When it comes to B2B advertising, there’s no shortage of platforms to choose from. But not all of them will deliver the results you need.
It’s about figuring out which format aligns with your business, audience, and objectives. Some work best for capturing high-intent buyers, while others are more effective for building brand awareness, generating demand, or nurturing leads over time.
Your target audience, goals, and budget should shape your approach. The key is understanding how different advertising channels work and how they fit into your overall strategy.
After managing millions in B2B SaaS ad spend, we’ve identified the 5 best advertising platforms. This guide highlights their strengths and weaknesses and how to make the most of them.
Let’s dive in.
1. Google Ad Platform
Google Ads is the go-to platform for all marketers, and for good reason.
Google holds 79% of global desktop search traffic—when people need a solution, they Google it. A big part of why is its vast network. When you advertise with Google, gain access to the Google Display Network (GDN), which allows you to show visual ads across millions of websites like YouTube, Gmail, and third-party platforms.
But beyond getting access to the biggest slice of the market, Google Adwords also offers advertisers a ton of powerful features that make it easy for B2B marketers to find relevant audiences.
Pros: Why Google Ads Is the Best Platform for Capturing High-Intent B2B Buyers
With search ads, you can place your brand in front of buyers exactly when they’re searching for a solution.
This is made possible through their targeting settings like:
- Keyword Match Targeting allows you to focus on high-intent searches by controlling how closely a user’s query must match your keywords (Exact Match, Phase Match, Broad Match).
- You can learn about these in detail in our blog, “When to Use Google Ads Keyword Match Types”.
- Negative Keywords filter out irrelevant or low-intent searches. For example, a B2B CRM provider might exclude terms like “free” or “for startups” to filter out unqualified leads, ensuring ads reach high-intent buyers.
- Flexible Retargeting Capabilities lets you re-engage users who have already interacted with your brand, targeting visitors of key pages like pricing, demos, or case studies. It enables personalized messaging based on past interactions, boosting conversion rates.
What’s more, you can refine your targeting even further by defining audiences based on user behavior, interests, and demographics:
- In-market audiences target users actively researching B2B solutions based on their browsing behavior and purchase intent.
- Demographic targeting narrows down your audience based on job role, company size, and industry, ensuring your ads reach decision-makers.
- Custom audiences allow you to reach people who have searched for industry-specific terms or visited competitor websites. For instance, a B2B SaaS company can build an audience of users who have recently searched for "best marketing automation software," ensuring ads are shown to highly relevant prospects.
P.S. If you’re planning on running a search campaign, our guides, “Free Guide To B2B Targeting In The Google Display Network” and “Guide to B2B Targeting for Google Search Ads,” are a great place to start.
Cons: High Competition and Rising CPCs
As the most popular ad platform, Google is a highly competitive market. While it’s niche-dependent, for premium placement, you can expect to pay higher costs per click (CPCs).
The key to getting the most out of your campaign is to be strategic about keyword selection, ad placement, and bidding strategy. Otherwise, your costs can quickly eat into your budget.
2. LinkedIn Ad Platform
Google is the best paid search platform for B2B advertising. However, LinkedIn is the best social platform for B2B. Nearly every business professional maintains a detailed profile—complete with job title, industry, and company information—it’s where professionals network, connect, and engage, which makes LinkedIn a goldmine for B2B advertisers.
Pros: How LinkedIn Ads Help You Reach the Right B2B Buyers
Unlike platforms that rely primarily on interest-based targeting, LinkedIn’s strength is its ability to reach people based on who they work for and what they do. Its rich professional data enables highly granular targeting options that other platforms can’t match:
- Job Title & Function: Pinpoint specific roles such as Marketing Manager, IT Director, or CFO.
- Industry & Company Size: Focus on companies in a particular sector or within a specific employee range.
- Seniority & Experience Level: Reach key decision-makers like C-level executives or senior managers.
- Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Directly target specific companies or a list of accounts with custom audiences.
- Lookalike & Retargeting Audiences: Re-engage past website visitors or build audiences similar to your existing customers.
Retargeting is a powerful strategy strategy on LinkedIn that we’ve seen great success in. Learn how to apply it to your campaign in our “Guide to LinkedIn Retargeting for B2B SaaS”.
With LinkedIn’s precision targeting, you can easily identify high-quality prospects likely to benefit from your solution. And with a variety of targeting options, you can easily put together a B2B ad strategy that covers all of your bases.
Cons: Is LinkedIn Advertising Worth the Cost?
As the go-to network for professionals, LinkedIn Ads tend to be expensive—often with an average cost-per-click that can range from $5 to even $10 in competitive industries. While the higher cost is justified by the quality of leads and the ability to target decision-makers, the platform’s overall reach is smaller compared to Google or Facebook. This makes LinkedIn more suited for targeted outreach and account-based marketing rather than broad, mass awareness campaigns.
In essence, if your goal is to directly engage with high-level professionals and drive quality leads, LinkedIn’s premium pricing is an investment in precision. However, if scale and cost efficiency are your priorities, you might consider complementing LinkedIn with other channels.
3. Reddit Ad Platform
Most people think of Reddit as a hub for memes, news, and debates. But it’s also home to thousands of niche communities filled with engaged professionals.
From SaaS founders discussing growth strategies to IT leaders researching cloud solutions, Reddit is one of the few platforms where professionals actively seek out recommendations and insights.
Pros: Lower CPCs & Cost-Effective Lead Generation
Reddit's advertising platform is comparatively underused, leading to lower competition and more affordable advertising costs. In fact, advertisers have reported average cost-per-click (CPC) rates ranging from $0.10 to $0.30!
Community-Based Targeting: Reaching Niche Audiences
The real power of Reddit lies in its subreddits—dedicated communities where people go to discuss, research, and recommend solutions.
Reddit's advertising offers precise targeting options unique to the platform that allow B2B marketers to reach specific audiences effectively:
- Community-based targeting enables advertisers to place ads directly within specific subreddits—dedicated communities centered around particular topics.
- Keyword-based targeting allows ads to appear in discussions containing specific terms.
- Interest-Based Targeting: Reddit categorizes users based on their demonstrated hobbies, passions, or areas of expertise. So, you can reach users who have shown an affinity for broader professional interests, ensuring your ads resonate with audiences aligned with your offerings.
- Retargeting allows you to strategically show follow-up ads to warm leads who have already demonstrated interest, improving conversion rates and keeping your brand top-of-mind.
Want to see Reddit ads in action?
Check out our Reddit Advertising Case Study to learn how we used Reddit’s niche targeting to generate some interesting results.
Build Brand Credibility Through Engagement and Discussions
90% of Reddit users rely on the platform for product and brand discovery, making it a powerful tool for influencing buying decisions. Reddit audiences that value expertise over sales pitches—all at a fraction of the cost of Google and LinkedIn. However, unlike traditional ad platforms, Reddit is built around conversation and trust. Well-placed ads or organic participation can lead to real discussions with engaged users, making it easier to build credibility.
Cons: Limited Reach and a Learning Curve
While Reddit has highly engaged niche communities, its overall user base is smaller than platforms like Google or LinkedIn, meaning fewer opportunities for broad-scale B2B advertising. The best strategies require really fine targeting, which can be difficult to scale.
Another factor to consider is that advertising on Reddit requires a different approach—ads that feel overly promotional or sales-driven tend to be ignored or downvoted. Success often depends on understanding how to engage authentically within subreddits and crafting ad content that feels native to the community.
4. Meta (Facebook And Instagram) Ad Platform
When it comes to B2B advertising, Facebook might not be the first platform that comes to mind. But with over 3 billion monthly users, it offers the largest social media audience.
While Facebook excels in B2C marketing, it also plays a valuable role in B2B brand awareness, demand generation, and retargeting—especially when paired with other platforms like Google and LinkedIn.
Pros: Massive Reach at a Lower Cost
Facebook’s ad network is one of the largest in the world, and its ad costs are generally lower than Google and LinkedIn. For B2B brands looking to build awareness, Facebook remains one of the most cost-effective ways to reach future decision-makers before they actively begin their buying journey.
Some perks of advertising on the platform include:
- More visibility for less – Facebook Ads typically offer lower CPCs and CPMs compared to LinkedIn, making it an affordable option for reaching new prospects.
- Ideal for brand awareness – Its scale makes it a cost-effective tool for introducing your brand to a broad audience and staying visible over time.
- High-volume lead generation – Facebook often delivers more leads at a lower cost, though they may require additional qualification and nurturing.
However, Facebook operates as a disruptive ad platform—unlike Google Search or LinkedIn, where users are actively searching for solutions. This means success depends on grabbing attention, nurturing leads, and staying visible over time to move prospects through the funnel.
Powerful Retargeting Capabilities
One of Facebook’s biggest strengths is retargeting, allowing you to re-engage users who have already shown interest in your business. Plus, what’s great about the Facebook ad platform is that its algorithm is really good at learning and, therefore, positioning your ads.
- Website Visitors – Target people who visited key pages like pricing, demo requests, or case studies.
- Past Engagement – Show ads to users who watched videos, interacted with posts, or filled out lead forms.
- Lookalike Audiences – Expand your reach by targeting new prospects similar to your best customers.
Because Facebook requires fewer visitors to start retargeting than LinkedIn, it can be an efficient way to keep your brand top-of-mind and nurture potential buyers throughout their journey.
Cons: Lower Intent & Ad Fatigue
One major drawback is lower intent—unlike Google, where users are actively searching for business solutions, Facebook users are typically in a personal browsing mindset, so users aren’t necessarily looking to engage with B2B content at the moment they see an ad.
It’s also more difficult to filter for qualified leads. Facebook doesn’t have settings that are as accurate—as, say, LinkedIn—for filtering audiences.
Ad fatigue is another issue due to the sheer number of ads on Facebook. With smaller B2B audience segments, frequent exposure can cause prospects to tune out, leading to declining engagement rates and higher costs over time.
5. Microsoft Ad Platform
When most people think of search advertising, they think of Google Ads. But Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) is a strong alternative—especially for B2B brands looking for lower competition and cheaper clicks.
Microsoft’s ad network includes Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and other partner sites, giving advertisers access to millions of professionals who often use Bing as their default search engine—particularly in corporate environments.
Pros: Lower CPCs and Less Competition
With fewer advertisers bidding on Microsoft’s network, cost-per-click (CPC) is often lower than Google Ads. This means:
- You get more visibility for your budget.
- You pay less per click, improving cost efficiency.
- You face less direct competition for high-value keywords.
Reach Corporate Buyers and High-Income Professionals
One of Microsoft’s biggest advantages? Its audience.
Because many corporate computers default to Bing, Microsoft Ads naturally attracts business professionals searching from work devices.
- Enterprise decision-makers – You can filter by company, job title, and job function due to Microsoft's access to the LinkedIn data (Microsoft owns LinkedIn)
- Bing is the default search engine — Many corporations use Bing as the default search engine due to Windows enterprise settings and Microsoft 365 integration. While Google remains widely accessible, IT policies in some organizations encourage or enforce Bing usage within corporate networks.
Similar Targeting Options to Google Ads & Seamless Integration
If you’re already running Google Ads, Microsoft’s platform basically works the same way.
You can:
- Use keyword, demographic, and audience targeting to work the same way.
- Create in-market audiences that will allow you to reach users who are researching specific B2B solutions.
- Run retargeting campaigns to re-engage past visitors.
Plus, you can automatically import campaigns directly from Google Ads, making it really easy to launch a brand-new campaign.
Cons: Smaller Search Volume and Limited Reach
With around 3% of the global market, Microsoft Ads only captures a fraction of Google’s search traffic. This means fewer searches and a smaller overall reach, making it less effective for industries targeting younger, tech-savvy audiences. So, while Microsoft Ads performs well for B2B brands and high-income professionals, it works best as a complementary strategy alongside Google Ads—not as a replacement.
Find The Best B2B Advertising Platforms For Your Business
Not every platform is right for your business. The best B2B advertising strategy isn’t about being everywhere—it’s about being in the right place, at the right time, with the right message.
A professional advertiser can help you cut through the noise, identifying where your target customers are most active and which platforms will deliver the best ROI. Instead of juggling multiple platform-specific strategies, you get a cohesive plan that integrates the best B2B ad channels for your business.
Not sure where to start?
We offer free ad account audits to see what’s working, what’s not, and where you can improve. Take the guesswork out of B2B advertising and book a free ads strategy today!
