The silver lining of the B2B media buying cloud

Right now, B2B media owners have got it tough. No point pretending otherwise.  Ad revenue is down, publications are suffering, and many ad sales people are fearing for their jobs.

Luckily for you, you are probably not a media owner. But as a B2B marketer, you have your own problems and getting the most out of your (shrinking) budgets isn't easy. There are opportunities for media buyers - you just have to look closely...

Be a commitment-phobe
The economic climate has had an impact on planning for many companies. Marketing spend has been reduced, but even for those with budgets, commitment is down. Most lead generation programs are now based on 30 days, and you should be wary of committing to plans that extend beyond two months (previously, the minimum time to run a programme was 3 months). Six-month programs are few and far between. Keep your options open.

More targeted content
ROI is key and I've found that sales departments are asking for quality over quantity these days. It's up to us marketers to try and close the gap between marketing and sales by getting better quality leads. Happily, media owners are getting better and better at filtering and if you are not specifying with them exactly what you consider to be a strong lead, you may not get the ROI you want. 

Get the balance right
In a Forrester survey fielded earlier this year, 72% of interactive marketers indicated that they expect to maintain or even increase their digital budgets during a recession. Reallocating offline advertising onto more cost-effective digital platforms will give you a lot more scope, but this shouldn't be an automatic choice. Think it through and remember that the best balance is always better than the best deal.

A strong business case
Despite the comparative strength of online media, these budgets won't stay whole without strong justification. Interactive marketers can protect these budgets by constructing business cases that appeal to both the logic and emotion of senior marketing leaders.

Resist short-term temptation
In a recession like this, marketers should focus on the measurability of their online media activity and social applications and think in terms of building long-term assets, as well as running one-off campaigns to boost quarterly sales. The pressure to fill the order book is extreme at the moment, but if you want long-term success for your brand (and therefore you) remember that building databases is key and keeping the communication open to build those relationships more important now than ever before. 
 
Measurement is everything
Marketers will and should be looking to make more of technologies like targeting and measurement, while high-end advertising such as video will still attract brand marketers but more so now to prove its value. Marketers' relationships with agencies and publishers will strain as marketers take a more active role in managing their data and media buying. The best advice is to keep pushing for value from increasingly flexible media owners, and to keep a really close eye on what is working and what isn't. This is always good advice, but in times like these the landscape is changing so quickly that opportunities come and go in an instant - and the earlier you spot them, the more you benefit.
 
Surely it is our responsibility within specialist agencies to highlight the positives and encourage activity to build relevant programmes across all mediums and approach the downturn as opportunity for brands to achieve stand out. Whether you are aiming for brand awareness or lead generation, digital or otherwise, there are opportunities out there. Just be grateful you're buying, not selling.