Which is better in B2B advertising, niche or general advertising

Spending that hard-fought for b2b advertising budget in the right way can be difficult there are a multitude of magazines, websites, and email bulletins many other ways for you to spend your money.   So should you spend your money on general advertising or on more specific niche websites and magazines?  This very much depends on what you wish to achieve.  Below I will list the advantages and disadvantages of both methods:

General B2B Advertising

First a definition – General Advertising is the magazines that target a broad spectrum of your potential audience, magazines in this sector would include Building magazine, Farmers weekly – often these publications are targeted at a director/ceo level with in your industry.

The advantages of General B2B advertising

• Large audience on the whole
• Good editorial content written by good editors

Disadvantages of General B2B advertising

• Potential for a large amount of wastage on the circulation/readership
• It is difficult to get your companies editorial within the magazine
• Sometimes the editors are more accessible and happy to work with you, they can also be very highly respected within their niche
• Expensive to advertise with these magazines and websites with no guarantee of a high quality response.

Niche B2B advertising

Second another definition – Niche advertising magazines and websites target a very specific sector of your industry magazines such as Refurb and Renew or pig farmers weekly – these magazines are usually read by a mix of senior level people and those who are actually doing the work.

The advantages of Niche B2B advertising

• Highly targeted and relevant circulation with very little wastage
• Often you can get editorial free as part of the advertising package
• Read by a lot of the important people in your niche
• Cost effective method of promoting your company
• Loyal and engaged readers
• Will often be ahead of the game when it comes to new regulations and concepts in your industry

Disadvantages of Niche B2B advertising

• Mixed editorial some niche titles have no editor, some of great editors, look for those with real editors
• Some niche titles are lower quality others are great

The Key to choosing the correct niche titles is to have a clear and defined strategy, decide on your target sectors, find the magazines and websites that speak to this sector and choose the titles you wish to use.  You may also want to look at some of the more general titles if your budget allows, this will enable you to keep your brand in front of the key players in your industry.

What to look for in a niche b2b magazine to ensure you get the right magazines

A good niche title will have a good and knowledgeable editor who has a commercial head.  He will be happy to work with you to ensure you get ample editorial coverage along with your advertising spend.  The magazine must be well put together and printed with a good selection of features and pr opportunities.

I hope this helps in you planning and buying decisions please let me know your thoughts and comments below