Bidding on your own company name: For many CEOs, that sounds absurd. Anyone looking for us will find us anyway. At the same time, brand campaigns show the best figures in the entire account. Both have the same underlying reason, which is often misunderstood.
Why brand numbers always look fantastic
Anyone who Googles your company name already knows you and usually wants to find you anyway. These clicks are cheap, and they convert exceptionally well, not because the campaign is so good, but because the purchase decision has already been made. A brand campaign reaps the demand that other channels have generated: LinkedIn content, recommendations, previous contacts.
Brand campaigns measure your brand awareness. They don't create it.
When a brand campaign makes sense
There are good reasons for brand campaigns: Competitors bid on your name and push their way over your organic search results. You want to control the message and the landing page of the first result, instead of leaving it to chance with organic ads. Clicks are inexpensive, and protecting your brand is usually worth it. What brand campaigns are not: a growth channel. They don't reach anyone who doesn't already know you.
One rule: display separately
The real problem arises in the reporting. When brand and non-brand campaigns are lumped together, brand performance skews the average so high that weak non-brand campaigns become invisible. The account looks healthy, while the budget for new customer acquisition quietly disappears. That's why I separate brand from non-brand in every account, both in the campaign structure and in the report, and evaluate growth solely based on the non-brand metrics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should every B2B company run a brand campaign?
Not necessarily. If no one is bidding on your name and your organic ranking is consistently at the top, you can forgo it and check it regularly. However, as soon as competitors appear, protection is almost always worthwhile.
How can I find out if competitors are bidding on my name?
Search for your company name in a private browser window, ideally several times over a few days. If other companies' listings appear above yours, bids are being placed on your company name.
How much budget does a brand campaign need?
Not much. Search volume for your own name is limited and click prices are low. The important thing is not the amount, but that the campaign remains separate from growth campaigns.
Does Brand traffic also distort other analyses?
Yes, everywhere channels are mixed: in blended ROAS, attribution allocation, and the overall account average. Separate analysis is the simplest countermeasure.
Whether your account has such distortions can be seen in the 3 account checks in 15 minutes, and explains the attribution part behind it „Direct traffic“ in CRM is rarely truly direct.. Or directly in Analysis discussion discuss.