Bidding on brand keywords helps you maintain visibility and control over search results, especially if competitors are bidding on your brand terms.
3.3 – Product Capability Keywords
These keywords represent tasks users want to accomplish, typically searched by or on behalf of end users. For example:
- Send LinkedIn leads to email
- SQL data to Google Sheets
3.4. Middle-of-the-Funnel Keywords
Targeting keywords higher in the funnel can be effective when high-intent and product capability keywords are costly due to high competition.
These searches align with the consideration stage, where your audience knows they have a problem and are evaluating solutions. They may not be ready to test or demo your product, but they’re comparing options. In a competitive paid search landscape, consider testing these keywords.
Content ideas here include resources like the Forrester Wave Report, Comparison Guide, and Buyer’s Guide.
3.5 – Competitor Keywords
This approach can be divisive and may quickly exhaust budget if not carefully planned. However, bidding on competitor keywords can be highly effective when executed well, capturing attention from users who aren’t actively searching for your brand.
Considerations for this tactic:
- If your brand is less established, it’s an opportunity to reach users looking for competitors.
- Create comparison landing pages that clearly emphasize your product’s advantages over specific competitors.
- Not all competitor campaigns will be profitable; it often requires testing different brands to identify effective keywords.
By covering these keyword categories and strategically approaching each, you can maximize your reach across intent stages and make the most of your paid marketing efforts.
3.6 – Retargeting
Retargeting allows you to re-engage users who have visited your site but haven’t yet converted, keeping your brand top-of-mind as they continue their decision-making process. Retargeting is particularly valuable for medium- and low-intent leads who may need additional touchpoints before taking action. By targeting these visitors with ads that reinforce your product’s unique value you can increase the likelihood of converting leads further down the funnel.
4 – Leveraging LinkedIn Ads to Capture Demand
LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for reaching your exact buyer using firmographic and demographic targeting. However, you can’t directly target for intent except with retargeting or interest targeting (which isn’t very accurate). The reality is that nobody’s actively searching for products or services on LinkedIn. While it’s a professional space—not like the casual content on Facebook or Instagram—people are mostly there to network, get updates, or catch up on industry news, not to look for solutions.
Also, when you advertise on LinkedIn you’re buying a slice of mental availability from your ideal customers, so they remember you when they do need your solution. This is why capturing demand with a cold audience on LinkedIn is tougher; people aren’t actively looking. Still, with the right approach, LinkedIn can work well to generate sales-qualified leads and create brand awareness within your target market.
Since LinkedIn captures interest but not direct intent, combining first-party and third-party intent data is key. By tracking engagement signals, using external data to spot in-market accounts, and applying retargeting to keep your brand visible, you can create a tailored approach that guides buyers through the sales cycle.
4.1 – First party intent data
One of your primary focuses should be creating first-party intent data of the companies that showed interest in your products/services. Because you can’t sell with just a couple of touchpoints, what you need is to leverage your exposure to stakeholders throughout the sales cycle.
3 ways to create these first-party intent data audiences:
– Directly in LinkedIn Ads Campaign Manager. Use the demographics reports to identify the ICP companies that are most engaged with your ads.
– Create audiences by synchronizing your CRM with LinkedIn ads. You can create audiences from different signals: lead scoring, subscriptions, email engagement, and any other data stored in your CRM.
– A more advanced way is using third-party tools like Clearbit or Metadata to de-anonymize your website visitors and/or create custom audiences based on a multitude of criteria.
Once done, be sure to create granular campaigns with personalized content based on the funnel stage and/or firmographics of these companies.”
4.2 – Third party intent data
1️. Identify triggers or variables signaling an account is in-market.
The first step is to identify signals that reveal an account might be in-market. These are specific events or changes indicating that a prospect could be ready to buy.
Example: If your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) includes European scaleups, a potential signal could be news of startups raising over X euros in funding. Monitoring these triggers can help you time your outreach perfectly, increasing your chances of engagement.
2️. Leverage Third-Party Data Sources
To access reliable data, turn to platforms like Apollo, Zoominfo, Crunchbase, or Sales Navigator. These tools can reveal buying signals, company updates, and more.
Choosing the Right Provider:
Consider what information you need:
- Step 1: Define your ICP and identify the main variables you’re tracking (e.g., funding rounds, hiring trends).
- Step 2: Explore each platform’s options to see if they offer the specific signals or segmentation capabilities you’re after.
Example: Apollo, Crunchbase, and Zoominfo offer alerts on fundraising, which can be key for targeting accounts likely to expand.
4.3️ – Integrate the chosen tool with your CRM
Once you’ve chosen your tool, integrate it with your CRM to centralize the data. Start simple—often, one or two tools will give you more than enough information without overcomplicating things. This setup will help you track leads and update records in real-time without switching between platforms.
4️.4 – Create custom fields to store info from 3rd-party data
Set up custom fields within HubSpot to store the data from your third-party sources. Keeping data clean and organized is crucial. Use custom properties, tags, and filters to categorize and update information, making it easier for your team to access insights quickly and act on them.
4.5 – Retargeting
There is a lot of misconception about the capture concept. Marketers think this is only running an ad with a “get a demo” or “free trial” offer. But there are multiple levels of intent within “Capture,” and scheduling a demo is the last level.
Buyers might be problem- and solution-aware but:
— They want to see more of your product
— They want to make sure the pricing is good
— They want to see their peers using your product
— They want to compare you to key competitors
So, why not focus on providing all the information upfront?
That’s were you other capture campaigns come in:
– Product tour
– Specific use cases of your products
-Comparison with your top competitors
– Relevant testimonials
– What is your pricing and onboarding process
The more information you provide during their buyer journey, the higher your chances of securing demos at the final stage of their buying process. This is especially critical if your product is complex, your sales cycle is long, or your average revenue per company is high.
5 – Essential Tips for Effective Demand Capture in B2B Ads
To capture demand successfully in B2B ads, you need to go beyond basic targeting. From setting the right budget to aligning with sales, here are practical tips to make sure your campaigns deliver solid results.
Make sure you have enough budget to give it a shot
You can start with a small amount, but that means you’ll have to be patient. The budget needed will vary based on deal sales cycle, company size targeted, and the complexity of your product. To test for generating direct pipeline/deals, you need to have enough time and enough SQLs to learn. If you average deal ticket size is $1000 per month, You are in the kind of software category where buyer need to compare the vendors with a process that can be tedious and long. The potential client will have many people involved in the buying process from the C Level manager to the end user– This need lot of interaction and touchpoints before they pull the trigger on the buying of your software.
Audience research
The more you know your ICP, the better you will succeed with paid marketing. Create a spreadsheet with the relevant information (job title, company industries, company size, pain points, benefits, key differentiators, etc.) and share it with everyone involved in your paid marketing activities
Expert Tip: One of the best ways to reduce your customer acquisition cost, increase your conversion rate and grow revenue is to refine your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for ads targeting. You can do this by finding the best converting user segments from historical data and focus acquisition campaigns on them. This is best done using segment analysis with Google Analytics or similar tools. For example, you can do a segment analysis to see which locations convert best and then optimize your Google/LinkedIn Ad spend to focus on those locations.
Nail your messaging and positioning before you start.
If your message doesn’t hit the mark with your customers, you’re less likely to succeed. Ads are a great way to figure out what resonates in the first place, but these $ are spent more efficiently when this is clear from the get-go. Make sure to have a unique point of view, consistent design, and a great understanding of your customer before heading into advertising.
Understand everything can’t be tracked and learn what good content looks like
Less people click on ads than ever before, but that doesn’t mean they ignore them completely. In a world full of information, buyers prefer to do their own research than risk trusting a single company. Create ads that are shareable, build trust, and make you stand out to build mind share in your customer’s brain.Then, capture the demand. You’ll be surprised at how much a shared LinkedIn ad or post can influence buying decisions.
Have great marketing and sales alignment
It’s not just about quick follow-ups when sales get email addresses from marketing. B2B advertising needs good feedback so set up a process for sales to gather feedback from clients and for marketing to use it in their content. Make sure both teams aim for the same goal and support each other.
If you’d like to learn more about how we help B2B SaaS and Tech companies grow their MRR through LinkedIn ads, contact us online or send us an email today at info@getuplead.com to speak with someone on our team.
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