How an International Lighting Manufacturer Generates Consistent B2B Leads with B2B PPC
Exponential helped an international industrial lighting manufacturer generate consistent B2B leads through paid search across five markets, including Scandinavia, DACH, France, Ireland, and the UK. We tested two campaign structures in parallel, one organised by application area, one by product type, and the application-based approach won. Buyers search for what they need to light, not for the product category name. From there, the work became intent filtering: cutting out architects doing desk research, homeowners, and students, and keeping only the searches that looked like a contractor or procurement team with an actual project. The result is at least one qualified contact per week, every week.
Key B2B growth marketing takeaway: In industrial B2B PPC, the negative keyword list matters as much as the keyword list itself. Most search volume in manufacturing categories does not come from buyers. It comes from everyone else. One qualified lead per week sounds modest until you consider that a single warehouse lighting project can run to six figures. Volume is not the right metric here. Quality and consistency are. A good B2B PPC agency working in this space earns its fee by knowing which clicks to exclude, not just which ones to chase.
Key success factors
The challenge
The client manufactures industrial and commercial lighting at international scale. They sell to contractors, project developers, and procurement teams. Not to end consumers.
Finding those buyers through paid search is harder than it looks. The search volume is lower than in consumer markets. The wrong clicks are expensive. And each market uses its own terminology.
They needed a Google Ads setup that could generate real leads across several regions. That meant Scandinavia, DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), France, Ireland, and the UK. The brief was clear. Generate qualified contacts through B2B PPC. Not traffic, not impressions. Contacts from people with a genuine purchasing need.
How Exponential delivered results with B2B PPC
We started with two parallel campaign structures running at the same time.
The first organised campaigns by application area: warehouse lighting, industrial lighting, stadium lighting. The second organised campaigns by product type: high bay lighting, floodlights, and similar categories.
Both ran long enough to produce usable data. The area-based structure won. Buyers in this sector search for what they need to light, not for the name of a product category. That distinction matters more than it looks like it should.
Once the winning structure was clear, we concentrated optimisation there. The main focus became search intent. We filtered and refined keywords so that the searches reaching the ads were clearly from manufacturers, suppliers, or contractors. Searches from students, homeowners, or people looking for general information were excluded. This took several rounds of negative keyword work and match type adjustment.
Ad copy needed to communicate one thing specifically. This is an international manufacturer, not a local distributor. Project-scale buyers are evaluating suppliers, not browsing. The ads had to reflect the scale and credibility the client actually has.
A smaller campaign runs alongside the core structure. It tests the product-type approach that lost the original comparison. It does not drive much volume. But it surfaces keyword ideas we would not find otherwise. New terms get evaluated there before anything changes in the main campaigns.
Event support was added as an additional layer. When the client attends industry events, campaigns are adjusted to support that presence. It keeps the paid activity connected to what is happening in the business, rather than running in isolation.
Key results
- At least one valuable B2B contact generated per week, consistently
- Area-based campaign structure outperformed product-based structure across all markets
- Search intent filtering significantly improved contact quality
- Active paid presence across international markets: Scandinavia, DACH, France, Ireland, and the UK
- Secondary discovery campaign actively expanding keyword coverage for future growth
Summary
B2B lead generation through PPC in manufacturing takes time to get right. There are a lot of irrelevant searches to filter out, and the right searches tend to be lower volume. One qualified contact per week sounds modest. In industrial lighting, where a single project can run to six figures, it is not modest at all.
The structure that worked is not complicated. Test two approaches, commit to the one that performs, and keep a smaller experiment running so the campaigns do not stagnate. That is the process. It works because we stuck to it.
Who is the client
The client is an international manufacturer of industrial and commercial lighting solutions. Their products are used in warehouses, stadiums, manufacturing facilities, and large commercial spaces. They sell primarily to contractors, project developers, and procurement professionals across Europe and North America.
Services provided
B2B PPC strategy and campaign management
Google Ads setup and ongoing optimisation
International keyword research and intent mapping
Ad copy development for B2B audiences
Event-integrated campaign support
Performance reporting and insights
B2B PPC in manufacturing is a detail game. The difference between a qualified lead and wasted budget is often a single keyword variant. You only find those variants if you are in the account every day, looking for them.
Urmet Seepter, Partner @ Exponential
More cases
FAQ
How do industrial manufacturers generate B2B leads through digital marketing?
Google Ads is usually the right starting point. Buyers in industrial sectors are actively searching for suppliers, and paid search puts you in front of them at that moment. The challenge is intent. Most search volume in categories like lighting does not come from buyers. It comes from architects doing desk research, students, or people doing home renovations. Getting the negative keyword list right is often more important than the keyword list itself. Once search is producing consistent leads, LinkedIn and trade publication advertising can add volume. But most manufacturers we work with see the clearest return from paid search first.
What does international marketing look like for a lighting manufacturer?
International marketing in the lighting manufacturing industry means dealing with different terminology, different buying behaviour, and different competitive landscapes in each market. A search term that works well in Germany may not reflect how buyers in France or the US describe the same need. Campaigns need to be structured by market, not just translated. Ad copy should communicate scale and credibility, because project-level buyers are evaluating suppliers, not browsing products. Trade event calendars also vary by region, so campaign activity should align with local industry cycles rather than running on a fixed global schedule.
How do you choose the right agency for international B2B marketing in manufacturing?
Experience in your sector matters more than general agency credentials. A team that has run B2B PPC campaigns in industrial markets understands the intent problem. They know which search terms look relevant but attract the wrong audience. They know how buyers in Germany search differently from buyers in the US. Ask to see specific campaign examples from your industry and your target regions. Ask how they handle negative keywords and how they define a qualified lead. The answers to those questions will tell you most of what you need to know.
What does Exponential do, and does it work with manufacturing companies?
Exponential is a B2B growth marketing agency. We help companies in the industrial and lighting manufacturing sector expand into international markets, including Scandinavia, DACH, France, Ireland, and North America. Our work focuses on B2B PPC and paid search, built around how procurement teams, contractors, and project buyers actually search. We work specifically in B2B, which shapes everything from keyword strategy to ad copy and landing page positioning. More information is available at exponentialb2b.com.
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