I've never seen anyone in any of the AdWords related books mention this, though I have been using this technique for a few weeks now (Shhhhhhh, I might be onto something.)
Go to Google and do a search for:
"broadband provider" "tennessee"
"broadband provider tennessee"
The latter get
ZERO results though the former gets
1770 results. Therefore you can conclude that AdWords will also treat them differently.
"broadband provider tennessee" -- the search results here MUST include the keywords phrase as stated in it's entirety.
"broadband provider" "tennessee" -- this method it far more targeted. The keyword phrase "broadband provider" (my primary phrase) mush exist intact as stated. However the keyword "tennessee" can exits ANYWHERE in the search string, but MUST still be present none the less.
With the above mentioned example it becomes clear that you can target your primary keyword phrase but sill create an even more targeted search string because of the inclusion of the third word.
Your #1 goals is to try target keywords and phrases that a HUMAN would input into Google. Good Keywords / Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool all do a CRAP job of displaying human phrases. As a guideline its great, but do not use the Overture tool verbatim... cause that's where the skill comes in
Remember...
shhhhh! This is our secret here at SSWT, OK!