How do ToB companies build an advertising media matrix?

I have been conducting in-depth study and practice for a while recently, and have had many conflicts and insights. I plan to slowly sort them out and put them into text to stimulate discussion. I hope to have more exchanges and explorations with you in the area of ​​media placement for B-side enterprises.

1. Definition of Media Matrix

When I talk to my friends about the media matrix, we all have a lot of understanding. A more mainstream understanding is that it is a combination of media that collaborates and influences each other, based on the product and business characteristics of the industry to which it belongs, and in conjunction with marketing goals and strategies.

For example, the "search" + "information flow" dual-engine media matrix that everyone has been familiar with in the past two years, and the multi-engine integrated media matrix of social marketing. Many terms and methodologies have also been generated. In short, everyone hopes to use media with different value characteristics to reach precise target users in a targeted manner and bring about improvements in brand effectiveness.

For example, I used to serve an e-commerce client. Based on the different habits of users in obtaining information, we used search media such as SEM+SEO+ASO, vertical media such as What’s Worth Buying (CPS model), Haitao.com, etc., and coordinated key business lines and activities with media such as Tik Tok (fashion), WeChat (promotional activities), BD cooperation (traffic replacement + strategic cooperation), etc., to carry out multi-faceted media layout and achieved good results.

2. Should ToB companies build a ToB+ToC media matrix?

There is actually no standard answer to this question because each company’s business and business model are different.

Media personnel who are familiar with ToB business are more familiar with two common customer acquisition and transaction models: Account Based Marketing and Lead Generation.

Our exploration of the media matrix is ​​also based on the company's customer acquisition and transaction model. Many ToB companies' large customers contribute 80% or even 90% of the profits, which is strongly sales driven. Some companies' large customers contribute 60%-70% of the profits. At this time, the value of small and medium-sized enterprises is more prominent, and media acquisition occupies a more important position. Therefore, media placement is an important means of acquiring customers. In many cases, it will be consciously or unconsciously divided into large customer lead acquisition and small and medium-sized enterprise lead acquisition.

Because these are two different lead flow paths, based on the characteristics of the business, the initial thinking is to focus the layout exploration on attracting new customers from large customers and small and medium-sized customers, which is analogous to the two new customer acquisition directions of ToB+ToC.

ToB: The customer acquisition model for large customers focuses more on offline sales and less on media placement. The media is more used for brand promotion to reach target companies and to cooperate with offline activities to attract new customers.

ToC: There is more room for media to acquire small and medium-sized customers, and the decision-making path for small and medium-sized enterprises will be easier to achieve. They can directly try to attract new customers and convert them online. For example, the recent high probability of ToB new customer acquisition advertisements appearing on Toutiao also represents that many companies have realized this breakthrough point.

3. What needs should the media matrix of ToB enterprises meet?

Because there are huge differences in products, services, and monetization processes and models between pure B-end and C-end enterprises, there are more requirements and restrictions when choosing media.

After several months of thinking and learning, I have summarized 4 similar questions that require in-depth thinking:

1. What are the core business features and business model of the product?

2. Are the core target companies large customers or small and medium-sized enterprises? What are the pain points of targeted enterprises and the value points of product businesses?

3. What is the target user profile of the enterprise? How to seize the key person (key decision maker) of the enterprise?

4. What is the decision-making process of KP? How can we use the media to more specifically influence decision makers’ key decision paths?

These four questions are very important, but for many B-side companies in the start-up and growth stages, it is not easy to give clear answers to the four questions, and there is no way to directly provide a standard media matrix construction plan.

Relatively mature companies, such as international ToB giants such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, etc., mainly target KA companies with their core products and businesses. They have a heavy Sales Driven model and have also carried out very detailed segmentation according to target industries. For them, a clear and stable media matrix has been established, and its main purpose is to cooperate with sales goals, conduct brand promotion and obtain leads.

However, for domestic ToB companies that are in the early stages of development, there are not so mature products and solutions. DingTalk and Alibaba Cloud, which have relatively large domestic endorsements and user base, gradually accumulated considerable customer base through a large number of publicity and operation activities in the early stages, and are very valuable reference objects in the industry. Next, we will try to output the current ideas for building the media matrix based on the characteristics of the companies we currently serve.

IV. Media Screening Criteria and Effect Judgment

Finally, we come to the part of media selection and judgment, but this part also varies greatly depending on the business status and media placement status of different companies. Precisely because there is no standard media matrix solution, a lot of interesting thinking and exploration can be done.

With relatively clear answers to the previous four questions and the direction of the ToB+ToC media matrix for B-side enterprises, the initial choices for the two new customer acquisition methods are search media, display advertising media, vertical media, and cooperative traffic media , which include paid and unpaid media (more detailed media choices have not been expanded for the time being).

Then, when actually launching, there is a little trick to estimate and judge the effect by combining budget, cost and conversion rate:

We need to constantly adjust influencing factors such as budget xCPCxCVR to achieve the ultimate conversion goal.

The media matrix is ​​also gradually improved and becomes clearer under the constant collision between business goals and media placement. Only then can we undertake more business marketing, communication and conversion needs.

Of course, to do a good job in ToB delivery, building a media matrix is ​​only the first step. A lot of data and conclusions will be produced in many steps. In addition, there is a lot of work to be explored at multiple key nodes in the decision-making path. ToB is not easy, so explore and cherish it.

Source: Song Shihao