B2B Performance Marketing That Converts: Strategies for Success

Have you achieved success in selling a retail product to consumers? If yes, that’s terrific! However, even with successful marketing campaigns under your belt, you may find that B2B performance marketing, in which you target other businesses, isn’t as straightforward. The priorities and mindsets between the two groups can be vastly different, so the approach to B2B performance marketing will need to be adjusted, as well.

What do you need to do to succeed in this realm? We’ll cover everything you need to know about B2B performance marketing so that you can navigate this realm with confidence.

What is B2B Performance Marketing?

With B2B performance marketing, businesses are your target audience. This means that sticking to the tactics that work in the B2C market may not be an option here. While your primary focus remains on measurable outcomes, such as qualified leads and customer acquisition, to optimize ROI, there are further considerations for B2B performance marketing, which include longer sales cycles. This means that you’ll most likely need multiple touchpoints before a sale (or even a consultation, depending on the offer).

So, your tactics will not just focus on conversions. Given that your clients won’t be taking action right away, generating a direct action can feel like badgering them until they say yes.

The Importance of B2B Marketing Performance Metrics in Strategies

As with any other form of performance marketing, metrics are paramount to the success of B2B marketing. After all, you’re looking at measurable outcomes! For B2B performance marketing, metrics will let you:

• Optimize elements of the campaign based on data;
• Identify the most profitable market segments;
• Decide whether to continue your current B2B performance marketing efforts.

Using data, you can improve your overall marketing performance and take advantage of opportunities for growth.

How B2B Performance Marketing Differs from B2C

B2B and B2C share the same goals of generating conversions and measurable outcomes. However, the elements that go into achieving these are not the same due to the innate differences between the B2B and B2C markets. To better understand B2B performance marketing, we’ll examine these differences later in this text. However, for a quick summary, you can refer to the table below:

Target Audience

With B2B performance marketing, you’re targeting other businesses or organizations. You may have a product that helps them improve their operations or addresses an organizational concern. Meanwhile, B2C targets individual consumers and therefore individual pain points. Here, the offer addresses a need, a preference or an emotion. Compared to B2B performance marketing, it’s possible to create more audience segments when focusing on consumers.

Sales Cycle Length

How long it takes for the purchase to occur is another crucial difference between the two categories. With B2B performance marketing, there’s an understanding that it can take months or even years before a purchase is made. This is because there’s a more complicated decision-making process than with B2C. Impulse buys are possible because the individual customer is only accountable to themselves. However, long sales cycles are still possible with B2C, like with real estate purchases. In general, though, its sales cycle is still shorter.

Decision-Making Process

We’ve touched on how the decision-making process for B2B performance marketing is complicated. Multiple layers of approval may be required before a purchase can go through. Let’s say that the logistics department of a company wants to add more trucks to transport raw materials. Even if there’s an immediate need for them, the buyers may not be authorized to purchase right away. They still need to prove the need and establish how buying can provide long-term value and ROI for the business. However, for B2C, you don’t necessarily have to be logical. A customer can end up buying something “just because.”

Approach to the Campaign

Your B2B performance marketing efforts may have the same goal of converting leads into sales, but the approach is vastly different than with B2C. For the latter, you’re mostly focused on attaining leads and sales right away (although nurturing may still be involved in industries like luxury goods or high-end electronics). Since there is only one player needed to make the sale happen and the decision-making process is much simpler, you can put all your efforts into conversions. As for B2B performance marketing, it operates under completely different conditions; in fact, the same B2C approach can feel spammy in the realm of B2B. That’s why your marketing approach should be balanced with lead nurturing efforts.

Content Strategy

While emotional factors like trust and brand credibility matter, B2B decisions are often driven by logic and data. We’re not saying that your B2B performance marketing efforts should be stone-cold and void of personality; however, you can’t exactly advertise your product from an emotional standpoint. B2B performance marketing should provide value in the business context. Meanwhile, for a B2C model, you’re looking to trigger emotions. And while logic doesn’t necessarily go out the window, just talking about benefits won’t maximize the potential conversion rates.

Core Components of B2B Performance Marketing

Performance marketing for B2B is not a homogenous tool. It can involve:

• Conversion ads to get users to the next step of the funnel;
• Lead nurturing assets for building authority and keeping the brand at the top of their minds;
• Tools and platforms for data gathering, analysis and campaign optimization;
• Customer retention for maximizing customer lifetime value.

No B2B performance marketing effort would be complete without these factors. Of course, your success will still depend on what you do with them.

Key Channels and Tactics in B2B Performance Marketing

Before we discuss these channels and tactics, let’s first go over some important terms: growth marketing and performance marketing. The former deals with long-term strategies that cover both developing the brand and optimizing conversions while also focusing on customer retention. Meanwhile, the latter is primarily for generating leads and sales. With B2B performance marketing, you’ll see the lines between these two get blurred because there’s no expectation to sell right on the spot. While conversion-focused campaigns will always be part of B2B performance marketing, there are additional tactics that you can implement.

Content Marketing and Thought Leadership

Business decision-makers don’t act on impulse. In your B2B performance marketing plan, content will be a crucial factor in your ability to convert. Thought leadership helps position your brand as a trusted industry expert, building credibility and influencing decision-makers throughout the sales cycle. In terms of B2B performance marketing, you can try to:

• Develop high-value content;
• Use SEO to generate organic growth;
• Host webinars;
• Guest post on authoritative platforms in your industry.

The way you structure your B2B performance marketing strategy is up to you. As always, think about what will capture the attention of your audience and provide the most value.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay Per Click (PPC)

We believe that experts in providing B2B performance marketing services should almost always include SEM and PPC because these give them immediate visibility to high-intent audiences. Two solid tactics for B2B performance marketing include using keywords that indicate a strong purchase intent and bidding on searches. To avoid wasting any clicks, make sure to optimize your landing page. Pay close attention to the above-the-fold copy because the content within that space largely determines whether a user will continue reading.

Social Media and LinkedIn Advertising

Of course, good old social media and LinkedIn are still effective for B2B performance marketing. Both of these ensure that you retain visibility to your target audience as they go through the decision-making process. Social media is a very flexible tool for B2B performance marketing as it can be used for content promotion or direct conversions. The way you use it is up to you! Now, which social media platform should you use for your B2B performance marketing efforts? That’s entirely up to your target market. Just like when you work with B2C, you want to hang out where your audience is.

Email Marketing and Lead Nurturing

Email is still very effective in B2B performance marketing since most professional correspondences are sent using this medium. So, if you want the brand to stay present, being in their inbox is the way to go. Here are a few tips for using emails for B2B performance marketing:

• Automate email sequences triggered by different actions and audience segments;
• Share value-driven content instead of just trying to sell;
• Test different subject lines to boost your open rate.

To improve the impact of B2B performance marketing, clean your email list regularly. A disengaged recipient can send you right to spam. If too many do the same, it may lead to poor deliverability and further limit your visibility.

Utilizing Data and Analytics in B2B Performance-Based Marketing

Any kind of performance marketing is focused on measurable outcomes, and B2B performance marketing is no different. However, with the understanding that B2B performance marketing isn’t expected to convert right away, you don’t need to look so closely at the minute details. For example, you can expect the bounce rate, even for the best-optimized landing page, to be high. So, this won’t be your top priority for B2B performance marketing. However, the tools and platforms that you’ll need will be the same as when engaging in a B2C market.

What Are the Most Important Metrics for B2B Performance Marketing?

When using most dashboards, you may see a lot of numbers and metrics. However, we urge you to make these three your priority.

• Conversion rate: This measures the percentage of ad viewers who performed a specific action. This is important for B2B performance marketing because you want your audience to move down the funnel.
• CPA: The cost per acquisition tells you how much you spent to acquire a new customer. The lower this is, the more effective your B2B performance marketing is.
• ROI: The return on investment is the percentage of your net profit compared to your total ad spend. Your breakeven point here is 100%.

Focusing on these key B2B performance marketing metrics will help you make data-driven decisions and optimize your campaign efficiently.

Tools and Platforms for Data-Driven Marketing

Your success in B2B performance marketing relies on more than just conversions. The tools that will be right for you depend on the media you’re using to advertise. You need to have the right tools for the key channels and tactics. These include:

• CRM tools like HubSpot and Zoho CRM;
• Marketing automation tools like Marketo and ActiveCampaign;
• Analytics and reporting tools like Google Analytics;
• Paid advertising tools like Meta Ads and Google Ads;
• SEO and content marketing tools like Moz and SurferSEO.

Developing an Effective B2B Performance Marketing Strategy

Having a structured strategy is essential if you want to do things right. Compared to B2C, the development process for B2B performance marketing has more considerations. So, in the next subsections, we’ll outline the general steps. Then, under each consideration, we’ll discuss the specific things you should achieve before moving forward. Consider this as your B2B performance marketing checklist. We hope it will help you focus on the details of your strategy rather than just the steps.

Step #1: Identify Your Target Audience

Which businesses and organizations are your products and services designed for? That’s the most basic question that you should answer. However, understanding what business or organization would benefit from your product isn’t enough. Even though the final purchase will be made by a business, it’s humans who make the decision. So, it’s crucial you obtain information about key decision-makers, as well. Ask yourself these questions:

• Who has the authority to approve the transaction?
• Which actors can influence the decision?
• What pain points does the offer address for the key decision-makers?
• How do they do their research?

The B in B2B performance marketing may stand for business, but you also have to look at the individual level to be successful. In addition, consider analyzing firmographic factors (company size, industry, revenue), buying intent and behavioral data.

Step #2: Define Your Goals and KPIs

In the previous section, we discussed the most important B2B performance marketing metrics. Knowing what to measure to assess your success is a good start, but it’s not enough for you to progress to the next step. You should also:

• Have a specific goal, such as sales conversion or lead generation;
• Identify relevant KPIs based on your goal and set targets;
• Create a reasonable timeline for achieving your objectives based on the sales cycle of your target market.

Once you cover these three elements, you can move forward to the next step of your B2B performance marketing plan.

Step #3: Select the Platforms That You Want to Use

Your decision here should be based on what you’ve learned in the first two steps. If you know that your target audience mostly uses LinkedIn, what’s the point of spending your B2B performance marketing budget on Facebook? The platforms you use should also depend on what you want to accomplish. For the actual conversion, consider the supported ad media. However, for content creation, consider the platforms decision-makers use to do their research.

From there, prioritize based on your B2B performance marketing budget. If you have sufficient resources, you can allocate your spending across multiple potentially effective platforms. However, if you’re working with a tighter budget, try to focus on just a couple at a time.

Step #4: Develop Valuable Content

When your target market consists of individual consumers, you can get to conversion right away. However, in B2B performance marketing, you may end up losing a prospect if you don’t build a rapport. The type of content you should produce will depend on your target audience. However, regardless of what is the most appropriate, the content should be:

• Data and research-driven;
• Logically sound;
• Aligned with the interests and concerns of your target market.

Essentially, it should provide value. If the content that you’re creating doesn’t build rapport, it will be harder for you to convert.

Step #5: Create Your Conversion-Focused Assets

These B2B performance marketing assets are meant to convert your target audience from mere viewers to leads or from leads to customers. So, what kind of assets should you prepare?

• Different variations of the ad: How many you’ll need will depend on your audience segments. To perform split testing right away, we recommend at least two variations of each.
• Landing page: As we mentioned earlier, the above-the-fold copy largely establishes the conversion capabilities of your B2B performance marketing landing page. Ensure it has a clear and visible CTA, relevant social proof, such as testimonials, and strong trust signals like recognizable client logos.
• Other relevant assets: What other touchpoints have you created? Are those set up properly? For instance, if you want them to call you, make sure your phone number works!

Step #6: Launch the Campaign

You don’t need all your B2B performance marketing assets figured out. In fact, you’re not expected to have fully developed the content that you’re going to use. However, you should at least have the first pieces and your content calendar prepared. To drive conversions, you should have everything ready. Of course, you’re free to create new assets or develop existing ones later on.

You should also consider setting up tracking tools like Google Tag Manager or UTM parameters. At least from the perspective of the target market, launching your B2B performance marketing campaign is the start of everything! So, we’d gently remind you to look into the other resources again before proceeding.

Step #7: Optimize Elements of Your Campaign

Your B2B performance marketing campaign should be flexible enough to adjust to yield better conversions. Here are a few ways that you can introduce optimizations:

• Cut out low-conversion market segments;
• Tweak your ads based on the incoming data;
• Use A/B testing;
• Utilize heatmaps like Hotjar to identify drop-off points on landing pages;
• Make changes to your content calendar based on what’s resonating with your target audience.

Since we’re talking about B2B performance marketing, remember to consider the longer sales cycle. This way, you don’t prematurely overhaul the entire campaign.

Challenges and Best Practices in Performance Marketing for B2B

Before you proceed to develop a strategy, remember that you may experience built-in challenges. With B2B performance marketing, you won’t usually see conversions right away. Having a smaller audience is also something that you’ll have to consider in addition to the potentially higher ad spend. However, this doesn’t mean that your B2B performance marketing efforts are doomed to failure. By implementing certain best practices, you can directly address or at least limit the impact of these challenges. Learn more about them below.

Challenge #1: You May Not See Results Right Away

Now, this is a major challenge for B2B performance marketers. Performance is associated with short-term and more immediate results, which may not be possible when your target audience is a business. B2B performance marketing may not yield the same outcome, especially when it comes to sales, because there may be many decision-makers involved in the purchase. This means that it can be challenging to determine the effectiveness of your campaign. If you’re in an industry with a long sales cycle, it may not also be evident which of your B2B performance marketing efforts got through to them.

Best Practices for Addressing This Challenge

Depending on your specific issue, there are a few things that you can implement:

• Use multi-touch attribution to see the contribution of your B2B performance marketing efforts in long-term conversions;
• Nurture campaigns to stay top of mind for your target market;
• Develop retargeting campaigns for leads that have fallen off the funnel.

Essentially, your B2B performance marketing campaigns should seek to encourage growth. Don’t just focus on conversions. Use the long sales cycle to strengthen the brand so that it’s easier for your target audience to say yes.

Challenge #2: You’re Working with a Smaller Audience Size

You may think that this is a win for your B2B performance marketing budget, but it may well be the opposite. As there aren’t as many people to target, you may experience the following issues:

• Unable to experiment with different strategies;
• Limited opportunities for scaling;
• Ad fatigue.

So, even if you have the budget to run a pretty comprehensive B2B performance marketing campaign, it may not be worth it. Once you reach the point of ad fatigue, any subsequent efforts may even have the opposite effect

Best Practices for Avoiding Issues Associated with a Smaller Audience

To address these issues with your B2B performance marketing efforts, you can try the following:

• Tailor your messaging across different audience segments to meet highly individual needs;
• Go with industry-specific platforms to start off with an audience that is already aware;
• Experiment with lookalike audiences to expand your reach.

And here’s a fairly controversial suggestion: why not halt your efforts? You don’t have to stop altogether. Consider that the small target market that will see your ads may get tired of being sold to (but not necessarily tired of hearing about your brand).

Challenge #3: The Ad Spend May Be Higher

From the previous points, we’ve established how you may have a smaller performance marketing B2B audience. So, through the principles of supply and demand, the competition will also be tougher. This translates to higher ad costs. However, this isn’t the only reason that you should expect higher costs with B2B performance marketing. Most likely, it will take more than one ad click before a purchase is finalized. This effectively increases the CPA by the average number of times that they click on the ad before they convert.

Best Practices for Addressing Higher Ad Spend

Unfortunately, there’s nothing that you can directly do about the higher ad spend costs of B2B performance marketing. However, you can address other circumstances. Here are a few that we suggest:

• Focus on high-intent audiences;
• Look at where you can optimize conversions;
• Explore more cost-effective channels.

If you apply them correctly, these points should reduce your ad spending. Just remember that you can only reduce the costs so much. The competition will still be there regardless of whether you implement these ideas. Consider the cost of the offer to determine when you’ve lowered it sufficiently.

Effectively Reach Businesses and Generate Sales with B2B Performance Based Marketing

While performance marketing is focused on short-term results, the way you define short-term should be contextualized. Do you plan to use a full-service performance marketing agency for B2B campaigns? Remember that a longer sales cycle and decision-making process can mean that you have to be patient to see results. It’s also important to address issues such as ad fatigue and audience engagement.

So, why not use native advertising as part of your B2B performance marketing efforts? It can ensure that your ad is always viewed as relevant instead of a distraction, and when you sign up with MGID, you receive a creative team, top tools and a personal manager. Let us help you succeed!