With all the different performance marketing channels, B2B decision-makers often cannot see the wood for the trees. Yet choosing the right B2B marketing channels, and above all using them properly, is a significant advantage. In this article we show you how.
Unlike their B2C colleagues, B2B marketers often find it harder to work out where they can meet the various members of the buying centre. In addition, the selection criteria for social ads are usually less detailed than in B2C targeting. But whoever uses the different B2B marketing channels properly can generate new leads and enquiries within a short time, strengthen relationships with business partners and gradually expand their network.
Smart performance marketing is mainly characterised by its modularity: content has to be optimised for each channel to reach the desired persona. But how do you find the relevant B2B marketing channels and use them as effectively as possible?
What makes performance marketing channels so interesting?
The coronavirus crisis turned our business world upside down. While business contacts used to be made and maintained mainly at trade fairs, events and personal meetings, this area shifted almost entirely into the virtual world. But even before the crisis, it was essential to focus more on your customers' needs and make relevant information as easy as possible to access.
For success in B2B marketing, it is central to give your contacts a good customer experience and make information available across different channels.
To give your leads the most important information at the right time, you have to be present on the channels where your leads already are. A customer journey map can help you coordinate the various online and offline touchpoints.
It is central to choose your touchpoints based on your leads' behaviour.
The most important B2B marketing channels at a glance
The choice of performance marketing channels depends on your industry, your company's priorities and the resources available. Companies in marketing, training or software sales, for example, depend far more on social media than companies in mining or aviation.
As a rule of thumb: serve two to four B2B marketing channels thoroughly rather than filling every possible channel half-heartedly.
It is also worth looking at current marketing statistics, which give early hints of new trends and changing user behaviour.
Social media
A strong and loyal community on social media can decide a company's success or failure today. In B2B, channels such as LinkedIn, YouTube or X (formerly Twitter) matter in particular. But social media platforms that at first glance scream B2C can also work well in B2B performance marketing. B2B marketers increasingly use Facebook or Instagram too. Pinterest is on the rise as well: studies show that more than 25% of B2B social media marketers use Pinterest.
By far the most popular performance marketing channel, however, is LinkedIn. The business network had more than 700 million registered users in around 200 countries at the time of writing, active in almost 3 million groups. No wonder 96% of all B2B marketers distribute content on LinkedIn. How to advertise there is covered in our article on LinkedIn Ads.
Besides qualified posts, live events and workshops are becoming increasingly important. These popular and often exclusive online sessions are not classic product presentations but training sessions, seminars and moderated discussions that offer business partners and prospects real value.
SEO
Traditional search engine optimisation tries to improve your ranking in search engines. More than 50% of B2B visitors find a website through organic search results. Paid ads, by contrast, only bring 5 to 10% of users to the advertised website.
For effective B2B performance marketing, keywords that match industry standards or are common in the industry should be integrated skilfully into digital content. That applies not only to blog posts but also to display marketing, newsletters and your own website.
SEA
The heavy use of smartphones and tablets makes it necessary to optimise paid ads for mobile devices. Check whether your campaigns on LinkedIn or Google perform well on Android and iOS and leave a positive impression. Above all, it is important to make the right people aware of you at the right time, again and again, especially when they are not actively searching for you. To achieve that, use the right format (display ads, text ads, discovery ads and so on).
Display marketing
More than 30% of all B2B marketers use display ads to increase their brand's visibility and awareness. When designing ads, optimise the content for B2B decision-makers and choose keywords relevant to the desired persona. Studies show that more than 90% of internet users worldwide use Google. With the buyer journey in mind, a successful B2B campaign should therefore not focus exclusively on LinkedIn but also include the Google Display Network.
Content marketing
Well-thought-out content marketing lets you attract the attention of business partners and prospects. As in B2C marketing, the aim is to produce high-quality content that solves a visitor's problem or contains industry-relevant information. Studies show that more than 40% of B2B buyers read at least three to five pieces of content before contacting a company. How content and paid channels reinforce each other is shown in our article on content and performance marketing.
Interviews with journalists or industry insiders and collaborations with relevant industry bloggers can increase visibility and help establish you as an expert in your industry. It is also worth combining classic posts with podcasts or videos.
For the greatest possible success, give your posts the right keywords and promote them on the top B2B marketing channels.
B2B performance marketing is sustainable marketing
First-class B2B performance marketing increases reach, improves reputation and leads to more deals.
To succeed, however, B2B channel marketing has to be planned, managed and executed consistently.
Only those who give B2B performance marketing a central place in the company and keep the necessary channels supplied with interesting content will be able to expand their network continuously and make the most of new leads.
Our virtual world is highly agile, so new trends have to be integrated into your campaigns quickly and professionally. For example, the rate of live events and seminars on LinkedIn rose by almost 90% during the coronavirus crisis, and the number of industry-specific podcasts is picking up speed rapidly [source].
Conclusion
Modern B2B performance marketing is an important part of today's global business world. Whoever builds a strong presence in the virtual world can make full use of digitisation and build a worldwide network of strong partners and loyal customers. The basic requirement, however, is targeted B2B channel marketing that identifies the necessary performance channels and regularly supplies them with high-quality campaigns tailored to the target group.
