6 Golden Strategies To Maximize B2B Ad Spend

So you are a scrappy organization and you have to make a limited budget go further? Ahh tale as old as time. We've lived it, and here are a few golden nuggets of wisdom.

Creative ways to get to ROI positive-ad channels

Are you looking to maximize your B2B ad spend in order to drive increased sales and ROI? Look no further - here are 6 golden strategies that can take your B2B advertising efforts to the next level. Derived from 12 years of performance marketing for some of the best companies - we know what works, and we've failed plenty so you don't have to.  We'll take you through budget allocations, optimized targeting, careful tracking of performance metrics, and other out-of-the-box tactics to give you all the information needed to be an effective brand leader when it comes to driving improved outcomes from your B2B ad spend.

1. Target a wider audience

Targeting a wider audience can help you widen your net and reduce your cost per lead or CPCs because the audience is simply easier to find and serve ads to. Look to add adjacent buyer personas or remove expensive senior leadership titles.  Try relaxing your ICP criteria or branching into new verticals, and company sizes.

2. Test alternative ad formats in your channel

Popular formats have high competition. Try exploring more alternative or less popular ad formats. Linkedin Sponsored posts are fairly pricey and require design. However, if you get creative with In-mail, you can dramatically reduce your CPCs for the same audience.

3. Try alternatives to Big Players

Google Search can often be more expensive compared to smaller players because competition is lower. For example, Ecosia or Pinterest CPCs are often much lower than Google, and with the right keywords, you can still capture a similar audience. While Ecosia's reach is smaller, the audience is more specifically focused on sustainable living.  Pinterest might be a good search engine to explore for your audience if you make sure to use data-driven targeting criteria and focus on the right keywords for your audience.  

4. Target a small audience that's in-market for your solution

A smaller audience may be more expensive to target, however, if you are focusing ad spend on a smaller subset of in-market buyers using signals like intent or bidding specific websites and publishers then you can often reduce your cost per lead or opportunity drastically. Even if your CPC are higher upfront.

5. Leverage keyword research for content

Paid search engines like Pinterest, Google & Bing (even Etsy) typically have keyword planning tools that you can use for free (when buying ads or setting up a paid account). Save time by leveraging that research for creating relative content offers that you can repurpose across many channels. While this doesn't reduce your search costs it increases the overall efficiency and ROI of that spend.

6. Go direct to the people and skip the middle

Money talks, sometimes you can skip the ads altogether by rolling out marketing and sales programs that incentivize prospects directly. For example, launch an affiliate program where you pay affiliates to market your offer and only compensate them for closed deals. Or your run campaigns to your community and audience where you offer to pay for a demo. These are more nuanced programs but they skip the need for ad spend that lines corporate pockets and puts money back into the hands of the people.

‍Summing it up

‍After reading all six strategies for maximizing B2B ad spend, you should have a better understanding of how to maximize your ad spend in a cost-effective way making your money go further than ever before.  Whether it's by targeting and servicing a wider audience, testing alternative ad formats within the channel, or exploring alternative search engines — all six strategies can lead to significant ROI and more conversions. Be sure to track your ad spend and identify what works best for you, with a tinkering, iterative mindset. Take the time to experiment with different tactics as part of your ongoing optimization process. If you found this knowledge helpful, we're sure we have more expertise to help fractalize your impact.

‍

‍

EarthLove Labs is a women-led marketing collective committed to building growth systems for breakthrough solutions in human and planetary wellbeing. We aim to support regenerative businesses and fractalize their impact in the world through effective and connective marketing systems. Let's create a regenerative future together.

‍

We're open for collaborations and business. Drop us a line - we are happy to build deeper mycelial roots in the regenerative business community - hello@earthlovelabs.com.

‍

Book a discovery call here

‍