Measuring the Effectiveness of Paid Media in the B2B Space

by Syrup | Oct 6, 2020

Measuring the effectiveness of paid media in the B2B space comes up a lot. How much of an impact did my ad spend make in closing that deal? 

You want to be able to say I spent this exact dollar on this exact platform and it drove this exact amount of revenue for my business. But in today’s world, that’s just not possible. The customer journey is not a linear line from point A to point B – it’s a jumbled, multi-touchpoint mess.

Think about your sales cycle. It’s probably longer than 1 day. You don’t cold call someone or send that first email and immediately close a deal. Winning business takes time. You have to stay in front of your prospects and follow up with them, building trust and a relationship. Paid media is just one of those touchpoints. 

A lot of times we describe paid efforts as “digital air coverage.” It’s there when and where you can’t be. Paid media covers your audience with messaging to stay in front of them so they remember you, and when they’re ready to take action, they come to you.

So when it comes to measuring paid success when the sales cycle can be 4+ months, it can be tricky. 

While the attribution that paid platforms provide is valuable for measuring immediate impact, if you’re running paid ads I encourage you to take a step back and look at the big picture. Has there been a lift in overall sales? Is your business growing? Are you seeing changes in lead volume and quality? Has your sales cycle shortened?

Paid efforts are a piece of the pie and sometimes it’s just about being there and being seen.