Getting your marketing strategy right is imperative for all businesses today, no matter what type of company you run, who your target consumer base is, or how long you have been in operation. If you are not marketing effectively, you are missing out on a huge opportunity, and you are letting your competition getting ahead. With that in mind, we are going to take a look at some of the most common mistakes that B2B businesses make with their marketing campaigns so that you can ensure your marketing efforts are on the right track.
Ignoring data
There is only one place to begin, and this is with data. After all, data is imperative if you are going to make the best decisions. There is a huge quantity of internal data available to companies today, yet most are failing to make the best of it. You need to learn how to analyse the data that is available to you effectively using metrics so you can move your marketing strategy forward. After all, you cannot build a marketing strategy based on guesswork and what you think your customers are going to want.
Not segmenting your audience
All businesses, or consumers should we say, are different. They have different wants, needs, desires, and challenges, and this is something you need to understand when marketing. However, most people don’t. In fact, did you know that only 44 percent of B2B marketers use buyer personas? This is according to ITSMA. You need to create buyer personas so you can understand factors like the type of content your consumers demand, their knowledge gaps, marketing channels they prefer, challenges, pain points, psychographics, geographics, and demographics. This will help you to create marketing campaigns that actually appeal to those companies you are targeting.
Failing to get help when needed
If marketing is not your forte, and you do not have any marketing professionals in your business, it can be very risky to try and manage your marketing strategy in house. You may think that outsourcing is the more expensive alternative, but is it? You need to consider the fact that your marketing efforts will skyrocket in their effectiveness, bringing more money to your business. Not only this, but you and your employees will be able to focus on your core business activities, rather than getting bogged down in your marketing plan.
You are not producing quality content
Content is king they say, but this is only the case if your content is informative, original, and interesting. Gone are the days whereby you can simply duplicate content or spin articles you have found online. Not only will this reflect poorly on your brand image, but also it will lead to you getting punished by Google, as they rank websites lowly when they use these black hat techniques. Your B2B content marketing strategy needs to involve creating blog posts that actually provide true value to the readers. Not only this, but you need to ensure you post on a consistent basis. Don’t post three times one week, and then fail to post at all the following week.
Neglecting strategy
Last but not least, there are a lot of B2b companies out there that do not even have a marketing strategy. This is the biggest mistake you can make. Marketing without a plan is never effective. You need to figure out what your marketing objectives are, and then you need to plot how you are going to get there. After all, you would never get in a vehicle and take a drive to a new location without a sat nav or a map, would you? So, why should your marketing efforts be any different?
As you can see, there are a number of common errors that a lot of businesses are making with their B2B marketing campaigns. If you can eliminate the mistakes that have been discussed, you can ensure your marketing campaign is hitting all of the right notes. The importance of this cannot be ignored. After all, you want to make sure you are reaching your target consumer base, and you need to make sure you are giving off the right image regarding your brand.
