In the constantly evolving business world, especially in the business-to-business (B2B) space, the importance of an effective advertising strategy cannot be underestimated. Companies operating in a B2B environment face unique challenges when trying to build strong connections with other companies.
In this context, advertising and campaigns designed specifically for other businesses play a key role in creating brand awareness, building strong relationships and stimulating business growth.
Marketers are not only expected to communicate the benefits of their products and services, but also how they can improve the operations and results of those companies that the campaign is aimed at.
The purpose of this article is to shed light on the advertising strategies and campaigns that actually achieved this in the B2B world. Through our explanations and concrete examples, you'll gain a full understanding of how to expand marketing efforts to reach new heights of business collaboration and sustained success.
B2B advertising refers to marketing strategies and activities specifically aimed at other companies, as opposed to advertising aimed at end consumers. B2B stands for “Business-to-Business” or “Business to Business”.
B2B advertising focuses on promoting products, services and solutions that are relevant to the needs and objectives of other businesses. Unlike advertising aimed at consumers, where the personal and emotional benefits of products stand out, B2B advertising emphasizes how your offering can help improve the efficiency, productivity, or operational performance of others.
Some of the things that characterize this type of advertising are:
The benefits offered by B2B advertising are because it is designed to address the needs and dynamics intrinsic to business transactions. By providing personalized solutions, data-driven approaches, and the ability to establish long-term relationships, this type of advertising is critically important to success. Some of these benefits include:
As practice makes perfect and most of us learn better by seeing clear and real work rather than reading theory and rules, here are 20 examples of successful B2B campaigns carried out by large companies:
IBM promoted its artificial intelligence platform, Watson, through impactful announcements that demonstrated its ability to transform large amounts of data into valuable information for companies. The ads showed how Watson could analyze patterns and trends, allowing companies to make informed decisions and improve their operational efficiency. IBM highlighted how its AI could “learn” as more information was provided to it, allowing it to evolve and provide increasingly accurate knowledge.
Salesforce promotes its suite of CRM solutions with advertisements that emphasize the importance of understanding customers deeply. The ads showed how Salesforce's “Customer 360" platform allowed companies to collect and centralize customer data from a variety of sources, providing a comprehensive view of each customer. This information allowed companies to offer personalized service and improve their business relationships, since they could anticipate the needs and preferences of their customers.
Cisco communicated its vision of a highly connected world with announcements that highlighted how its advanced network solutions were the “bridge to the possible”. The campaign showed how Cisco technology connected people, data and devices securely and efficiently. This brand highlighted how this connectivity created opportunities for innovation, collaboration and efficiency in business operations.
GE presented its innovation in industrial technology through advertising that highlighted how its solutions could address complex challenges in a variety of industries. The promotions illustrated how GE was involved in everything from power generation to healthcare, and how its technological advances helped solve critical business problems. This created the perception that GE was not only developing products, but was also working to make companies work more effectively.
Adobe promotes its digital marketing suite by emphasizing how companies could provide exceptional experiences to their customers. They sought to communicate how Adobe Experience Cloud allowed companies to personalize content and deliver relevant messages at every stage of the customer cycle. They also highlighted Adobe's advanced analytics capability to measure and optimize the impact of marketing strategies.
MailChimp focused on small businesses with ads that highlight how MailChimp offers tools for email marketing, campaign automation, and data analysis, all in one place. The simplicity and efficiency of the platform are emphasized, making it especially attractive to smaller companies.
Dropbox Business wanted to focus on business collaboration with announcements that highlighted how its tools allowed teams to work more efficiently. It showed how Dropbox Business allowed access and collaboration on documents from anywhere, improving productivity and communication between team members. The central idea was that by working better together, companies could achieve more in less time.
Google Cloud focused its B2B advertising on showing how its cloud service offering boosted business innovation. Google highlighted Google Cloud's ability to provide scalable data storage, processing and analysis, allowing companies to make the most of technological resources. This campaign showed concrete examples of how companies could increase their efficiency and competitiveness by taking advantage of Google Cloud solutions.
Oracle promotes its enterprise cloud platform with announcements that highlight the scalability, security, and flexibility of its offering. The campaign highlighted how Oracle Cloud provides complete solutions for companies of all sizes, from startups to large corporations. They achieved this by presenting success stories that spoke of how companies could improve their operations and the delivery of services through the Oracle cloud platform.
AWS directed its B2B advertising to startups and startups through its “AWS Activate” program. What they did was highlight how the AWS cloud platform could provide essential resources for business growth, including storage, computing, and analytics services. To communicate all this, they decided to share success stories of startups that had managed to expand and scale their operations thanks to AWS resources and infrastructure.
LinkedIn focuses their B2B advertising with advertisements that highlight how companies can use their platform to target specific professionals and create valuable connections for business growth. Highlighting segmentation capabilities and the possibility of creating relevant content for business audiences, they attract those businesses seeking expansion through business partners.
HubSpot excelled in the field of inbound marketing with advertisements that demonstrated how its platform allowed companies to attract, convert and delight customers through content and automation strategies. The campaign showed how companies could create valuable content that appealed to potential customers and then nurture those relationships as they went through the buying process. The ads highlighted HubSpot's ability to centralize and automate these strategies.
Microsoft Azure promotes its cloud services designed specifically for companies, which emphasized security, flexibility and the ability to scale according to business needs. To share it, they showed how companies could migrate their applications and data to the Azure cloud to improve operational efficiency and enable innovation. The announcements presented examples of companies that had managed to improve their processes and services through the Microsoft platform.
SAP promotes its business software company with the slogan “Run Simple”. The event demonstrated how SAP solutions simplify business processes and decision-making. The panels demonstrated how companies can use SAP systems to better manage various aspects of their operations, from financial management to acquisitions. The campaign created the impression that SAP was making business complexity more effective and efficient.
AT&T Business focused on emphasizing the importance of business communication in the digital world. The announcement showed how AT&T technology and communications services can help companies stay connected and operate in a constantly changing environment, and highlighted its end-to-end solutions, from mobile connectivity to cloud and security, ensuring that companies can face digital challenges and trust.
Hootsuite launched its social media management system with an announcement showing how it helps companies effectively manage their online presence. The campaign showed how Hootsuite allows companies to plan and send content to multiple social media platforms, track performance and measure the effectiveness of their marketing strategies, in other words, Hootsuite simplifies the management of the online presence of those companies that seek to connect with their social audience.
Square targeted small businesses with ads that highlight how its payment and point-of-sale platform simplifies financial operations. Their campaign showed how Square facilitates transactions and allows businesses to accept payments quickly and securely. In addition, it highlighted how Square offers additional tools, such as sales analysis and inventory tracking, to help small businesses grow and manage their financial operations more efficiently.
Cisco Webex highlighted its business collaboration tools through announcements that illustrated how its platform simplifies online meetings and collaboration. The campaign emphasizes how Webex empowers companies to conduct video conferences, share documents and collaborate in real time, without being limited by the geographical location of the participants, its central focus was on how Cisco Webex optimizes communication and collaboration in a diverse and distributed business environment
Through announcements, Siemens highlighted its dedication to innovation and sustainability, demonstrating how its cutting-edge technologies generate benefits both for companies and for the world as a whole. The campaign highlighted Siemens' focus on developing technological solutions that optimize efficiency, productivity and sustainability in business operations. In addition to focusing on business benefits, the campaign conveyed the message that Siemens innovations play a crucial role in effectively addressing global challenges.
Shopify focused its campaign on communicating how its platform empowers companies to create and manage online stores efficiently. This campaign illustrated how Shopify simplifies the entire process of establishing an e-commerce presence, from initial store configuration to product management and payment processing. Shopify sought to let companies that were starting to sell online know that they could assist them to capitalize on the growth of commerce and expand their reach to a global audience.
Until now, it has become very clear that B2B advertising is a fundamental tool for any company that wants to reach other companies and organizations. However, creating an effective advertising campaign in the business environment can be a challenge. In this section, we'll present some practical tips to help you create effective B2B campaigns that allow you to effectively reach your target audience and achieve your marketing objectives.
It is essential to know who the campaign is aimed at and what their needs and desires are. In addition, it is important to research the competition and the market to identify opportunities and threats.
The value proposition is what sets a company apart from the competition and why customers should choose. It's important to develop a clear and compelling proposal that speaks directly to the needs and wants of the audience.
Every company has unique needs and wants, so it's important to customize campaign messages and content to fit each potential customer.
It's vital to measure and analyze the results of the campaign to determine what's working, what's not, and to adjust the strategy to improve results in the future.
Staying up to date on industry trends and best marketing practices will allow your company to remain relevant and competitive in the market.
Establishing clear and specific objectives for the campaign means that they must be measurable and realistic, in addition to being aligned with the company's objectives.
The selection of channels will depend on the audience and the objectives of the campaign. For example, if the audience is mostly on LinkedIn, then that social network may be the most suitable channel for the campaign.
Content is at the heart of any marketing campaign. It's important to create quality content that's relevant and valuable to the audience, whether it's blog posts, videos, infographics, and more.
It is important to promote audience interaction and engagement with the brand and the campaign so that the algorithm of the platform you use understands that what you promote likes and promotes it more. This can be achieved by creating surveys, contests, sweepstakes, and more.
Finally, it is essential to offer an exceptional customer experience at all stages of the purchasing process, from excellent customer service, to an easy and simple shopping experience, and more.
Each of the platforms that I will discuss below has its specific approach and advantages, and choosing the most suitable for your B2B strategy will depend on your target audience, objectives and available resources, since all of them offer effective tools to reach B2B audiences and promote your products and/or services. Having clarified this, let's move on to talking about platforms:
LinkedIn is a professional social network that offers an ideal environment for B2B advertising. With more than 700 million users worldwide, LinkedIn allows for precise segmentation based on employment and demographic criteria. Its ad formats such as text ads, video ads and sponsored content allow you to present your offer in a relevant way to professionals and companies, maximizing impact. In Insurgente, the LinkedIn ads agency we are specialists in B2B marketing, using LinkedIn for companies and thus, maximize the results of our clients. In addition to advertising platforms, we offer content creation, email marketing and retargeting services. All this with the objective of helping companies to reach their target audience and generate quality leads that can become loyal customers. At Insurgente we have a lot of specialization, we have a highly specialized team in different areas of marketing, we offer many services such as, b2b consulting, we also have countless success stories and we believe in the importance of transparency, which is why we always keep our customers informed.
Google Ads is a comprehensive advertising platform that encompasses search, display and video ads. Search ads are activated when companies search for keywords related to your industry, ensuring that your products or services are displayed at relevant times. Display ads appear on related websites, and video ads allow you to present your message in an attractive way on YouTube and other affiliated sites.
Although popularly associated with B2C advertising, Facebook also has a space for B2B. Its segmentation allows you to reach professionals and companies based on their work information and interests. You can target your ads to professionals in key positions and effectively present your business solutions to them.
Twitter is especially useful for lead generation and real-time marketing. Promoted ads and sponsored tweets allow you to reach professionals and companies interested in your products or services. The hashtag platform also allows you to participate in relevant conversations and increase the visibility of your brand.
For products or services that require visual explanations, YouTube ads are ideal. You can create video ads that fit the length and tone you prefer, and segment them based on demographics and online behavior. This allows you to reach professionals looking for video solutions.
Bing Ads is an alternative to Google Ads that may be relevant to certain B2B audiences. While the reach is smaller than Google's, it may be more effective in certain industries and regions. Similar to Google Ads, Bing Ads allows you to show ads in the search results of Bing and other affiliate engines.
Quora is a question and answer platform that attracts professionals looking for relevant information. Quora ads allow you to target them along with questions related to your industry, so you can demonstrate your expertise and present solutions to an interested audience.
Advertising in industry publications is an effective way to reach highly specialized audiences. These publications attract professionals who are looking for information and news in their respective fields, in other words, you can capture the attention of an audience that is already interested in your industry.
Platforms like Outbrain and Taboola allow you to promote useful and relevant content on external websites. When companies read articles or content related to your industry, they may encounter your sponsored content.
Email remains an effective tool for reaching both professionals and companies. Platforms such as MailChimp, HubSpot and Salesforce Marketing Cloud offer options to segment your mailing lists and send personalized emails, thus being able to offer relevant content and promote your products or services directly to your audience's inbox.
Retargeting allows you to show ads to people who have previously visited your website. This is valuable for maintaining the visibility of your brand in the minds of previous visitors and encouraging conversion. There are platforms like AdRoll that allow you to implement very effective retargeting strategies, in an intuitive way.
Live video platforms like Zoom and Webex are ideal for webinars and events you want to do live. They allow you to interact in real time with professionals interested in your industry. In webinars you can present your experience, products or services to an engaged audience, and thus facilitate lead generation and market education.
In conclusion, B2B advertising is an essential tool for any company that wants to reach out to other companies and organizations to expand horizons. It's important to consider the specific objectives of the campaign, the right marketing channels, and the creation of a compelling message that speaks directly to the needs and desires of the audience. Every company has unique needs and desires, so it's essential to adapt the advertising strategy to the specific needs of each one. Clearly, you don't have to do everything you as a company, there are professional solutions if you are looking to increase B2B leads or improve your B2B campaigns. Companies specialized in marketing, such as we are at Insurgente, can become your best allies when it comes to achieving success. Remember, your success is our success.
Keep reading: How to generate b2b leads on LinkedIn
Es una destacada especialista en generación de leads B2B, con una formación en Administración de Empresas que complementa su experiencia en el área comercial. Posee un punto de vista muy estratégico, desarrollando campañas efectivas para atraer prospectos altamente calificados. Comparte sus conocimientos y estrategias para el éxito en ventas empresariales.
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