The little sins of B2B marketing

The little sins of B2B marketing

Impostor syndrome is strong in most of us.

Not because we are all, in fact, fraudulent blowhards.

But because we are human beings who cannot know everything and do not have an answer to every question. 

Most of us work in a culture where an answer like "I don't know yet, but I'll read up on it and then give my assessment" is at least latently interpreted as a signal of weakness. The next person you ask may know perfectly well about this very subject, and shouldn't I perhaps have learned that a long time ago?

This is a new kind of marketing FOMO. "Is it actually just me that's not on TikTok yet?"

As a result, we are very amenable to cheat sheets, proven programs and methods that promise to leap us ahead in the race for the attention of potential customers and stakeholders.

Perhaps this is also the reason that a little too often the same, simple mistakes are copied or not quite thought through. Even and especially B2B marketing is not free of these mistakes ...

Here are my top 5 minor sins of B2B marketing (most of which I've also touched on or committed at some point):

1. treat subscribers and downloads as interested parties

Just because someone is interested in my content doesn't mean they're ready for a call from the sales department. Of course, we all don't want to create volumes of articles and white papers whose only result is always unattributable attention. But few B2B companies have a truly intelligent process for taking their audience from a first touch to a close. This is where colleagues from the "small B2B department" (coaches, online program providers, targeted niche offerings) often come out on top.

2. carelessly throw data together

Surprisingly few B2B companies have gotten into the habit of handling the data they collect as part of their campaigns in a modern way. Either far too much data is requested (not just a problem for data protection reasons) or far too little (sometimes more than one email would be helpful). But the crux of the matter often lies in the systems behind it - and I don't mean technically. If CRM and B2B marketing automation do not enable me to at least selectively address the most important target groups, I have a fundamental flaw in my digital marketing approach.

3. search for the sake of search

In many companies that discover organic search for themselves, a kind of keyword spamming occurs - instead of carefully and purposefully targeting specific, relevant topics, voluminous search terms are occupied without real transactional relevance, or the few hard-fought ones are bought dearly without delivering any real, convincing added value for them. I'm a big fan of search engine marketing for B2B companies - but you sometimes need more staying power and get in your own way with the desire for quick successes.

4. underestimating the "rule of 7

There are different opinions about how much contact a buyer has normally had with a brand in advance. But there is arguably little controversy about the fact that contact must first be established in order to gradually transform premature rejection into trust. This is sometimes summarized as the "Rule of 7" - namely, the assumption or observation that it takes an average of seven interactions with a brand before a purchase is made. However, many B2B companies expect new interactions to result in a much quicker transaction, and thus do not have the staying power to build strategically. 

5. mixing of demand and lead generation

Normally, I have to explain to customers why they need my offer - or why they should exactly meet a known need with me. In most cases, it's difficult to place both messages at the same time. And yet we've seen it happen many times - before the new landing page goes live, people quickly ask for "more product". 

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