Today’s business-to-business (B2B) purchase journey is complex.
B2B buyers are increasingly emulating the behaviors of their individual consumers selves. Most are initiating their path-to-purchase online (61%), requiring both random access to content and personalized experiences across multiple touchpoints. As a result, business consumers are engaging with salespeople later in the sales cycle as they self-educate though their preferred channels.
So, how do you target an audience who is insistent upon going on their purchase journey on their own, yet expects a seamless omnichannel experience?
Engage your target audience and drive content performance with relevant creative
If 71% of B2B customers demand a more business-to-consumer (B2C) experience, integrating creative content that speaks specifically to an individual’s interest is going to enhance overall performance.
Today’s buyers are all too ready to dismiss the traditional stale marketing techniques. Delivering hyper-relative native or sponsored content will engage and inform your audience as they traverse the path to purchase on their own. Additionally, appropriately aligned and custom creative is an integral part of creating a sustainable and recognizable brand image, that is crucial to any effort that helps grow market share and win new clients.
Drive efficiency by negotiating Private Marketplace deals
Identify key publishers that are engaging your target audience. This can be done by leveraging user-friendly professional audience insight tools. After identifying these sources, negotiate private marketplace (PMP) deals. This pre-negotiation allows agencies and brands to capitalize on efficiencies for name-brand publishers and niche publications that may not have been previously apparent. PMP deals also give buyers the opportunity to increase share-of-voice and better maintain a healthy ad frequency amongst their target audience
Utilize GDPR compliant third-party data
The arrival of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means that business marketers need to reevaluate their current third-party data practices before planning and buying media. Third-party data may no longer be viable. This low hanging fruit from the poisonous tree has gotten several corporations in hot water, even after a year of GDPR being on the books, resulting in multi-million dollar fines. In an effort to sustain GDPR compliance, brands should consider working with data agnostic brands that provide regional flexibility with products that are built to be interoperable and leverage best-in-class regionally compliant data sources. Contextual data tied to professional audiences do not include personally identifiable information (PII). They do allow for precision targeting in a new way. By levering tools like Professional Audiences, a tool within Omni, brands not only protect themselves against hefty fines but also derive actionable insights into B2B consumers who are already notoriously protective of their data.
Takeaways
The B2B consumer journey is both longer than a traditional sales cycle and involves a significant amount of self-education. Furthermore, with international regulation and a tech-savvy target audience, traditional cookie targeting is increasingly difficult. The ability to tap into contextual data and surface insights about specific professional groups, their interests, and online behaviors can be incredibly important to executing a successful campaign and increasing efficiency. These three tips will help you create and execute a more successful campaign.
- Increase the effectiveness of your campaign by aligning vertically specific creative with high-performing content
- Drive efficiency by striking direct or PMP deals on content that’s been identified as crucial for your audience
- Create a global strategy by leveraging data and tools that maintain GDPR compliance