Episode Summary: Episode #201 – Mastering B2B Paid Spend: A 2025 Roadmap for Marketers

Podcast Information:

• Title: B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt
• Host: Dave Gerhardt
• Guests: John Short (CEO of Compound Growth Marketing) and Kim Parker (Lead Media at Compound Growth Marketing)
• Release Date: December 12, 2024

1. Introduction to Paid Media Strategy for 2025

In this episode, Dave Gerhardt welcomes John Short and Kim Parker from Compound Growth Marketing to discuss mastering B2B paid spend strategies for 2025. The conversation delves into aligning marketing strategies with business goals, selecting appropriate paid media approaches, debunking cost-per-lead (CPL) myths, and optimizing feedback loops to enhance campaign effectiveness.

2. Aligning Goals with Marketing Strategy

Setting Clear Objectives: Kim Parker emphasizes the importance of starting with clear business goals when developing a media strategy. Whether the objective is to grow the business, raise capital, launch a product, or generate new leads, aligning marketing efforts with these goals is crucial.

Kim Parker [08:29]: "We're going to start with thinking about what your goal is. And many of our clients have different sub-goals. Typically, it's one major goal which is growing the business, but how you're doing that varies."

Aligning Marketing with Business Goals: John Short adds that understanding whether a company is aiming to go public or raise funding influences the type of paid media strategy that should be employed. He stresses the necessity of ensuring that marketing strategies are in sync with company objectives to avoid misaligned efforts.

John Short [08:48]: "We'll see a lot of companies that are looking to invest heavily into channels that are more likely to drive small businesses when they're really trying to get bigger clients and move upstream."

3. Selecting the Right Paid Media Strategy: ABM vs. Inbound

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) vs. Inbound: John Short discusses the distinction between ABM and inbound marketing based on average revenue per account and the number of customers. Companies with higher average contract values (ACV) tend to adopt ABM for personalized, high-impact campaigns, whereas those with lower ACVs focus on inbound strategies to handle a larger volume of leads.

John Short [10:47]: "Once a company gets to about $50,000 of sale price or average contract value, the motion tends to be a little bit more account-based marketing focused. And under that, it seems like there's more of an inbound focus."

Common Pitfalls: Dave Gerhardt points out that many companies do not align their marketing strategies with their business goals, often remaining stuck in high-volume inbound motions even when ABM would be more effective for their objectives.

Dave Gerhardt [11:58]: "So often you can get into the tactics and people want the specific little hacks and the tests and whatever, but so often it's that the goals of the company don't match the strategy of the marketing efforts."

4. Debunking Cost Per Lead (CPL) Myths

Understanding CPL Value: John Short highlights common misconceptions around CPL, emphasizing that the market should dictate the value of a lead based on funnel conversion rates and average deal sizes. Instead of relying on arbitrary CPL targets, marketers should use a calculator to determine the true value of a qualified lead.

John Short [12:10]: "We recommend actually looking at what you're able to spend at each stage in the funnel based on what your conversion rates are through the funnel."

Realistic Budgeting: Dave inquires whether companies have a clear understanding of their metrics, to which John responds by stressing the importance of aligning CPL with actual revenue projections.

Dave Gerhardt [13:52]: "Do you feel like people have a good understanding of these metrics and these numbers and is it okay to have a rough estimate if you can't get the perfect data?"

5. Key Elements of Successful Paid Media

a. Building Strong Feedback Loops

John Short outlines three keys to successful paid media:

1. Feedback Loops: Ensuring marketers receive accurate down-funnel metrics to optimize campaigns effectively.

   John Short [15:32]: "Building really strong feedback loops. ... marketers are only going to be as good as the data that's available to them."

2. Prospect Experience: Creating a seamless and cohesive journey from ad exposure to landing pages and offers.

   John Short [18:16]: "Prospect experience. Thinking about from the search result or from the social timeline to the ad to the landing page experience to the offer..."

3. Strategic Targeting: Developing a digital Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) that considers both demographic and behavioral inflection points.

   John Short [21:35]: "Strategic targeting. ... building out a digital ICP that not just looks at what the profile is but also looks at the different inflection points..."

b. Enhancing Prospect Experience

Kim Parker discusses mapping the customer journey across all channels to ensure consistency and relevance at each stage.

Kim Parker [22:33]: "What is it like to move through everything that you have out in the world. ... how do we map back what we're saying to them on those channels to have a holistic experience."

c. Strategic Targeting and Buyer’s Journey

The guests elaborate on the importance of targeting the right audiences with personalized messages tailored to their stage in the buyer’s journey. They emphasize using intent signals and account segmentation to refine targeting strategies.

John Short [25:14]: "What are the signals you're using? For lead scoring, we use a mix of signals, third party signals, proprietary signals."

6. Qualification Frameworks and Intent Signals

Leveraging Intent Data: John and Kim explore how to utilize intent data from platforms like ZoomInfo, Apollo, and industry-specific databases to identify potential leads actively seeking solutions. They discuss the integration of offline metrics from CRM systems into ad platforms to enhance lead quality.

John Short [27:27]: "The acceleration we're seeing through AI ... it's going to fundamentally have a gigantic impact on our ability to get information and identify the right accounts."

Segmentation and Personalization: Kim Parker highlights the importance of segmenting accounts based on intent, product interest, industry, and behavior to ensure personalized and effective marketing efforts.

Kim Parker [19:48]: "Personalizing the way that we speak to them. So taking the ABM list you have in, slicing and dicing it is the best way to get the most value for your dollars here."

7. Mapping the Buyer’s Journey and Media Planning

Kim Parker outlines a comprehensive approach to mapping the buyer’s journey, ensuring that each stage—from awareness to decision—is supported by appropriate messaging and channel strategies. She emphasizes the need for alignment between marketing and sales teams to provide a consistent experience.

Kim Parker [33:11]: "Everyone needs to be nurtured through these stages ... who are selling for big ticket items. ... you need to guide somebody from the buying committee from awareness through to decision."

Strategic Exercise: John Short recommends creating a media plan spreadsheet to brainstorm and organize strategies across different funnel stages, facilitating alignment across the organization.

John Short [37:56]: "Go into Excel and create columns for the awareness, consideration, conversion, and decision phase ... this is going to give you a lot of ideas of what you can execute."

8. Overcoming Attribution and Reporting Challenges

Attribution Complexity: Both guests acknowledge the persistent challenge of accurate attribution in paid media. They suggest triangulating data from various sources, including CRM systems, web analytics, and direct feedback from sales teams, to gain a more accurate understanding of campaign effectiveness.

Kim Parker [42:07]: "Understanding the way that you currently attribute the leads and making sure that your tagging and your tracking is effective ... set up things like holdouts from your targeting."

John Short [42:50]: "We focus more on data triangulation ... hearing feedback from our sales team ... looking at first touch, multi-touch, last touch attribution models."

9. Budget Allocation Strategies

Testing and Scaling: Kim Parker advises allocating no more than 15% of the budget to testing new channels, ensuring that sufficient funds are dedicated to proven strategies. She underscores the importance of running tests over extended periods to gather meaningful data.

Kim Parker [50:14]: "I would not spend more than 15% of any budget on testing ... run it for like 60 days to really get the sense of it."

Balanced Spending: John Short suggests a balanced approach, recommending that growth-stage companies allocate 40-60% of their budget to bottom-of-the-funnel activities, with the remainder spread across top and mid-funnel strategies.

Kim Parker [44:43]: "A rule of thumb is going to be something like you're kind of in the 40 to 60% at that bottom of the funnel if you're really in a growth stage."

10. Tailoring Strategies for Small vs. Enterprise Clients

Differentiated Approaches: When addressing both small-scale SaaS and larger enterprise clients, Kim Parker emphasizes the need for distinct strategies. Enterprise clients require comprehensive journeys involving multiple decision-makers, necessitating a focus on brand awareness and strategic targeting across various stages.

Kim Parker [52:08]: "Enterprise, you need that full journey ... recognition of your name and logo is one of those factors that's going to make a huge difference."

Scalable Personalization: For enterprises, personalized messaging and presence across all funnel stages are crucial, while smaller clients might benefit more from cost-effective, targeted approaches.

John Short [53:03]: "Enterprise, you need that full journey ... empathy towards buying committees and multiple stakeholders."

11. Q&A Highlights

Attribution Challenges: One listener asked if data and reporting continue to be major roadblocks. John and Kim affirmed that attribution remains complex, recommending data triangulation and comprehensive tracking methods to improve accuracy.

John Short [42:50]: "Look at your CRM, your web analytics, and then look at first touch, multi-touch, last touch attribution models."

Budget Splitting: A question on budget allocation across funnel stages received advice to prioritize growth-stage investments heavily in bottom-of-funnel activities while ensuring top and mid-funnel strategies are adequately funded based on business goals.

Kim Parker [42:58]: "It depends ... but a rule of thumb is 40-60% at the bottom of the funnel."

Handling Limited Target Account Lists: When addressing scenarios with small target account lists unsuitable for paid platforms, the experts recommended alternative strategies like network introductions, email outreach, and event-based engagements rather than relying solely on paid media.

John Short [47:34]: "If your target account list is too small, you probably want to focus on more low-funnel engagement channels."

12. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Dave Gerhardt wraps up the session by praising John and Kim's insights and encouraging listeners to implement strategic, data-driven approaches to their paid media efforts. He underscores the importance of aligning marketing strategies with business goals, leveraging robust feedback mechanisms, and continuously refining targeting and budgeting strategies to achieve optimal results in 2025.

Dave Gerhardt [54:55]: "This session is to help you build a strategy and to be able to think about the strategy for being more successful with paid... strategy and to maximize your paid media efforts."

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• John Short [08:48]: "We'll see a lot of companies that are looking to invest heavily into channels that are more likely to drive small businesses when they're really trying to get bigger clients and move upstream."

• Dave Gerhardt [11:58]: "It's often that the goals of the company don't match the strategy of the marketing efforts and that all needs to be rewound."

• John Short [15:32]: "Marketers are only going to be as good as the data that's available to them."

• Kim Parker [19:48]: "Personalizing the way that we speak to them... is the best way to get the most value for your dollars here."

• John Short [25:14]: "What are the signals you're using? For lead scoring, we use a mix of signals, third party signals, proprietary signals."

• Kim Parker [33:11]: "Guide somebody from the buying committee from awareness through to decision..."

• John Short [37:56]: "Create columns for the awareness, consideration, conversion, and decision phase... align with them."

• Kim Parker [42:07]: "Understanding the way that you currently attribute the leads... is going to be a lot harder to prove back out that this is an impact that paid had."

• John Short [42:50]: "Data triangulation is most critical."

• Kim Parker [50:14]: "Spend no more than 15% of any budget on testing... run it for like 60 days."

• Kim Parker [52:08]: "Enterprise, you need that full journey... recognition of your name and logo is one of those factors."

This comprehensive discussion equips B2B marketers with actionable strategies and insights to optimize their paid spend in 2025. By emphasizing goal alignment, strategic targeting, robust feedback mechanisms, and informed budgeting, the episode provides a roadmap for enhancing marketing effectiveness and driving measurable ROI.