With decades of B2B marketing experience under our belts and having worked with hundreds of organizations at different stages of marketing maturity, we see many of the same marketing mistakes being made over and over again. For a moment, think of your marketing as a car. If asked about your car’s performance, you might say that it gets you from point A to point B fairly reliably. However, if its tires are underinflated, oil isn’t changed on time, or check engine lights are routinely ignored, you’re unwittingly throwing money out the window and inviting all sorts of problems to emerge. The same goes for your marketing. In this post, we will highlight five common B2B marketing mistakes that we see organizations make, discuss how they impact your business and provide recommendations for how to remedy them. Let’s dive in.
Mistake #1 – We skimp on content that customers crave.
When talking with executives about the state of their marketing content, they often say that “we just don’t have the time or bandwidth to create all the content we’d like to create.” Look, we get it. The problem though with resigning yourself to that sentiment is that if you don’t have content that addresses the questions your prospects and customers need answers to, they’ll go elsewhere for that information and assistance. Prioritize, plan and produce content that meets prospect and customer needs.
Content development doesn’t have to be difficult. One solid piece of content can set the stage for the next. For example, transcribing a 20-minute conversation with one of your subject matter experts about a topic they’re well versed in will typically produce more than enough content for a meaningful blog entry. A few noteworthy quotes or highlights from that same entry can fuel a handful of social media posts. A few blog entries constructed in the same way can then be combined into an eBook that generates even more leads. The possibilities are plentiful.
Mistake #2 – We don’t measure and monitor metrics that matter.
You may be surprised by the number of executives who essentially judge their marketing performance by how it “feels” or a broader barometer of how their business is doing overall. Sure, top-line revenue can be one indicator of marketing performance, but deeper and more meaningful data is needed to move your business forward. Do you measure the leads generated by your marketing efforts against clear criteria and have a clear line of sight into what drives them? Can you pinpoint performance variables across your digital assets and see how customers are engaging with them? Do you have regular, recurring reviews of your marketing performance data and related discussions about what’s needed next to move those numbers in the right direction? Get a solid dashboard in place, measure what needs to be measured and be disciplined about reviewing and acting on that information.
Mistake #3 – We make many marketing tasks far too manual.
Far too many manual tasks are carried out simply because “that’s how I was taught to do it” or “that’s how we’ve always done it.” The marketing performance dashboard in the section above and similar reports are good examples. We often see team members spend hours every month gathering information like this together from several sources into a single spreadsheet or report when a simple tool could be used to automate that work. That’s not to say, however, that you should embrace every AI tool, chatbot and digital solution out there. It should, however, compel you to understand what marketing tasks are demanding the most time of your team members today. What are we not doing because of limited bandwidth? Then, assess whether elements of those actions could be effectively automated so that your marketing team’s time can deliver the most impact.
Mistake #4 – We miss out on the big benefits of branding.
Effectively branding your business will build recognition, encourage advocacy, drive loyalty, support growth and so much more. Still, many businesses largely ignore this in taking a relatively casual approach to branding and their brand identity. They’ve got a logo, a slate of brand colors perhaps and a template or two but don’t take it much further than that.
A strong brand is foundational to your business, always aligned with your target audience’s needs and preferences and memorable. Ensuring your internal team is aligned is an important aspect of effective branding too. Elements of a strong brand include clearly defined brand values, a brand voice and tone, visual components, carefully constructed messaging and memorable experience points. Ensuring brand clarity, consistency and resonance will go a long way.
Mistake #5 – We let friction points derail buying processes.
Friction points are moments in the B2B buying process that create prospect or customer frustrations, erode trust or cause individuals to cease their interest in and evaluation of your products or services altogether. In short, seek to be an individual or company that’s easy to do business with. Common points of buying friction include lengthy forms that encourage abandonment, unintuitive experiences, unclear or overly technical product content and poor marketing to sales handoffs.
We highly recommend that businesses construct comprehensive customer experience maps that show all the steps an individual must take to become a customer. Where do key points of failure lie? What part of your buying process is the biggest burden on would-be customers? Connect with customers and your team regarding these points of friction and remove them wherever possible to improve satisfaction and increase sales.
Don’t Let B2B Marketing Mistakes Hold Your Business Back
So, what’s next? Hold your B2B marketing efforts up to the mirror and consider how many of these missteps are holding you back. One great approach to do this is to have B2B marketing experts look under the hood and weigh in on what you’re doing well, where weak points lie and how you can take your B2B marketing performance to the next level. Getting an external expert’s view removes natural biases that could cloud the real picture of your B2B marketing performance.
The daily demands of running a business create environments where marketing mistakes like the ones noted above can be easily made. The good news? You don’t have to keep making them… and we’re here to help. Contact us today or request a free marketing consultation to get started and learn more about our Austin marketing firm and expert B2B marketing consultants.
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