Demand gen isn’t easy. When you need results—fast—paid media is an attractive option. However, your approach to paid media matters. A well-executed campaign can deliver results quickly, but a poorly executed one can make everything (including your bottom line) worse. How does Iron Horse drive success for our paid media clients? We’ve pulled together answers to the most common questions we hear.
- What is Iron Horse’s approach to paid media planning?
- What makes Iron Horse unique?
- Why is it important to take an audience-centric approach to paid media?
- How do Iron Horse’s vendor relationships help customers see improved outcomes?
- Why should I include industry publications in my B2B paid media strategy?
- What is Iron Horse’s approach to measurement and optimization?
- What do Iron Horse’s paid media services include?
- Who would I work with on my paid media planning and execution?
- How does Iron Horse use AI in its paid media services?
1. What is Iron Horse’s approach to paid media planning?
Iron Horse takes a three-pronged approach to paid media planning:
- Ground planning in your audience and goals. There are plenty of ways to divvy up your media spend. The right one for your organization depends on who you’re trying to reach and why.
- Approach media planning with fresh (experienced) eyes. Iron Horse specializes in building the best mix of platforms, vendors and tactics to propel your audience on their journey. This may mean making small, impactful changes to your current line-up or adding new channels, such as industry publishers, into the mix. Either way, we focus on quick wins first, then build a strategy for continued success.
- Fold experimentation into the process. Paid media should never be “set-it-and-forget-it.” At Iron Horse, we’re always thinking about how to optimize your spend across channels and tactics for the most impact. This means taking calculated risks and shifting budgets quickly to continually improve results.
2. What makes Iron Horse unique?
Iron Horse is more than a paid media agency. As demand gen specialists, our goal is to help you build and nurture a pipeline of highly qualified leads eager to talk to your sales team. That means we’ll be working with you on how to optimize the entire experience, including how to:
- Best segment your audience to get the most out of your budget
- Decide which content and messaging to use on your campaigns
- Use integrated data from across across channels to inform targeting and retargeting
- Increase conversions with strategic optimizations and personalization
- Effectively nurture leads from content syndication
3. Why is it important to take an audience-centric approach to paid media?
Starting your media planning with an overly broad list or preferred set of channels wastes your media budget and your internal resources. Understanding who you are trying to reach and their particular journey allows you to be more strategic with segmentation, channel selection, messaging and offers.
Taking an audience-centric approach means we’ll never railroad you into using a few particular vendors. We aren’t going to suggest tactics just because we can do them in our sleep. And we aren’t going to just tell you to keep using the channels you’re using because they might be an easy “yes.”
Instead, you can be confident that we are carefully considering how to best reach and influence your specific audience, based on your budget and goals.
4. How do Iron Horse’s vendor relationships help customers see improved outcomes?
Iron Horse has extensive relationships with vendors throughout the paid media ecosystem, including account based marketing and content syndication platform vendors and industry-specific publishers and communities. We work closely with our partners to thoroughly understand their platform features, capabilities and limitations—allowing us to design multi-platform media plans that go beyond out-of-the-box implementation to deliver the best results for your unique situation.
5. Why should I include industry publications in my B2B paid media strategy?
Industry publications offer unique advantages for B2B paid media strategies. When potential customers visit these publishers, they’re already in “work” mode, and much more likely to be interested in your messaging than if you’re competing against family photos or political news.
Unlike general platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, industry publications provide a contextually relevant environment for your content. You’re putting your assets directly in front of an audience that’s already looking, and you’re reaching them in a headspace where they’re open to your message.
Additionally, industry publications provide valuable co-branding benefits. Content published on trusted third-party sites can carry significantly more credibility than the same content on your own website. As seasoned (jaded?) marketing professionals, we know it’s easy to assume that your audience isn’t going to “fall” for sponsored content. We’ve got the data to prove that it works.
6. What is Iron Horse’s approach to measurement and optimization?
“Trust us, it’s working” doesn’t work for us—or you. At Iron Horse, we begin reporting two weeks into every campaign, focusing on the KPIs that matter most to your business goals. We highlight the content that’s resonating the most with your audience, the ad creatives that are driving conversions, and which of your audience personas are most active.
After our first report, we begin optimizing your campaign, giving more fuel to the tactics that are working while we refresh and replace anything that’s lagging behind. These decisions are made with your input, while we refine your targets and validate your ICPs. As the campaigns shift, our goals remain the same: creating and nurturing contacts that will convert to sales.
7. What do Iron Horse’s paid media services include?
Iron Horse’s paid media services span every stage of your go-to-market efforts, including:
- Target audience definition
- Channel and platform selection
- KPI definition
- Ad copy and creative design
- Campaign execution
- Performance optimization
- Detailed reporting and analysis
We provide full transparency on where your money is being spent by breaking down costs by channel, platform and campaign, allowing you to see exactly how your budget is being allocated and what results each element is delivering.
8. Who would I work with on my paid media planning and execution?
At Iron Horse, you’ll work with demand gen experts who understand both the strategic and operational aspects of paid media campaigns and approach every step of the project with an eye to demand success. Our team includes strategists who develop comprehensive media plans aligned with your goals, operations specialists who execute campaigns and focus on day-to-day optimization, and a creative team that delivers design and copy to catch your audience’s attention and move them to action.
We take a collaborative approach, working closely with your team to understand your objectives, constraints and preferences. Whether you need comprehensive planning support or hands-on execution, our team adapts to complement your internal capabilities.
9. How does Iron Horse use AI in its paid media services?
In keeping with our culture of experimentation and innovation, Iron Horse is always looking at ways to effectively leverage AI to deliver superior results. Our paid media specialists pair their expertise and creativity with AI insights and workflows to plan and execute paid media campaigns tuned to your audience and goals.
Sound like something you can use? Let’s talk about how we can partner with you.
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