The world is continuously changing, and so are the tactics and technologies in B2B marketing. As a result, marketers face challenges like never before to approach their target audience and convince them to buy the product or service they are offering.
The current market requires a unique skillset and the ability to think outside the box to pitch a marketing idea that is lucrative for your business. Unfortunately, in the presence of some business giants, the B2B marketing world is a significant and scary place for small businesses.
I appreciate you for overcoming your fear and believing in your idea by starting a small business. I am sure you are ready to take risks and experiment with different techniques to stand out among corporate whales. However, caution is the better part of valor.
The Worst B2B Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
Here are the worst B2B marketing pitfalls marketers often fall into without even realizing it. Before you reach such a blind spot, know the potential downfalls in B2B marketing. Then, read this article till the end to learn how you can avoid them.
Trying to Become Everything to Everyone
Most B2B marketers are more into a competitor’s analysis than focusing on how clients and prospects want to be perceived. Though knowing what your competitors are doing is essential, this subjective approach often pushes you to do everything your rival does.
Let us understand this with an example. Suppose you see that your competitor is grabbing all the eyeballs by running a campaign that promises to deliver customers’ requirements within 24 hours. You, too, want to get ahead of the curve, try the same tactic, and run a campaign with the same promise.
Though you might get temporary success, the moment people realize that the promises were empty; they will start ignoring you. This momentary victory destroys you forever.
You need to know what your customers want and pay attention to that. Then, focus on your target audience and adapt your marketing strategies for your customer personas. Being everything for everyone would get you lost in the crowd. That is why you need to understand how you are viewed compared to your competitors objectively.
Tip: Don’t try to adapt according to your competitors’ marketing strategies. This will make you appear like them only, and nobody likes imitations. Rather than being a copycat, mold your campaign according to the data-driven customer response and be how your target audience perceives you.
Not Gaining Customer’s Trust
In the contemporary world, where the market is full of fake promises and ghost companies, it is tough for the customers to trust a company. Post pandemic era has escalated this situation to several folds where most businesses are being conducted online.
Many marketers think that having multiple customer reviews is enough to gain trust from potential customers. That is why they invest handsomely in buying fake reviews. However, customers are now aware of such tactics and do not fall into the review trap as quickly as they used to be. So you need to do more to earn the customers’ trust.
Before taking any giant leap towards approaching your prospect, make sure they do not consider you a decoy or fake. You can prove the genuineness of your company by registering your businesses with the state. Research says that customers prefer to do business with legal entities over unregistered companies.
To move further, ensure your customers that their data is saved with you and not resell it. Making your data policy transparent will be increasingly important in building trust. Moreover, your CRM team should listen to your customers’ concerns, take action accordingly, and keep the company’s promises.
Tip: Place consumers’ trust center stage to build a long-term relationship and show your credibility by securing your identity and keeping your promises.
Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket
One of the critical mistakes many B2B marketers make is to put all their resources behind one strategy. Relying on a single marketing method for your B2B business increases the risk of failure.
Try different marketing styles to reach out to prospects from various angles. You need to have a particular plan that works best for your business and brand, along with alternative back-ups.
Every campaign doesn’t need the same amount of investment and attention. Instead, you should experiment with different tactics and strategies to know which one works the best for you. Remember, not every strategy ensures success, so don’t pin all your hopes on a single campaign.
Moreover, never put all the options in front of your customers at once. Instead, pull out one thing at a time from your mystery box, which in turn keeps your customer curious, and you get the chance of a more prolonged engagement.
Tip: Never put all your eggs in one basket. The market is fluid, and you have to be ready with several options if a prospect rejects your first option.
Marketing and Sales Team Standing at Two Different Poles
In many companies, sales and marketing teams work poles apart. If there is no coherence and collaboration between these two, how would you expect your company’s growth to be streamlined?
The marketing team should focus on achieving its goal, and the sales team concerned about completing its target. But if the sales team’s efforts are entirely business development-led, it will be a short-term success.
As the sales team would try to grab as much revenue as possible, it may harm its image and trust. However, every successful business knows the importance of brand reputation and customer satisfaction over money-making alone. So, such an aggressive approach of the sales team can be buffered by the marketing team’s effort to promote the brand name and satisfy customers’ concerns.
On the other hand, if the marketing team is too focused on promotions and all the company’s efforts are marketing-led, it may assure you success in the longer run. But what about the revenue then? How would you cover the cost of marketing campaigns and other company’s expenditures? That is why you need a dedicated sales team working side by side with the marketing team to keep such operations going smoothly.
Tip: Find a balance between the sales and marketing team and ensure both are on the same page. Your company should not be marketing-driven or sales-driven at large. Rather bridge the gulf between these two departments where one team buffers the negative impact of the other.
Company Centered Marketing Campaigns
In B2B marketing, it is common to talk about its history, achievements, and core values in the pitch. But don’t you think all that information can be found online or anywhere else.
If you talk too much about your company, the marketing campaign will focus solely on the company. Who cares if you are excellent, fantastic, expert, or the best if the customers do not see their pain points addressed in your campaigns? Whether you have 700 or 7000 employees, the customer would not pay attention until and unless they know how you will fulfill their needs.
Let us look at the following pitch:
For more than three decades, ABC Company (a well-known global brand in biotech) has been continuously improving diagnostics. We have upgraded thousands of top-notch hospitals and diagnostic centers worldwide. And we are ISO-XYZ certified and follow OSHA and CDC protocols. We are committed to serving the needs of our customers while delivering the best products in health and technology.
Now put yourself in the customers’ shoes. Would you be interested in doing business with a company that may have a lot to say about itself? But does not know about your needs, not knowing how they can add value to your business, etc.? Of course, you would not.
Every business looks for the services or products that help the business excel and stand among the others, so do you. So, you would look for companies that offer the latest equipment, quality guarantee, maintenance, etc. Hence, a successful marketing campaign should be more focused on such bottlenecks.
Tip: Pitch a marketing campaign with the customers in mind as they are not here to read about how great you are. So, before you start shouting about yourself, serve and solve your customers’ needs and problems.
Final Words
We are living in an era where marketing serves as the backbone of a business. But, unfortunately, there are so many ways a B2B marketing campaign can go wrong and weaken the spine of your company.
If you do not want your business to waver, you want to avoid the worst B2B marketing mistakes mentioned above. Follow our tips to ensure that your business stands its ground.
