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Category Archives: B2B Monday Myth

B2B Monday Myth: I Don’t Need LinkedIn Ads For My Business

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linkedin ads for b2b marketing

The Myth: I Don’t Need LinkedIn Ads for My Business

The Truth: LinkedIn Is a Top Platform for B2B Lead Generation

Professionals and businesses alike know that a presence on LinkedIn is important. But what you might not know is that you don’t have to stop at just creating a profile. LinkedIn can actually become a lead generator when used correctly. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of LinkedIn ads for B2B marketing and the best way to use the medium.

Why LinkedIn?

According to LinkedIn back in 2015, 80% of leads from social media come from LinkedIn. The professionals who are on LinkedIn are already in a business mindset, which makes them more receptive to strategic B2B advertising. You have the unique opportunity to reach the people in executive positions and all along the decision-making chain with significant purchasing power. You can even target by job function to make sure you’re reaching the right people.

Sponsored Content

LinkedIn has several different capabilities for advertising. First, you can create Sponsored Content that reaches audiences on desktop, mobile, and tablets. These ads can spark conversation and reach a specifically targeted group of professionals. And, best of all, you can set your own budget by choosing from cost-per-click or cost-per-impression options.

Sponsored InMail

Another option is Sponsored InMail. This feature lets you send personalized messages to prospects on LinkedIn messenger. It’s a great way to send event invitations or insightful content to those who will be receptive to it. They will only be sent while the recipient is active online, and there is a limit to how frequently they are sent, which optimizes viewing.

Text Ads and Target Audiences

Next, the more traditional Text Ad lets you create your own advertisement and choose the audience you want to reach. Using LinkedIn Matched Audiences, you can very precisely customize your targeting. You will be able to target by company, experience, education, industry, and even job function, which can greatly increase the effectiveness of your B2B ads. Real, member-generated demographic data is used to ensure you’re reaching a higher quality target audience.

Data and Analytics

You also have the opportunity to track conversions with LinkedIn. The platform lets you record website conversions from your Sponsored Content or Text Ad campaigns, so you can track things like downloads, sign-ups, and purchases. You’ll do this by adding the LinkedIn Insights Tag to your website — a piece of JavaScript code that lets you track conversions from your campaign. What’s particularly helpful is that you determine what a conversion is; you specify which actions qualify.

Campaign Manager

As your campaign runs, LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager will let you monitor your results. You’ll be able to calculate your LinkedIn advertising ROI with their built-in analytics tool within the Campaign Manager. You’ll also be able to see the value you’re getting from both desktop and mobile, including return on ad spend, cost per conversion, and conversion rate. And most important – you can fine-tune your campaign to make it more effective over time.

While LinkedIn is likely not the right approach for most consumer brands, the platform is ideal for B2B brands. With detailed targeting capabilities and a variety of ad content options, LinkedIn is an avenue you should at least take into consideration.

 

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B2B Monday Myth: A Persona Is the Same Thing As a Target Audience

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personas for B2B brands

The Myth: A Persona Is the Same Thing As a Target Audience

The Truth: A Persona Is Much More Detailed and Personalized

For years, marketers have created “target audiences” for their brand or product. That means they’ve put large groups of people into one category, and labeled them. But today’s digital marketing world has become very personal. Brands now reach out directly to individuals. So, it’s time to take things one step further. If you want to give yourself a clear picture of the audience you’re attracting, you need to craft audience personas.

The difference between the traditionally defined target audience and an audience persona is that a persona is a narrative that describes a very specific type of person. It’s highly detailed and provides enough information that you could actually pick this fictional person, your buyer, out of a group.

Your buyer is a real person, so they should be identified as one. And every last detail you give is a potential clue for how you can most effectively target them. This means constructing a clear picture of your customer – including what will resonate with them both personally and professionally.

Some examples of questions you should answer as you’re writing personas for B2B brands:

  • What is their position? Their day-to-day responsibilities?
  • What are their personal and professional communication methods?
  • What media do they consume? What’s their information source?
  • What is their education background?
  • What challenges face them? How can you help solve them?
  • What do they value? What are their goals?

A traditional target audience might just read “head of marketing at a mid-size company.” But an audience persona will be more like a narrative, encompassing everything there is to know about this marketing head.

Let’s take James Smith, for example:

James Smith is 41 years old and the head of global marketing at mid-size insurance company. He is a “decision maker” who works above a team of about 25 marketing professionals in the Hartford, CT office. His main responsibilities include overseeing the development of new marketing initiatives and coordinating these efforts with the company’s overall business plan. James has the most say within the communications division of the company, but he still struggles to prove the worth and ROI of marketing to the top executives of the company. His top challenges include optimizing the work of the marketing team under a small budget and gaining approval up the ladder for new initiatives.

At the beginning of every day, James reads the New York Times, and sometimes browses through Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. He also reads several trade publications, like AdWeek and Direct Marketing News, in his free time. His goal is to prove the marketing team’s value by having the ability to quantify and measure leads for the sales team. He is most frustrated by stagnating sales productivity and work that is not measurable, and he is most motivated by recognition from executives and his peers. James also spends several hours a week maintaining his personal Twitter account, where he often engages with industry content. 

There are an endless number of benefits that come from writing several of these personas. A target audience description can only generalize, and therefore deliver the same generic content to varying types of people. In comparison, a audience personas can identify opportunities for personalized content and solutions.

Putting a face to different audience segments conveys to your buyers that you’re tailoring specifically to them. Personas can determine how your content is written, what kinds of images should be used, and where advertisements and media should be placed.

The biggest benefit from taking the time to write personas for B2B brands? When you learn your audience inside and out, sales will naturally follow.

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B2B Monday Myth: Emails Should Always Be Responsive

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responsive emails for B2B

The Myth: Emails Should Always Be Responsive

Truth: Not All Email Programs Are Ready for Responsive Design

More and more people are using mobile devices to access Internet content. When you look at the time adults in America spend online, you won’t be surprised to find that mobile usage is higher than desktop. So, it’s no longer a question of whether mobile marketing is important. It’s now all about mobile users’ habits and which content format (as well as the content itself) is most effective.

So what about responsive emails for B2B brands? Of course, a mobile-friendly website is essential, and in this case, responsive design is your best bet. (It has been for a few years now.) Responsive web design refers to a site’s ability to adapt its layout to different screen sizes and devices. You don’t want your prospects to be pinching and zooming on their phones to try to find what’s on your site. You might think that your marketing emails should be responsive too. It would allow users to engage more easily with your content, right?

Not necessarily.

Responsive emails are certainly ideal for some email programs. There is an issue, however: responsive design is not supported by all email clients. For example, some Android and Windows phone users will find their device doesn’t fully support media queries. This means responsive emails don’t show up on their phones, at least not formatted the way they should be. This can be incredibly harmful to your email campaign – an entire community of users is now unable to see your content as intended.

And when your prospects can’t read your emails, they are more likely to delete them.

The takeaway for you? Be careful about how you create your emails. You can craft and target your message perfectly, but the way it looks when it reaches your audience on their mobile device plays a huge role in whether they actually read it. A custom design created in a one-column format is usually the most effective route. Your prospects don’t all open email in the same programs, so make sure your designers are using the lowest common denominator to ensure that 100% of your audience is seeing your email correctly.

One day – and we anxiously await this day – all email programs will be able to handle responsive design. But until then, it’s best to play it safe.

Questions about email design or marketing strategy? Drop us a line.

 

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