rsifying B2B Paid Media Portfolio: When is it a good idea? //

Economic Headwinds today make it tempting to try new advertising platforms, discover “shiny” products and revise original B2B Marketing Strategy.

Even for the most conservative or risk-averse marketers, attempting something new can be daunting. Consider these key factors before you expand your B2B business portfolio.

How to assess your readiness for change

B2B marketing is conservative, and for good reason.

Most ad-platforms are designed to support B2C and DTC campaigns.

B2B marketing is different because of its complex sales cycle and unique target audience. It requires platforms and strategies that are specifically tailored to meet its needs.

The majority of B2B firms also spend more money on traditional marketing than they do on digital advertising (for example, magazines, radio, broadcast television, street furniture and so forth).

You will have a hard time getting your company to move away from “tried and true” methods if you’re in a traditional business.

Two questions you can ask to determine if it is time for your business to consider change and diversification are:

• Do you meet our business goals currently?
  • It is important to change marketing tactics if the current approach does not produce the desired results.
• Are you satisfied with the work done by your marketing team?
  • This question is a sign of a misalignment between marketing activities and expectations or requirements from the sales team. This misalignment may hinder the generation and performance of sales leads.

A statement is the third “question”.

Imagine that sales tells you, “We need to increase our leads.” The only response is “Let’s keep increasing the budget.”

The company should evaluate its current sales strategies and look for ways to diversify to better support the goals.

Start with your audience

Marketers must first recognize the need for change. Then, they must identify their target audience. Understanding:

• What they do during and after office hours.
• What type of content resonates with your audience?
• The position of the funnel in marketing.

Recognize that while tools and publications can provide insight into specific user engagement online, not everyone has access.

Uploading an email list onto the advertising platforms is a cost-effective and simple way to find out if your audience is present on sites like Reddit, LinkedIn or other major platforms.

This will allow you to compare the match rates and see if your ideal persona matches the users of those platforms.

Installing the free advertising pixel from the ad-platform you’re considering on your site and waiting for audiences to populate is another option.

You can get a better understanding of your audience by monitoring traffic and engagement.

Implementing two triggers to assess total website traffic versus lead forms can be helpful in cases where you observe a large amount of low quality traffic on your site.

You can estimate how many spammy leads or unqualified leads you will receive by placing a trigger on your site and another one specifically on confirmation pages.

Even with limited resources, you can still gain valuable insight into your target audience’s online presence, engagement and lead quality.

These data can be used to guide marketing efforts and inform decision making.

Designing the best test and measurement plan

In B2B Marketing, designing the right test-and-measurement plan requires a systematic approach in order to achieve accurate evaluation and actionable insight.

Identify the outcomes you want to achieve or the insights that will help you define your test objectives. You could include:

• Lead generation can be improved.
• Optimizing conversion rates.
• Assessment of the effectiveness of new marketing channels.

Next, determine key metrics that are aligned with your goals (i.e. click-through rate, conversion rate, cost per lead or ROI), to provide benchmarks and actionable insights for measuring the success of the test.

During implementation, it is important to monitor and measure continuously. Track the test performance in real-time and collect relevant information.

Many tests are stopped because they do not produce many leads. Not all ecommerce platforms are designed to generate sales or leads.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that the user is a failure if they are not ready to sell.

This simply means you need to re-engage the user and take them on the next stage of the B2B buyer’s journey.

Adopting a culture that values innovation

The B2B marketing industry will have a pivotal decade in the coming years. Success or failure will depend on their ability adapt to an environment that is rapidly changing.

Some will be successful by challenging themselves to embrace innovation while others could falter if they are resistant to this constant change.

B2B traffic on mobile devices is expected to surpass desktop traffic.

This brings up an important question: Are your website and funnel prepared to handle mobile traffic?

Privacy regulations also shape the use of data about customers. You should have a plan B in place in case unexpected changes to compliance force you to stop using your customer list.

A separate budget for testing is important.

Do you regularly use this budget for the same marketing strategy or are you constantly experimenting with new tactics?

B2B marketing must keep up with the changing landscape.

Success in this dynamic environment will be determined by adapting to mobile trends, addressing concerns about privacy, and adopting a culture that embraces testing and innovation.

Marketers can capitalize on growth opportunities by proactively addressing the challenges.

Pearl Zhu said, “Diversification can be a good component, and in some cases a great way to start creating value.”

The B2B market is evolving faster than ever before. If we don’t diversify, when it makes sense to do so, we will not be able beat our competition or achieve our goals.

The post Diversifying Your B2B Paid Media Portfolio: When Does It Make Sense? first appeared on Search Engineland.