Weekly B2B Marketing Digest / Week 43
Hey! Welcome to our latest newsletter, a curated blend of the latest news in digital marketing, coupled with insights from top thought leaders on LinkedIn.
Before we get started:
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INSIGHTS FROM EXPERTS ON LINKEDIN
Emir Atli emphasizes that while predictable revenue is crucial, over-reliance on measurable tactics like paid ads or event spend can obscure the effectiveness of broader marketing efforts. Instead, he suggests designing campaigns with clear, measurable impacts on lead quality and sales velocity, tracking indirect effects, and scaling up successful initiatives progressively. The key is to plan for measurement from the start and embrace longer-term, indirect tactics that build brand recognition and drive results.
?? Pavlo Cherniakov reminds us that while a homepage is critical to the buyer journey, it's only part of a larger ecosystem that includes pricing pages, case studies, and external content like reviews and social media. Each touchpoint should reflect a unified message, especially the homepage, as it’s often the first stop or return point for potential buyers. He stresses that aligning homepage messaging with overall marketing can elevate buyer experience and improve engagement across the journey.
Dylan Hey shares how Hey Digital’s success came from discarding typical B2B tactics for a more “P2P” (person-to-person) approach, including sharing content openly, avoiding spammy sales methods, and building authentic brand connections. With initiatives like a content-heavy ad strategy, live-streamed Q&As, and no hard calls-to-action, Dylan reports stronger pipeline health, more referrals, and record-breaking sales quarters. His advice for B2B? Skip the gated content and rigid funnels and focus on human-centered value and dialogue instead.
Damian Dayton shares new research highlighting the effectiveness of long-form ads in holding viewer attention and driving top-of-funnel success. Key findings indicate that extended view times positively impact overall marketing performance, with Damian emphasizing a strategy to "earn every second." Long-form ads, though counterintuitive, elevate ad performance across the funnel, making them a valuable top-of-funnel investment.
Jaleh Rezaei humorously compares ABM (Account-Based Marketing) to “teenage sex” – everyone talks about it, few do it well. She discusses the difficulty of scaling personalized ABM and recommends integrating sales insights into marketing, adopting a 1:1 account focus, and leveraging AI to improve scalability. She emphasizes that the future of effective ABM lies in combining tailored sales support with new technology for efficient account-based marketing.
Garrett Jestice provides a quick guide for evaluating a website's role in a go-to-market (GTM) strategy, focusing on aspects like ideal customer targeting, clear messaging, transparent pricing, and strong brand identity. Each point addresses essential factors, from aligning CTAs with the buyer journey to building trust through testimonials. Garrett concludes that a well-designed website reflects GTM alignment and identifies weaknesses, making it a powerful diagnostic tool.
Evan Hughes clarifies that demand generation extends beyond ads and clicks, emphasizing its purpose to create sustained brand demand across the entire organization. Effective demand gen requires collaborative demand capture - optimizing websites, efficient lead hand-offs, and aligning every team, from sales to the CEO. Evan argues that demand generation, when unified across departments, drives a scalable and successful go-to-market strategy.
Ben Dutter explains that ad spend rarely yields immediate revenue due to a concept called "latency" or "consideration window," where customers need repeated exposure before buying. He highlights that most markets follow the 95/5 rule, with only 5% of customers ready to buy at any moment, making rapid ad adjustments ineffective. Ben encourages brands to embrace a patient, long-term ad strategy, understanding that true impact is seen over weeks or months rather than instantaneously.
George Chasiotis outlines eight metrics to effectively measure brand ROI, from organic brand mentions to direct traffic. Metrics such as "alternative to" listings and pipeline impact reveal a brand's market position, while customer reviews and sales conversations track real engagement. He emphasizes that brand ROI relies on focused activities, specific metrics, and ongoing experimentation, framing brand-building as an influential growth loop, not just a measure of awareness.
Kevin Hjorslev highlights LinkedIn's new 'companies' tab, which simplifies analysis of company engagements across both organic and paid activities. This feature enables users to filter data by audience and campaign, allowing for targeted outreach to high and low-engaging accounts while providing insights into ad performance and top-funnel messaging. Kevin emphasizes that while similar data was previously accessible, this upgrade is significant for advertisers and underscores the importance of leveraging insights effectively to capitalize on new opportunities.
WHAT'S NEW IN THE INDUSTRY
Google Ads now enables page-specific creative assets for Performance Max campaigns, allowing advertisers to generate tailored images and videos aligned with specific website pages. Advertisers can list specific pages for ad assets to better align ad content with user context, potentially boosting ad relevance. This update gives advertisers more control over campaign creativity, aiming to improve ad performance and user engagement.
Tesco's recent minimalist billboards, featuring foods spelling out its name without a logo, have sparked discussion, illustrating the Zeigarnik effect: our brains remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. This tactic, along with the generation effect - where viewers mentally fill in missing details - boosts recall and engagement, making ads more memorable. Other brands like McDonald's and Cadbury have used similar strategies, showing that well-executed partial information can strengthen brand recognition and impact.
Meta introduced “automatic adjustments” for ad accounts, giving its system the ability to pause, reactivate, and reconfigure ad campaigns without user approval. While intended to streamline ad performance, this feature has raised concerns over loss of control, with reports of unexpected ad spend changes. Advertisers are advised to review this setting to avoid unwanted adjustments by navigating to "Automated rules" in Meta's ad settings.
YouTube has added channel-level ad blocking in YouTube Studio, allowing creators to filter specific ad categories from appearing on their channels. This move offers creators greater control over their ad content and potential brand safety but may reduce ad revenue. As creators weigh the impact on earnings, this change could lead to more tailored ad alignment for audiences.
LinkedIn and Pinterest are under fire for violating GDPR with their ad tracking practices. LinkedIn was fined €310m by the Irish Data Protection Commission for lacking transparency in its data processing, while Pinterest faces a complaint from privacy group Noyb for tracking users without explicit consent. Experts argue that beyond fines, enforcing operational changes may be more effective in ensuring platforms uphold data privacy.
That's the scoop for this week! If you found this valuable and any useful insights caught your eye, feel free to share them with your network.
Until next week!
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Growing brands from $3M->$30M ->$100M+. We blow up brands, let us light the fuse ?? Pillowcube ??Stairslide ?? ColdCase ?? and dozens more.
2 周Thanks for sharing.
GTM Strategy + Positioning for B2B startups | Founder & CEO @ Prelude Marketing | Consultant | Advisor & Coach | Former SaaS CMO | BBQ Judge | Dad of 4
2 周Thanks for the shout out!
Helping ecommerce marketing managers navigate ad platforms and enhance sales results
2 周Thank you for sharing this comprehensive roundup of industry insights. I am particularly interested in the articles by Emir Atli and Pavlo Cherniakov.
Clear homepages are sexy | Messaging and website copy for B2B SaaS
2 周Thanks for the mention!