How SEM Helps Niche Consultancies Win Consistent Leads

For niche B2B consultancies, visibility is everything. Potential clients are looking for expertise they can trust, but in a crowded online space, standing out isn’t easy. With limited audiences and budgets compared to larger competitors, specialist firms need a marketing strategy that’s as precise as the services they deliver. That’s where search engine marketing (SEM) comes in.

TTC is a UK-based transport planning consultancy that provides expert advice on travel plans, sustainable transport strategies, and infrastructure development. Like many B2B consultancies, their challenge wasn’t a lack of expertise, it was making sure the right people could find them online. To generate consistent, high-quality leads, TTC turned to an integrated SEM approach, combining search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Building Authority Through SEO

SEO formed the foundation of TTC’s digital strategy. Service pages were optimised to target industry-relevant keywords such as “transport planning consultancy” and “travel plans consultancy UK.” These updates improved rankings for niche terms, ensuring TTC was visible where prospective clients were searching for solutions. Supporting content like blogs and resources reinforced the consultancy’s authority, building trust with both search engines and potential clients.

Driving Immediate Results With PPC

While SEO delivered steady growth, PPC campaigns provided an immediate pipeline of enquiries. By focusing on non-branded, service-led campaigns, TTC could reach prospects searching for specific consultancy expertise without relying on name recognition. Negative keywords were essential here, filtering out irrelevant traffic and ensuring the budget was spent only on high-intent searches.

PPC campaigns delivered strong ROI: over 4,000 sessions were generated through paid search in a 12-month period, and nearly 1,000 key events were attributed to ad traffic. Click-through rates consistently outperformed industry averages, proving that carefully crafted messaging and targeting could cut through even in a specialised B2B market.

Multi-Channel Visibility

The integrated SEM strategy also revealed the value of other traffic sources. Direct sessions accounted for over 5,000 visits, and LinkedIn referrals contributed more than 1,500 users, showing the importance of a strong presence beyond search engines. By combining SEO, PPC, and LinkedIn activity, TTC created a balanced funnel that consistently fed their pipeline.

The Takeaway

For B2B consultancies, SEM isn’t about chasing huge audiences, it’s about precision. TTC’s success shows that by combining authority-building SEO with cost-efficient PPC, niche firms can reliably generate high-quality leads. Add in consistent trust signals and a strong LinkedIn presence, and the result is clear: a marketing strategy that wins visibility and delivers measurable ROI, no matter how specialised the sector.