• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 8, 2024

Advertisers have a new way to target B2B audiences thanks to a partnership between Quora, a knowledge-sharing platform, and Bombora, a B2B data firm.    

Marketers can now access Bombora’s data on more than 450 B2B audience segments within the Quora Ads platform. They also can target groups within Quora’s 400 million monthly unique visitors, selecting professionals based on job function, seniority level, company size and industry vertical, the firms say.   

In addition, they can leverage Quora’s Account-Based Marketing (ABM) capabilities. 

"As a platform built on questions and answers, Quora attracts millions of professionals who come to share expertise, learn from peers, and engage with content across their professional interests,” says Vinay Pandey, chief revenue officer at Quora. “Now, with Bombora's B2B targeting capabilities, we're empowering marketers to reach decision-makers within their target accounts and industries throughout their natural engagement in this community.” 

Wait a minute. B2B marketing can be even more difficult than B2C, given the rate of churn in jobs and other factors, and one has to wonder: How will this work? Quora and Bombora offer  a couple of use cases.

In one, a CEO browses this question on Quora: “What are some inspiring and successful business models of startups?” Bombora data shows that the executive runs a company that is on a cybersecurity advertisers target account list. An ad from that company appear below the top answer. 

In another instance, a senior vice president from a top software company is served an ad for enterprise management software while browsing answers to the question,  “What are the top hobbies that make you smarter?”, based on her role in the technology sector.  

Quora says this is its biggest and most sophisticated foray into B2B. 

“Our partnership enables advertisers to reach Quora’s highly engaged user base -- delivering a new level of strategic targeting and optimal campaign performance,” says Mike Burton, co-founder and executive vice president of strategic partnerships at Bombora. 

Some B2B advertisers will need the help.