Date
5th December 2024
B2B display advertising can considerably boost your marketing campaigns – but it needs to be done right.
When done well, B2B display ads can increase awareness of your brand amongst the decision-makers you're targeting and support your wider marketing strategy.
B2B display advertising is all about visually and contextually showcasing your brand. As people's internet use has grown, it's become more powerful than ever before - with every platform from local news sites to mobile games offering opportunities to put your business in front of potential customers.
And, by combining your B2B display advertising strategies with B2B lead generation, you can create a powerful ‘surround-sound messaging’ effect to attract future customers.
But before we get into that, how can you ensure the right people see your display ads?
And how do you combat banner blindness, to ensure audiences actually notice them?
The key is to identify the niche places your display ads will work and use them as part of a larger campaign. For example, you can combine your B2B display ads with ABM lead generation techniques or editorial support for maximum impact.
What Is B2B Display Advertising?
Display advertising, distinct from sponsored content or listings, is creative advertising that showcases a brand.
B2B display ad campaigns are commonly found in the form of a banner on an external website. B2B display ads can also take the form of native advertising, which is designed to fit the aesthetic of the website it's displayed on.
B2B banners and display advertising are great for marketing to niche audiences, and can also make your target prospects more likely to convert to sales, by building awareness over time.
Display advertising for B2B is aimed at business decision-makers, so clever audience targeting and compelling messaging are needed.
B2B Programmatic Advertising
You may also have heard the term programmatic advertising, which is a way of doing B2B display advertising.
B2B programmatic advertising describes the way in which display ads are bought. For example websites, publishers, advertisers, and other networks can sell and buy ad impressions via an automated system.
The good news is if you’re working with a B2B display advertising agency, you don’t need to worry about all the details of programmatic advertising. Display advertising specialists can take the lead when it comes to setting up your programmatic display ads. For example, your supplier will recommend the most appropriate ad placement and buy the advertising space on your behalf.
It's important to ensure the agency you’re working with will display banner advertising only on relevant websites, serving your B2B programmatic ad campaigns to a suitable, appropriate audience.
It can be tricky to get right: a lot of banner and display advertising is bought and sold programmatically – involving automation – and can end up in front of the wrong audiences. At the same time, many people who are used to browsing the internet have developed 'banner blindness' and are less likely to notice advertising.
But put in the right places, as part of your B2B lead generation strategy, display advertising can see a fantastic – and fully measurable – return on investment.
What Are the Benefits of Display Advertising for B2B?
The major benefit of B2B display advertising is brand awareness.
Business decision-makers don't tend to make impulse purchases, so they're unlikely to be swayed by an ad in a context-free environment, even if it's for a product they need.
However coupled with a clever B2B lead generation strategy or an account-based marketing strategy, B2B display advertising can be highly effective. For example, when a decision maker is specifically targeted around the web, a display advert can be hugely influential in familiarizing the prospect with your brand.
As a content syndication specialist, we're all about using valuable text-based assets, such as whitepapers and reports, to win new leads. But combining those with graphics-rich B2B banner ads that showcase your branding and snappy messaging can have an electrifying effect, and move your leads further down the funnel.
Chloe Addis Head of Marketing @ Headley Media
Essentially, you can use display media advertising to create 'surround-sound messaging' within your marketing campaign. Taking a 360 approach will help you ensure your prospects are exposed to your brand at various touch points through the marketing funnel. B2B lead generation companies can help you do this.
Let’s Take a Look at an Example.
Let’s say Jared, a Cybersecurity Manager, is looking to implement a company-wide anti-spam email software.
His search first involves doing independent research online, before narrowing his choices down to just two or three companies to contact for a meeting.
As the new software is company-wide the budget is substantial. Plus, there are a lot of different people who need to be involved in the purchase decision.
Most of Jared’s research has come from:
- Brands he’s already heard of
- Reading educational content online
- Reading review sites
- Recommendations from his professional network.
When doing online research he also came across a new company, WeHatePhising.com.
A week later he happened to be on a review site and he saw a banner ad for WeHatePhising.com. He didn’t click on the ad but it had a small impact on his awareness of the brand.
The following day he had a meeting with Taylor, an Email Marketing Manager who also mentioned WeHatePhising.com.
Taylor also saw the same targeted display ad as Jared. Even though Taylor isn't leading the project, she is still influential in the decision-making process for a new spam email software. Therefore WeHatePhising.com included her job title for targeting within their display campaign.
Okay so the example above might be a little basic, but it does show the power of a great display marketing strategy.
B2B display advertising can target multiple decision-makers and influencers within your company’s niche to build a wider awareness of your brand. And when you build display advertising metrics into your wider marketing strategy, you really start to see the combined effects of data-driven display advertising, paid-for lead generation, and other demand generation tactics.
So with that, let’s look at some of the top B2B display advertising strategies for 2025.
3 B2B Display Advertising Strategies for 2025
The best B2B display advertising strategies focus on brand awareness and cutting through the noise to offer your audience a tangible solution.
Display advertising services don't just offer a still banner ad: more creative options, including video advertising, are available and can significantly increase the likelihood of your ad being seen and remembered.
The key is to offer something valuable with a compelling message and a solid call to action.
These are our favorite B2B display advertising strategies for 2025.
B2B Display Advertising Strategy #1: Solid Foundations
When setting up your B2B display ads or B2B programmatic advertising campaigns you need to get the foundations right first.
Firstly, you need to create your B2B display advertising campaign objectives. Why do you want to run B2B programmatic ads?
For example, you might choose to run a B2B display advertising campaign to a completely new audience if you’ve recently launched a new product or to build awareness of your brand in a new territory.
Secondly, you’ll want to work with a B2B display advertising agency that can place your ads in the right place, at the right time, aimed toward the right people.
For example, for you that might mean only running your display ads Monday-Friday. Or you might choose to only use GIFs or videos and to only serve your ads on relevant and appropriate websites.
Other B2B display advertising factors include:
- Days of the week – you may choose to include or exclude certain days of the week, such as weekends.
- Time – you may choose to only serve ads during working hours per time zone.
- Website placement – most B2B display advertising is run through a programmatic network. It’s important to ensure the B2B display agency you're working with is transparent about where your ads will (and won't!) be placed.
- Creative – with display ads you don’t have long to catch someone’s attention. Therefore your creative should go further than being on-brand and eye-catching. Try and stick to one key message or theme. Plus, limit your copy and use videos or gifs where possible – movement makes people look!
- Focusing on display impressions – ignore everything else you’ve been told about digital marketing in recent years - display ad performance is based on impressions. Yes, you’ll still have a desired CTR in mind but your aim is to build brand awareness through as many relevant people seeing your brand as possible.
- Set a limit – on most display ad platforms you have the option to set a limit on the number of times one person sees your ads online. We recommend including a limit in your campaign, for example, of no more than 10 times per day. Setting a limit will avoid your ads (and your brand) from appearing spammy.
B2B Display Advertising Strategy #2: Surround-Sound Messaging
Once you’ve set the foundations for your B2B programmatic advertising you’re ready to start building B2B display ads into your marketing strategy.
One of the most effective B2B advertising strategies out there is to combine it with your lead generation via a display ads company.
Running display ads for lead generation creates surround-sound messaging, leading to increased brand awareness amongst your target audience.
We'll give our business model as an example: Headley Media is a B2B lead generation agency and display advertising company that owns over 300 content libraries in different technology sectors. We publish content from tech suppliers on our websites for content syndication lead generation campaigns.
The technology suppliers we work with can enhance their lead generation campaign with our display advertising service, which targets key decision-makers and influencers throughout their buyer’s journey.
Our programmatic advertising also appears on 3rd party sites, chosen to be as relevant as possible to our readers' needs, forming a full B2B display advertising network.
Because the target audiences are already in those spaces, they're more receptive to the brand's advertising, reinforcing the messages in the content.
It helps brands stand out against their competitors and ensure their products stay front of mind. Targets are also familiarized with the brand through the awareness and consideration stages of the marketing funnel.
Headley Media’s B2B display advertising campaigns are monitored, analyzed, and optimized by our in-house team, giving a personalized managed service. We ensure that none of your budget is wasted: for example, we'll only run ads during business hours in each country where the ad is operational.
Measuring display advertising is never easy, but running your targeted display ads alongside your B2B lead generation campaigns is a great way to ensure your campaigns are finely tuned towards your target audience, with complete digital monitoring and metrics to back it up.
Search Ads vs Display Ads
Pay-per-click advertising, such as on search engines and social media, revolutionized digital marketing. With marketers able to target precise audiences, measure click-through rates and budget exactly how many people they want to see their ad, some swore off display marketing strategies entirely in favour of search ads.
But there are a few key benefits to display advertising over search advertising that mean B2B banner ads are still worth paying a display marketing agency for:
- More opportunity to showcase your brand and messaging: search ads are often text-based and limited.
- Measurable KPIs and metrics, including impressions and click-through rate, that compare favorably with search ads.
- Ability to distribute creative, rich-media ads to relevant audiences programmatically on B2B ad networks.
B2B Display Advertising Strategy #3: A/B Testing
Our final B2B display advertising strategy is A/B testing. Like many other digital marketing strategies, B2B programmatic advertising requires monitoring and tweaking to consistently maximize performance.
If your company is brand new to B2B display advertising you’ll need to run a few campaigns before you start to understand what works best for your target audience.
As with any A/B testing, you should only look to make changes to one element of your campaign at a time and split everything equally between your two campaigns.
With B2B programmatic advertising you should consider A/B testing the following:
1. Your creative assets:
- The format of your creative, such as static imagery vs. GIFs or videos.
- The copy or messaging on your ads.
- The colors.
2. When & where your ads are hosted:
- What websites your display ads are shown on.
- What day/time your display ads are served to your audience.
3. Your audience:
- Who your ads are being served to e.g. their demographics, company information, job titles etc.
- What countries/regions/territories your ads are being served to.
- Any exclusions or inclusions you want to test within your audience.
Getting Started With B2B Display Advertising in 2025
The critical thing to remember about B2B display advertising is that B2B businesses aren't impulse buyers.
Building brand awareness to generate demand for your technology solutions takes time.
However, if your display ads are cleverly targeted, A/B tested, and combined with a lead generation strategy or account-based marketing, they can be highly effective.
The best B2B display ads are created and distributed with a display advertising agency or supplier.
To get the most out of your marketing budget we highly recommend working only with professional digital display advertising companies in 2025.
For an example of B2B display ad services, explore Headley Media’s B2B display advertising service, Headley Display.
Discover Headley Display
Headley Display campaigns place your brand and messaging directly in front of your target audience, meeting them in the spaces and channels they are already visiting.
Our Headley Display campaigns work alongside our lead generation services to deliver surround sound messaging to your target audience.
