Closed Loop Team
With the right digital advertising strategies, B2B teams can drive real business growth. But if you’re relying on last year’s (or even last quarter’s) tactics, it’s time for a refresh.
In this article, we’ll cover eight digital ad strategies every B2B CMO should know now to expand reach, engage prospects, and generate revenue more efficiently.
It’s tempting to focus on a bottom-of-funnel advertising strategy that maximizes conversions. But with this approach, you’ll miss out on opportunities to create stronger connections with customers—which may cost you in the long run.
With a full-funnel advertising strategy, you invest in both brand building and performance marketing. Because prospects encounter your touchpoints throughout their customer journey, they develop a deeper connection to your brand.
Since your team uses shared data and insights across the funnel, you gain deeper insight into the touchpoints that truly drive results. Then, you can allocate ad budget toward your most high-impact initiatives, leading to a 15% to 20% lift in ROI.
Curious what else your brand could gain from a full-funnel strategy? Let’s look at a snapshot of some results Closed Loop has achieved using this approach.
Closed Loop partnered with Clover to develop a full-funnel paid media strategy. By syncing paid search, paid social, and a pay-per-lead program on review sites, this partnership led to a 735% increase in leads and a 55% decrease in CPL.
Another client partnership drove a 32% increase in paid subscriptions and a 32% decrease in CPA. This full-funnel strategy incorporated Meta, DV360 for programmatic display, and MNTN for OTT/CTV, with a three-month test and targeted measurement plan.
Focusing all your advertising efforts on a single channel may seem like a smart way to maximize your brand’s impact on a specific channel. However, an omnichannel approach can create more opportunities across channels, which tends to lead to higher ROI.
With an omnichannel strategy, you create a consistent experience for prospects and customers across marketing and advertising channels. Since you also sync measurement data across channels, you get a more complete understanding of how the customer journey connects across channels and which touchpoints truly create lift.
Drew Reccius, Closed Loop’s VP of Digital Advertising, recommends using omnichannel planning to “look at each relevant channel not in a vacuum but rather as connected. Find ways to leverage data from one to inform work on another (e.g., SEM and paid social).”
Personalized touchpoints across digital channels are no longer a nice-to-have element. Instead, 71% of consumers now expect companies to provide a personalized experience. Over 75% of consumers become frustrated with a lack of personalization, which may prompt them to consider another brand instead.
So, how can digital advertisers incorporate this tactic? “Include dynamic and sequential messaging in creative tailored to each stage of the consideration process,” Reccius suggests. With this approach, you customize paid media, creating a more relevant experience that speaks to prospects’ needs and guides them through their journey.
The B2B influencer space has experienced significant growth in recent years. In 2023, 85% of B2B marketers included influencers in campaigns, reflecting a 34% increase from 2021.
If your brand is new to working with B2B influencers, Sean Johnston, Closed Loop’s Director of Digital Advertising, recommends starting small. “Identify micro- or nano-influencers relevant to your target audience and partner with them to develop content you can use as part of your paid media strategy.”
Should you consider partnering with influencers who have more reach? “Larger influencers are more expensive and often have very short and restrictive usage rights on their content,” Johnston cautions.
“In addition to promoting branded content through their platforms, influencer content can serve as a nice alternative to branded content and often has additional built-in social proof and credibility,” Johnston explains. “Test the effectiveness of influencer versus branded content and determine its value as part of your ongoing strategy.”
For example, Scribe partnered with B2B influencer Sullivan Finlay on a paid partnership to highlight the benefits of the step-by-step guide creation software. The brand then promoted the content in an ad across Meta platforms.
Although branded content certainly drives advertising results, non-branded content offers a unique advantage. Because consumers are more likely to see non-branded content as authentic, it may appear more trustworthy.
However, influencer partnerships aren’t the only opportunity you have to tap into this type of content. “User-generated content (UGC) is also a great way to add more non-branded creative to your advertising efforts,” Johnston explains. “Just be sure to work with your legal team to confirm you collect and use UGC in a way that protects the brand.”
Brands have several options for sourcing UGC. “Incentives and contests that promote UGC are a great way to fill your folders with good content that you can use alongside branded assets,” Johnston shares. “Hiring a third-party company specializing in social media contests can ensure the process works smoothly from a legal and logistical perspective.”
Between photos, graphics, and long- and short-form videos, brands have plenty of options to tell compelling stories. But when you want to create immersive experiences, consider emerging tech like VR and AR.
This technology is the ticket to telling more robust stories. “It’s relevant (and frankly affordable) for a specific set of clients and categories, but without a doubt, it will be a major part of the future,” Reccius states.
For example, select retailers have already generated positive results from AR applications. In a Nielsen survey, 56% of consumers reported that AR gave them greater confidence in product quality. And 61% indicated that they would seek out retailers offering AR experiences.
With AI and ML, digital advertisers gain valuable tools to build more efficient campaigns. AI-powered bidding strategies allow advertisers to scale performance and expand to new markets quickly while still reaching ROAS goals.
But bidding is only the beginning. From Meta’s Advantage+ solutions to Google’s audience signals, AI and ML are also useful for audience targeting. These tools allow advertisers to “use data and signals to be predictive rather than reactive with targeting approaches,” explains Reccius.
At Closed Loop, we’ve already embraced AI and ML for paid search and paid social. Our efforts have earned us the Search Engine Land Awards inaugural prize for Best Use of AI in Search Marketing for our partnership with Calendly and our first Google Premier Partner Award.
For brands and agencies, it’s easy to approach digital strategy from the advertiser’s perspective. This approach is useful for planning omnichannel campaigns and monitoring ROAS across channels. However, it doesn’t prioritize the customer’s experience.
With CX optimization, you create a more holistic view of customer touchpoints and the entire buying journey. The result? “Optimizing for CX ensures a seamless interaction with where and when we reach people and their experience once in the funnel,” Reccius explains.
For B2B CMOs, it’s essential to stay on top of digital advertising strategies and trends. When you know what’s working for B2B brands, you can allocate resources more effectively and develop more successful campaigns.
Looking for the right agency to offer creative or strategic support? Contact Closed Loop to learn more about our digital media and creative services offerings.
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