Reaching the Right People with Your First B2B SaaS Brand Campaign

You know what to communicate and how to make your brand message relevant. Now, it’s time to get that message in front of the right people. While this might seem straightforward, many B2B SaaS companies fall into the trap of targeting too broad an audience, resulting in ads being shown to people who will never be in a buying situation.

Importance of Targeted Reach

'Reach maximalism' works only if you're reaching category buyers, which can be tricky in B2B since the actual audience size is relatively small.

Framework for Effective Targeting

Here’s my framework to ensure you’re attracting the right people from the right companies.

Preparation

Set up a tracking that helps you validate the traffic. Because you need to answer 2 main questions:

1) Firmographics: Is the traffic from a relevant company that could buy from me?

This can answer IP adress tracking tools like Koala Clearbit Dealfront and much more that I covered in the past articles. (Recommend this one on intent data)

2) People level: Is the person vising my site in a position to influence the buying process?

Getting the personal data is difficult. In the past, I was manually looking up people who engaged with my ads or relying on the website lead forms.

Now, I am using web surveys. Exit-intent popups with very simple question like you see in the screenshot. (Thanks Petr Bure? for sharing this tip)

This will help you understand how accurate your targeting is and you are ready to go :)

Step 1: Google Search Ads

I use Google Search even during the validation process. Because search terms reveal intent, helping you understand what message resonates most and improve your post-click experience.

Step 2: "Clicky" Formats

In Google ecosystem I start with "clicky" format like Google Demand Gen campaign type.

Test multiple custom segments, because testing and playing with multiple options leads to the most effective targeting in B2B. Sometimes, adding or removing a single keyword can make a huge difference. (Learn more about B2B targeting in Google Ads) And having the tracikng to detect ICP visitors helps choosing the audiences that drive the most relevant traffic. So it is time for the next step.

Step 3: "Attentiony" Formats

Using just "clicky" formats aren't the most effective channel to build the mental structure between your brand and the buying situation.

Studies show that YouTube ads, especially non-skippable ones, hold viewers' attention longer, giving you more time to convey your message.

For Meta platforms, I don’t split Clicky vs. Attentiony formats. From the start, I optimize to the ICP visitors. However, if you're a B2B SaaS company and want to run YouTube ads, don't skip the second step. Since YouTube ads CTR is very low, run them once your are confident in your targeting. I've seen cases where the same creative worked well on Meta but not on YouTube because the targeting was off.