Google Ads vs. LinkedIn Ads: Which channel works for B2B health tech and life sciences brands

Google Ads vs. LinkedIn Ads—who wins the digital advertising battle in health tech and life sciences?

Five years ago, almost all our client requests for pay-per-click (PPC) ads were for Google search and display ads.

Today, our clients spend 80% of their PPC budget on LinkedIn, 10% on Google, and 10% on Facebook (which is quickly growing).

For B2B marketers new to PPC advertising, how do you know which marketing channel will convert?

With nearly two decades of digital marketing expertise, here’s what our team has uncovered about which PPC channel performs best for the various types of products and services offered by today’s B2B health tech, medical device, and life sciences companies.

You may also be surprised to learn how many hard-to-reach professionals who don’t hold traditional desk jobs (think scientists and physicians) use LinkedIn to learn about new products and services.

Further, LinkedIn Ads can increase awareness at the top of the funnel among potential buyers who aren’t actively searching for your products or services. They also serve as both a demand gen and lead gen platform. As a bonus, you can also target your ideal customers and incorporate ABM tactics on LinkedIn with easy-to-use account-based marketing tools.

While Google Ads reaches people when they are already looking for the product or service you offer, LinkedIn Ads is more likely to get in front of those buyers who don’t know you, don’t know your product exists, or how it can help them solve a nagging problem.

Your hard-to-reach health tech and life sciences target personas are on LinkedIn

Everyone uses Google, but LinkedIn? B2B marketers who assume their buyers aren’t on LinkedIn unless they are looking for a job typically default to Google Ads. To avoid throwing away money on Google Ads that don’t convert, we suggest you research your audience profiles on LinkedIn first.

Clarity Quest has successfully developed best practices for creating LinkedIn campaigns that convert for clients to reach these hard-to-reach niche audiences in highly competitive industries:

• Scientific researchers
• Pharmaceutical researchers
• Pharmaceutical market access and marketing pros
• Physicians, including surgeons
• Pharma QA, engineering, and facilities leaders
• Health system directors in operations, quality, and patient engagement
• Medical device QA and RA directors
• Sales and marketing (C-level down through manager level)

Read this success story to learn how we helped Relievant Medsystems, a surgical medical device company, generate more than 1,700 leads and increase visitors to their website from LinkedIn by 75%.

Ads getting rejected?

Check out our post on overcoming Google Ads restrictions.

Find the PPC advertising channel that’s right for your company

The product or service you offer and whether it solves an immediate or longer-term problem can impact which PPC advertising channel is most effective in generating leads for your company.

While most B2B marketers look to Google first, our experience has shown that LinkedIn Ads—with over 830 million international users and around 20 million healthcare- and life sciences-related titles—can successfully deliver high-quality marketing and sales-qualified leads, especially for products and services with a longer sales cycle.

With this level of expertise in your niche areas, trust your digital ads budget to a life sciences marketing agency that understands your audience and how they make purchasing decisions.

Contact us today to discuss your target audience profiles and which PPC digital marketing channel makes sense for your budget.

Note: this blog was originally posted November 2, 2020, and has been updated to reflect current information.