Background

A Michigan-based B2B manufacturer specializing in engineering consultancy services, engaged BlackTruck with an ambitious goal: achieve 5–10% year-over-year growth across the United States and Canada on a tight ad spend budget over three months. The challenge was not just the budget — it was the geography. Spreading a modest investment coast-to-coast would dilute impact to the point of irrelevance. The strategy required a different instinct: concentrate spend where it would convert, and let the data decide where that was.

Goals & Objectives

  • Generate qualified engineering leads within a strict ad spend ceiling
  • Achieve a competitive cost-per-acquisition relative to B2B engineering industry benchmarks
  • Capture both form-based and call-based conversions through dual-channel tracking
  • Support the client’s stated growth objective of 5–10% year-over-year across the US and Canada

Stats & Figures

  • 315 Total Conversions
  • 180+ Form Submissions
  • 100+ Phone Interactions
  • Engineering Services Search campaign achieved a ~10% CTR and 8%+ conversion rate with top keywords converting at 25–30%+
  • High-efficiency regional markets delivered double-digit conversion rates, with select pockets reaching 40%+
  • Buyers with service-specific search intent converted at 3–5x the rate of exploratory searchers
  • Within one month, the client reported a felt uptick in qualified leads internally & the campaign was approved for continuation

Strategic Approach

Planning & Research

Initial data analysis established that roughly 80% of the existing client revenue originated from Michigan — a geographic baseline that anchored the entire targeting strategy. From there, a state-by-state analysis mapped engineering industry density against advertising costs, deliberately deprioritizing saturated, high-CPC markets like New York, California, and Texas in favor of high-efficiency regional pockets where budget would go further and convert more reliably.

Service-level research separated the client’s strongest offerings from lower-converting ones, so budget allocation could reflect actual market demand rather than internal preference. Audience analysis revealed that Business & Industrial Products and Manufacturing Industry segments converted at 8–20% — significantly outpacing broader business professional audiences. A critical signal shaped everything downstream: buyers arriving with explicit, service-specific search intent converted at 3–5x the rate of exploratory searchers.

Creative & Quality

The Google Ads account was structured around distinct service-level campaigns with tightly themed keyword sets built around demonstrated buying intent. The guiding principle throughout was surgical precision over broad reach. Search campaigns ultimately accounted for over 90% of total conversions, with ad creative and landing page messaging aligned tightly to the specific service each visitor had searched for. Secondary campaigns for Manufacturing Engineering, Reverse Engineering, and Product Development received smaller allocations to diversify the pipeline without cannibalizing the core efficiency of the primary Engineering Services campaign.

Ad scheduling was adjusted to concentrate delivery during the highest-converting times of day and week, ensuring that budget was active when the client’s buyers were actually searching — not burning overnight or on weekends.

Technical Excellence

Call tracking was fully integrated across ads, website interactions, and click-to-call events to ensure no high-intent touchpoint went unattributed. Conversion tracking captured both form submissions and phone-based interactions, which was essential in a B2B engineering context where buyers frequently prefer direct conversation over a contact form. Geographic bid adjustments amplified spend in high-efficiency markets and suppressed it in premium-cost regions in real time, ensuring the $5,000 budget functioned more like a precision instrument than a broadcast tool.

Conclusion

The client’s engagement is a proof point for what disciplined, data-driven targeting can accomplish with a constrained budget. By concentrating spend where conversion potential was highest, aligning every ad to service-specific buyer intent, and tracking every touchpoint across both form and phone, BlackTruck delivered 315 conversions on a limited ad spend — a CPA that compared favorably to B2B engineering industry benchmarks. Within a month, the client was already feeling the impact. The campaign’s approval for continuation and retargeting reflects something more important than any single metric: a strategy that works, scales, and builds toward the client’s 5–10% growth objective on a foundation of real demand intelligence.

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