Football would be a very different game if all players were paid the same amount of money and had equal skill levels. But what fun would that be? Similarly, in the BtoB world, how competitors stack up against each other would look very different if everyone had equal advertising budgets and similar levels of brand recognition. But, like in football, this is never the case. There will always be someone who has a bigger budget and better brand recognition.

No, the playing field is certainly not level, but there are ways the underdogs can advertise alongside the big boys – they just have to know how to spend their advertising dollars wisely.

To drive home the point, here’s a case study: A mid-size company, a call center outsourcer, operates in an industry that is dominated by Fortune 500 giants with big advertising budgets. To advertise in a popular trade magazine costs tens of thousands of dollars a month. The call center company can’t afford to compete in the same markets as those with bigger budgets do – but at the same time, they can’t afford not to. The marketer’s challenge is that having the company name alongside the Fortune 500s is crucial to the business’s success.

They are targeting the same leads as even the largest competitors. Because organizations with smaller marketing budgets can’t afford the same advertising buys, they are essentially “priced out” of the market, meaning they often don’t have access to the same buyers.

The 3 Bs

Big bucks, big advertising budgets and big brand recognition can be tough to beat. It is hard to find targeted advertising that is within budget. But it’s not impossible. You just have to know where to look.

The place to be seen online

But fear not, ye with small marketing budgets. A featured listing in an industry directory will not take a big chunk of your ad dollars. An industry directory, or buyer’s guide of product and service providers for a specific industry, is a proven venue for gathering qualified leads – and in most markets, being prominently listed on page one costs less than a thousand dollars a year. Because it’s like the yellow pages for a vertical market, all the big guys are listed in the directory, making it one of those places every marketer must advertise. If your prospect is looking through a directory, and sees every competitor, but not you, what conclusion does that draw in the buyer’s mind? More importantly, the prospect is in buy mode when visiting the directory -– he or she has actively sought out a product or service.

The marketer at our case study call center outsourcing firm found that for $600 a year, his company could buy a featured listing on page one of the industry’s leading publication’s directory. His display includes a logo, company description, contact information and website link.And, his ad appears before the alphabetical general listings, so it is sure to be seen by every website visitor – leveling the playing field.

As an added perk, being listed in the right directories also gets your company picked up in all the major search engine keyword searches.

The lesson here is that doing your research to find the best-priced, most effective online advertising techniques will help you develop a winning game plan that will level the playing field against with competitors.

Posted in Marketing and Advertising |

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Marketing and Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.