The B2B marketing agency universe is vast, with thousands of individuals, teams, and agencies who promise to deliver results over their competitors. How can you tell if a B2B marketing agency will be truly good at promoting your brand, or just good at promoting their own? It’s a tricky problem that can affect your company’s finances and reputation for the better or worse.
There are ways, however, to find and evaluate the best B2B marketing agency based on work and results. Whether you are looking to hire an agency or just measuring yourself against the competition, you can quickly understand who is leading B2B marketing through the following four industry platforms.
B2B Marketing Awards
Recognizing and celebrating innovation, creativity, and forward-thinking points of view, the B2B Marketing Awards brings together 150 experts to select the best marketing campaigns across 29 categories. From more than a thousand submissions, the judging panel elevates B2B marketing agency teams that use technology, insights, and design to leapfrog the competition.
Some of our stand-out favorites among 2020’s winners include DigiPlex’s content marketing pivot that changed the conversation about sustainable data centers, Bidwell’s thought leadership campaign that aligned regional business leaders with local government, and Kettyle Irish Foods’ multi-platform launch of their new GUINNESS co-branded burgers featuring full farm-to-fork traceability. The B2B Marketing Awards is a great opportunity to see how big brands are changing and challenging industries.
The Drum B2B Awards
With competitions running throughout the year, the Glasgow-based Drum Awards accepts entries across the globe from marketing teams who demonstrate excellence in campaigns that deliver results or use technology in novel ways. Regardless of budget, size of project, or scale of resources, each project is evaluated on its own merit and effectiveness by a panel of expert judges.
One Drum B2B prize category that we especially love is the Best Limited Budget Campaign. How can a startup ride-hailing company get attention among travel agents? Agency Digital Radish helped Karhoo do just that with a “digital passport” that helped potential clients achieve annual goals. The message (“We know where you want to go, and we can take you there”) resonated with leads and garnered a 40% conversion rate. Want to learn specifics about award-winning campaigns? The Drum’s winner case studies is a visually appealing way to see marketing campaigns at diverse scales.
B2 Awards
Founded in 1910, ANA (“Association of National Advertisers”) is the ad industry’s oldest trade association in the United State. For more than 50 years, their B2 Awards program has recognized results-driven marketing. Their 2021 awards are presenting 47 prize categories, judged over by an expert jury of Director- or VP-level leaders from major marketing organizations and brands.
The “Top Awards” recognize general excellence and achievement in the industry across company size (small, medium, and large) and structure (agency, in-house). Within the project-based category section, you can find winners for topics such as Incentive Marketing (“The Power to Do More Documentary”, Corteva, Bader Rutter), Lead Generation: C-Level (“Friend or Foe Lead Gen”, Panduit, Nelson Schmidt Inc), Social Media (“Pioneering New Tech Activations on LinkedIn”, J.P. Morgan), and many more. Want to see who is outperforming with specific marketing tactics? The B2 Awards is an excellent place to see who is excelling in niche categories.
UpCity Excellence Winners
If judges and juried panels are not your style, then take a look at UpCity’s National and Local Excellence awards. Using a proprietary algorithm that measures company engagement, reviews, and digital performance, UpCity can help organizations find and evaluate your next B2B marketing agency. To recognize the companies that consistently rank high on their “Recommendability Rating,” UpCity gives annual awards to their most exceptional partners.
What’s great about this program’s website is the search and filter option, which can help you find an excellent B2B marketing agency based on location, budget, type of client, and service specialties. Want affordable SEO solutions for your brand? Try SocialSEO in Colorado Springs (5 stars). Need Marketing Automation help? Try BrandLume in Toronto (5 stars). UpCity prides itself on making trustworthy recommendations, and their site is a great way to find the perfect B2B marketing fit.
A B2B marketing agency in cleantech
Now that you’ve seen the best and brightest of B2B marketing, what vision do you have for the future? Do you want to see your company listed among these highest honors? We do! We want to help you design and execute bold, innovative campaigns that set the bar for a B2B marketing agency in clean energy, clean transportation, and sustainability. Ready? Contact us today, and let’s get started.