Maximizing your B2B paid media ROI with alternative platforms

In B2B marketing, simply sticking to traditional channels may limit your potential. 

As audiences diversify and new platforms emerge, expanding your media strategy can be a game-changer for engaging decision-makers where they spend time.

But how do you know which channels fit your strategy and whether they’ll resonate with your target audience?

This article discusses strategies to help you better understand your audience, develop a clear and effective media plan and explore some overlooked platforms that can give your B2B marketing a fresh edge.

First things first: Understanding your audience

It’s surprising how often people feel they lack the tools to understand their audience. Your CRM likely holds more valuable insights than you realize. It can help address three key challenges:

• Data tied to your business: If properly recorded, your CRM tracks all interactions with your business — whether won, lost or disqualified — making it easy to identify trends and patterns.
• Buying committee exploration: Are your marketing campaigns targeting the right people? Your CRM should include who is involved in sales and pipeline activities. This data helps confirm whether your targeting is reaching the right audience.
• Understanding who seems qualified but isn’t: Did a company or account look like the perfect fit but ended up disqualified by sales? Are you seeing many accounts go through the disqualification process? Identify what these accounts have in common so you can adjust accordingly.

A few other tactics to better understand your audience include:

• LinkedIn groups: There’s a LinkedIn group for whatever you’re selling. Look at the job titles and firmographics of the companies in that group. What are they discussing? What are their concerns and common pain points? The possibilities are endless.
• LinkedIn Insight tag: Set up this tag to identify attributes like job titles, company names, company sizes and seniority based on the users landing on your website. You can also audit who’s visiting your blog versus your key pages, thus gathering a wealth of information.
• Your competitors’ websites: Have you ever audited the industries and job titles your competitors highlight? Do they feature more case studies for certain verticals over others? This can offer valuable insights into their priorities for you to cross-reference.

Dig deeper: Marketing on LinkedIn: What you need to know

A common mindset I often see is marketers wanting to be everywhere, believing they can effectively spread $2,000 across multiple channels. 

Unfortunately, this approach limits your ability to scale or achieve meaningful results. A focused media plan consolidates all your efforts, offering a clear view of each channel’s potential and helping you allocate your budget for maximum impact.

A successful media plan should include:

• Target audience segmentation and identification.
• Clear goals and objectives.
• Multichannel strategy.
• Budget allocation.
• Performance measurement and analysis.

Off the beaten path: Uncommon platforms for B2Bs

With a solid media plan in place, you’re in a great position to try something new, including some of the less mainstream platforms.  

Reddit Ads

On Reddit, users are not just aimlessly scrolling but actively seeking high-quality advice.

This presents a significant opportunity, as 68% of Redditors are not on LinkedIn, providing access to a large, unique audience. 

The platform serves as an excellent research resource throughout the B2B buying process, allowing you to engage at every stage:

• Identifying the problem (awareness).
• Exploring solutions (consideration).
• Evaluating fit (research).
• Confirming a shortlist (advocacy).
• Offering community support through praise or critique (retention).

To help you get started with advertising on Reddit, I’ve recently written an article detailing various ad formats. Here are a few quick tips to consider:

• Set up your pixel to see if your target audience is visiting your site and start building remarketing pools.
• Find the right subreddits for your niche.
• Concerned about ad placement? Review and understand Reddit’s different ad inventory options to ensure your ads appear in the right spaces.

Dig deeper: Reddit marketing guide – maximize your spend

YouTube ads

While it may seem unconventional for DTC or B2C marketers, many B2B companies struggle to leverage YouTube effectively. 

YouTube’s strength is its ability to provide useful and relevant information about your services, guiding potential buyers through their decision-making process.

It also delivers content to users who aren’t actively searching, which is crucial since most buyers are often out of the market.

If you’re looking to test or expand your YouTube advertising efforts, here are some campaign types to consider:

• For reach, leverage video reach campaigns.
• For brand consideration, use video view campaigns.
• To engage and drive purchase consideration, opt for Demand Gen campaigns (previously video action campaigns, which will be phased out in Q2 2025).
• For conversions, Google recommends the tried-and-true power pairing of Performance Max and Search campaigns.

TikTok

We can’t ignore TikTok, one of the fastest-growing social platforms today. 

The buying committee is becoming younger, with Millennials and Gen Z wielding significant decision-making and purchasing power. Notably, individuals aged 25 to 34 comprise nearly a quarter of TikTok users in the U.S. in 2024.

To help you get started on this platform, here are two easy steps to consider:

• Set up custom audiences to re-engage users who have previously visited your site.
• Leverage TikTok search ads. This is a major opportunity for B2B marketers. Now, advertisers can pay to appear in TikTok search results. While the intent here leans toward consideration, it’s a unique way to connect with key decision-makers.

As B2B marketing continues to evolve, staying ahead means being open to fresh approaches and platforms. 

Whether it’s leveraging untapped tools like Reddit, YouTube or TikTok or fine-tuning your strategy with a solid media plan, success comes from smart experimentation. The buyers you’re targeting and the ways to reach them are changing. 

By embracing these new opportunities and staying agile, you’ll be better positioned to engage with your audience and meet your business goals.

Here’s my full presentation from SMX Advanced.