Dive Brief:
- A key takeaway from Dun & Bradstreet's research on B2B programmatic for 2017 is that automated media buying has reached a tipping point, with 65% of marketers reporting engaging in programmatic up from 54% last year.
- Programmatic is poised to continue to grow next year with almost 70% planning on increasing spending and 22% planning on increasing spending by more than 25%. A mere 3% expect to spend less on programmatic in 2017.
- 42% of B2B marketers cited targeting the right audience as a top obstacle, compared to 34% who named measurement metrics and 29% knowledge.
Dive Insight:
Programmatic spending overall is expected to surpass $22 billion this year, according to eMarketer research cited by D&B, and increase to $27 billion in 2017. Even though programmatic ad spending has become a popular tactic, the report pointed out that B2B marketers have been slow to adopt programmatic, possible a reflection of the fact that the considered complex sale is a more difficult marketing proposition than advertising an item of clothing or consumer good.
Another area where programmatic and B2B haven’t been a perfect fit in the past is targeting since B2B marketers need to reach specific people and decision makers across multiple devices, making effective programmatic ad buying more difficult. One data point from the report that stood out for targeting is that Facebook is by far the top choice for B2B paid targeting (63%) on social media, compared to LinkedIn (39%) and Twitter (36%).
“B2B marketers inhabit the world of owned and earned media, like email and their web site,” explains Joanna O’Connell, CMO of ad tech provider MediaMath, in the report. “The reality is that the B2B sales cycle often involves many players — not just an executive, such as a media director — as key decision makers in marketing decisions and expenditures.”
Where programmatic and B2B marketing are converging according to the report is as programmatic adoption increases so does the type and depth of data required by B2B marketers.
