Invest in share of voice

There is a strong relationship between market share growth and investment in advertising measured as ‘share of voice’. The relationship is very similar to that observed in B2C, implying that advertising works just as hard in B2B as B2C.

Balance brand and activation

Advertising investment should be balanced between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation (e.g. lead generation). Investment in both is needed, but B2B appears require more activation than B2C, with an optimum of around 45% brand, 55% activation.

Expand your customer base

Long-term growth depends on expanding the customer base, rather than trying to sell more to existing customers. The implication of this is that communications should primarily be targeted broadly to new prospects and their influencers, although the data suggests that existing customers should also be targeted, to reinforce their choice.

Maximise mental availability

Campaigns that build ‘mental availability’ more strongly tend to be more effective. Mental availability is the extent to which the brand comes readily to mind in buying situations, triggered by a combination of high saliency and strong associations with the category.

Harness the power of emotion

Emotional campaigns (ones that try to make prospects feel more positively about the brand) are more effective in the long term than rational campaigns (ones that try to communicate information). The kinds of emotional approaches require will be very different in B2B from B2C, but the principle applies across both. This is because emotional campaigns are better at brand building. However, rational campaigns are better at short-term sales activation, so a balanced campaign will incorporate both.

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute