As you know, B2B marketing refers to the techniques and practices used by companies to sell their product or services to other organizations and businesses rather than individuals. The most essential thing in B2B marketing is to reach out to the right customers and influence them to purchase. However, in achieving this, there are some pitfalls you would want to avoid.
1) Assuming that everyone is your client
For, B2B sellers, thinking that they can sell to everyone is a huge mistake. Let's come down to earth. Even if your product or service is excellent, everyone cannot be your client. In other words, your service cannot address everyone's needs and it shouldn't. To avoid this, you should know your target market! You need to understand your customer and customer's needs. Start from building customer personas with details. Personas will help you to understand your client's needs, goals, challenges, sources, and interests. Once you know your target, you can reach out to them easily!
2) Ignoring the power of communication
Avoiding your clients makes your business go under. I'm serious. Not answering e-mails and phone calls or ineffective correspondence are the worst things that you can do to your business. You should be responsive. Give proper answers according to their needs. While being responsive, be careful about your language. Don't be so formal. Also, avoid aggressive language. You should show your customer that you understand them; it is only possible with effective communication. Do not underestimate the power of communication!
3) Wrong approach to social media
You want to be active on every social media platform, I understand. However, do you have enough workforce for it? Or is every platform even appropriate for your business? It may be or not, find this out first. I know some of you want to, but you cannot share the very same post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. You need to be specific about your approach to different channels. It is not about just being active, it is about reaching out to your customers. Find the best platform where you can reach out to customers that are interested in your business and increase your engagement on that channel. If every channel is important to you, find the right tone on these channels.
4) Sticking to old technologies
Old is not gold every time! What worked ten years ago may not be working now. Also, old methods may not answer your company's objectives. You should try new technologies, channels, and methods. You cannot be sure that new technologies will work, but you won't lose anything by trying. You should be open to change and embrace it. You could not know on which new acquisition channels it lands you.
5) Offering too many deals and discounts
Another common mistake that companies make is offering too many discounts. Bringing the conversation down to price just reduces your company value. Customers that buy your product or service just because of low prices may not be there to stick. It may not be sustainable in the long run, and you surely can spend your valuable time to acquire quality customers rather than the ones with higher churn. You need to focus on customers that care about the value you create, not the price.
6) Lacking strategy
If you conduct marketing activities without a well-defined goal, you get lost in the way. You need to identify your objectives and draw a pathway to reach them. For example, if your goal is increasing the traffic on your website, you should focus on improving the quality of the content of your site. Your objective should be clearly defined, measurable, time-bounded. After you define it, it will be easier to stay on the target.
7) Making the lead generation as the sole focus
It is an undeniable fact that the lead generation is the road to new customers. On the other hand, it cannot be the sole focus. You are already aware that not all leads make it your balance sheet, and you should be careful about the amount of effort you spend. It requires less to maintain the conversation with your existing customers. You should make sure that you keep the other end of the funnel tight.
8) Not testing
If you do not conduct tests in all of these resources that keep coming to daylight every day, it means that you are missing a great opportunity. Testing enables you to make correct decisions and improve your marketing strategies. With small improvements, you may be converting a great number of leads which you would not realize without testing. You should test, test and test. A/B testing should be your modus vivendi!
9) Producing irrelevant content
We all know that producing content is the key to brand awareness. However, if you continuously release contents that do not provide answers, it will be a huge challenge for your company. Think meticulously before creating content. Try to give relevant answers to your customers in your materials. Consider the blog posts. If you are an uptime monitoring service, it is meaningless to produce a post about a delicious cake recipe. So, make sure to produce relevant content.
10) Ignoring the website
You may think that "I have a great service, so I don't need a fancy website." Actually, you are right. Your website does not need to be fancy but needs to be sufficient. Do not ignore its design and content. For instance, using visuals matter a lot. It does not just attract customers but also it could be a great guide for them. Use colours, tables, and images relevantly. Also, the content on your website should be intriguing enough to make leads take action rather than just review it. Share educational and exciting contents such as blog posts, guides or webinars. And make sure that your website is running and accessible every time. If it isn't up, how your customers see the content that you share for them?