In the digital world in full swing of trends, content, information and formats, today, companies choose to invest in digital advertising not only to stand out against any competition, but to achieve results, which makes marketing professionals are increasingly betting on different platforms and social networks to increase visibility and meet different objectives, be it branding, electronic commerce, attracting potential customers, among others.
This means that items for online advertising increase day by day between large and small companies. For example, according to the British agency Reuters, online advertising spending globally in 2018 was approximately 150 billion dollars, of which some sectors such as education, technology and fashion stood out.
However, although it is considered a necessity in the design of marketing plans for any company today, many business models do not yet take the step in digital advertising and prefer to continue with conventional commercial strategies, which is the case of B2B companies. This model has not stood out in recent years for investing heavily in digital media. According to the American company specializing in market research Emarketer, digital advertising spending in the United States at the end of 2018, by Business to Business companies, accounted for only 4.6% of the total. According to the same firm, this is due to different barriers that remain in force in companies, which prevent digital items from increasing. Let’s take a look at what some of these are:
A remote transition
One of the main reasons why investment in online advertising in B2B companies is not so strong, is because there are still companies that are unaware of the digital scope and therefore their migration is minimal or nil, since they do not trust the effectiveness of Internet when doing business and prefer to keep their business strategies and tactics which have been responsible for their success for many years.
In addition to digital ignorance as a business, to this challenge in B2B companies, the fact that the personnel of the marketing or related areas, in many cases, lack the expertise and skills of digital advertising is added and this hinders any change at an advertising level.
The validity of traditional channels
Magazines, visits of advisers and commercial calls, are some of the traditional media and channels that are still much upheld in the B2B sector, because they have always been a source of effectiveness. For example, Bop Design, agency specialized in Business to Business, states that 78% of B2B marketing professionals in the United States prefer calls or emails to secure business.
However, digital platforms have shown through studies and reports that traditional media such as cold-calls, have lost effectiveness in recent years in this type of business models with the advent of digital advertising. For example, one of the leading sales and marketing software development companies, Hubspot, affirmed at the end of 2018, that 90% of the purchase decision makers in B2B say they never respond to cold-calls.
Ignorance of specialized media
Investing in digital advertising in B2B is one of the best options to impact the target audience in different ways, with greater reach and more information through different platforms, which are unknown to some of the companies that belong to this business model, since they are still unable to identify the benefits and advantages they can offer in the short term.
This situation takes place, for example, with one of the most important means in Business to Business: the specialized or niche web portal, which is a wide showcase for any B2B company, since it is a digital space that directs all its content to a specific audience and allows companies that advertise, to show their products or services and impact the audience through different formats such as banners/displays.
To name, one of the most recognized specialized portals in the industrial sector in Latin America is “Reportero Industrial”, which focuses on the most important areas of the niche such as robotics, plant maintenance, asset management, among others and has a community of over 36,000 single visits per month, which represents a great reach for any company.
What can be done to break these barriers?
As previously mentioned, there are several challenges facing digital investment, which may disappear with sufficient knowledge regarding all the options that the Internet environment offers B2B companies that help to make any marketing strategy profitable. Some of these options, which are preferred among Business to Business companies that already allocate important items in online media, aside from niche portals, are e-mail marketing, showroom, webinars, among others.
It is important to acquire this knowledge with professionals who have sufficient expertise in the area with leading companies, which can convey the success stories and what the ‘step by step’ of a successful digital advertising investment plan is like.
At Axioma B2B Marketing, we have a qualified team that can advise you in your process when creating a digital media investment strategy. Contact Us! We are experts in the development and implementation of B2B marketing strategies.
