The 7 Most Common Marketing Strategy Mistakes Growing B2B Companies Make
If you are a small or mid-sized B2B business looking to grow, then there might be some valuable tips here for you.
Having officially started my business during COVID (literally in a shed, can you believe it!), it has now reached its 5th birthday. Happy birthday Shorthouse Consulting!
Before that, I spent 8 years with the Christchurch economic development agency, working with tech and innovation businesses looking to grow.
As you do when reaching such a milestone, I’ve been reflecting on some of the common marketing and sales errors I see across many of the organisations I have worked with. I thought I’d share some of them here with you.
This list is not all the errors I have seen in all time. Instead, I focus on the mistakes, misunderstandings, or lack of understanding that I see A LOT. I mean - ALLLLLL of the time, across many businesses.
I think the pitfalls I have observed come under two categories:
Strategy
Execution.
In this blog post, I will focus on the common strategy errors and in my next blog post, I will talk more about the most common execution errors I see.
Strategy - Why We Are Doing What We’re Doing?
Mistake 1: No link between the business plan and the role of sales & marketing
The first common mistake I observe is a lack of connection between the overall business objectives and plan and the sales and marketing activity that is being delivered.
This is directly related to the second category –execution – which I will cover in my next blog post.
This is especially important right now. At the start of the year many people are clear on the overall direction and objectives e.g. achieve X goal / $X revenue / X sales numbers /enter ABC markets etc. But you might not be clear on how sales and marketing are going to help achieve this
For example:
70% of our effort will be supporting growth in existing clients
20% will be supporting new customer acquisition, with a focus on Victoria, Australia
10% is supporting the engineers to help develop new product, through customer engagement and feedback
Try this: Ask yourself: What specific role does sales and marketing play in hitting each of our business objectives?
Mistake 2: Treating marketing as just tactics
Marketing as a discipline is not understood well - FULL STOP!
There is A LOT I can say under this one, but if you have ever just said something like:
I need a new website, a new piece of collateral, more Google Ads, branded t-shirts etc, then this may be you.
One of the lightbulb moments I often witness clients experience is when they realise that marketing is more than just the tactics.
If you are lurching between tactics, or turning them on and off as you have time, then your business might need to build a marketing engine (aka machine) which will help you build something that is sustainable and repeatable as your business grows.
Try this: build a marketing engine for your business that is repeatable and aligned to your growth goals.
If you don’t know where to start, complete a Marketing Audit to give you a checklist of what to prioritise.
Mistake 3: Focusing purely on lead generation and forgetting about brand building
Many businesses focus on lead gen over brand building in the urge to ‘get sales’, but the reality is that you need both!
Lead generation is a marketing activity that aims to drive direct response and leads to your business in the short-term.
Think about a short-term campaign that includes a free upgrade, a 10% discount, or to book a demo.
Branding is about sales in the long term. It is about your customers and prospects being aware of you, thinking positively about you, having you in their mind when the time comes for them to buy.
This is where thought leadership content, downloadable e-books, presenting at conferences, running webinars etc. can help.
You need both.
Try this: Balance your investment in short-term lead gen with long-term brand building. Don’t just ask, what leads did we get this week? Ask how you are positioned in the market? What is our brand awareness? Would we be the number one choice for all the people we have in our database if they were to buy tomorrow?
Which brings me onto the next misunderstanding I often see….
Mistake 4: Impatience
One touchpoint, engagement, conversation or email hardly ever results in a sale.
I have seen a gizzilion businesses who try one marketing activity, one time, and then move on quickly when that doesn’t work.
Remember this stat: 95% of your prospects are NOT buying right now.
They might be happy with their existing supplier (until they are not), they might not have it in their budget (yet), or they might be looking at options and seeing if you have the credentials they need.
That means you might be lucky and hit the other 5% at the right time, but you also want to keep engaged with the other 95% as they move through the buyer journey.
Try this: Don’t just do the one hit and move on. Think about building a plan to keep in touch and be ready when they are.
Much of sales and marketing is about being consistent - saying the same message, to the same people - repeat, repeat, repeat.
Mistake 5: Not understanding how marketing can make sales more effective
Marketing and sales have always seemed quite awkward bedfellows – that’s not unique to NZ businesses, there’s an abundance of books, articles and podcasts dedicated to this subject.
What I see in many NZ B2B businesses is that they are treated as two very distinct pieces of activity – whether there are separate teams, or they are the same person. I don’t think they should be.
Most organisations are striving to sell more. If you want to make the most out of your precious sales resource (whether it is you as the CEO/founder, or your sales people) you need to get your marketing and sales working together with a focus on the same objectives.
**In most B2B companies, marketing's job is to help sales succeed.
Try this: get your sales and marketing people together as one team working on one set of shared objectives.
Mistake 6: No clear ideal customer persona (ICP)
This is the MOST COMMON issue I see in businesses –from early stage to well established organisations. I have read numerous articles that agree this is the number 1 thing holding back businesses.
Having clarity of your ideal customer persona will flow through so your messaging is clear on your website, in your blog posts, in your brochures, in your social media.
I know it is something people struggle with, as when we focus on one niche group, we think we are turning our back on potential business elsewhere. But if you are trying to be too broad and generic you won’t be appealing enough to anyone.
If you are speaking the language of your target group and look as if you are experts in this area, your target prospects will come to you as THE experts.
Think about the last time you opened up a newsletter, or email, or clicked on a link. What was it that appealed to you out of all the messages and adverts you get to see every day? I expect it was because you felt they were talking your talk and knew about what you needed.
Try this: spend more time talking with customers about their business issues and challenges, and getting really sharp on your messaging.
It’s also not static.
As your business develops and changes, the economy changes and customer needs change, you want to revisit your ideal customer types on an annual basis.
Mistake 7: Unclear on business value and messaging
Many businesses don’t have good clarity (and messaging) on what makes them special to their customers, i.e. what value they bring to their customers. Remember, what YOU think is not always the same as what your customers feel and articulate.
You might think you are selling a piece of software or a service, but your customer is buying access to the knowledge that this brings, which helps them in their work, or the fact it helps them mitigate a risk.
Try this: Talk to your best customers. Ask:
Why did you choose us?
What do we help you do?
What makes us different?
Use their words in your messaging. Having these messages in the words of customers is pure gold.
There you go. These are the seven most common strategic marketing mistakes I see growing B2B companies make. In my next blog post, I will outline the most common execution mistakes.
Get in touch
I provide leadership, support and direction for growing Kiwi tech and innovation companies as your 'fractional' (part-time) Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) - an affordable way to get senior thinking and direction for businesses.
If you could do with some help to grow your business, get in touch
Helen Shorthouse
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)