Digital B2B advertising: the 4 key media to test to perform

Search engine optimization, Inbound marketing, organic presence on social media: there is no shortage of levers to make your company visible.

But are you sure you're investing in the right B2B advertising channels to boost your marketing strategy?

To help you in this task, our experts will help you understand the four media that allow you to get the most results from the B2B advertising strategies at your disposal. Use them without moderation!

Media #1: Search Engine Advertising (SEA)

What B2B company doesn't wish to see its website positioned in the first results of search engines, on queries that its prospects type? This is the main purpose of Search Engine Advertising (SEA): positioning advertisements in Google results, via the Google Ads network.

‍To deploy a successful SEA strategy, you will have to select several types of keywords to target, by structuring your Google Ads account in a relevant way.

Make sure you position your brand on: 

• Generic keywords, frequently searched by your potential customers
• Keywords related to your competitors, to counter them 
• Keywords related to your products or services
• Keywords related to your brand, to control your brand image with a defensive strategy

Also be careful to optimize the technical pillar of your website! It must in fact be fast and secure enough to meet the requirements of search engines.

Don't hesitate to use Google's automated advertising tools such as Dynamic Search Ads and Responsive Search Ads. Thanks to these smart systems, you will achieve more performance while controlling your advertising budget.

To go deeper into the subject, discover the 7 mistakes not to make in SEA, along with the best practices you should know.

Media #2: Display advertising

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Display is the distribution of banner ads on affinity sites. Far from being obsolete, this rather old format performs particularly well in B2B advertising. 

One of the keys to a successful Display advertising strategy? Use the different formats that work best in B2B, namely:  

• Wrapping or interstitial
• IAB banners
• Native ads

In order to hit your target audience, you can use different targeting techniques. 

On the one hand, semantic targeting, based on the lexical field of a web page, helps you reach the audience of the website in question in a context adapted to your goals. On the other hand, keyword/audio targeting allows you to target users' interests precisely and in real time, thanks to a semantic intelligence tool that allows you to listen to and understand video content.

Warning: if you rely on data providers, make sure they help you reach the right target audience.

Don't hesitate either to set up a DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization) to optimize your ads in real time, and make them even more relevant. This tool will automatically adjust your Display banners according to the user's profile.

Media #3: LinkedIn and its multiple formats

LinkedIn is the ideal social network to generate leads, both in organic and paid formats. It is therefore an ideal platform to launch your B2B advertising campaigns!

On it, go for both classic and effective formats, such as Single Image Ads, Video Ads, Carousel Ads or Event Ads, and for innovative and personalized formats.

For instance, Dynamic Ads are one of the must-try ad formats on LinkedIn. These are  personalized ads tailored to each member based on their LinkedIn Profile data, such as profile picture, company name or job title. 

Try out if you can:

• Follower Ads, to give more visibility to your organic publications
• Spotlight Ads, to drive traffic to your website
• Jobs Ads, to promote your job offers on a larger scale
• Lead Gen forms, to generate leads easily on the platform

As for targeting, on LinkedIn, you can proceed according to different criteria: 

• Position
• Type of company 
• Areas of interest 
• Demographic data

Moreover, lookalike targeting is particularly interesting: it allows you to target an audience according to the target profile you already have in your own database. Smart!

To dig deeper into the subject, check out our article on LinkedIn Ads right now.

Media #4: DOOH (Digital Out Of Home)

If you haven't yet considered launching a Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) advertising campaign, you're missing out on a media that is particularly beneficial to B2B advertisers. Simply put, it's the delivery of real-time ads to professionals directly at their place of work, on digital screens.

The great advantage of this format is the ability to target the screens on which your campaigns are displayed, based on the specific industry and type of business you want. You can also create custom audience segments by geo-targeting specific areas (e.g. business centers).

To learn more about this ad format, find out everything you need for successful DOOH campaigns.

“If there is one challenge in B2B digital advertising, it is to reach targets in their professional environment. To do this, there are dedicated advertising formats that allow you to spend the right budget, for an optimal ROI. Good news: these formats also allow you to stand out from the competition by using attractive creations. This will attract more prospects to you, and therefore, more additional sales!” Lauriane Ducos, Sales Industry Manager, Gamned!

4 expert tips to really perform in B2B advertising

Don't embark on your next B2B advertising campaign without these four best practices! 

To ensure an optimal ROI for your campaigns, make sure you : 

• Have well designed your persona or Ideal Customer Profiles, to be able to base yourself on the typical profile of the core audience to target.
• Select the targeting method that allows you to expose your media to your core target: this is the key to a successful B2B advertising campaign.
• Schedule your campaigns according to the maturity of your prospects and their location in your marketing funnel. The hotter your targets are, the more you will be able to address them by retargeting and offer them media that describe your products.

• Dare to innovate! In the format or in the key message, or even in the channel (by investing a small budget on Facebook Ads to see if it works, for example), innovation in B2B advertising is a guarantee of success. Without jeopardizing your company's professionalism, you can even use a touch of humor or audacity if your brand image allows it. This allows you to stand out from the competition.

Need to launch your B2B advertising campaigns, or optimize your current advertising setup? Contact a Gamned! expert now, and aim for optimal performance in your upcoming campaigns.