Medius, a leading provider of cloud-based spend management solutions, empowers businesses to automate and optimize their accounts payable (AP) processes. In 2024, Medius embarked on a strategic shift in its digital advertising approach - prioritizing lead quality over quantity to drive revenue impact and maximize marketing ROI.
Why did we start the project?
The Challenge
At the beginning of 2024, Medius faced critical issues in its paid search campaigns that were hindering its ability to generate sales-ready leads:
- Low-Quality Leads from Search Partners: While search partners delivered high traffic volumes, the majority of leads lacked purchasing intent or were entirely unreachable by the sales team.
- Broad Match Keywords Driving Irrelevant Clicks: Broad match targeting yielded high click-through rates and conversion numbers but failed to engage decision-makers actively seeking an AP automation solution.
- Inefficient Lead-to-Sale Conversion Rates: Despite seemingly strong top-of-funnel performance - low CPCs and high conversion rates - these leads were not translating into revenue-driving opportunities
How Marcel Digital Helped
The Solution: Precision-Driven Optimization
To transform its paid search strategy, Medius partnered with Marcel Digital to implement a data-driven, revenue-focused approach that aligned marketing efforts with sales objectives:
- Eliminating Low-Intent Traffic from Search Partners
- Internal sales data revealed that leads from search partners had minimal engagement or purchasing intent.
- By pausing all search partner campaigns, Medius immediately improved lead quality and ensured budget was allocated to channels that delivered sales-qualified prospects.
- Refining Keyword Targeting for Sales Enablement
- The team moved away from broad match keywords, which had been attracting unqualified searches.
- Instead, phrase and exact match targeting was prioritized, ensuring ads reached users with demonstrated intent to purchase AP automation solutions.
- Reallocating Budget to High-Performing Campaigns
- With search partners removed and keyword targeting optimized, Medius reinvested in Google’s core search network.
- Budget was strategically shifted toward campaigns with historically high lead-to-sale conversion rates, ensuring marketing spend contributed directly to revenue generation.
What Happened After Launch?
The Results: Medius’ Best Year Yet for Digital
By focusing on high-value prospects, Medius achieved its most successful digital performance to date:
- Lead-to-Sale Conversion Rate Increased
- With unqualified leads removed, the percentage of marketing-generated leads converting into customers rose significantly.
- Sales-Qualified Leads (SQLs) Improved
- The sales team reported higher response rates and stronger engagement from prospects, enabling more productive sales conversations and shorter sales cycles.
- Revenue Surpassed Targets
- Despite generating fewer overall leads, digital advertising outperformed revenue goals, proving that a precision-driven approach yields greater business impact.
Key Results and Takeaways
The Conclusion
Medius’ experience underscores the importance of aligning digital marketing efforts with sales objectives to drive revenue growth.
- Not all leads are created equal - high-volume, low-cost clicks may look appealing on paper but can waste budget if they don’t convert into revenue.
- Precision targeting outperforms broad reach - phrase and exact match keywords delivered higher-quality inquiries and improved conversion rates.
- Sales and marketing alignment is essential - by eliminating low-quality sources and refining lead acquisition, Medius created a more efficient demand generation engine.
By prioritizing conversion efficiency over raw lead volume, Medius turned 2024 into a milestone year for digital success - demonstrating that smarter, data-driven marketing delivers real business results.
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