Background
Viking Mergers & Acquisitions began in 1996 out of a realization that buying or selling a business is a difficult task, and business owners of all sizes need help to navigate these deals. Viking is focused on providing comprehensive business acquisition and business brokerage services with an emphasis on communication, confidentiality, and closing sales. In the 25 years they’ve been in business, Viking has closed more than 600 business transactions, with 96% of these still in business today. Not surprising, given that their success rate in selling a business is three times the industry average.
Key Metrics
139%
Increase in Leads
57%
Increase in Conversion Rates
17%
Increase in Search Impression Share
“Logical Position has provided us top notch service, performance, and reporting to help drive more and more qualified leads each month. They bring in real data to drive good decisions and also provide us feedback on how to increase better conversions on our website. I highly recommend LP for paid search campaigns.”
-Sam Casey, Senior Director of Marketing at Viking
Why’d They Come to LP?
Viking’s marketing efforts had traditionally been through word-of-mouth, but as the world became more digitally focused in recent years, their strategy needed to shift. Viking started allocating a small budget to paid search, but each of their locations was managing a separate Google Ads account. This caused Viking’s efforts to be disjointed; each location was running a different strategy and none were profitable. Viking’s Marketing Director was aware of Logical Position (LP), and decided it was time for our agency to improve Viking’s reach and knowledge about their digital audience.
What Strategy Was Used?
The first thing our paid search team did was bring all of Viking’s paid search accounts into one account, which gave us greater visibility into each location. We coordinated with Viking’s search engine optimization (SEO) team to provide website optimization strategies and landing page suggestions, knowing these recommendations would give our ads a competitive edge.
Once Viking’s website was updated, we created keywords that would be most likely to drive leads that turned into sales. From there, we built campaigns and segmented keywords out using Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs), which allowed our team to see how each individual keyword was performing and adjust bids accordingly. Next, we switched from using an automated strategy to a manual one; the latter allowed us to set bids ourselves.
Our partnership even resulted in new advertising strategies for Viking. We started running display remarketing campaigns, something they’d never done before. Our graphic design team created a set of 10 display ads, which were shown to consumers who had visited the Viking website, thus reminding them to reach out. We also started running YouTube ads to drive Viking’s brand awareness. Next, we got Viking on Microsoft Advertising—a platform they hadn’t advertised on before, which provided an entirely new audience!
What Were the Results
Viking’s ad spend started at $9,000 when they began working with us; they’re now spending almost $18,000—and the increase in budget has brought serious results. We’ve seen a 69% increase in the click-through rate (CTR) of our ads, which has also resulted in a 52% increase in clicks. These increases prove that our ads are doing a better job of capturing the search volume that’s out there.
Viking has seen a 139% increase in their leads generated from paid search, as well as a 57% increase in their conversion rates. But perhaps most importantly, we’ve increased their overall search impression share by 17%, meaning our ads are showing 17% more frequently when they are eligible to be displayed.
As Viking’s business continues to grow, we’re able to use their extra income to advertise for more and more of their locations—which further increases their revenue—creating a compounding effect that is boosting their business to its full potential.
