Solved: Google Ads Suggestions for Pharmaceutical Exports

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on using Google Ads for your pharmaceutical export business. It's a common path for businesses looking to expand, but honestly, it's also where a lot of companies burn through cash with very little to show for it, especialy in the B2B space and when targeting developing regions.

The usual approach of just picking a few keywords, setting a budget, and targeting a massive continent like Africa is, to be blunt, almost guaranteed to fail. You'll get clicks, for sure, but they'll likely be from the wrong people, with the wrong intent, or just bots. The trick isn't just getting in front of people, it's getting in front of the *right* people at the exact moment they need a reliable supplier like you. It's about understanding their problems so deeply that your ads feel less like an interruption and more like an answer to a prayer.

So, let's walk through how you can build a strategy that actually generates valuable leads, rather than just clicks.

We'll need to look at why targeting 'Africa' is a recipe for disaster...

The first mistake I see people make is treating 'Africa' as a single market. It's a continent of 54 diverse countries, each with its own economy, regulations, infrastructure, and level of online sophistication. Lumping them all into one campaign is like running an ad for 'Europe' and hoping it works equally well in London and a small village in rural Albania. It just won't.

When you target broadly like this on Google, the algorithm is programmed to do one thing: find you the cheapest clicks possible within your target area to spend your budget. And where are the cheapest clicks? Often in countries with lower competition, but also with higher instances of click fraud, bot traffic, and users who have no commercial intent whatsoever. You'll spend your money getting your ads shown to people who are simply not in a position to place a bulk pharmaceutical order.

We've seen this time and again. A client comes to us with a campaign targeting dozens of countries, their cost per click looks amazingly low, but their cost per *actual qualified lead* is astronomical because 99% of the traffic is useless.

The solution is to be ruthless in your initial focus. Instead of going wide, you go deep.

-> Start with your best markets. Where do you already have some traction or intelligence? Which 2-3 countries represent the biggest and most accessible opportunity right now? Maybe it's Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Focus all your initial budget and effort there. You need to prove the model in a few key markets before you even think about expanding.

-> Run seperate campaigns. Each country should be its own campaign. This is non-negotiable. This allows you to set specific budgets, bids, and ad copy for each market. The concerns of a buyer in South Africa are different from those in Ethiopia. Your ads need to reflect that. It also allows you to control your spend much more effectivly.

-> Exclude low-income regions. This sounds harsh, but it's a commercial reality. We often recommend excluding the top 30 or so lowest-income countries from any campaign unless there is a very specific strategic reason not to. The quality of traffic and commercial intent from these regions is generally very low for high-value B2B services, and the risk of wasted spend is incredibly high.

This phased, deliberate approach feels slower, but it's how you build a profitable and scalable ad account. You establish a beachhead in a few key countries, learn what works, and then use those profits and learnings to expand into the next tier of markets. Anything else is just gambling.

I'd say you need to become an expert in your customer's nightmare...

Most B2B advertising is lazy. It targets demographics and job titles. "We're targeting hospital procurement managers in Nigeria." Okay, but what does that tell you? Nothing useful. It leads to generic ads that say things like "Reliable Pharmaceutical Exports" or "High-Quality Medical Supplies." Nobody gets excited about that. Nobody feels seen or understood.

To write ads that actually work, you need to stop thinking about who your customer *is* and start thinking about what problem is keeping them up at night. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a demographic; it's a specific, urgent, and expensive problem state. It's a nightmare.

Let's imagine your customer. He's not just a 'procurement manager'. He's David, a manager at a large private hospital in Lagos. His nightmare isn't 'needing a supplier'. His nightmare is a critical shipment of anti-malarial drugs being delayed by customs for three weeks during peak rainy season, forcing his hospital to turn away patients and causing a local media scandal that could cost him his job. He's terrified of unreliable suppliers, customs paperwork errors, and supply chain breaks.

See the difference? Now you're not selling pharmaceuticals. You're selling certainty. You're selling a good night's sleep. You're selling David his job back.

Once you've identified this nightmare, it becomes the foundation of your entire strategy:

-> Your Ad Copy: You stop talking about yourself ("We are a leading exporter...") and start talking about them and their pain. You use the Problem-Agitate-Solve framework.
Problem: "Worried about critical drug shipments getting stuck in customs?"
Agitate: "A single delay can mean stockouts, cancelled procedures, and a damaged reputation."
Solve: "We guarantee clearance-ready documentation and offer dedicated logistics support for all Nigerian imports. Get your quote and delivery schedule in 24 hours."

-> Your Keywords: You don't just bid on "[drug name]". You bid on longer, more specific phrases that someone with this problem would search for, like "reliable pharmaceutical supplier for Nigeria," "importing medical supplies to Kenya customs help," or "bulk antibiotic order fast shipping Africa."

-> Your Landing Page: The headline on your landing page doesn't say "Contact Us." It says "Eliminate Import Headaches and Secure Your Pharmaceutical Supply Chain." The page is filled with trust signals that directly address David's fears: testimonials from other Nigerian hospitals, logos of logistics partners you work with, certifications you hold.

This is the work. It's not about finding clever ad hacks. It's about deep customer empathy. When you understand your customer's nightmare better than they do, you don't have to 'sell' them on anything. You just have to present the solution to their problem.

You probably should focus on search intent, not just keywords...

Now that we know *who* we're talking to and *what* their problem is, we can get into the nuts and bolts of Google Ads: keywords. But even here, most people get it wrong. They just brainstorm a list of products they sell and start bidding on them. This is a fast way to burn money on completely irrelevant clicks.

The key to sucessful search advertising is understanding *intent*. What was the person actually trying to achieve when they typed that phrase into Google? Every search falls into one of a few categories, and you should only be paying for one of them.

Let's break it down for your business:

1. Informational Intent (AVOID): The user is looking for information, not a supplier. They are students, researchers, or just curious. Clicks from these searches are 100% wasted money for you.
Examples: "what are the side effects of amoxicillin", "how are vaccines manufactured", "pharmaceutical regulations in Ghana".
Your job is to build a massive list of these types of terms and add them as 'negative keywords' to your campaigns. This tells Google: "Never show my ad to anyone searching for this." This is just as important as choosing the keywords you *do* want to target.

2. Navigational Intent (AVOID): The user is trying to find a specific website.
Examples: "[competitor brand name]", "World Health Organization website".
You generaly want to avoid these too, unless you are running a specific competitor campaign, which is a more advanced strategy for later.

3. Commercial Investigation Intent (APPROACH WITH CAUTION): The user is in the market, but is still comparing options and doing research. They are not ready to buy yet.
Examples: "best pharmaceutical exporters", "compare drug suppliers Africa", "reviews of [competitor name]".
These can sometimes be valuable, but they are often higher up the funnel. The leads you get might be less qualified and require more nurturing. I'd start with a very small budget here, if any, and focus on the next category first.

4. Transactional Intent (TARGET AGGRESSIVELY): This is the goldmine. The user knows what they want and is actively looking to make a purchase or request a quote. Their language is specific and action-oriented.
Examples: "bulk order metformin for export to Kenya", "get quote for antibiotic shipment Nigeria", "pharmaceutical wholesaler for East Africa", "find medical supplier for hospital tender".
These are the keywords you should be willing to pay the most for. Someone searching for "bulk order metformin for export to Kenya" is not a student doing a project. They are a serious buyer. This is where 90% of your initial budget should go. The volume might be lower, but the quality of the clicks will be infinitely higher.

Your entire keyword strategy should be built around identifying as many transactional intent phrases as possible and ruthlessly cutting out everything else. This is how you ensure your budget is only spent on clicks that have a real chance of turning into a customer.

You'll need to understand the real cost of a lead...

This brings us to the most important question in all of paid advertising, and it’s one that almost everyone gets wrong. They ask, "What should my Cost Per Lead (CPL) be?" or "How can I get my CPL lower?"

This is completely the wrong way to think about it. A low CPL is useless if the leads are junk. A £1 lead from a student in a country you don't serve is infinitely more expensive than a £300 lead from a procurement director at a major hospital who becomes a client for the next ten years. The real question isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a truly great customer?"

The answer lies in calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This single number will change how you view your marketing budget forever. It turns it from an 'expense' into an 'investment'.

Let's do a hypothetical calculation for your business. We need three numbers:

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What's the average value of a client contract per year? Let's say a typical client places orders worth £50,000 annually.
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue after accounting for the cost of the goods? Let's say it's 30%.
3. Average Customer Lifespan: How many years does an average client stay with you? For B2B, this can be quite long. Let's say 5 years.

The basic LTV calculation is then:
LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) * Average Customer Lifespan
LTV = (£50,000 * 0.30) * 5
LTV = £15,000 * 5 = £75,000

In this example, each new customer you acquire is worth £75,000 in gross profit to your business over their lifetime. Now, how does that change what you're willing to pay for a lead?

A standard, healthy business model aims for at least a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you want to spend no more than one-third of a customer's lifetime value to acquire them.

Max Affordable CAC = LTV / 3 = £75,000 / 3 = £25,000

This means you can afford to spend up to £25,000 to acquire a single new long-term client and still have a very healthy business. Now let's work backwards. If your sales team can close 1 in every 10 qualified leads they speak to (a 10% lead-to-customer rate), then:

Max Affordable CPL = Max CAC * Lead-to-Customer Rate = £25,000 * 0.10 = £2,500

Suddenly, paying £50, £100, or even £300 for a single, high-quality lead doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It looks like an absolute bargain. This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. It frees you from the tyranny of chasing cheap, low-quality leads and allows you to confidently invest in finding real customers.

Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers. See how small changes in your margin or customer lifespan can dramatically change what you can afford to invest in growth.

Your website is your silent salesperson, and it probably needs work...

Let's say we get everything right. We've defined the customer's nightmare, we're targeting high-intent keywords in the right countries, and we know our numbers. We get that perfect, high-value prospect to click on our ad. What happens next? They land on your website. And this is where most B2B advertising campaigns fall apart.

Your website has one job: to convert a visitor into a lead. Yet most B2B websites are terrible at this. They are glorified brochures full of corporate jargon, with a passive "Contact Us" form buried at the bottom.

The single most common failure point is the offer, or the Call to Action (CTA). The "Get a Quote" or "Request a Demo" button is one of the most arrogant CTAs you can use. It presumes the prospect is already sold and is willing to book a meeting to be pitched to. It's a high-friction, low-value request that immediately positions you as just another vendor.

You must change your thinking. Your offer's only job is to provide a moment of undeniable value *before* you ask for their business. You must solve a small, real problem for free to earn the right to solve the big one.

What could this look like for a pharmaceutical export business?

Bad Offers (High Friction, Low Value):
-> Get a Quote
-> Contact Us
-> Schedule a Call

Good Offers (Low Friction, High Value):
-> Download our [Country-Specific] Pharmaceutical Import Guide: A PDF that details the common pitfalls, required documentation, and timelines for importing into Nigeria, for example. This positions you as an expert and captures the email of a highly qualified lead.
-> Request our 2024 Product Catalogue & Tiered Pricing: This is a step beyond a simple quote. It gives them valuable information to work with and shows transparency.
-> Book a Free 15-Minute Logistics & Customs Consultation: Instead of a sales call, offer a brief, no-obligation session focused on solving one of their specific import challenges. You provide real value, demonstrate your expertise, and build trust.

These 'lead magnets' do two things brilliantly. First, they dramatically increase the conversion rate of your landing page because you're offering something of value. Second, they act as a qualification mechanism. Someone who downloads a detailed guide on Nigerian customs is almost certainly a serious prospect for that market.

Your landing page needs to be built around this single, valuable offer. It needs a clear headline that speaks to the 'nightmare', bullet points that explain the benefits, and loads of trust signals: client logos (if you have permission), industry certifications, testimonials, and clear contact information. Anything that makes a potential buyer in another country feel confident that you are a legitimate, reliable partner.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in. Paid advertising isn't just a technical skill; it's a strategic one that touches every part of your business, from customer research to your financial model. To make it easier, I've broken down my main recommendations into an actionable plan for you below.

This isn't a simple 'checklist' to be completed in an afternoon. This is a foundational strategic shift in how you approach customer acquisition. Getting this right from the start will save you tens of thousands of pounds in wasted ad spend and months of frustration.

Executing this properly, especially in a competitive and complex international B2B market, requires deep expertise. You're not just competing on price; you're competing on trust, logistics, and marketing sophistication. I remember for one of our clients, a medical job matching platform, we applied a similar strategic approach to their Google and Meta Ads, which reduced their cost to acquire a new user from a staggering £100 down to just £7. Having a specialist partner to manage the technical details of the ad platforms, conduct the deep research, and continuously optimise based on real data can be the difference between a campaign that breaks even and one that transforms your business.

If you'd like to chat through how we could apply this framework specifically to your business, we offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session where we can dive into your goals and give you some more tailored advice.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh