Which B2B Media Platform Matches Your Mission?

B2B marketers now have a plethora of channels, or media platforms, to choose from when planning their marketing campaigns. It can be overwhelming. The goal is to be omnichannel with a seamless experience across all platforms and touchpoints but this presents challenges for B2B organizations.

Prior to settling on a media plan and comprehensive marketing mix, we recommend getting to know your target audience first. Where are they spending time? What have been effective channels for you in the past? What types of content do you have readily available and what are the best channels to use for their syndication? Assuming your mission is to push leads through the sales funnel, what channels should you be using and when?

Some of the more common channels and mediums are as follows:

·        Digital

·        Direct Marketing/Promotional

·        TV/Radio

·        Out of Home (OOH)/Experiential

Once you have done a small audit and check of your buyer personas, consider the mission you want to accomplish. Are you trying to build brand awareness and audience growth or are they further along the funnel and considering you? Perhaps your mission is for the bottom-of-the-funnel leads who are converting or are loyal clients who can advocate for you.

Finally, dive into the various media platforms to find your ideal channel mix and accomplish your mission.

Digital

It’s 2017, so this is a given in any B2B marketing plan given its match to the audience. Digital marketing can include display ads, sponsored content, native ads, blogs/website/SEO, live online events, social media (Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.), micro-influencers/partnerships and so much more.

Look for partners that offer you control, as the publisher, with header bidding and wrappers, run of site and who ultimately can reach your target audience.

Regardless of your mission, digital should be included in every plan; however, don’t try to be a part of every platform. Start with a few focused digital channels and then expand when you have them mastered.

Consider the content you use so that you can build out a customer journey with just this one channel. And whatever you do, make sure that everything is mobile-optimized so you provide the omnichannel experience your buyers expect.

Ideal for: Mission Brand Awareness & Audience Growth, Mission Consideration, Mission Conversion and Mission Advocacy

Direct Marketing/Promotional

Under this broad umbrella you will find email or newsletters, direct mailers, targeted calling, and sponsored email deployment/list purchase for lead nurture or acquisition campaigns. Here is where you are starting to get personal. Your audience will generally include those who have already engaged with your brand through another channel. Consider the fact that you are arriving in their inbox, speaking with them in person or being held in their hands through their phone or mail.

Tailor your content here to address the pain points that they have indicated in their past interactions through ads clicked, forms completed or content shared. Buyers today like to inform themselves at their own pace so this allows you to connect with them organically and let them take control of their journey. Offer links within syndicated content to guide them to the next stage in the funnel with more detailed information. Involve Sales at this point so they can follow up on hot leads and get them to the point of conversion.

Ideal for: Mission Brand Awareness & Audience Growth, Mission Consideration, Mission Conversion and Mission Advocacy

TV/Radio

This may not be the best fit for your audience but if you invest in ads, make sure your messaging is consistent with your digital efforts. Stand out and grab their attention so when they are looking for a solution like you, they recall your message. Try to drive them to another channel so you can encourage them to continue their discovery process.

Ideal for: Mission Brand Awareness & Audience Growth

OOH/Experiential

These efforts can include marketing in brick and mortar locations, bus shelters, public transportation ads, billboards and the list keeps going. You can easily tie in a digital next step with your advertising a QR code or something similar.

Keep in mind that this type of advertising needs to fit with your core audience, might only work for refined boundaries (around the location of a conference, for example), and has a very broad reach.

Ideal for: Mission Brand Awareness & Audience Growth

Mission Accomplished?

Our review here isn’t comprehensive and there is a lot of overlap. If you are looking to accomplish a mission, however, we are here to help you with your digital and direct marketing needs. Let us know how we can partner and get you in front of your target audience.