The field of B2B is incredibly competitive. B2B marketers work with tight budgets and have little room for error in their marketing efforts. This makes it challenging for any company brand to stand out and keep its competitive edge. Yet common marketing mistakes can easily be avoided.
This article gives insight into the top seven marketing mistakes B2B marketing agencies make - and how to solve them.
Top B2B Marketing Mistakes
B2B marketing is constantly changing. Digital marketers need to learn fast and let quickly go of methods, approaches and tools that are no longer viable. What mistakes are often made in a marketing digital b2b strategy for B2B companies?
Here is a list of the eight most common B2B marketing mistakes:
#Mistake1: Company centre communication
Many B2B marketers are often company centred on their communication. They talk about how great their business, products, and services are, and why their brand is the best option.
Consequently, many B2B businesses:
use complex business jargon.
focus on their business, not on their potential customers.
This leads to boring B2B marketing as their communication is all about their business. Yet, customers are not interested in how great your business is.
The rise of innovative technologies, social media and b2b video marketing has changed the perspective of the customer radically. They want to know how a business can help them.
This is what prospects are looking for when visiting a business website:
How does this business provide value?
How does this business solve my problems?
Solution: Focus on Customers communication
Look at your B2B website and its content from the audience's perspective.
How does this business benefit its audience?
How does this business focus on pain points?
#Mistake2: Lack of customer trust
If a B2B company does not put their customers at the centre, customers will lack trust in the company. The rise of innovative technologies, social media and b2b video marketing has changed the perspective of the customer radically.
Customers are no longer passive receivers. They actively search on the web, comment on social media, and share their experiences online and they want to feel involved.
Yet, many B2B businesses still:
do not put customers at the centre
fail to understand their ideal clients
assume branding in B2B is not important
Although, customers are the most critical for any B2B business.
Solution: Build customer trust
Research and get to know your B2B target audience.
Set up email marketing tailored to your B2B customer's needs.
Create customer testimonials and case studies.
Write content and copy tailored for your clients.
Deliver information by using words that are relevant, easy to understand, and resonate with the customers.
#Mistake3: Not digital first
Not all B2B organizations fully take advantage of digital marketing yet. In fact, many b2b companies are still not digital first.
A B2B company’s website is a marketing asset that is working all day, every day, to generate traffic and convert prospects into customers. Most companies just have a website but having a website created and not looking after it is not enough.
Consequently, many B2B businesses still:
Lack a digital expert on your team.
Ignore digital best practices and expert recommendations.
Do not optimize their website with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Do not use social media channels and platforms correctly.
Not personalizing and automating the customer journey.
Solution: Make B2B digital first
Hire a digital expert.
Optimize your website with SEO.
Keep your website functional, quick, and user-friendly.
Create Calls to Action (CTAs) for the website.
Make use of social media channels for B2B companies.
#Mistake4: Stop generating generic content
B2B marketers create lots of content, but mostly too generic content. Content can be created in many ways. Text is just one of the ways. Video and images on social media channels are getting increasingly important.
Many B2B marketers still:
focus only on content creation.
overlook the importance of content distribution.
do not reuse and repurpose their content.
do not use video content on social media platforms.
Solution: Create personalized content on different communication channels
Make a content marketing distribution strategy.
Include a b2b video marketing strategy.
Reuse and repurpose content on social media and video marketing.
Create online videos and explainer videos for social media.
#Mistake5: Lack of Time
B2B companies expect short-term results. As budgets are tight and competition is fierce, B2B marketers are often overwhelmed with work and often lack time.
Many B2B marketers still:
Lack time
Need to do their work last minute
Solution: Automize & digitalize
Automatize recurring tasks
Use digital tools to increase focus and help create assets
#Mistake6: Lack of Data
Data analysis is a new field. Many B2B marketers do not fully make use of data.
Consequently, B2B marketers:
are afraid of making changes.
do not run A/B split tests on the B2B website for improvement.
do not obtain data from their B2B website.
use incorrect or difficult data.
neglect data analysis and monitoring.
Solution: Test and Analyze Data
Track business goals and metrics.
Let B2B marketers learn about data analysis.
test and analyse data from the B2B website.
#Mistake7: Scale
The main goal of any business is to grow. So, marketing needs to help a business to grow.
Yet, B2B marketers:
Give away website traffic to competitors and distributors.
Create inefficient and unscalable marketing processes.
Solution: Create a Call to Action (CTA)
Create calls to action (CTA) to generate quality leads
Here are a few best practices:
Make the CTA button visible
Use a colour that aligns with the brand and contrasts with the rest of the webpage.
Create a descriptive, benefit-oriented copy.
#Mistake8: Measure and misalignment
As said at the beginning, marketing budgets are tight. Many organisations do not want to spend on marketing technologies.
Consequently, B2B organizations:
lack of strategic marketing planning.
are not using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool.
Marketing and sales are often separated teams.
B2B marketers cannot Prove ROI and conversion rate.
Solution: Measure and align marketing and sales
Use a Customer Relationship Management tool (CRM)
Align marketing efforts with sales.
B2B marketing agency Xplore digital can help your business to identify and overcome the marketing challenges your B2B is facing. Contact us to get
the results you need.
