Do you know how to create a B2B advertisement that will drive the ROI that your client is looking for? Or maybe even exceed it? Here’s what you need to know to make it happen.

Creating an Effective B2B Advertisement

Prioritize Digital Display and Video Ads

According to a study by MAGNA Media Trials, there are two types of B2B advertisements that work consistently. Both video and digital display ads “significantly increase brand KPIs.”

• Video: Increases brand favorability by 12%, purchase consideration by 9% and research intent by 8%
• Digital Display: Increases brand favorability by 9%, purchase consideration by 8% and research intent by 5%

Of course, that’s just a jumping off point. The best ad media types for your client’s target customers will be unique to them. Look up which ad media types got the most engagement from your client’s target audience on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.

Get Creative

A creative B2B advertisement will earn more engagement from business decision makers, says MAGNA. Ads that decision makers view as creative increase the ads average view time by 24 seconds. They also get an average of 21 more likes compared to less creative ads.

Creative B2B ads also:

• Increase purchase consideration by 40%
• Increase research intent by 34%
• Make decision makers 23% more likely to prefer the advertised brand
• Make decision makers 15% more likely to say they feel connected to the advertised brand

But what does it mean to get creative with B2B ads? One method is to use unique perspectives that decision makers say they don’t see very often. The traits decision makers say they only see somewhat to not very often include:

• Humor: 64% of decision makers say they only somewhat or don’t see ads with this trait often at all
• Emotional appeal: 64%
• Characters decision makers can connect to: 60%
• Unique perspectives: 59%
• Strong storytelling: 56%
• Aspects that make the ad memorable: 56%
• Relatability: 54%
• Clear messaging: 45%

Overall, MAGNA says that decision makers feel, “B2B ads lack humor, emotional appeal, characters they can connect with, and a unique perspective.” How can you and your client add more of each of these categories to their next B2B advertisement?

Humor

This will depend a lot on your client’s target audience. You and your client should know a lot about who they are and what they like. (And if you don’t, there’s always AudienceSCAN.)

Once you have that information, you can use it to create humorous scenarios, storytelling and ways to deliver ad messaging.

Emotional Appeal

Every aspect of a B2B advertisement has the potential to drive emotion. The ad’s color scheme can stimulate different emotional responses. The music you and your client choose to use can also go a long way in establishing emotion.

Is there a common challenge or pain point among your client’s target audience? You can also highlight the difficulty of that in the ad. Or if they’re a small business, you can establish a sense of pride in their business and community.

You could also add an animal in the ad. Animals have a tendency to tug at the heartstrings of almost any consumer. Plus, MAGNA says that animals make video ads more compelling.

Characters

Make sure your client’s ads feature models and actors that look like them. And have them be in scenarios that the audience can relate to.

Unique Perspectives

Take a look at what your client and the competition have done with their ads over the past few years. What can your client’s next ad’s messaging do to stand out from them? How does the ad do something new or at least different?

Strong Storytelling

This one is pretty self-explanatory.

Memorable

Again, MAGNA recommends adding an animal to ads to make them more compelling and memorable. The color scheme you choose and humor you use can also make the ad more memorable.

MAGNA also recommends taking advantage of partnerships. Featuring a celebrity or even an influencer can go a long way in keeping your client’s brand top of mind.

Relatability

Using characters who look and act like your client’s target audience is a great start. Focusing on the audience’s unique pain points will drive the message home.

Clear Messaging

You don’t need a lot of bells and whistles to get your client’s point across. Even if they create a busy ad, just make sure it has a clear call to action at the end.

Use these tips to create a B2B advertisement that will blow your client and their audience’s minds.

Photo by: Lotte Meijer