Let’s face it: programmatic advertising is hard. Without the right data, tech stack, or process in place, B2B marketers run the risk of wasting their time and money on subpar results.
One of the biggest mistakes that B2B marketers make is relying on traditional demand-side platforms (DSPs) to launch their advertising campaigns. While traditional DSPs excel in reaching individual consumers, they often fall short when it comes to B2B campaigns.
To stand out from the competition and level up your programmatic advertising strategy, invest in a DSP made for B2B marketing teams — one that’s tailor-made to reach the right decision-makers at target accounts.
Traditional DSPs: A Mismatch for B2B Marketing
Traditional DSPs have some inherent limitations that leave them ill-suited for B2B marketing’s unique challenges. These limits fall into four categories:
1. Individual-Centric Targeting
Traditional DSPs prioritize interest-based targeting to reach individual consumers, which is ineffective in B2B scenarios where multiple stakeholders contribute to purchasing decisions at specific accounts. This spray-and-pray approach can waste impressions and miss engagement from key decision-makers.
2. Limited Publisher Reach
While seemingly vast, traditional DSP networks may not encompass enough relevant B2B publications and websites, which can undermine effectiveness with impressions on irrelevant platforms and brand safety concerns.
3. Lack of Account-Level Insights
Traditional DSPs typically provide limited reporting focusing on individual impressions and clicks. This data is too granular to illustrate the comprehensive picture needed for B2B campaign optimization. Without account-level engagement insights, it becomes difficult to identify quick, meaningful optimization opportunities.
4. User Experience and Integration Gaps
Traditional DSPs may not offer user-friendly interfaces designed for B2B workflows. These UIs can be too high-level to build audiences tailored to match the firmographic and technographic attributes of your ideal customers. They may also lack integrations with core technologies used for your first-party data.
How B2B DSPs Empower Marketing Teams
A B2B DSP overcomes these limitations with features and functionality for the B2B buying journey. If you’re evaluating a B2B DSP, check out these five factors that can make all the difference:
1. Account-Based Targeting
This allows users to target entire companies and accounts, ensuring their message reaches key decision-makers. This laser-focused approach maximizes campaign efficiency and effectiveness.
2. A Curated B2B Publisher Network
B2B DSPs partner with high-quality B2B publications and websites, ensuring brand safety and relevant placements. Ads that appear alongside relevant content are more likely to deliver better engagement and results.
3. Intent Data and Intent-Based Targeting
B2B DSPs help you understand the buying intent of your target accounts with accurate data. Third-party signals enable sub-segmentation of audiences and deliver relevant messages to accounts actively researching your solution, increasing your chances of capturing their attention and driving conversions.
4. Account-Level Reporting and Analytics
B2B DSPs unlock deep performance insights at the account level, identifying engagement across the buyer’s journey. This data informs your targeting strategy and budget allocation, maximizing return on ad spend.
5. Seamless Tech Stack Integration
Native B2B DSPs streamline workflows and centralize data management through seamless integrations. This eliminates manual data tracking and simplifies campaign execution, letting users focus on strategic decision-making.
ZoomInfo Marketing leverages proprietary intent data, giving the platform control over signal quality. This allows customers to build and use dynamic audiences based on first-party data — build criteria once, and accounts will enter and drop out dynamically.
Optimizing Advertising Campaigns for B2B Success
The best B2B DSPs go beyond these core features with optimizations designed to maximize campaign performance:
1. Balancing Impressions Across Accounts
B2B DSPs distribute impressions equally across accounts, regardless of size or reachable devices. Every account receives adequate exposure, optimizing overall campaign performance.
2. Dynamic Bidding
Dynamic bidding enables advertisers to optimize campaigns in real time and allocate budgets to high-intent publishers and accounts. When a specific account shows consistent engagement, the system will automatically bid more on them. Similarly, when a publisher shows strong indicators of performance against an audience, the system bids with higher CPMs to win more auctions.
Unlock the Full Potential of B2B Advertising
A B2B DSP empowers marketing teams to build effective advertising campaigns at scale. With the right process and platform, it’s easier for marketers to:
- Reach the right decision-makers at target accounts.
- Deliver relevant messages that resonate with the audience.
- Optimize campaigns for maximum ROI through data-driven insights.
- Streamline workflows and integrate seamlessly with existing tech stacks.
Don’t settle for traditional DSPs built for consumer brands. Explore a native B2B DSP that unlocks the full potential of your advertising — and delivers the sustainable, targeted growth your executive team is craving.