Connected TV (CTV) has altered the manner in which individuals interact with their TVs. Global advertising expenditures are projected to recover more quickly than predicted. This rise in spending is driven by digital marketing, and the growing popularity of smart televisions is the reason digital ads are staging a return in the B2B market.

In addition, while the net is fast gaining ground, conventional media is still an effective means for businesses to generate brand recognition, reputation, and promotions. Not just out-of-home (OOH) marketing but also television commercials are still effective for B2B brand promotion. So, how can you use TV spots and CTV technology in your B2B marketing plan? Since World Television Day 2022 was this week on November 21, let’s explore this key question and understand the possibilities that marketers can delve into.

The Rise of Connected Television and its Potential for B2B Marketers

Internet-linked TVs are referred to as “connected TV.” This may be accomplished in a number of ways, including through Wi-Fi, USB connectors, or HDMI connectors. During the pandemic, the popularity of connected television skyrocketed, and a study indicated that more than 80% of any and all homes possess, at a minimum, one connected television.

B2B marketers may use CTV to develop customized video marketing programs that provide customers with a unique experience. Connected TVs enable consumers to browse the internet and utilize apps, allowing them to watch movies, navigate websites, and purchase online. This offers advertisers a unique chance to reach customers with tailored video advertisements. These advertisements may enhance engagement and website traffic, resulting in a substantial rise in conversions.

Opponents of B2B television advertising often cite the industry’s lengthy history of gaining sales via personal connections and trust. According to them, television is just not how B2B transactions are done. Such assertions lack a sense of vision and foresight. TV establishes trust with customers for whom other marketing methods are ineffective.

First, television is generally acknowledged as the leading brand-building medium, renowned for developing credibility. Second, television creates its own sense of energy and purpose – among your internal stakeholders.

With advertisements airing, they feel a greater feeling of worth, and employees are thrilled to watch their work and effort on television.

What Are the Benefits of TV Marketing in B2B?

By adding television to any B2B marketing strategy, you can:

• Target a precise audience: In B2B media purchasing, CTV enables precision targeting at an individualized level, depending on third-party database characteristics such as size of the organization, industry, job description, intent, and other categories. Similar to other digital media platforms, you may leverage existing first-party information for targeting and remarketing to preexisting users as well as lookalikes. Even in traditional, linear TV, airing ads during the correct timeslot allows you to reach a consistent and repeatable audience base.

• Integrate your omnichannel presence: As the number of remote workers has increased, B2B marketers have realized that they must be present anywhere their prospects and clients are; and they’re constantly watching/consuming CTV – businesses must take advantage of this.

• Track attributions correctly: Those B2B marketers who are dissatisfied with attribution issues in multi-touch communications can find relief here. One can trace site hits, and registration submissions directly back to an impression on CTV.

• Optimize long-term returns: Certainly, CPM costs on CTV are higher. However, when you consider the exact targeting and decreased waste, your rates will be drastically lowered – as well as quality and cost per lead.

• Future-proof your B2B marketing mix: Initial tests indicate that CTV is particularly effective for communicating with younger audiences, such as millennials and Generation Z, who are increasingly joining your target accounts’ purchasing groups.

• Get an early-mover advantage: The format is still at its nascent stages, So this is the time to experiment with targeting possibilities, incentives, and innovative campaigns whilst the competition is still getting its act together.

• Explain complex offerings with ease: Ads on CTV cannot be fast-forwarded. Therefore, you can count on the whole 20 or 30 secs to convey your message in a medium with far greater retention than most other digital platforms.

Best Practices for Using TV in Your Marketing Mix

If you are new to leveraging TV for B2B marketing, remember these ten recommended practices:

1. Study the TV viewing habits of B2B decision-makers

If the emphasis of your business is marketing/pitching to other businesses, you understand the importance of attracting the attention of important decision-makers within those businesses. What are the fundamental demographic statistics of your target market, and what do they like to watch on television? Are they more interested in broadcast television, or do they prefer OTT?

Develop a buyer persona similar to how you might for a B2C company. In this instance, you need to profile your customers on the basis of the company’s demographics, its target market, and its geographic location, and most crucially, you need to determine who makes the purchasing decisions.

2. Learn how to distill your value proposition into a compact message (or hire someone who can)

TV spots are short and crisp. With stages of 15, 30, and 60 seconds, there is little time to convey a message in its entirety. Instead of attempting to cram too much information into your concept, keep it easy to understand, concise, and simple. Focus on demonstrating who you are as a business and also what you intend to deliver. Write an informative script without excessive verbosity. You want prospective customers to believe that they can depend on you. Overstimulation will result in the opposite outcome of what you want.

3. Obtain data on TV viewing slots

Part of knowing your target demographic is recognizing when they’re most inclined to view your television commercials. Time periods that do not conflict with the workday, such as the early morning or late at night, may provide the needed reach. Professionals in the media are privy to all demographic data regarding which time frames work with which audiences. This information is essential for the success of any TV marketing strategy.

4. Take advantage of the morning and evening news

Professionals and managers who influence purchasing decisions are among those most inclined to consume television news at some time throughout the day. In addition to standard advertising, consider sponsoring local news networks to promote your company.

5. Reuse TV content, but with the correct positioning

Once the advert/commercial spot is ready, show it on television and promote it on social media networks. Determine which websites your target audience frequents and implement your marketing strategies there. Numerous companies use Facebook as a component of their advertising efforts, so you must interact with them and urge them to do the same.

Be committed to your brand identity and maintain a cohesive messaging footprint across all channels. Ensure that your advertising is designed to accommodate any screen resolution and platform or device — you want your message to reach decision-makers regardless of where they are.

6. Get specialized help

Media experts and advertising companies specialize in generating and placing ads in locations/platforms where the chance of them being viewed by the target audience is the highest. Consider using their services that will offer necessary marketing technologies and data repositories.

The Bottomline: TV Can be a Valuable Asset for B2B Marketers

Realizing that companies are in dire need of new and innovative ideas, you are now able to communicate with them via television’s widespread reach.

The audience targeting possibilities of Connected TV makes it an interesting medium for B2B. It enables marketers to approach particular users based on their purchasing intent, job title, hobbies, industry, and more. Moreover, it offers to retarget relying on first-party data for the B2B market.

Furthermore, the advantages of these ads go far beyond mere targeting.   CTV delivers more precise estimation and attribution, allowing B2B marketers to access data that was previously hard to gain with linear TV. Marketers may proactively discover who interacts with and views their CTV advertisements. Then, they may optimize and retarget as necessary.

In many situations with B2B campaigns, marketers try to increase brand recognition and recall so that their prospects become acquainted with the offered product or service. By leveraging a channel that targets audiences that cannot ignore commercials, the advertiser has a higher probability of demonstrating the product’s value and influencing recall.

That is why B2B marketers need to take note of World Television Day and invest in TV. This also includes OTT media, which holds a prominent position in terms of ad consumption.