Service · Paid Ads for Applied AI Companies

Paid ads for applied-AI and AI-infrastructure companies that book qualified meetings and trials, not clicks from tire-kickers and competitors.

AI is the most expensive keyword auction in B2B, and it is full of the wrong clicks: students, competitors, and curious engineers with no budget. Paid media only pays back when it targets the specific buyer with a live initiative and routes them into a real sales conversation or a trial that converts. We build paid search, paid social, and appointment funnels around how AI-infra buyers actually evaluate, then wire every dollar to pipeline in your CRM, the discipline behind outcomes like Intelvision's 28.88x return on ad spend and booked-call funnels at $34 to $123 per qualified meeting.

B2B tech companies worked with
60+
Years marketing to technical & executive buyers
9+
CRM-tracked marketing-led revenue
$30M+
AI Search recommendation success rate
80%
  1. Paid search on high-intent queries: bid on the evaluation, comparison, and use-case searches that signal a live decision, with negative-keyword discipline that keeps researchers and competitors out of the budget.
  2. Account-based paid social: LinkedIn and paid social targeted at the specific roles and named accounts in your ICP, with evidence-led creative a technical buyer does not dismiss.
  3. Offer and funnel design: replace the generic 'demo' with offers a technical buyer wants, technical deep-dive, benchmark, architecture review, or a real trial, and build the appointment funnel that books it.
  4. Ad creative for skeptical buyers: proof- and specificity-led ads (benchmarks with conditions, reliability, cost, security) instead of hype the buyer discounts, plus the landing pages that convert them.
  5. Retargeting the long evaluation: sequenced retargeting that keeps you present with proof across a multi-month, multi-stakeholder cycle rather than a single click and hope.
  6. Total-cost and switching messaging: campaigns that make the reliability, cost, and security case against the hyperscaler or open-source default the buyer is weighing.
  7. CRM and analytics instrumentation: booked-meeting-to-pipeline-to-revenue tracking wired into your CRM, reported monthly by campaign, account, and offer, not cost-per-click.
How the system works

How the system works

  1. Diagnose the market

    We map the roles, accounts, and high-intent queries that signal a real AI evaluation, and audit your current spend and funnel against them, finding where budget leaks and which offers a technical buyer actually accepts. Sales-call intelligence grounds the picture in how buyers really decide.

  2. Compare against known B2B tech patterns

    We benchmark your situation against the B2B tech companies we run paid for: which offers book meetings, which targeting converts for a considered technical sale, what cost-per-qualified-meeting is realistic in your segment, so the plan starts from evidence, not an untested bid.

  3. Choose the right growth path

    We allocate budget by expected pipeline: which queries and accounts to target first, which offers to lead with, how much to hold for retargeting the long cycle, and where SEO and AI Search should carry the load so you are not overpaying to rent demand you could own.

  4. Build the paid system

    We execute, campaigns, creative, landing pages, appointment funnels, and retargeting, and run the operation day to day: bid and budget management, creative iteration, and fast lead routing to sales while intent is hot, so meetings get booked without becoming your team's job.

  5. Optimize against CRM + sales feedback

    Every week we read the CRM, which campaigns, accounts, and offers produced qualified meetings and pipeline, and we listen to sales on lead quality. Winners get scaled, waste gets cut, and new objections become new creative. Paid becomes a managed pipeline channel judged on revenue, not a cost-per-click chart.

The XQL difference

Why XQL runs paid for AI companies differently

  • 01

    Market memory

    We run paid for B2B tech companies and know where the money leaks in this category: broad category keywords that pull researchers, "demo" offers a technical buyer ignores, and lead metrics that look good and close nothing. We start from the targeting, offers, and creative that book qualified meetings with technical buyers, because we have already learned which ones do and which ones just spend.

  • 02

    Faster diagnosis

    We audit your existing spend and funnel against the roles, accounts, and high-intent queries that signal a real AI evaluation, and find where budget leaks, wrong keywords, weak offers, slow follow-up. Within weeks you have a plan that reallocates spend toward booked meetings and trials, not a cheaper cost-per-click on a lead that never converts.

  • 03

    Smarter channel selection

    Paid is the fastest path to meetings now, but it is not always the right dollar, and we will say so. Some budget is best on paid search intent, some on account-based paid social against a named list, some held back for retargeting the long evaluation. Running the full stack, we sequence paid against SEO and AI Search so it books pipeline today while the compounding channels mature, instead of overpaying to rent demand you could own.

  • 04

    Sales feedback loop

    Your sales calls decide what the ads should say and who they should target: the objections that stall deals, the accounts that fit, the offers a technical buyer actually accepts. We sit close to sales, feed those signals into targeting, creative, and offer design, and prioritize the leads sales actually wants, so paid produces meetings that progress, not a volume of forms that clog the pipeline.

  • 05

    CRM attribution

    We instrument paid end to end and report on booked meetings, pipeline, and closed revenue by campaign, account, and offer, tied to your CRM through a long, multi-stakeholder cycle, not cost-per-click. That is how we have driven a 28.88x ROAS for Intelvision and booked qualified calls at $34 to $123, and how the paid budgets we run get judged on revenue rather than a dashboard nobody trusts.

Why XQL vs alternatives

Why XQL vs the alternatives

DimensionTypical approachThe XQL way
Traditional PPC agencyBids on broad category terms, optimizes for the cheapest form fill, and reports cost-per-click and cost-per-lead that look great and close nothing.Targets the roles, accounts, and high-intent queries that signal a real evaluation, and reports booked meetings, pipeline, and ROAS tied to your CRM.
Generalist marketing agencyRuns the same playbook it uses for any client, writes ads a technical buyer dismisses, and offers a generic demo the buyer never accepts.Brings market memory from B2B tech paid programs and leads with proof-led creative and offers a technical buyer actually wants.
Freelancer / PPC contractorCan manage bids but cannot design the offer, build the funnel, write the landing pages, and wire CRM attribution as one accountable system.Runs the full operation, targeting, creative, funnel, retargeting, and revenue reporting, and manages it day to day without your oversight.
In-house marketerOwns the budget but is stretched across channels, lacks cross-client benchmarks on what books meetings, and cannot iterate creative fast enough to beat the auction.Acts as the senior operating partner with pattern recognition on AI-buyer paid, giving your team leverage and a channel judged on pipeline.
DIY inside the ad platformsTrusts the platform's automation to optimize toward cheap conversions, which in this auction means cheap, unqualified clicks that never become deals.Steers the platforms toward qualified pipeline with the right signals, offers, and CRM feedback, so spend chases revenue, not vanity conversions.
Commercial outcomes

Proof from the same playbook.

Strategy first, channels second, sales feedback always. We measure by the qualified demand and revenue we can trace back inside the CRM.

Selected results
  • $10Minbound pipeline per year

    Relevant Software

    Software development company · 3 years
    • $1M revenue/year
    • Cost per MQL & SQL halved

    Our founder led their marketing as Head of Marketing, running a 7-person team across SEO, demand gen, and paid — $1M/year in marketing revenue. Re-engaged in 2026 and halved cost per MQL and SQL.

    ServicesFractional CMO · SEO · Demand Generation · Paid Ads

  • Senior operators on every account. Never a junior pod.
  • $5.5Mpipeline per year

    Confidential client

    Software development company · 3.5 years
    • 140 SQLs/year
    • $600K SEO revenue

    Ran the full marketing function for 3.5 years — 140 SQLs and ~$600K in revenue per year from SEO alone, plus 10 MQLs/month from LLM recommendations.

    ServicesFractional CMO · SEO · Appointment Funnels

    Their focus on results and true interest in making things work set them apart.

    — Content Manager
  • $1.8Minbound pipeline, built from zero

    WeSoftYou

    Software development company · 3 years
    • 100% YoY SQL growth
    • 207% traffic increase

    Rebuilt inbound from scratch — 100% YoY SQL growth, 207% more traffic, domain rating from 12 to 45, and 141 articles shipped.

    ServicesFractional CMO · SEO · Demand Generation

    We've seen a 207% increase in web traffic and our domain rating improved from 12 to 45.

    — Maksym Petruk, CEO & Founder, WeSoftYou
  • 28.88×return on ad spend

    Intelvision

    Staff augmentation company
    • $240K revenue from Meta
    • 5 deals in 12 months

    Took a referral-only firm to a real new-business engine — 5 deals and $240K revenue from Meta in a year, plus 2–4 SQLs/month from ChatGPT.

    ServicesMeta Ads · Fractional CMO · AI Search

    Their expertise and proactiveness have impressed our team.

    — Yurii Kotula, CEO, Intelvision
  • $2Min deals sourced from ChatGPT

    Computools

    Software development company
    • 2 enterprise deals from LLMs
    • 3-month engagement

    Positioned them as the recommended Salesforce partner inside the major LLMs — two $1M enterprise deals closed from ChatGPT in a 3-month engagement.

    ServicesAI Search · Fractional CMO · Meta Ads

    They operated with the discipline and initiative of an internal senior marketer.

    — COO, Computools
  • +1,413%organic traffic growth

    DBB Software

    Software development company · 3 years
    • 28 SQLs from zero
    • 3 deals won

    Built the marketing function from zero — website, SEO, paid, AI search — from 166 to 2,513 monthly clicks and 3 enterprise deals won.

    ServicesFractional CMO · SEO · AI Search · Meta Ads

    They defined a clear marketing strategy and established our unique value proposition.

    — Volodymyr H., COO, DBB Software
  • +500%more SQLs from organic

    Synebo

    Salesforce consulting company
    • 2.73× organic traffic
    • MQL→SQL 17% → 29%

    Turned Salesforce-niche SEO into a deal channel — 2.73× traffic and MQL-to-SQL conversion up from 17% to 29%.

    ServicesSEO · Content Marketing

    We have started receiving our first inbound requests.

    — Anna Senchenko, Marketing Lead, Synebo
  • more clients in 2024 vs 2023

    Cieden

    Product design agency · 9 months
    • 133% more SQLs/month
    • 2.4× organic traffic

    Restructured the marketing team and shifted to lead-driving SEO — doubling client count and growing SQLs 133% in nine months.

    ServicesSEO · Fractional CMO

  • 80%of service pages in Google's top 5

    Noltic

    Salesforce consulting company · 9 months
    • 20/25 pages top 5
    • First SEO deals closed

    Switched them from brand-awareness content to lead-driving SEO — 20 of 25 service pages ranked top 5 and the first deals closed from organic.

    ServicesSEO · Fractional CMO · Content Marketing

    XQL Group's marketing expertise is a hallmark of the engagement.

    — Anna Riabushenko, Head of Marketing, Noltic
  • 2,000monthly organic visitors, from zero

    Artkai

    Software development company · 9 months
    • DR 27 → 44
    • 50+ leads generated

    Stood up SEO as a new acquisition channel — domain rating 27 to 44, 50+ leads, and 88 articles in nine months.

    ServicesSEO

    Their subject matter expertise is highly impressive.

    — Kos Chekanov, CEO & Founder, Artkai
  • 15×AI-assistant traffic growth

    Gapsy Studio

    Design agency · 3 months
    • +70% Google clicks
    • First SQLs from SEO

    After six months of zero results from another agency, we delivered +70% Google clicks and grew AI-assistant traffic from 10 to 154/month in three months — and the first SQLs from SEO.

    ServicesSEO · AI Search

  • 104appointments from paid

    Kitrum

    Software development company
    • 466 leads
    • $25.79 cost per lead

    Meta appointment funnels at scale — 466 leads and over 100 booked sales conversations from a single paid channel.

    ServicesAppointment Funnels · Meta Ads

    They've brought structure, strong execution, and constant initiative.

    — Lead of Marketing, Kitrum
  • $840customer acquisition cost

    Split Development

    Shopify development agency
    • 66 leads at $38 CPL
    • 3 deals in 4 months

    Built paid funnels from scratch — $2,522 in ad spend returned 3 signed clients and 66 leads at $38 CPL in under 4 months.

    ServicesMeta Ads · Fractional CMO

  • 4 clientswon in the first 3 months

    Hoverla Soft

    Software development company · 3 months
    • Marketing built from zero
    • ABM + social selling

    Set up marketing from zero — positioning, website, LinkedIn social selling, and an ABM campaign that landed four new clients fast.

    ServicesFractional CMO · ABM · LinkedIn

    Their ability to combine strategic vision with hands-on execution was particularly valuable.

    — CEO, Hoverla Soft
  • 1 dealclosed in a single month

    SolarSpark

    Game development studio · 1 month
    • Recommended by LLMs
    • 2 commercial keywords

    Positioned a small studio in a niche AI-search category — recommended by LLMs for 2 commercial keywords, landing a big client in one month.

    ServicesAI Search · AEO/GEO · Website

    They knew how to approach AI search practically, not just in theory.

    — CEO, SolarSpark
  • 100%AI-search placement success

    Baytech Consulting

    Software development company
    • 3 keywords, all LLMs
    • Deal from paid funnels

    Recommended by every major AI assistant for 3 commercial keywords, plus a deal closed from Meta appointment funnels.

    ServicesAI Search · Appointment Funnels

    What impressed us most was their deep specialization with software development companies.

    — Partner, Baytech Consulting
  • #1AI recommendation in one month

    Opsworks

    DevOps company · 1 month
    • Recommended by major LLMs
    • 1 commercial keyword

    Positioned for an important commercial keyword and recommended by the major AI assistants within a single month.

    ServicesAI Search · AEO/GEO

  • 6 SQLsin year one, from scratch

    HBM

    B2B tech company · 1 year
    • 75 leads
    • 22 MQLs

    Took over marketing as their agency after an unsuccessful in-house run — GTM strategy, paid funnels, AI search, and LinkedIn delivered 75 leads and the first qualified pipeline.

    ServicesFractional CMO · GTM Strategy · Appointment Funnels · AI Search

  • 3 opportunitiesin two months from ABM

    Riseapps

    Healthcare software company · 2 months
    • 13 ICP calls
    • 2-month sprint

    A targeted ABM campaign booked 13 conversations with ICP accounts and opened three opportunities in two months.

    ServicesABM

  • $34per booked intro call

    Gointeger

    Shopify development agency
    • Positioning + website
    • Booked-call funnel

    Repositioned the agency, revamped the site, and built appointment funnels that booked qualified intro calls at just $34 each.

    ServicesAppointment Funnels · Positioning · Website

  • $123per qualified ICP call

    Omisoft

    Software development company
    • 76 leads
    • 34 appointments

    A custom AI-assistant paid funnel produced 76 leads and 34 booked appointments at $123 per call with an ICP.

    ServicesAppointment Funnels · Meta Ads

  • 2 dealsfrom $42 leads

    Rizz Group

    AI video production company
    • $42.34 CPL
    • $1,482 spend

    Meta appointment funnels delivered 35 leads at a $42 CPL and closed two deals on modest spend.

    ServicesAppointment Funnels · Meta Ads

  • Your case could be next.

    Browse the full set of SEO and paid outcomes we’ve engineered.

    See all case studies
Client signal

What B2B tech founders and CEOs say

Thanks to XQL Group's efforts, we've seen a 207% increase in web traffic and an improvement in domain rating from 12 to 45. The team has successfully optimized our SEO strategy and gained around 160 backlinks. Overall, they're responsive and thorough in their project management.
Maksym PetrukCEO & Founder, WeSoftYou
Since working with XQL Group, our domain rating has improved from 27 to 44. In addition, we've seen a 15% increase in monthly traffic within nine months. The team completes work on time and within the agreed budget. Moreover, their subject matter expertise is highly impressive.
Kos ChekanovCEO & Founder, Artkai
XQL Group's efforts have resulted in 44 leads from paid campaigns and improved web traffic from Germany by 5x. The team is responsive, quickly surfaces issues, and communicates regularly through chats and virtual meetings. Their expertise and proactiveness have impressed our team.
Yurii KotulaCEO, Intelvision
Organic traffic has increased by 10–15% each month, and we have started receiving our first inbound requests. XQL Group's optimization tips have also helped improve keyword rankings, and internal stakeholders are impressed with the team's collaborative approach.
Anna SenchenkoMarketing Lead, Synebo
XQL Group has successfully defined a clear marketing strategy and established our company's unique value proposition. The team has also helped hire critical specialists for our marketing team. They are communicative and organized, and their expertise in the tech industry is impressive.
Volodymyr H.COO, DBB Software
Thanks to XQL Group's efforts, we have defined our marketing strategy and hired key developers for our website. The team has launched retargeting campaigns on LinkedIn and developed a strong content marketing strategy. XQL Group's marketing expertise is a hallmark of the engagement.
Anna RiabushenkoHead of Marketing, Noltic
They were not just talking about AI search in theory; they knew how to approach it practically.
SolarSparkCEO
What impressed us most was their deep specialization in working with software development companies.
Baytech ConsultingPartner
They've brought structure, strong execution, and constant initiative to improve outcomes.
KitrumLead of Marketing
They operated with the discipline and initiative of an internal senior marketer.
ComputoolsCOO
Their ability to combine strategic vision with hands-on execution was particularly valuable.
Hoverla SoftCEO
Their focus on results and true interest in making things work set them apart.
InoxoftContent Manager
XQL Group's project management was exemplary.
EcrivioHead of Operations
The quality of their work is consistently high.
DataPlumbersFounder
FAQ

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Book a strategy call

The AI keyword auction is priced high and crowded with the wrong clicks, researchers, students, competitors, curious engineers with no budget, so broad bidding funds everyone but your pipeline. It changes when you stop buying category clicks and start buying the specific buyer: high-intent evaluation and comparison queries, named accounts and roles on paid social, and an offer a technical buyer actually accepts. Paired with CRM attribution that judges spend on booked meetings and revenue, paid goes from a flattering cost-per-lead to a channel that produces qualified pipeline, the way it did for Intelvision at 28.88x ROAS.

Because a generic 'demo' asks a skeptical engineer to sit through a sales pitch. What converts is something they actually want and that proves depth: a technical deep-dive, a benchmark or eval against their scenario, an architecture review, or a real trial with guardrails. We design the offer around the buyer's evaluation, build the appointment funnel that books it, and route it to sales fast while intent is hot. The offer is usually the single biggest lever on whether paid produces meetings that progress.

Targeting discipline and the right signals. On search, that means bidding on high-intent evaluation and comparison queries rather than broad category terms, with aggressive negative keywords to exclude research and job-seeker traffic. On paid social, it means targeting named accounts and specific roles in your ICP rather than broad interest audiences. Then we feed CRM outcomes back so the platforms optimize toward qualified pipeline, not the cheap clicks their default automation chases.

Yes, and the message is the job. When the default is a good-enough cloud service already in their bill or a free open-source project, the ads and landing pages have to make the total-cost, reliability, and security case the default quietly loses on, targeted at the moment the buyer is weighing it. We run comparison and switching campaigns that meet the buyer mid-evaluation with that argument, so paid does not just generate demand, it reframes the decision in your favor.

Two ways. Retargeting keeps you present with proof across the months and multiple stakeholders a decision takes, so paid influences deals that close later, not just first clicks. And attribution tracks the full path in your CRM, booked meeting, opportunity, closed, by campaign and account, so a long cycle still reports on pipeline and revenue. Judging paid on cost-per-click in a long-cycle sale is how budgets get wasted; judging it on sourced pipeline is how they get defended.

Paid can book qualified meetings within the first few weeks once targeting, offer, and funnel are live, which is exactly why it is the channel to run while SEO and AI Search compound. We report on booked meetings, pipeline, and ROAS by campaign, account, and offer, tied to your CRM, not cost-per-click. Across our work that discipline has produced a 28.88x ROAS for Intelvision and qualified booked calls at $34 to $123, with the exact numbers depending on your ACV and segment.

Because in a considered technical sale, the win is qualified pipeline, and that takes more than bid management. A PPC specialist optimizes clicks; platform automation optimizes cheap conversions; neither designs the offer a technical buyer accepts, builds the funnel, writes proof-led creative, or ties spend to revenue in your CRM. We run all of it as one system with a sales feedback loop, so paid is judged on booked meetings and closed revenue, run by people who know how AI buyers actually decide.

Ready when you are

Let's talk.

Bring your offer, channels, and revenue goals. We'll show you where the biggest growth constraint is and what to build next.

Danylo FedirkoFounder

For B2B tech companies selling complex expertise to serious buyers.

B2B tech clients
60+
Revenue generated
$30M+
Danylo Fedirko, Founder of XQL Group
Danylo FedirkoFounder, XQL Group
Let’s talk

Book a call with me.

I’m Danylo, founder of XQL. For 9+ years I’ve helped B2B tech companies turn technical expertise into pipeline — 60+ clients and $30M+ in CRM-tracked revenue.

30 minutes, no deck. Bring your offer, channels, and revenue goals — I’ll come with a read on where your biggest growth constraint is and what to build next.

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