10 Bad Habits That are Killing Your B2B Marketing Efforts
- Irene Schouwenaar
This blog post is not for you. You run campaigns that deliver results. Your quarterly bonuses are proof of your success. Maybe you’ve been in the business a while now. Possibly you have a degree that speaks to your ability to create and execute compelling campaigns. And you definitely haven’t developed any bad habits…right?
If you want to protect your track record as an exceptional marketer, it’s good to take stock of how you work. Are any of these bad habits hurting your B2B marketing efforts?
1. Living in the Past
Mastering strategies and tactics that helped you achieve campaign goals is something to be proud of. But business and technology continue to evolve, and those skills won’t always be relevant. Keep honing your skills to match emerging marketing trends.
2. Hopping on Trends
Being stuck in the past is bad, but embracing every trend that comes along without a strategy to support it isn’t any better. “Going viral” isn’t a sustainable strategy. Be sure your campaigns aren’t entirely dependent on your ability to achieve internet fame.
3. Talking Too Much
Your product teams, sales reps, and upper management all have a message they want to get out there. But what does your audience want? A clear understanding of your buyer personas — and a strategy based on their challenges or goals — is vital to B2B marketing success.
4. Ignoring Your Resources
Marketing departments are not an island. Take pride in the vital role you play in your team’s success, but don’t let self-satisfaction overshadow the resources available to you. Sales and service reps interact directly with your customers. Product teams have a deep knowledge of your solution. Leverage their expertise and experience.
5. Overlooking Old Content
The shelf life of your content may be longer than you think. A high-quality asset can provide value to your audience for months or years — and a thoughtful refresh is all that’s needed to keep that organic traffic flowing.
6. Lacking Patience
Developing a healthy flow of organic traffic and nurturing those visitors until they qualify as leads is not a sprint — it’s a marathon. Do you find yourself frequently shifting strategies because your approach “isn’t working”? It may be the shifting, not the strategies that’s the problem.
7. Overvaluing Value
The value of your offering is critical to your success. But your audience isn’t motivated by the fact that your product or service is a good deal. While communicating value is important, B2B marketing campaigns should tell a story and speak to the buyer experience rather than focusing solely on ROI.
8. Relying on Paid Ads
Paid ads on Google and social media platforms can help amplify the effect of your organic campaigns. But pay-per-click is not a marketing strategy — and can seriously inflate your cost per lead. Be sure you’re balancing paid traffic with organic.
9. Over-Gating
Gating content is an effective way to build lists of potential clients for nurture. But gates also keep Google from indexing and sharing your content, which can slow the flow of organic traffic to your site and hurt your ranking in search results. Ensure you’ve got an even mix of gated and ungated content.
10. Neglecting Metrics
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Track key performance indicators for your B2B marketing campaigns to ensure you’re investing in tactics that work and adapting strategies that miss the mark.
Break Bad Marketing Habits with TPM
The team at TPM has years of experience helping B2B clients improve their marketing campaigns. If you’re struggling with any of these bad marketing habits — or just need to kickstart your campaigns, we can help. Contact us now.
