B2B Marketing Campaign Performance Analysis Edition 1: June 2024

Audience types and channels

Overview

This analysis focuses on identifying the best combinations of audience types and channels for running advertising experiments in B2B marketing. The analysis represents a subset of the top performing campaigns in Metadata and is based on the previous 3-months data. The key metrics include Spend, Leads, MQLs, Cost per MQL (cpMQL), and ROI for Triggered and Influenced Opportunities. The goal is to provide actionable insights for demand-generation marketers to optimize their strategies.

Key Metrics by Channel and Audience Type

  1. LinkedIn – Native Criteria
Total Spend $1,627,801.66
Total Leads 13,095
Total MQLs 4,095
CpMQL $397.32
ROI (Triggered Opportunities) 3.16
Cost per Triggered Opp $6,798.46
ROI (Influenced Opportunities) 17.17
Cost per Influenced Opp $948.57
LinkedIn Insights:
This combination offers the best balance between cost-efficiency and high ROI for both triggered and influenced opportunities. It suggests that LinkedIn's targeting capabilities are highly effective for reaching high-intent audiences in a native advertising format.
  1. Google Ads – Target Group (Mixed)
Total Spend $1,371,340.70
Total Leads 4,155
Total MQLs 1,164
CpMQL $1,178.23
ROI (Triggered Opportunities) 7.03
Cost per Triggered Opp $7,879.17
ROI (Influenced Opportunities) 18.17
Cost per Influenced Opp $756.45
Google Ads Insights:
Google Ads shows strong performance in generating high ROI, particularly for influenced opportunities. This suggests that Google Ads might effectively capture later-stage prospects who are closer to purchasing decisions.
  1. Facebook – Target Group (Mixed)
Total Spend $1,066,823.39
Total Leads 4,149
Total MQLs 817
CpMQL $1,305.77
ROI (Triggered Opportunities) 3.39
Cost per Triggered Opp $7,676.75
ROI (Influenced Opportunities) 31.41
Cost per Influenced Opp $339.87
Facebook Insights:
Despite higher CpMQL, Facebook excels in influenced opportunities ROI, indicating its strength in longer-term nurturing strategies that might not lead directly to immediate sales but influence decisions down the line.
  1. Instagram – Target Group (Mixed)
Total Spend $449,151.77
Total Leads 1,504
Total MQLs 344
CpMQL $1,305.67
ROI (Triggered Opportunities) 0.77
Cost per Triggered Opp $10,423.58
ROI (Influenced Opportunities) 3.14
Cost per Influenced Opp $1,424.88
Instagram Insights:
Instagram shows lower performance metrics across the board. In B2B contexts, it might be more suitable for brand awareness and engagement rather than direct lead generation.

Worthy mention but less commonly used

  1. LinkedIn – Firmographic
Total Spend $73,344.98
Total Leads 469
Total MQLs 132
CpMQL $467.11
ROI (Triggered Opportunities) 9.51
Cost per Triggered Opp $4,404.18
ROI (Influenced Opportunities) 52.23
Cost per Influenced Opp $800.76
LinkedIn - Firmographic Insights:
This less common combination shows surprisingly high ROI, particularly for influenced opportunities. Specific firmographic targeting on LinkedIn can be highly effective, possibly due to very precise targeting of decision-makers within certain industries or company sizes.

Conclusion

For marketers looking to optimize their B2B advertising strategies, LinkedIn and Google Ads remain strong channels for both direct conversions and influenced sales, especially when paired with targeted audience types like Native Criteria and Mixed Groups. Facebook’s strength in influencing longer-term decisions should not be underestimated despite higher initial costs per MQL. Less traditional channels like Instagram and YouTube require more nuanced strategies and are potentially better suited for specific goals like brand awareness or targeting particular technographic segments.

Caveats and Notes

  • Target groups: this is a proprietary function in metadata, allowing customers to create mixed audience types from various sources. For example, LinkedIn re-targeting audience combined with Salesforce account filter criteria. For more, see this resource.
  • MQL: Our MQL is dependent on how customers define their MQLs. Marketing teams assume that these leads are of higher quality.
  • ROI-influenced opportunities: This is determined by the Ad conversion event that was tied to the account with an opportunity.
  • ROI Triggered opportunities: This is determined if the ad conversion event was directly part of a sales opportunity that was created
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