The Five (Plus One) Biggest B2B (Business to Business) Marketing Mistakes 

Many B2B companies are behind with their marketing efforts, but there is still hope if you can avoid these six things. I’m Todd McCarty, and I recently joined GUCA to help members drive growth by leveraging marketing best practices. After all, marketing and sales are the growth engine of any company. I hope this is helpful.

1. No Understanding of Your Target Audience

In marketing, you have to understand your target audience. Knowing your target is one of the most important aspects of marketing. Still, most companies don’t have simple two-page profiles that outline their ideal customer and buyer, their challenges and pain points, the questions they may ask, and how they are measured for their job. Understanding all of these things and using them in your marketing makes your marketing more relevant. Sure, I bet you’ve got pages and pages of information on your products, services, contract templates, etc., but why not have a two-page profile that outlines your target customer so that your team understands how to work with them better? 

2. No Marketing Strategy or Plan

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This is true in business and marketing. You don’t have to have a 50-page marketing plan, but what are your top three to five initiatives, and what do you hope to accomplish when they are complete? If a strategy is a plan to meet an objective, don’t you need to have an objective? Many companies don’t set an objective because they don’t want to miss it or think it will be too out of reach, but you must start somewhere, set an objective, and plan to hit that goal.

3. No Website

Today, it is imperative to have a website because your customers and prospects want to research your business online before they call you. They want to learn about your services to see how you can help and your reputation for helping others. A website is a salesperson that can work for you 24/7 X 365. It doesn’t take coffee breaks. It doesn’t complain to other employees after a hard day’s work. Instead, it provides relevant information to Google about your business so your target audience can find you.

4. No Google My Business Listing (With Reviews)

Many businesses don’t have a Google My Business listing. Think of this as your free listing in the yellow pages or white pages. Setting up takes only a few minutes, and it’s your way of communicating directly with Google. It’s also a great way to drive reviews because those reviews count in search results. More reviews equal more opportunities to reach your audience. It also allows you to re-purpose the reviews on your website to help potential customers understand why they can trust you.

5. Poor Marketing Message

Many businesses differentiate themselves by providing excellent service, but you may need more than that to help your target audience understand how you can help them grow. Most prospects want to know how you will help them achieve their goals (make money, save money, save time, etc.) You have to tell a story to your prospects that helps them understand how you will help them survive and thrive in their line of business. If your message doesn’t resonate with them, they won’t listen, and to write a message that resonates, you first have to understand their problems.  

6. No Analytics To Measure Success

Peter Drucker once said, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” Believe it or not, you can measure marketing success with the right tools, but it’s a journey, not a destination. Do you have Google Analytics setup? Did you know Google just “retired” its old Universal Analytics tool? Now is the time to ensure you set up your website with Google Analytics 4 and other tools like Google Search Console and Google Tag Manager. All these tools are free, but if not set up correctly, they do you no good. Why not set them up properly so that you have relevant data to view when the time is right?

Summary

If you got this far, thanks for taking the time to read this article. I’m Todd McCarty, owner of WSI Marketing Upside, and our team stands ready to help you improve your B2B marketing efforts. I have 30 years of marketing experience with five Fortune 500 companies and a boatload of small and medium-sized businesses in the specialty construction and industrial space. You can reach me at 404-219-7056 or tmccarty@wsimarketingupside.com. We offer a complimentary website assessment or ugly baby session that will help you understand how you can improve the results of your ugly website. As part of this meeting, we’ll give you some basic competitor information to see how your online presence compares to four competitors. To learn more, visit this page. https://www.wsimarketingupside.com/book-internet-marketing-assessment/

About the Author

Todd McCarty, WSI, has over 25 years of experience in Marketing and has worked for some of Atlanta’s leading companies in marketing leadership roles.