B2B marketing used to be straightforward, at least for companies with an established market position. There was far less competition, so existing customers were more loyal, and few options existed for product advertising: trade fairs, specialist magazines, mailings by post and visits by sales reps.
This changed only when online marketing gave us advertisers completely new possibilities. So many, in fact, that this blessing has turned into a curse: new advertising channels are spilling out of B2C marketing and into the B2B world at an ever faster pace.
Will these new channels work for B2B? “It doesn’t really matter, the main thing is that we’re in there,” many decision makers may be thinking as they drive their teams on. There seems to be a new social media channel every month.
Shortly popular app “Clubhouse”
Talking about new social media, I wonder how the audio app Clubhouse is doing. The hype started in January 2021, but in recent weeks I’ve not been hearing anything about it. Thank goodness I didn’t jump onto the bandwagon back then but instead focused on optimizing existing channels.
In B2B marketing, on the other hand, successful forms of product advertising endure. But not all companies have discovered these yet for themselves. Advertising products on third-party specialist internet portals is one of them.
In this article, I’ll show you how specialist portals can help you achieve your marketing objectives.
CONTENTS
▶ What can product advertising on specialist portals achieve?
▶ What’s the purpose of product advertising on specialist portals?
▶ Why you should be using product advertising on specialist portals
▶ This is what product advertising on specialist portals achieves
▶ Three amplifiers to attract even more new sales leads
▶ Conclusion
What can product advertising on specialist portals achieve?
The first place to present your company’s products is on your corporate website. This is the central information hub for your colleagues, sales partners and, to a limited extent, potential customers.
Why to a limited extent? The content of the pages has to be found to be seen. Promoting that is harder than you think.
Which decision maker immediately thinks of your company when a new need arises? Possibly a loyal fan or a long-standing customer, but others probably won’t have your company in mind. So you’ll have to invest in advertising to make your portfolio known outside your bubble.
Search engine optimized web pages are useful but not enough. You’ll need to spend money, possibly use Google Ads. But that doesn’t work for all B2B products because search volumes can be so low that Google won’t accept ads, or the search terms are so expensive that it won’t be worthwhile for your company.
On the other hand, there’s something that always works: product advertising on specialist third-party portals. It’s possible to advertise any of your products on them, regardless of their assumed search volume or the popularity of a search term.
Product advertising on the specialist internet portal CHEMEUROPE.COM
This is where your target groups go to look for solutions because it’s where the top suppliers are. And through your product advertisement, you’ll receive fresh sales leads from potential customers who most likely did not know you yet.
What’s the purpose of product advertising on specialist portals?
Specialist industry portals are visited by several million professionals each year. They bring together suppliers and potential customers in a virtual marketplace.
Product advertising on specialist portals will let you place your most important products into the view of potential customers who are outside your bubble. With little overlap among target groups, you’ll increase the reach of your advertising and receive the sales leads that otherwise would have gone to your competitors, not you.
Advertising on specialist internet portals boosts the visibility of your products
Why you should be using product advertising on specialist portals
Product advertising on specialist portals is an important element in the marketing communication mix of successful companies that want to attract new customers. The marketing managers of these companies have realized that:
▶ Not enough new customers can be acquired via their own website.
▶ It’s not enough to keep on informing the same contacts by email.
▶ Google Ads can only be prepared and managed by knowledgeable experts.
▶ Selective advertising at trade fairs and in industry magazines doesn’t provide a continuous stream of sales leads.
That’s why these managers have looked for ways of advertising that keep their products visible to potential customers around the clock, generating fresh sales leads for their sales reps on a regular basis.
This is what product advertising on specialist portals achieves
Product advertising on specialist third-party portals offers you an inexpensive and effective building block for your marketing mix and fills your sales lead pipeline.
So what results can you expect from this type of advertising? For this purpose, I’ve analyzed the success metrics of customers who advertise on the LUMITOS portals. I’ll show you results of different product types.
This product was advertised in English and German on a specialist portal and attracted an average of 150 potential buyers per month:
▶ The product presentation was viewed by 1,805 times.
▶ The linked-to product video was viewed 131 times.
▶ The advertiser received 70 sales leads.
Successful product advertising for a small laboratory instrument
Instrument for food analysis
This product was advertised in English, German and French on the specialist portal.
▶ The product presentation was viewed 910 times.
▶ The product video was viewed 170 times.
▶ The advertiser received 31 sales leads.
Continuous visibility for the advertised product and 2 to 3 sales leads per month for the advertiser
Proven system for sample preparation
This product has been advertised for years on a LUMITOS specialist portal in English, French, German and Spanish. Although it isn’t new, there’s still plenty of interest in the product:
▶ The product presentation was viewed 2,380 times.
▶ The product video was viewed 71 times.
▶ The advertiser received 43 sales leads.
Product advertising on specialist portals can also be worthwhile for well-established products.
These advertisers went a step further: they use amplifiers to make an even greater impact with their product advertising.
Three amplifiers to attract even more new sales leads
Using the seven LUMITOS specialist portals as an example, I’ll show you how easy it is to gain even more sales leads: simply add amplifiers to your product advertising mix.
A product presentation runs for 12 months on the specialist portals of LUMITOS. During this time the users of the selected portal can find information about the product around the clock.
The available package includes 3 references in the corresponding newsletter of the portal. Depending on which portal, these newsletters reach between 25,000 and 55,000 subscribers. The product presentation package, which includes newsletter references, alone ensures enormous visibility for the advertised product
Using amplifiers to make a product presentation gain even more sales leads
1. Amplifier: Product of the Week
The “Product of the Week” puts your product in pole position for an entire week. On each and every page of the selected portal, your product advertisement is displayed to the right of the portal’s logo and is linked to your product presentation.
This form of advertising receives measurably more attention: the Product of the Week reaches significantly more viewers.
The Product of the Week generates measurably more attention for your product.
In addition, your product is featured a further time in the portal’s newsletter with up to 53,000 subscribers, thereby generating additional sales leads.
The Product of the Week is highlighted in the portal’s newsletter.
2. Amplifier: Present your product simultaneously on multiple portals
If you advertise your product on more than one portal/channel you’ll immediately reach additional target groups.
Let’s assume you’ve booked a product presentation in the Chemistry Channel with its over 10 million portal visitors per year. However, your product might also be of interest to customers in the life science and food industries. If so, simply add the two corresponding channels and immediately reach an additional 1.5 million users.
This makes use of the portals’ full potential and gains you additional new customers.
3. Amplifier: Additional newsletter references
Requiring no extra effort, book additional newsletter references to bring your product into the view of the newsletter subscribers on a regular basis, for example every two months. Three added-on newsletter references is all that this takes.
Product references in the portal’s newsletter arouse interest.
The enormous reach of the portal’s newsletters greatly increases the visibility of your product. This, in turn, increases your chances of gaining many new sales leads.
A single newsletter reference will reach:
▶ 53,000 subscribers in the Chemistry Channel
▶ 47,000 subscribers in the Life Science Channel
▶ 32,000 subscribers in the Food Channel
▶ 35,000 subscribers in the Lab Channel
If you’ve booked amplifier no. 2, “Present your product simultaneously on multiple portals”, for all the portals, you’ll reach over 160,000 readers with just a single additional newsletter reference.
Conclusion
Presenting products on your own website is no longer good enough to generate sufficient sales leads. That’s why you need to invest into reach and visibility by using third-party channels.
Advertising on specialist portals is an effective way to attract new customers for your products.
You’d like to find out how your company can use product advertising on specialist portals to generate sales leads in the chemical, life science, and food & beverage industries?
Call us at
+ 49 30 / 965 368 451
or click here:
More information on advertising opportunities
