Business-to-business (B2B) buying behaviours are rapidly changing and traditional techniques such as face-to-face selling aren’t as powerful as they once were. As a result, it’s vital that marketeers step out of their comfort zone and start building awareness through other digital channels.
Whilst Google Ads and LinkedIn can be great examples of core channels to advertise on, your business could be missing out on valuable leads by not incorporating programmatic advertising into your marketing mix.
What is programmatic advertising?
Also known as ‘banner advertising’ or ‘display’, programmatic advertising involves placing personalised ads on high-quality websites for your sales prospects.
There are several programmatic platforms available to help automate this process. For example, at Passion Digital, we work closely with StackAdapt, a provider that can find the best places to show ads, negotiate the price in real-time and streamline performance data into a single hub.
If you’re a B2B service provider looking to deep dive into the world of programmatic, then read on further for some of our best practices and top recommendations.
B2B programmatic advertising best practices
Planning is key – ensure you’ve got clear goals and objectives in place from the start
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, it’s essential that you understand exactly what it is you want to get out of programmatic advertising. Lay out clear goals, define your B2B target audience and begin to imagine how programmatic can be used to align with your customer journey and influence consumer behaviour.
Try to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What is their job function? What companies do they work at? How senior is their role? What sites do they use to research? Being able to answer questions like this will ensure measuring success much further down the line is a lot easier.
The impact of hybrid working
Source: Posturite
It’s also important to keep in mind the shift in behaviour caused by hybrid working. With many employees across the world still working from home at least a few days a week, typical environments and habits in B2B audiences are being shaken up. For example, how much time users spend online and what devices they’re using.
2. Find the right creative strategy
Programmatic creative should be personalised and suited towards your target audience. The goal is to highlight how your business or service is going to help solve their problem. Keep in mind these topline best practices:
- Use messaging and language that will resonate with those you are trying to influence
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Ensure that your creative is being made specifically for programmatic. Avoid cutting corners by recycling old social media graphics that don’t fit properly or have a real purpose being served
3. Experiment with ad formats
Ad specifications will depend on the DSP that you’re using however, here are some of our top ad format recommendations for B2B service providers.
Source: StackAdapt
Video
Video is a great opportunity if you really want to stand out from the crowd. A combination of strong audio and visuals can help your target audience remember the product or service being advertised.
Display
One of the most popular types of ad formats, display ads allow you to combine text and graphic elements and can often be interactive. Consider how you can make the most of the screen space and ensure any transitions between frames are smooth. This is a great solution for raising awareness of a brand or service.
Native
Native ads are designed to blend in seamlessly with the publishing site. This can be useful if you’re trying to come across as more authentic or tell a story. Traditionally, they are static and appear as ‘sponsored’ or ‘branded’ content.
Audio
Audio ads are an engaging format that allows you to fine-tune your targeting by focusing on specific listener demographics, playlists or genres. Audio environments can include music, podcasts, radio and audiobooks.
4. Use Programmatic Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Source: StackAdapt
ABM is a highly targeted B2B strategy that focuses on engaging individual high-value accounts. It’s an opportunity to tailor your content and messaging to specific target audiences that you’ve defined. For example, a list of your top 150 ‘ideal consumers’.
By focusing your efforts on high-value accounts instead of casting the net wide, you can improve the overall efficiency of your marketing spend and closely monitor engagement rates.
According to Martin Boyle, Brand & Communications Director at Lead Forensics, “ABM is all about building genuine relationships that lead to long-term success. At Lead Forensics, we help businesses uncover the right opportunities by providing the data and insights they need to connect with high-value accounts. With smart analytics and insights, businesses can create personalised, meaningful campaigns that resonate – and drive results.”
5. Test, Test, Test
Testing is key in programmatic advertising. Whether you’re experimenting with different ad formats or messaging, gradually add different elements to the mix to help prevent ad fatigue and find the best-performing combinations.
It’s also worth setting aside a separate pot of budget specifically for testing to help ensure you can continue with optimisations and maximise return on ad spend (ROAS).
Keen to go further?
Join our Account Manager, Demi, as she unpacks real-world strategies to launch and optimise programmatic advertising campaigns that deliver results. No fluff—just actionable insights to help you make every penny count.
Seamlessly integrate programmatic with your search and social campaigns to guide users through a journey that builds awareness, captures leads and drives real conversions.
Want to learn more or get started with your programmatic strategy? We’re here to help.