Business-to-business
On top of that, there is a big mobile divide: while 40% of b-to-b buyers use their phone in the business purchasing process according to Google, data from MarketingProfs shows that only 3% of the b-to-b digital marketing budget is allocated to mobile digital marketing. A clear picture of the problem begins to emerge. If you like bullet points, here's what the data means:
- B-to-b buyers are using the same tools as consumers to research and buy products;
- Companies know that buyers will switch to another product or service if the mobile experience is lousy; and
- Despite this, B2Bb-to-bbrands are investing very little in mobile.
On that note, here are three steps to success for b-to-b advertisers on Facebook.
Improve targeting on Facebook with CRM data
The first opportunity for b-to-b marketers is in the ability to tap their CRM data. By using what you know from this data set, such as email, sales or service interactions, you can engage with users on Facebook accordingly, as well as drive always-on lead generation.
For example, if you want to find new prospects like your strongest, most loyal customers, just sync an audience of your most passionate or profitable customs to Facebook to build a look-alike audience, augmented with demographic, location, interest and/or market category data.
But, what if you only have the business email addresses of your prospects -- many of whom likely use their personal email addresses on Facebook? Not a problem. With Facebook Advanced Match, which increases the advertising match rate of customer data using new attributes, you can target users across 14 different attributes, including primary identifiers like personal email, or mobile phone number.
Grow lead volume with Facebook Lead Ads
Getting people to fill out a form, especially on mobile, is tricky. What many b-to-b brands have had great success with, however, is using Facebook Lead Ads to capture sign-ups.
Whether you're targeting an existing customer or prospect with a look-alike audience, Facebook will automatically fill out the form with information a user has already provided to the platform (e.g. name, email, phone number, etc.) or any other information you've synced from your CRM. A major part of this is being able to capture leads in the moment, on mobile phones with low friction in completing a lead form.
B2B success with advertising auctions
B-to-b brands value new customers higher than any consumer brand (except some high-consideration products, like new car sales). This is reflected in how much a B2B brand can afford to pay for a new lead.
A hypothetical B2B technology company might place a value of a new customer at $100,000. If one percent of people that complete a Facebook lead ad convert, and the marketer's goal is a 10x return on ad spend (ROAS), the brand can afford to spend $100 per Facebook lead. On the other hand, a retailer may value a sign-up to its mailing list at $20. For the same 10x ROAS, they can only spend $2 per Facebook lead.
A successful b-to-b advertiser can afford to bid more for its conversions on Facebook than consumer brands, giving them the ability to win more Facebook auctions and News Feed placement.
A recipe for success
Mobile is a must for any b-to-b company to win at digital advertising and lead generation. And with more than a billion daily mobile users, Facebook should be a key component of your overall marketing program to drive results and fuel sales pipeline.
