What’s the Difference Between B2B and B2C Programmatic Advertising?

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Digital automation and target ID tactics, such as a progression toward advanced use of cookies and other similar technologies, have transformed the advertising industry. A major trend in recent years has been using programmatic advertising, which is automatic bidding and buying digital media ads to pursue a specific consumer target. 

A major advantage of programmatic buying is its efficiency. This approach leverages powerful software and AI technology at a speed and volume that humans cannot replicate. Also, targeting these ads based on large amounts of consumer data is a significant benefit. 

Programmatic ad buying is focused on the individual viewing the ad. For instance, a sports memorabilia company can buy a consumer target, such as “sports fans,” to be pursued across sites. The ad impressions are auctioned off within milliseconds. Buyers can target by psychographics, demographics, behavioral attributes, or other variables. 

In a nutshell, programmatic advertising empowers advertisers with enhanced accuracy in reaching target audiences while potentially reducing ad-buying expenditure.  

Like any new tool, programmatic has evolved. It has gone from simple search and display ads and expanded to other mediums. For instance, video is popular, with the capability to span across channels and be viewed on any digital device. 

A few telling statistics:

• By 2021, digital ad spend will increase by 88 percent in the U.S.
• Programmatic advertising was worth 106 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Current numbers for 2020 show programmatic spending will reach 127 billion dollars and grow by 20 billion in 2021.
• By 2022, U.S. advertiser expenditures on programmatic advertising are expected to increase to nearly 95 million U.S. dollars.

B2C Programmatic Basics

In the B2C universe, programmatic advertising has been a strong trend for several years now, although not without some hiccups. Several years ago, it was revealed that ads for many of the world’s largest companies appeared alongside hate-speech videos on YouTube. Many ads purchased through programmatic buying appeared on websites with other types of unsavory content as well. These mishaps did reputational damage to some brands, and big names like P&G and Chase dramatically slashed their programmatic advertising spend.  

The industry responded with new governance and safeguards, and ad buyers can create blacklists of websites they don’t want their ads to appear on. 

Despite the growing pains and the continuing evolution, programmatic advertising for consumers has been the ideal launching point and breeding ground for this industry innovation. Given the straightforward nature of your typical consumer buying journey, programmatic advertising was—and continues to be—a natural fit for several reasons:

• B2C marketing drives consumers to your website for sales—a fairly uncomplicated journey.
• Digital ads cater to a consumer audience to align with their more immediate (often impulsive) buying decisions.
• The sales cycle or decision-making process for consumers is short, with only one or two decision-makers.

B2B Programmatic Advertising Basics

Programmatic advertising in the business universe has been much slower to gain a foothold for several reasons. Concerns around the ability to target B2B audiences effectively, lack of value chain transparency, including gaps in tracking data or understanding KPIs, and the safety concerns around brand reputation (fueled by the previously-mentioned controversies) have kept many B2B marketing on the sidelines. 

Nevertheless, more and more ad buyers are beginning to see the advantages of programmatic advertising for B2B: 

• Many B2B companies are cutting their ad spend, making it even more important to focus on cost-effective tactics and increasing conversion.
• Companies can better determine the right audience to target with specific messages at specific times.
• Programmatic advertising can be highly effective in driving users down the sales funnel for B2B lead generation.
• Harnessing an account-based marketing (ABM) platform as part of your programmatic advertising efforts can help provide essential data insights for the best results.

Main Differences Between B2B and B2C Programmatic Advertising

Naturally, there are some significant differences between B2B and B2C that impact how you approach programmatic advertising.

A key difference is the more complex marketing approach and sales cycle for the B2B audience. While consumer advertising is product-driven, the business buy is relationship-driven, which takes more time. There are also as many as six to 10 decision-makers in a longer B2B sales cycle.

These key factors make messaging highly important. Keeping buyers engaged with high-quality content with messaging that resonates can be accomplished with native advertising. Placing native ads effectively can entice B2B decision-makers to read your content, building trust and pulling them into your sales funnel.

With such a long sales cycle, it’s also vital to use KPIs that make sense for the B2B journey. KPIs should be focused on awareness and nurturing interest. Since fully 75 percent of B2B sales to new customers takes at least four months to close, it’s best to move your KPIs higher up the sales funnel. A download or a general awareness interaction can be considered a win. 

Focused targeting is also essential. An ABM approach can ensure you programmatically reach those key accounts and true prospective B2B buyers. ABM can help you engage with digital ads that maximize your investments and optimize resources across your company. 

For B2B companies, programmatic advertising represents a relatively new frontier with huge upside potential. Many leading B2B companies are already investing in ABM-empowered programmatic advertising in a big way, making it essential to get ahead of the curve and embrace this approach to keep or even gain a competitive edge.