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January 17, 2022
Popular B2B SaaS Ad Categories & Samples [Original Research]
Table of contents
- The ten categories of the ads:
- The process that we followed to coin the categories:
- Assumptions that we had in mind:
- Observations
- Ad examples in each category
- Category 1: Product walkthrough / Feature introduction to existing users
- Category 2: Product benefit (Do something positive)
- Category 3: Showcase future self of customer
- Category 4: Product feature Ad
- Category 5: Social Proof
- Category 6: Offer Ads
- Category 7: Thought leadership/Original Research Ads
- Category 8: Product benefit (End something negative)
- Category 9: Catchy tag line
- Insights
- We can help
You might run out of ideas while creating ads! It’s not easy to come up with a lot of mind-blowing ideas that make you stand out. A simple trick to make your life easier is to have a swipe file. While swipe files are great, they are usually generic, hard to consume, and can be improved further.
What if you get different ad formats & trending B2B SaaS ads in one place?
That’s exactly what we have created! A compiled and categorized list of 100+ ads specifically from some of the top B2B SaaS companies.
Personally, the categories are more helpful for me than the ads themselves.
The ten categories of the ads:
Category 1: Product walkthrough/feature introduction to existing users
Category 2: Product benefit (do something positive)
Category 3: Showcase future self of customer
Category 4: Product feature ad
Category 5: Social Proof
Category 6: Offer Ads
Category 7: Thought leadership/Original research content ads
Category 8: Product benefit (end something negative)
Category 9: Catchy tag line
Category 10: Social cause
The process that we followed to coin the categories:
Selecting companies:
We found 50 B2B companies that have impactful and remarkable ads.
Creating categories:
We categorized the ads to help you understand the distinctive features of every category and how it impacts the viewers.
Segmenting & Recording ads:
Then, we segmented the ads into the right category to cater to the niche you’re looking for and give you a better idea while creating similar ads.
Assumptions that we had in mind:
- Taking at max three ads per brand accurately represents the B2B ads industry.
- The teams at these companies know what they’re doing, have data to make decisions, and run experiments, so these ads must be producing a good ROI.
- Ads from the two most popular paid-social media platforms ( Facebook and LinkedIn) represent the ongoing trends in the market.
- Ignoring video ads won’t affect the results.
- Note: We did this since this is a blog for image ads. However, we saw some pretty interesting use cases of video ads. Some companies even change image ads to almost static videos, most probably to take advantage of lower CPCs and video view retargeting.
At Spear Growth, we manage a bunch of clients’ accounts and create dozens of ads every week. Looking for some help? We’re happy to see if we can help you take your ads to the next level. Schedule a free 30 min call with our experts here
Observations
Feel free to use this infographic, just link back to this blog!
Popular ad types:
Out of the 100+ B2B SaaS ads reviewed, more than 60% created thought leadership and product benefit ads.
Based on the companies we have taken ads from, the teams at these companies know what they’re doing, truly understands the power of original research ads and it must be generating a good ROI.
Less popular ad categories:
When looking at B2C ads, we’ve seen other categories like scroll stopper & memes that we didn’t see here.
Also, ad categories like (Product features and Showcase future self of customers) are less common.
If done right, they should have a higher chance to catch the eyes of prospects.
The bottom line: Use this research and different examples shared above to create ads that speak for your brand as well as effectively push through the stages of the buyers’ journey.
Ad examples in each category
Category 1: Product walkthrough / Feature introduction to existing users
Microsoft Feature Ad
Microsoft showcases the future of IE in Microsoft edge.
Slack Feature Ad
Slack adds a cool feature to the slack profile.
Crunchbase ad
Crunchbase shows ways to engage hyper-targeted sales leads.
Snowflake ad
Snowflake offers an instructor-led virtual class to get started.
ServiceNow Ad
ServiceNow showcases smart IT solutions.
ServiceNow Ad
ServiceNow showcases additional capabilities in ITSM Pro.
Category 2: Product benefit (Do something positive)
MailChimp Automation Marketing Solution Ad
MailChimp talks about customer journey builder.
Slack ad
Slack talks about secure collaboration for enterprises.
Gong Ad
Gong shows better performance and more revenue.
Shopify feature ad
Shopify offers a 14-day free trial for their marketing tools.
Wix feature ad
Wix promotes their web-creation tools.
Asana feature ad
Asana promotes automated updates and time-saving workflow.
RingCentral Feature ad
RingCentral offers a phone system that grows with your business.
Demodesk ad
Demodesk showcases its meeting platform made specifically for sales.
SurveyMonkey ad
SurveyMonkey talks about fast & easy market research.
Google ad
Google offers all the things in one place.
Pluralsight ad
Pluralsight talks about workflow efficiency.
AppSumo ad
AppSumo talks about faster & global results.
New Relic ad
New relic offers simplified log management.
Splunk ad
Splunk showcases cloud-driven transformation.
SurveyMonkey ad
SurveyMonkey promotes collaborative workflow.
ServiceNow Ad
ServiceNow offers Forrester infographic.
Shopify Ad
Syncbnb talks about its syncing features.
Wix ad
Wix talks about effective web-creation tools.
Canva Ad
Canva showcases its app features.
Userpilot ad
Userpilot talks about effective in-product marketing strategies.
CXL feature Ad
CXL offers a mini degree in CRO training.
Shopify ad
Shopify talks about the importance of online marketing while building a brand.
Google ad
Google offers a Data analytics course with google career certifications.
Square ad
Square talks about its sync features.
Category 3: Showcase future self of customer
Canva ad
Canva talks about its effective & collaborative features.
Syncbnb ad
Shopify offers a secure & quick selling process.
RingCentral ad
RingCentral showcases their collaborative tools.
Category 4: Product feature Ad
SurveyMonkey ad
SurveyMonkey talks about their customizable survey features.
Google ad
Google offers a secure & private phone plan.
Userpilot ad
Userpilot offers easier & faster user onboarding.
MailChimp Ad
MailChimp talks about the beautiful designs in AI.
Passbase ad
Passbase showcases their user identity verification tools.
Category 5: Social Proof
Atlassian ad
Atlassian shows its case study on Jira Align.
Okta Ad
Okta talks about the security tools & possibilities with customer identity.
Salesforce ad
Salesforce talks about a seamless digital commerce platform.
Demodesk Ad
Demodesk talks about their efficient workflow automation
Adobe Ad
Adobe offers unlimited stock downloads.
Anaplan Ad
Anaplan offers an automated sales-target setting.
Splunk Ad
Splunk showcases its report on cloud complexity & supply chain attacks.
Pluralsight ad
Pluralsight shows data on Tech leaders vs Employees.
Atlassian Ad
Atlassian talks about faster results through Jira Align.
Category 6: Offer Ads
Adobe offer ad
Adobe offers unlimited stock downloads.
AppSumo ad
AppSumo offers a discount on the first purchase.
Asana Ad
Asana offers a free coffee on their annual planning kit.
Shopify ad
Shopify offers Facebook ad credits by making sales on Shopify.
Meta for Business Ad
Meta for Business offers free account management support for your business.
Directive ad
Directive talks about exclusive offers for SaaS marketers.
Adobe ad
Adobe offers Pro Edition with more exciting features.
Category 7: Thought leadership/Original Research Ads
Workday ad
Workday talks about better-informed finance decisions.
MathWorks ad
MathWorks offers a free E-book on Reinforcement learning.
Veeva Systems
Veeva Systems show their digital clinical survey report.
Okta Ad
Okta shows top zero trust takeaways if 2021.
Crunchbase Ad
Crunchbase shows some insights to strengthen your sales.
Gong Ad
Gong showcase some revenue intelligence platform insights.
Anaplan ad
Anaplan offers “turn-key” xP&A capability across all planning functions.
New Relic ad
New Relic talks about log management best practices.
Slack ad
Slack talks about its ‘Modern Incident Response’ e-book.
Dropbox ad
Dropbox promotes smart work with its efficient toolkit.
MathWorks ad
MathWorks provides a free deep learning e-book.
Dropbox ad
Dropbox helped with a zero-waste eyewear brand’s vision.
Wix ad
Wix ad talks about their podcast about inclusive future in technology.
Snowflake ad
A thought-provoking take on decarbonizing energy consumption.
Appian Corporation
Appian showcases their automation maturity report.
Looker ad
Looker offers a free e-book on “The art of telling stories with data”
Appian Corporation
Appian Corporation showcases economist global IT report.
Veeva Systems
Veeva talks about the e-book to keep up with roster management.
Envoy ad
Envoy gives expert advice on improving workplace experience.
Salesforce ad
Salesforce gives insights on digital transformation strategies.
Salesforce ad
Salesforce talks about the changing strategic customer service globally.
Splunk ad
Splunk shows the guide to monitoring APIs for performance.
Splunk Ad
Splunk talks about its IT & observability predictions in 2022.
Envoy Ad
Envoy offers an e-book on predicted workplace trends for 2030.
Envoy ad
Envoy talks about workplace space management tips.
Jamf ad
Jamf talks about better BYOD programs to balance IT security.
Wix ad
Wix talks about building a winning design portfolio.
Zoom Ad
Zoom talks about collaboration and culture in the new workplace.
Demodesk feature ad
Demodesk offers customizable templates.
Snowflake ad
Snowflake showcase the report on architecting data-insensitive SaaS applications.
Splunk Ad
Splunk offers the essential guide to process mining.
Dropbox Ad
Dropbox gives insights on the next wave of entrepreneurs.
Dropbox ad
Dropbox showcases work predictions by experts in 2022.
Passbase ad
Passbase offers a free guide to PEPs for product teams.
Splunk SOC Ad
Splunk shows the essential capabilities of a Modern SOC.
Paycom Ad
Paycom offers a free compliance guide.
Slack ad
Slack promotes an e-book about reinventing sales.
Category 8: Product benefit (End something negative)
Asana ad
Asana talks about solutions to resolve workloads.
Atlassian ad
Atlassian offers great solutions to IT portfolio challenges.
Okta Ad
Okta offers best practices to create a secure API strategy.
Category 9: Catchy tag line
Google feature ad
Google adds ‘Google Classroom’ for bringing everything together.
MailChimp Feature Ad
MailChimp promotes automated marketing with customer journey builder.
Category 10: Social Cause
Microsoft ad
Microsoft talks about cyber warfare & how it affects digital space.
Google ad
Google promotes sustainability & improves air quality.
Microsoft ad
Microsoft talks about becoming carbon negative by 2030.
Microsoft ad
Microsoft talks about its initiative to help endangered species.
Insights
Bonus 1: Planning an ad
You need to focus on these steps before you plan:
- Who do you want to attract?
Make sure you focus on the buyer’s journey stage to create value for the right audience.
- What action do you want them to take?
Make sure you use the correct CTA aligned with the objectives of your channel.
- What idea do you want to communicate?
Use the right message to emphasize the theme of your campaign.
Bonus 2: Reviewing an ad
An ad needs to do these four things:
- Stop people from scrolling.
Make ads that catch the eye.
- Show them that this is relevant to them.
Connect with your target audience & make it worth their time.
- Give them more information.
Give them something that resonates with them.
- Make them take action.
CTA is strong and entices your audience to take action.
If your ad is not doing more of these things, consider making changes and following the right process.
We can help
Are you trying to think of ideas that will shoot up your ROI?
Relax! Leave that to us.
We have already managed ads for other B2B SaaS companies. We can help you manage your marketing effectively, try new ideas & generate great revenue. Contact us now & take your ad game up a notch.
