Solved: Suggestions on where to start with Google Ads

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on using Google Ads for your pharma export business. It's a solid platform for what you're trying to achieve, but it's also very easy to burn through a lot of money without seeing results if you don't get the foundations right. So let's break it down a bit.

What you're asking is a common question, but the answer isn't just a simple 'yes' or 'no'. It's more about 'how'. Getting leads from specific regions like African countries is absolutely doable, but it requires a much more nuanced approach than most people think.

You're right to look at Google Ads...

First off, choosing Google Ads is the right instinct. You're in a B2B space where your potential customers aren't casually scrolling through Facebook or Instagram hoping to stumble upon a new pharmaceutical supplier. They have an active, urgent need. They're searching for a solution to a problem, right now. That's what we call 'capturing intent', and it's what makes Google Search so powerful for service and export businesses.

When someone is searching for "bulk medicine suppliers for Nigeria" or "pharmaceutical export to Kenya", they aren't just browsing. They have a problem to solve. Your job is to be the most obvious, credible, and helpful solution that appears in front of them at that exact moment. Social media ads are more for creating demand where it doesn't exist, which is a much harder, more expensive game to play in B2B. So, sticking with Google Search is the correct first step. But this is where most businesses stop thinking, and it costs them.

We'll need to look at your Ideal Customer... but not how you think.

This is probably the most important bit of advice I can give you, and it's where almost everyone goes wrong. Forget the typical demographic profile. "Hospitals in Ghana" or "distributors in South Africa" is far too broad and tells you nothing useful. It leads to generic ads that speak to no one and waste your money.

You need to get obsessed with their *nightmare*. What is the specific, urgent, expensive, career-threatening problem that keeps them awake at night? Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a job title; it's a person in a state of crisis.

Think about it. Who are they really?

• -> Is it a procurement manager at a large hospital in Lagos who's just been told their current supplier from India has a massive delay, and they're facing a stockout of a critical antibiotic? Their nightmare is failing to provide for patients and the professional fallout from that.
• -> Is it the owner of a chain of pharmacies in Nairobi who can't source a specific, high-margin diabetes medication reliably and is losing customers to competitors? Their nightmare is shrinking profits and a failing business.
• -> Is it a government health official in Rwanda trying to fulfil a public tender for vaccines, terrified of choosing an unrealiable partner and causing a public health crisis? Their nightmare is catastrophic failure on a national scale.

See the difference? You're not selling "pharmaceuticals". You're selling reliability, security, and a solution to their immediate, high-stakes problem. Once you've defined these nightmares, every other decision—your keywords, your ad copy, your landing page—becomes ten times clearer and more effective. You have to do this work first, otherwise you have no business spending a single pound on ads. It's the foundation for everything.

I'd say you need to target intent, not just words...

Once you understand their nightmare, you can start thinking about the language they use to describe it. This is your keyword strategy. Most people just bid on broad, obvious terms like "pharma exports" or "medicine Africa". This is a mistake. You'll get a lot of clicks from researchers, students, journalists, and job seekers – all totally irrelevant to you.

You need to target keywords that scream commercial intent and are directly tied to the nightmares we just talked about. We do this for our clients all the time. For an outreach software client, for example, we don't just target 'marketing software'. We target "contact info finding tool" or "software for lead generation". It shows the user is actively looking for a tool to solve a problem. The user is prequalified by their own search term.

For your business, this could look something like this:

You're targeting the problem. You also need to be ruthless with 'negative keywords'. These are terms you explicitly tell Google *not* to show your ads for. A starting list would include words like: jobs, career, salary, university, study, free, regulation pdf, news, analysis. This alone will save you a huge chunk of your budget by filtering out irrelevant clicks.

You probably should rethink your offer...

Now we get to the point where your ad takes the user: your website. And the most common mistake I see in B2B is the "Request a Quote" button. It feels like the logical next step, but it's one of the most arrogant calls to action you can have. It assumes a busy, skeptical buyer in another country has nothing better to do than fill out a form and wait to be sold to by a company they've never heard of.

It's high-friction and low-value. You're asking for their details before you've given them anything of substance. You haven't earned their trust yet.

Your offer’s only job is to provide a moment of undeniable value. You need to solve a small, real problem for them for free, to earn the right to solve their bigger problems for a price. You need to give before you ask. Instead of "Request a Quote", think about creating a valuable asset—a lead magnet—that directly addresses their pains.

Some ideas could be:

• -> A Free Guide: "The 2024 Guide to Navigating Pharmaceutical Import Duties in East Africa." This instantly positions you as an expert who understands their specific regional challenges.
• -> An Instant Checklist: "Essential Documentation Checklist for Clearing Medical Shipments in Nigeria." This is practical, useful, and saves them time and headaches.
• -> A Case Study: "How We Solved a Cold-Chain Logistics Nightmare for a Hospital in Ghana." This provides social proof and demonstrates your capability in a tangible way.

They give you their email address, they get an instant piece of value, and you get a qualified lead that you can now nurture. You've started the relationship by being helpful, not by being demanding. This is a fundamental shift in approach that can transform your results.

You'll need ad copy that they can't ignore...

Your ad text is the bridge between their search and your offer. It needs to grab them by the collar and scream "I understand your exact problem". We often use a simple but powerful formula called Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS).

Problem: State their nightmare directly. "Pharma Supply Chain Broken?"
Agitate: Twist the knife. Remind them of the consequences. "Facing Stockouts & Unreliable Suppliers?"
Solve: Present your business as the way out. "Get EU-Grade Meds with Guaranteed Logistics."

Here’s how that might look in a real Google Ad:

Every word here is deliberate. "Reliable" and "Guaranteed" address their core fear. "EU-GMP certified" builds trust and speaks to quality. "Don't risk patient care" agitates the problem. And the call to action is for the low-friction lead magnet, not a high-friction quote request.

We'll need to be smart about targeting Africa...

This is a big one. Targeting "Africa" as a single entity is a guaranteed way to fail. It's a continent of 54 diverse countries with vastly different economies, languages, regulations, and levels of internet infrastructure. Lumping Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and the DRC into one campaign is madness. The cost per click, user behaviour, and competition will be completely different in each.

You need to be strategic. We always advise clients to start small and focused.

1. Separate Campaigns by Country: Start with one campaign for each of your top 1-3 target countries. If you have existing customers, start with the countries they are in. This allows you to control budgets, write country-specific ad copy (mentioning Lagos or Nairobi builds instant rapport), and analyse performance accurately.

2. Understand Cost Variances: The cost to get a lead will not be uniform. Based on our experience with campaigns in different regions, a click from a more developed market like South Africa might cost you £1.50, while a click from a less developed market might be £0.30. But the quality of the lead from South Africa will likely be much higher. If you group them, the cheaper, lower-quality clicks will eat all your budget. You must separate them to control this.

3. Beware of Bots and Low-Quality Traffic: Especially when targeting some lower-income countries, you have to be vigilant about bot traffic and click farms. We'd normally suggest excluding the 30 or so lowest-income countries to start with unless you have a specific reason to target them. For any campaign in these regions, having a captcha on your landing page form and implementing an email verification step is not optional, it's essential to avoid wasting money on junk leads. Quality over quantity is everything here.

I'd say you need to understand your numbers...

So, what should a lead cost? The real question isn't "how low can my cost per lead (CPL) go?". It's "how high a CPL can I afford to acquire a great customer?". The answer to this lies in calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

Let's run a hypothetical calculation for your business. This is the math that allows you to advertise with confidence.

Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): Let's say an average client is worth £50,000 to you over a year.
Gross Margin %: Your profit margin on that revenue. Let's say it's 25%.
Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of clients you lose each month. For long-term B2B, it's easier to think yearly. Let's say you keep a client for an average of 4 years, so your yearly churn is 25% (or about 2% monthly).

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Churn Rate

LTV = (£50,000 * 0.25) / 0.25 = £50,000

In this example, each new client is worth £50,000 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. A healthy ratio of LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is at least 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £16,666 to acquire one new client and still have a very profitable model.

Now, let's work backwards. If your sales team converts 1 in 20 qualified leads into a client, you can afford to pay up to £833 per qualified lead (£16,666 / 20). Suddenly, paying £50, £100, or even £300 for a well-qualified lead from a procurement manager in your target country doesn't look expensive at all. It looks like a bargain. This is the maths that separates amateurs from professional advertisers.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot of information to digest. Paid advertising isn't a simple plug-and-play system. It's a strategic discipline. To make it easier, I've broken down my main recommendations into a simple table for you to review.

Implementing this strategy correctly takes expertise and constant attention. It's not a 'set it and forget it' channel. The difference between a campaign that breaks even and one that drives significant growth often comes down to experienced management, ongoing testing, and a deep understanding of these principles.

Getting it right from the start can save you thousands in wasted ad spend and months of frustration. This is where expert help can be a sound investment, allowing you to focus on what you do best: running your export business and servicing the new clients we bring in.

Hopefully this detailed breakdown has been helpful and gives you a much clearer path forward. This is the exact kind of strategic thinking we apply to our client accounts every day.

If you'd like to discuss how these principles could be specifically applied to your business, we offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session where we can dive deeper into your goals. Just let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh