No one buys a B2B service from an ad.
If we had a dollar for everyone who’s told us that, we’d be laughing. And they’re right.
So how does the exploding world of advertising apply to B2B?
Online advertising can be incredibly effective for filling the B2B sales funnel, if done strategically.
- Online ads can direct people into your marketing funnel (a.k.a your database) so if they’re not immediately ready to buy and need some warmin’ – you can keep in touch with them. This isn’t possible with a print ad.
- You can target online ads to the right people – print advertising goes to a relatively mass market. Whereas online ads allow you to insert words that your prospects might be searching, or target segments.
- Online ads can be evaluated – you can see which ads attract the right people, and which ones don’t work. If done correctly, online ads such as Google AdWords have a high ROI.
- You can Pay-per-click not by ad. You only pay for results.
But people still don’t buy a B2B service from an ad!
Getting your keywords, ads and landing pages right is still essential.
But the one thing many people miss is a way to capture your leads.
B2B prospects that click on ads are usually in the first part of the buying cycle – they’re researching, and mostly clicking around.
In order for ads to be a viable lead generation tool, you need to get prospects into your marketing funnel and continue to engage with them.
The best way to do this is with a White Paper (a free guide that is useful to them).
Not only does it increase click rates, it gets more people on your mailing list so you can warm them and convert them.