Tag Archives: B2B

26 Roadblocks To B2B Marketing Success

Profit inhibitors are roadblocks to your B2B marketing success.

This checklist will help you think about possible barriers that you are facing with your brand, product or service. More importantly, it will get you to focus on how do you plan to overcome the profit inhibitors that are impacting your marketing programs?

Profit Inhibitors

Do They Apply?

Plans To Eliminate?
1.  Absence of customer oriented thinking
2.  Inexact or inadequate marketing objectives
3.  Internal communication failure
4.  Inadequate distribution planning
5.  Lack of innovation in product, packaging, etc.
6.  Budget deficiencies in communications
7.  Failure to dominate in communication media used
8.  Misunderstanding customer motivation
9.  Too generic marketing approach/messages
10. Inadequate understanding of market and customer opinion
11. Failure to “merchandise” or follow through
12. Over-promoting (dealing) or too much “price” concern
13. Information loss from management to point-of-sale
14. Giving promotion jobs it cannot do
15. Watered-down messages due to too much committee approval
16. Failure to build-in measuring systems for all plans and programs
17. Failure to define – and influence – the corporate image
18. Imbalance between communication activities
19. Copying competition in communication activities
20  Failure to build extra benefits of quality image of product and company or service
21. Failure to update marketing strategy/ organization
22. Working in silos
23. Inflexibility of policies
24. Inadequate knowledge of competition
25. Lack of or stagnant web and social media content
26. Failure to take advantage of “competitive edge”

 What Profit Inhibitors did we overlook that are barriers to your B2B marketing success?

Good Selling!
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Are You Relying On Social Media To Reach B2B Buyers?

B2B buyers like social media but communicate with e-mailIf you think social media is the best way to reach B2B buyers, then you’re going to be disappointed.

Here’s why: B2B buyers like social media but communicate mainly by e-mail.

A recent survey of B2B buyers done by research firm eMarketer found that 97% of respondents listed e-mail as their main way sharing content on product research with their colleagues.

It’s not that B2B buyers are afraid of using social media

The survey found that 78% of them use LinkedIn as their main social media channel, followed by Twitter at 59%, Facebook at 40%, Google+ with 36%, Slideshare had 32% and Pinterest at 20%.

How B2B buyers view key business content also is changing. “A good deal of content consumption has shifted to mobile and video,” the report says, citing data from IDG Global Solutions. “More than half of B2B buyers now use mobile devices to make purchase decision research.”

B2B buyers communicate mainly by e-mail67% of survey respondents use their web-enabled smartphone to visit a vendor site for product information compared with 65% to compare prices and products. Additionally, 57% use their smartphone to read feature articles about trends and strategies, 48% to watch videos, 47% to browse and participate in forums and social networks, 41% to read case studies and 34% to read white papers.

“Buyers vastly prefer sharing via e-mail, but have shown preference for LinkedIn and Twitter for social media sharing purposes,” the report says. “Blog posts, infographics and videos were the most popular formats of content for sharing.”

B2B buyers may not be embracing social media but B2B marketers are

B2B Buyers may not be embracing social media but B2B marketers areOn the other hand, B2B marketers love social media. They tell stories of introducing new products via social, saving money when questions about their products are answered by followers from other companies and earning credibility when influencers tout their brand. All this, they believe, will help them capture viable leads.

“Social media marketing is no longer a nice to have—it’s a must have,” said Mark Yolton, senior vice president of digital, social and communities at business software and services purveyor SAP. “Our customers expect it. Our competitors are all doing it. And unless we embrace and excel at social media marketing integrated into the full marketing mix, we’ll be at a competitive disadvantage.”

There are plenty of challenges, however. B2B marketers complain that it is nearly impossible to track leads captured through social through to sales. Nevertheless, through trial and error they have learned that social media’s value for top-of-funnel engagement and for nurturing targeted leads makes it a vital marketing tactic.

Don’t waste your marketing money with the wrong tools aimed at the wrong audience

Don’t waste your marketing money with the wrong tools aimed at the wrong audienceIt’s clear that social media plays a role for both B2B marketers and B2B buyers. But as you consider your marketing mix, keep your eyes on the tools – like email – that your customers are using. Too many companies waste money on marketing. They spend a lot of money on the wrong message with the wrong tool aimed at the wrong audience.

Don’t be so caught up in the latest new tactics that you lose sight of the goal: making the sale.

Good Selling!

6 B2B Marketing Trends To Outperform The Competition In 2015

With 2014 nearly over, it’s time to get out the crystal ball and share what will be the big trends for B2B marketing in 2015.

There’s no end to posts predicting the next big thing in 2015. And we all know those predictions are usually wrong – let’s make some, anyway!

Seeing marketing through the customer’s eyes

Seeing through the customer’s eyesMarketing and sales are starting to focus on adopting buyers’ perspectives with regards to selling. This “customer-based selling” is not selling in the traditional sense but more about helping customers to buy – a subtle but distinctive shift in mindset – and content is absolutely key to the success of this. Moving into 2015, content will become even more critical in the customer-based selling process, as marketing and salespeople look to share insights and engage customers based on what they need to make it easier for them to buy.

Content marketing is here to stay

Content marketing is here to stayContent, which is here to stay because brand building is storytelling and marketing is teaching, will continue to improve in quality instead of just quantity. The most successful content will be relevant, entertaining and informative based on where the customer is during their purchase journey. Content should build on itself, be aligned to your sales funnel and move with your customers in their purchase journey.

A picture is worth 1000 words

A picture is worth 1000 wordsVisual content is critical for brands to reach and engage their audiences. Infographics (especially with interactive graphics and embedded video) will continue to grow in popularity because of their value in education and thought leadership, all delivered in understandable sound bites. Expect short, graphically powerful slideshows to also gain popularity in delivering sales messaging.

Show and sell with video content

Show and sell with video contentWith Youtube’s popularity showing no signs of slowing down, video content will become the go to content resource for marketers. There may also be a shift from longer, consumable content like YouTube videos to shorter, snackable content like Instagram 15-second videos and Vine 6-second videos in B2B marketing.

Data will drive personalization

Data will drive personalizationIn 2015, data will play a larger role in content marketing. Beyond just producing great content, marketers need to reach and engage the right audience. Marketers will use data to personalize and deliver content to their highly connected, always-on users helping to create a more informed decision that reduces the risk of being overlooked and increases purchase confidence.

Fostering brand advocates

Are You Your Customers Biggest Fan?Marketers have always known that users who love their products buy more. We’ll see B2B marketers using creative and varied tactics on multiple social media platforms to build sales and win more users by sharing that are visual, compelling buyer testimonials.

Trends are both threats and opportunities for B2B marketers

6 Trends in B2B MarketingCompanies that see social media as something for teenagers will miss the opportunity to connect and educate their customers in a compelling way. Ultimately, they risk becoming irrelevant.

Marketers who move forward with these trends have the opportunity to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, be seen as innovators and improve their odds of outperforming the competition.

What trends do you see for B2B marketers in 2015?

Good Selling in 2015!