Advertisers are overlooking post-campaign analytics — but they’re the key to B2B success

Intelligent technology and validated data are required for an advertising campaign to reach its intended audience at scale. Without accurate data backed by technology powerful enough to deploy ads efficiently, an ad campaign cannot perform successfully. Both technology vendors and their customers know the importance of this fusion of technology and data.

As all parties raise their standards for campaign optimization, customers will want to ensure that these standards are being met — and naturally, client companies are beginning to ask their partners to report on their campaigns as proof of success.

We are at a turning point where customers are growing savvier. To meet these demands, suppliers need to provide the same caliber of effectiveness in post-campaign reporting as they would in the campaign itself.

In other words, to gather and analyze strategic insights on a digital advertising campaign, a high caliber of technology and data needs to be applied to its subsequent reporting. As such, exploring which companies offer firmographic reporting on B2B digital advertising could boost customers’ future ad campaign success beyond comparison.

Setting a higher standard

In the past, a tech vendor deploying ads for an agency or brand could simply acknowledge whether impressions were served to the target audience or not, satisfying the client with a simple “yes or no” verdict.

Since then, business targeting has evolved. Ad tech vendors have the capability to target businesses and scale B2B campaigns more accurately than ever before, raising the floor — along with customers’ expectations. In distinguishing the top tier of suppliers, only a handful of companies have developed reporting extensive enough to show the specific firmographic analytics pertaining to each ad campaign. But not all customers know that this level of insight is available and therefore do not expect it from their vendors, causing them to miss the opportunity to include it in their plans.

It is up to companies that offer a higher level of data transparency to teach advertisers that more strategic insights will better inform future campaigns, thus creating a new standard for more comprehensive, firmographic reporting. As advertisers expect more transparent firmographic reporting, we experience another round of survival of the fittest, where only companies that offer elite analytics remain standing.

Survival of the fittest

As we turn the corner toward the future of B2B digital advertising, B2B analytics is the main differentiator that will add a new precedent and elevate industry offerings to a new level.

When done effectively, B2B post-campaign reports can illustrate proof of success to customers, exhibit the success of vendors’ solutions and provide valuable insights into advertisers’ audiences, all while adhering to privacy laws and protecting individuals’ data. Best of all, B2B analytics reports that include insights and recommendations don’t simply show what just happened — they help advertisers anticipate and prepare for what comes next. With this new capability, tech vendors and their customers can work together to tweak audience segments and adjust campaign strategies to bring all parties involved a higher success rate.

Leaders of the pack

This movement begins with companies that possess the elite capability to provide transparent, comprehensive, firmographic B2B analytics. These companies must educate the market, set a new standard and keep the bar high. They must track success and hone their offering until their customers see an impact not just in campaign goals but in overarching business goals as well. They must keep working at this new solution that has the power to decrease wasted spend and increase accuracy as recommended strategies are implemented in future campaigns, thus increasing client trust and yielding long-term relationships.

These leaders of the pack are companies with B2B analytics features that don’t just outline the industries, companies and locations that were delivered impressions — they also include conclusions, strategic insights and recommendations for shaping future ad campaigns. Recipients appreciate the forward-thinking approach rooted in validated data tailored to their business needs, which helps them learn about their audience and increase their ROI in the long run.

This is the next wave of B2B digital advertising. In the future, when all advertisers demand comprehensive post-campaign insights, those early movers and shakers will be miles ahead of the competition — and will likely be the ones to carve out the next path and turn the next corner, whenever the industry is ready for it.