Sam Martin-Ross, below, is managing director of UK digital marketing agency Eskimoz
The B2B landscape is incredibly competitive. Add to this the fact that many B2B companies operate with limited marketing budgets and little margin for error, and the importance of an effective strategy to increase brand awareness and produce quality results becomes clear. Here, I'll cover some of the biggest B2B marketing mistakes that can cost your business time, money, and leads.
Tunnel vision in A/B testing
Many businesses are tempted to believe that running proper A/B tests is the key to growth and conversions on their website. However, the truth is that in most cases this is simply not true.
B2B companies, especially those in smaller industries, simply lack the large sample sizes necessary for A/B testing to produce statistically significant results. In addition, A/B testing is typically costly and time-consuming, meaning that most SMBs are better off investing their time and effort elsewhere.
Instead of focusing on A/B testing your site, your goal should be to drive as much qualified traffic to your site as possible. With the data you have, you can understand who is visiting your site and what brings them there. Because that's where you can capitalize on those leads, whether it's through increased investment in your channels, ad spend, or SEO. That's not to say that A/B testing is completely pointless: with a large enough sample size, it can provide useful information and can be particularly useful when testing creativity, especially on sites like LinkedIn where you can be sure you're already there . targeting the right audience.
You don't understand your customer
It may seem obvious, but many B2B companies do not have a good understanding of their customers and their journey, resulting in ineffective marketing efforts. This goes beyond creating buyer personas or other superficial data like job titles. Take the time to fully understand how your customer thinks, behaves and most importantly buys so you can position your product or service as the obvious choice.
So many B2B websites fail to engage their customers in a meaningful way to understand and address their pain points regarding the value of your product or service, and transparently guide them through each step of the process. Of course, this means taking the time to use the knowledge of the business development team to really understand your customers so you can start serving them and solving their problems in a way that makes sense.
Get it wrong with Google Ads
Google Ads is often seen as a silver bullet. It's fast, efficient, and has tons of targeting options. Although many B2B companies expect Google Ads to immediately increase growth and awareness, the truth is not that simple. In fact, many spend their advertising budget on advertising with no return on investment.
The biggest mistake B2B companies make with Google Ads is choosing the wrong keywords. If you spend your advertising budget on non-transactional keywords when the goal is to generate leads, you will never get the results you want. Examples of transactional keywords (ie those that indicate purchase intent) might be phrases like "managed IT services in London" or "payroll software provider" as opposed to phrases like "what computer controlled?" or "how does payroll work?" and payroll software?” – The latter signals that the user is looking for information, rather than actively looking for a purchase.
Instead of setting up Google Ads and letting Google manage your bids, increasing your chances of bidding on irrelevant keywords, Google Ads requires much tighter management to be truly effective. As part of a comprehensive marketing strategy and with a clear understanding of the buyer and customer journey, Google Ads can be a powerful tool.
analysis of paralysis
The wealth of data that most companies have is both a blessing and a curse. Used correctly, it can help focus your marketing efforts and deliver real results. However, if every data point is focused on or focused on the wrong metrics, things can quickly become problematic. .
Data from your CRM, social media or Google Ads platform should give you a solid foundation for making strategic marketing decisions. To do this, you need to focus on the metrics that are most relevant to your business and depend on your marketing goals.
It's also important to remember that not everything can be measured. Sometimes you need to look at your marketing holistically without getting too narrow on specifics. Word of mouth or brand awareness cannot be tracked in the traditional sense, but both are very important to your overall marketing strategy.
The key is to use meaningful data to reinforce your marketing goals and identify metrics that can be used to make specific improvements based on your goals.
There is a lack of coordination between marketing and sales
The B2B space is notorious for its long sales cycles, which can take weeks or months. The primary goal of B2B marketing is not only to increase awareness of your company, but also to reduce friction points during the customer journey and thus shorten the length of the sales cycle. For this to work, your marketing goals must be properly aligned with your company's revenue goals.
Marketers naturally focus on lead generation, but these efforts must be linked to a sales pipeline with a clear mediation strategy, otherwise it's just wasted effort. Neither sales nor marketing can work effectively in isolation, and lead generation usually requires sales tracking if it's going to benefit your business.
The best marketing strategies strike a balance between business development and marketing goals and are able to combine them effectively.
Break with B2B models
It's easy to fall into these traps in marketing just because you take it for granted. However, it's important to be aware of some of these common pitfalls in order to get the most out of your marketing investment and ensure that your efforts are generating a steady stream of qualified leads.
