Maximizing ROI with 360 Marketing Strategies
Tons of B2B brands are stuck with Google Ads and Linkedin Ads until they start seeing diminishing returns from their campaigns.
Talk about all eggs in one (or two) baskets.
And people like me are to blame - measurement in walled-garden systems is easier and selling performance marketing where you can generate and (most of the time) attribute ROI is much easier than omnichannel campaigning.
For years I called this the omnichannel approach (the term I heard from Akeneo when working on their campaigns) but later learned of the 360 campaigns which sounds cooler and takes less visual space, so I will go with 360 Marketing campaigns instead of omnichannel even though they are synonymous.
360 Marketing Campaigns mean that every single part of the marketing mix is utilized for new effective communications to achieve campaign goals. For example:
New product/service launched and others changed or removed to align with new positioning and strategy.
All marketing channels (paid/organic, online/offline) are used to convey the new campaign message.
All the possible touch points from initial awareness to lead, to nurture, closed deal, and customer success are aligned around the same strategy and campaign.
This sounds like a campaign that only a huge coffee brand could do if their sales dropped three quarters in a row and not something a small tech company in Denmark can afford. If the company can afford to go to industry events and has online communications channels - the company can do it (and so can you!)
I discovered that for companies that do events a combination of the following bring best results:
- Website updates - the site itself should prominently display event participation, a dedicated landing page is perfect for this. Having the product/services pages updated depending on which ones would be shown at the event would be the cherry on top. This would be supported by:
- Search campaigns (both Google and Bing) that target intent around the product, event information, and even logistics and travel to the event for brand building. Bid on competitor searches and on the travel logistics (airports, trains, hotels, the event venue) to slip in your brand. Then, combine it with,
- Outdoor ads via DOOH (or even good old OOH) before and during the event for more brand building. You should be greeting people arriving for the event when they land, when they get a taxi or rent a car, when they park the car, and when they go from hotel to the venue. There is no one else at the even except for you and if they don’t see your stall they might’ve just skipped the whole thing. Then, followed by
- Display (or Display + Social Media) retargeting follow up for activation. During and after the event the people should not be forgotten and all the data accumulated from the other two channels to keep the mental availability alive and the leads warm.
- Email and Outbound campaigns - to follow up, reminisce, and convert. Easier said than done, but I’ll leave this part for email marketers and sales people to argue.
Not easy to deliver without a good strategy and a lot of alignment. The industry and niche specifics would create another layer of organizational, channel, and creative complications - manufacturing events have a completely different vibe to those for advertising or igaming industries.
Not an easy sell.
But it does create an experience for the audience that converts like crazy and is warmed up and ready to close those deals.