Calling all B2B marketers: Here’s why paid media is an investment worth making
Paid, shared, earned and owned media are the gears of every well-oiled B2B marketing and PR machine. While the balance might shift depending on the campaign, it’s often a combination of all four that drives success.
Yet many B2B marketers remain cautious about investing in paid media. According to a Nielsen report, the biggest driver of paid media ROI is the level of investment – i.e, a certain amount of investment is required to see results.
However, only 50% of marketers are spending enough. Why is this?
The Law of Double Jeopardy
The ‘Law of Double Jeopardy,’ first identified by McPhee in 1963 and later developed by Ehrenberg in 1972 and 1988, suggests that larger brands naturally achieve better ROI and lower Cost Per Action (CPA) due to their size. This makes it trickier for smaller brands to break through, meaning they need to spend more to gain that extra visibility.
This challenge also opens up a unique opportunity for these brands, however: by focusing on highly targeted strategies, they can reach their audiences with ease and precision.
And it all begins with paid media investment. Here’s five ways it could transform your next campaign.
Reach relevant, new or niche audiences
For B2B marketers, it can be especially challenging to get your brand in front of the right audience using organic methods alone. By investing in paid ads, you can directly target key decision-makers and buying committees, drive more traffic to your desired destinations and ultimately increase your revenue.
Plus, you’ll also unlock broader top of funnel activity, providing a critical edge for maintaining business growth and supporting B2B sales cycles.
Achieve multi-channel engagement
Paid media allows you to run campaigns across email, social media, search, display, and more all at once. The more channels you use, the better your campaign’s performance; research shows that while single-channel campaigns typically achieve a 5.4% engagement rate, those utilising three or more channels could see engagement rates soar as high as 18.96%.
Finding the right channel mix can be tricky. Recent shifts in online behaviour mean audiences now expect seamless, multi-platform experiences that cater to their every need. Our top tip for selecting the right channels? Align with your overall business objectives – and maintain a balanced approach. Focusing solely on lower-funnel activities might lead to short-term wins, but it could hinder your long-term growth and effectiveness.
As marketing experts Binet and Field discuss in The Long and the Short of It, it’s crucial to balance brand-building with performance marketing. Emotional advertising drives long-term brand growth, while rational, informative messages are often more effective for short-term results. The ‘killer combination’ is to use both approaches in your strategy, and paid media offers this versatility.
Track and measure ad effectiveness
Another major advantage of paid media is its ability to track and measure the effectiveness of your ads, helping you to identify which channels, audiences, placements, creatives and tactics are working best.
This creates opportunities for campaign optimisation by letting you focus on the channels your audience engages with most and providing insights into which messaging resonates, helping you refine your next campaign.
Measurement has long been a hot topic in paid media, especially with the current uncertainty around cookies raising questions about tracking accuracy and data reliability. Despite these challenges, we at TTT remain confident in our ability to measure ROI and the effectiveness of our paid media spend – and you should, too.
Boost conversions with retargeting
Buyers are far more likely to commit to your brand when they are served a second round of ads after initially showing interest.
Fortunately, paid media makes this process easy, allowing you to seamlessly re-engage prospects with tailored messaging. Given the well-known 95-5 rule, which suggests that only around 5% of B2B buyers are in the market at any given time, it’s crucial to remind users of your brand and focus on building a relationship over time.
Scale campaigns for maximum growth
Whether you want to increase your reach, your number of leads or adapt to changing market conditions, paid media provides the flexibility to adjust your budget and scale your campaigns up (or down) as needed. This ensures your campaign is always aligned with both your business goals and broader market dynamics.
Unlock your paid media potential
In the B2B world, reaching the right audience at the right time is crucial. By leveraging the versatility, precision and measurable impact of paid media, businesses can maximise their ROI and gain a strategic edge in the market.
So, if you’re hesitant about investing in paid media, it’s time to rethink your approach. The opportunity costs of not doing so are simply too great.
Ready to embark on your paid media journey? Get in touch with us today – we’d be happy to help you get started.
