Running over the same old ground (# 1)
For many B2B companies, marketing has failed to drive the outcomes necessary to grow and sustain top line. With “new” tactics and methods to get leads in the pipeline, we’re still running over the same old ground. Sales must adopt social selling and strategic engagement with prospects; work harder. But for the moment, we’ll focus on marketing.
We have new names for what we’ve done for years, i.e., “Content Marketing,” The result is furthering the disintermediation between sales and marketing.
We clamor for new technologies that hold the promise of allaying our woes, only to find that the tools are poorly utilized and adopted.
And yet, 63% are concerned about getting more leads. And almost half of us cannot prove our marketing efforts are worth the spend.
A return to the fundamentals of marketing is in order, while eliminating some sales and marketing tactics that have distracted us from what’s important:
Voice of the Customer
Go2Market Strategy
There is not enough space and time here to address everything equitably, so we’ll focus on some highlights.
Lack of Strategy
Only 61% of marketers believe their marketing strategy is effective. (HubSpot)
We have rushed to Execute and abandoned Strategy, Orientation and Insight. The M3 (“Modern Marketing Model”) is a simple, graphical representation of the main marketing components.
It’s evident immediately that Strategy, Orientation and Insight should get a lot of attention. Because it is not the focus for some, revenue outcomes fall short. To that end, start with strategy to yield 10 key insights (graphic below). We’ve streamlined the strategy process to gain speed without sacrificing insights. At the highest level, we seek:
1. strong messaging
2. insights about customer issues
3. the decision-making process.
The focus in the strategy exercise is to understand the one version of the truth from customers and prospects:
Who makes decisions, how are they influenced, and where do they seek help and new ideas?
What are the criteria to choose a partner and how are those criteria ranked, the trade-offs?
What words do they use to describe pain, and how do they quantify the value of the solution?
How do they begin searching for a solution? In whom do they have nascent trust?
What have they tried before to solve this problem and why did it not work?
What external pressures are squeezing their business?
More in installment #2.