Business to Business Committee

The Business-to-Business Committee focuses on the unique challenges facing b-to-b marketers, including product, sales, target audiences, marketing communications strategy, agency management, the marketing/sales relationship, measurement, ROI and more.  This committee provides a forum for education; networking and discussion that helps elevate individuals in their respective organizations and enhances business-to-business marketing throughout the advertising industry as a whole.

Committee Chair: Linda Brunner, Vice President, Marketing, Siemens Corporation

The ANA staff member managing the B-to-B Committee is Bill Zengel.

Discussion Topics

• The unique challenges in the b-to-b segment (versus the consumer segment)
• Building strong b-to-b brands
• Customer acquisition - lead generation
• Best practices for sales and marketing to work together 
• Maximizing the lifetime value of b-to-b customers
• New communications tools, e.g., blogs
• Effective b-to-b online media strategies
• Keys to effective b-to-b creative
• What’s working and what’s not in b-to-b online advertising
• What’s wrong with most b-to-b advertising (and how to make it better)

Leadership Initiatives

Advertising Is Going Native
Native advertising is an advertising method in which the advertiser attempts to gain attention by providing messaging in the context of the user's experience. Native ad formats match both the form and function of the user experience in which they are placed. The advertiser's intent is to make the paid advertising feel less intrusive and increase the likelihood users will engage with it. The ANA white paper "Advertising Is Going Native" covers issues including how marketers use and budget for native advertising, manage its implementation internally and externally, measure its success, and opinions on disclosure and ethics. Fifty four percent of B-to-B marketers have engaged in native advertising over the past year and 59 percent expect their native advertising budgets to increase in 2015.