Paid Media
Driving Qualified Lead Growth Through Paid Media for a Manufacturing Company
A manufacturer of liquid temperature control solutions partnered with Marcel Digital to launch its first paid media program and build a stronger foundation for lead generation. With no prior campaigns or tracking in place, the focus was on creating visibility into performance, identifying what drove results, and improving lead quality over time. Through a strategic Google Ads approach and close collaboration with Analytics and Web Development, Marcel Digital helped the company build a measurable, scalable paid media program.
The Challenge
Before working with Marcel Digital, the company lacked the structure needed to scale paid media effectively. With no prior campaign experience or reliable tracking in place, the team had limited visibility into performance and no clear way to understand what was driving engagement, valuable leads, or higher-quality opportunities.
Key challenges included:
No paid media history: The company had never run paid media campaigns before, leaving no existing performance benchmarks or learnings to build from.
No conversion tracking: There was no tracking or attribution in place for key actions such as online purchases, phone calls, or form fills.
Limited lead source visibility: The team lacked a clear understanding of where valuable leads were coming from or which efforts were driving stronger opportunities.
The Analysis
Marcel Digital began by assessing the gaps that were limiting the company’s ability to measure and improve paid media performance. Because they had never run paid campaigns before, the first step was understanding what was missing and where the biggest opportunities existed.
Tracking and Attribution Gaps
The company had no system in place to track online purchases, phone calls, or form fills, making it difficult to connect marketing efforts to real business outcomes.
Messaging and Keyword Strategy
With no historical campaign data, there was limited visibility into which keywords, messaging, and campaign types would drive engagement or higher-quality leads.
Strategic Opportunity
These gaps created an opportunity to build a paid media program from the ground up, establish performance benchmarks, and use early data to identify the most effective strategies.
The Solution
To help the company build a more effective paid media program, Marcel Digital focused on three core areas: launching a structured campaign strategy, implementing reliable tracking, and optimizing toward higher-quality leads over time.
Campaign Strategy and Launch
Marcel Digital launched Google Ads Search and Performance Max campaigns to capture high-intent demand and test which keywords, messaging, and campaign types were most effective at driving leads. Early performance showed that chiller campaigns were a primary lead driver, helping guide future optimizations.
Tracking and Attribution Setup
With no prior tracking infrastructure in place, Marcel Digital worked with Analytics and Web Development to implement tracking for online purchases, phone calls, and form fills. This included GCLID automation for forms, ecommerce tracking through Google Merchant Center, backend lead tracking, and CallRail for phone call attribution. As a result, the company gained much clearer visibility into campaign performance and conversion activity.
Ongoing Optimization for Lead Quality
The first phase focused on establishing volume and reducing cost per lead, which dropped from roughly $800 to around $300 over the first three months. Once that baseline was established, the strategy shifted to improving lead quality by identifying which calls and form submissions were driving qualified leads, reducing wasted spend, and refining targeting toward higher-value, new-to-brand users.
The Results
Through a phased, performance-driven approach, the manufacturing company achieved significant improvements in both efficiency and lead quality:
Reduced cost per lead by more than 60% (from ~$800 to ~$300)
Established full-funnel tracking across purchases, calls, and form fills
Improved qualified lead rate from 25% to over 40%
Identified top-performing campaigns and messaging strategies
Increased efficiency by minimizing wasted spend
Built a scalable paid media framework for continued growth
