B2B advertising campaign: a matter of strategy!

Sep 06 2016 / 3 min

<p>B2B advertising campaign: a matter of strategy!</p>

Today, advertising campaigns are surpassing themselves in quality and innovation. It isn’t easy to stand out to an audience that is much more informed than before. Hence, the importance of creating an advertising campaign that stands out from the ordinary!

How to create an effective advertising strategy?

To develop an advertising strategy, start by asking yourself 5 basic questions:

  1. Do you know your target audience? (Their needs, preferences and buying behaviour)
  2. What are your goals? (They must be measurable and realistic)
  3. What are the best channels to reach your target? (Hence the importance of understanding your audience well and identifying specific goals)
  4. What message will be the most effective? (Focus on the benefits and proof of your added value)
  5. What tools will allow you to measure and adjust your campaign? (In digital marketing, think of KPIs and data collection platforms)

The answers to these questions will allow you to develop an effective advertising strategy that captures the attention of your target audience and generates positive results.

What are the key elements of a B2B advertising strategy?

1. Know your target

First of all, study your target audience and try to gain a good understanding of their needs. Don’t assume you know everything, and don’t take anything for granted. Take the time to define your personas.

Don’t let uncertainty hold you back. If you feel you lack up-to-date information, conduct a study of your potential and current customers. Consumer behaviour is very complex and is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Staying up to date, therefore, becomes a challenge that is essential to overcome in order to ensure the success of your advertising strategy.

2. Set precise goals

Identify what you want to achieve with your advertising, whether it’s increasing your brand awareness, promoting a new product, generating leads or boosting sales. The key to this step is to set clear and realistic goals that you will be able to measure.

Going blindly is a more common mistake than one might think, and it considerably impacts many companies’ marketing strategies. The digital world makes it possible to evaluate the success of campaigns using a host of metrics such as conversion rate, click-through rate or number of impressions. It’s up to your marketing team to choose the ideal combo for your type of strategy!

3. Define key messages

Your advertising message must be clear and attention-grabbing: highlighting to your target the benefits of your services or products will be doubly rewarding. But, please, be creative! Your audience may be corporate, but it is also made up of individuals: they like to have fun and can recognize an original and well-crafted campaign.

4. Choose the right media

The B2B advertising strategy is essentially about hyper-targeting and efficiency. Depending on your target’s habits, it’s better to choose only one or a few highly frequented media.

Can traditional advertising still be considered a relevant approach in 2023?

Yes, if you focus your efforts on specialized media. For example, magazines or journals that are related to your industry and address the same areas of interest as your target audience.

On the other hand, many of these traditional media outlets also offer various complementary online advertising placements, such as:

  • Banner ads on their website
  • Sponsored blog posts
  • Publications on their social networks
  • Email campaigns (newsletters or eblasts)

 

“When carrying out a B2B advertising campaign, whether through traditional media or social networks, always address the individual rather than the group.”

 

Advertising on the web, new opportunities in constant evolution

Online advertising is an exceptionally precise tool for measuring the impact of a campaign and maximizing its return on investment. Target your digital placement and choose strategic keywords for your Google Ads campaign. Is your market outside Canada? Consider including other search engines besides Google in your advertising plan.

Since you have previously defined your personas, you can choose the broadcasting time according to their habits: pay attention to holidays, spring break or the long summer holidays.

What types of advertising campaigns should be prioritized on social media?

Be consistent: use social media that reaches professionals, such as Facebook and especially LinkedIn.

Take the case of Facebook: with its many targeting options and its 2.5 million active adult users per day in Quebec, it represents an essential advertising medium for small businesses and SMEs in the province.

For its part, LinkedIn remains to this day the ideal place to connect with professionals from a wide range of levels and sectors. With its 21.9 million users in Canada as of April 2023, this network is an asset in most B2B advertising strategies.

Looking for new opportunities to reach your target? Perfect timing – our agency knows B2B marketing like no one else! To develop an effective B2B advertising campaign, call on the Bang Marketing team.