In this B2B marketing case study compilation, we take a look at five different brands and the ways in which they enhanced their B2B marketing efforts in today’s hyper-saturated marketplace.
Blog Post
10 minute read
Apr 17, 2024
There are many different types of marketing strategies that organizations can rely on today to deliver their messages, engage with their audience, and drive sales. However, not every single marketing tactic or strategy is going to work with every single brand.
Understanding the unique ways in which your brand differs will help you develop a marketing strategy that truly fits your business model and the services you offer. Emphasizing their unique qualities and the value they deliver is exactly what the brands in this B2B marketing case study compilation have done so well.
Let’s explore these five marketing case studies in depth and the major takeaways from each:
If you’d like help refining your marketing strategies, get in touch with a marketing expert from Impact who can help you craft a strategic, targeted, and effective marketing plan.
Recognizing that traditional thought leadership might not resonate as strongly, KPMG chose to demonstrate their grasp of consumer businesses by speaking their language and aligning with their objectives.
This strategic pivot gave rise to a unique creative concept wherein KPMG envisioned itself as consumer products, crafting a range of spoof items meticulously designed to mimic real consumer goods.
Across a diverse array of channels such as print, display advertising, paid social, and digital out-of-home, the campaign was meticulously deployed, initially focusing on driving widespread reach and awareness before transitioning to engaging specific audience segments and high-value accounts.
The outcomes were truly exceptional, with KPMG’s campaign surpassing industry benchmarks by a staggering 480% in click-through rates and achieving over 9 million impressions, exceeding anticipated website traffic targets within just three weeks of its five-month duration.
Most notably, the campaign brought about an 11% increase in opportunity volume and an impressive 68% boost in opportunity value for the Consumer Consulting division, firmly establishing KPMG’s strategic prowess in the consumer advisory domain.
Moreover, the campaign’s success set the stage for a robust and sustainable marketing platform for KPMG consumer advisory services, laying a solid foundation for future endeavors.
In essence, KPMG’s multifaceted strategy, blending creative ingenuity with an intimate understanding of its audience, not only drove substantial business growth but also yielded enduring impacts on its marketing landscape, affirming its position as a formidable player in the industry.
B2B Case Study #2: Investors Associated Finds New Opportunities
Investors Associated, a real estate investing and development company founded in 1970, implemented an omnichannel marketing strategy to reach both residential renters and commercial investors more effectively.
By keeping property management in-house and offering equal partnership in all properties, Investors Associated ensured continuous appreciation for investors. The challenge, however, lay in attracting new partners and increasing cash flow without an established strategy or the manpower for targeted research and tailored messaging.
At the start of a five-year partnership, Impact conducted an in-depth assessment and implemented an omnichannel strategy to leverage the unique sales funnel of Investors Associated.
By understanding their niche audience and deploying targeted messaging across various channels, Impact helped the firm achieve 10-15% annual growth in new equity from investors and maintain high occupancy rates in both commercial and residential properties.
Additionally, by outsourcing a full marketing team and tech stack, Investors Associated realized 50% annual cost savings while benefiting from Impact's expertise and extensive creative resources. Impact's tailored approach enabled Investors Associated to connect with their audience effectively, driving growth and ensuring continued success in their real estate ventures.
B2B Case Study #3: Spotify Boosts Advertisements Through “All Ears on You Campaign”
Spotify Advertising, a B2B brand within Spotify, sought to educate brands and media buyers about its digital audio advertising product while positioning itself as a media innovator.
As a part of the “All Ears on You Campaign” which showcased the attention with which music streamers listen, the team devised "A Song For Every CMO," a collection of original songs paying tribute to C-suite leaders at major brands.
This creative concept was complemented by a centerpiece film, directed by Amber Grace Johnson, with depictions of the dynamic array of Spotify users engaged in music listening as a primary activity, showcasing the diversity of Spotify users.
The campaign yielded impressive results, generating 1.5 billion impressions, engaging 10,000 high-value targets, and attracting 185,000 new users to the Spotify Advertising platform.
The campaign also received widespread press coverage, which only further enhanced product awareness. By the end of the campaign, target audience testimonials praised Spotify's breakthrough marketing approach and personalized brand experience, affirming the campaign's success in resonating with its intended audience and driving tangible outcomes.
B2B Case Study #4: DealHub Drives Inbound Leads
DealHub, a next-generation CPQ (configure, price, quote) platform headquartered in Austin, has solidified its position in the revenue technology industry with five years of consecutive hypergrowth and $90 million in funding.
Led by CMO Gideon Thomas, the marketing team prioritized scalable campaigns to maintain momentum without overspending on customer acquisition. They adopted a holistic approach aligned with their market objectives, emphasizing the need for data visibility in omnichannel campaigns that enable accurate performance measurement and channel attribution.
Without proper tracking in place, it can be difficult to understand where inbound leads are originating and the efficacy of any one campaign on any one channel. By implementing attribution solutions, however, you can start to see the avenues that inbound leads are taking most frequently.
In response to attribution challenges, DealHub turned to 6sense for insights into the influence of their marketing efforts.
DealHub was looking to gain a better understanding of the broader "halo effect" of their marketing tactics beyond last-click attribution. Simply put, the halo effect is when the positive perception of one aspect of an entity influences an individual's comprehensive opinon of that entity.
Implementing 6sense enabled them to uncover anonymous website traffic, track attribution across touchpoints, and implement a more comprehensive attribution model.
This brought about significant results, including the ability to identify 80% of anonymous traffic and a substantial increase in inbound attribution from 30% to 85%. Additionally, they recognized 80% of attribution for outbound efforts from paid-media assistance.
These improvements allowed DealHub to reduce its attribution blind spot to between 15% and 20%, facilitating a detailed understanding of the customer journey and enabling effective budget reallocation.
B2B Case Study #5: Marathon Health Levels Up Marketing
Marathon Health, a nationwide healthcare network, faced capacity issues in their go-to-market team, risking millions in pipeline due to an overworked and understaffed marketing and sales process. Upon implementing 6sense, they experienced higher-quality leads and drove net-new sales, leading to enhanced member engagement and life-changing healthcare services.
The challenge lay in transforming their marketing team from an "arts and crafts" department into a demand-generation powerhouse, all while streamlining the sales process to target companies actively seeking solutions.
Utilizing 6sense, Marathon Health adopted an omnichannel approach to monitor engagement at the city level, which was crucial to understand for their nationwide expansion strategy.
With AI-based segmentation and Salesforce integrations, they orchestrated targeted ads, direct mail, and AI-driven email journeys customized for buyer personas and markets. SDRs (sales development reps) then engaged accounts showing high intent to purchase, leading to increased in-market buying growth and the ability to adapt to market dynamics.
To address the gap in email outreach, Marathon Health embraced conversational email. This AI-powered personalization tool enabled streamlined conversations and personalized email journeys based on geography, industry, and company size.
Within two months, they sent over 22,000 emails with a 38% open rate, resulting in $4.5M in net-new pipeline, and a 55% increase in average email open rates for health companies.
With these new strategies and tools in place, Marathon Health saw $66M in net-new pipeline and 211% in-market buying growth since July 2021.
Conversational email further bridged the conversation gap, generating 11 qualified leads and 908 accounts within eight weeks. This success instilled confidence in Marathon Health's team to continue investing in tools like 6sense and conversational email to further drive growth.
Wrapping Up on B2B Marketing Case Studies
Different marketing tactics and techniques are designed with different objectives in mind. This is why it’s so important for brands to be intentional with the marketing strategies they deploy. If marketing tactics are chosen without taking goals and objectives into consideration, the strategy will be far from effective.
Whether it’s business-to-business or business-to-consumer, there are specific marketing tactics you can rely on no matter what your goal.
Use some of the methods outlined in these business-to-business marketing case studies to enhance your marketing efforts and truly make your brand stand out in a crowd.
The modern marketplace is chock-full of competition, making it difficult for brands to stand out in the eye of the consumer. If you know your marketing could be better, but aren’t sure how to make improvements, get in touch with a marketing expert at Impact today!
