Mike Isaacson – Senior Account Executive
With new advertising media popping up constantly across the digital landscape and print remaining a solid presence for B2B marketers, the options for available advertising platforms can seem overwhelming. A good advertising plan incorporates elements from several different channels, but how and when should each be utilized?
To answer this question, businesses can work with their agency to identify how much priority needs to be placed on various parts of the sales process to drive awareness, build interest, encourage evaluation or activate decisions. While several advertising methods can fit each need, some match up better with certain phases than others, and supporting each of these steps with the right medium will solidify branding, grow impressions and ultimately, generate leads.
Awareness: Print
When looking to establish your brand presence, trade publications offer the specific audience you are trying to reach and the physical space needed to deliver your key points. The media relations department within an agency needs to pay close attention to the readership of a potential advertising partner to reach the decision makers the client plans to target.
Reputable publications will be able to provide a detailed audience summary. Using this resource, the agency and the client can work together to review the facts and determine which ones are worth the advertising investment and the right message to influence the publication’s audience.
Interest: Eblasts
Once awareness is established, eblasts can be used for more personalized email prospecting. Many publishing groups offer options to contact their readers via email, including spaces in newsletters or sponsored eblasts. The contact lists they provide for these campaigns can usually be broken down by job role, geography or several other demographics for an even more targeted advertising strategy. There are also other services available to find contact information and build your own contact lists.
Eblasts are a much more personal form of advertisement, delivering content directly to someone’s inbox. This allows the business to make a connection with potential buyers and expand on the points established in the awareness phase. Within the email design, clients can also direct interested leads to valuable resources, such as blog posts, infographics, case studies and ebooks, with a link to a landing page.
Evaluation: Videos
Most B2B purchases are made at a larger cost than B2C purchases, making the stakes for potential customers much higher. B2B consumers cannot make buying decisions on a whim and need to be highly informed about your products or services’ specs and differentiators.
To help inform their audience, businesses should be well-stocked with a variety of resources that can be reviewed to help the purchasing process. One highly adaptable medium to use in this stage is video. Videos are easily viewable and can be shared on a variety of digital platforms including social media, emails, websites, paid ads and more. Content is both audible and visual to provide a multi-sensory experience and efficiently communicate your information for customers to evaluate.
Decisions: In-Person Demos
Even with all the information in front of them, a customer may still not be fully confident in your ability to enhance their business and provide a solid ROI. Offering an in-person demonstration with a sales representative builds confidence by allowing leads on the verge of committing to see what you offer in action.
Your agency can work with you and your sales team to develop a checklist of features to cover during the demo and create flyers, product books and other deliverables for a more polished presentation. This also allows reps to leave physical copies of those sales resources with the lead, which has proven to positively impact their final decision. If done correctly, this phase of the process should be your strongest – leaving a positive, lasting final impression.
Every advertising plan is going to look different with these tactics and a variety of other options available to express your brand in the best way possible. Clients can work with their agency to research and analyze the target audiences, build messaging and develop a well-rounded advertising strategy that advances the brand’s position.