017 - "Data-driven" is one of the biggest mistakes in B2B marketing

B2B Excellence is a weekly newsletter that curates the best B2B marketing content from the brightest minds in our industry.

We include the perspectives from a variety of enterprise marketers, stories from fast-growth businesses challenging the conventional ways of working and thinking, and the top 1% of B2B marketers shaping modern-day practices.

Grab yourself a cup of tea and review our archived entries at ?https://www.b2bexcellence.co/

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1* "Data-driven" is one of the biggest mistakes in B2B marketing?

This piece of content sparked a provocative view on the emerging trends of this anti data movement for B2B marketing.?

There has been a lot of content recently around this idyllic philosophy that companies simply need to focus on building their brand, to create thumb-stopping engaging content, attribution is bad and paying for expensive technology is stupid.

The smart folks at Refine Labs, led by Chris Walker have created a wave of marketers repurposing their original point of view, with water down content with little substance.

Attribution is not bad, it’s an important piece of creating an informed view of your marketing. It shouldn’t be your only source, there is not such a thing as a single source of truth, but many sources, all collected together, analysed, with context, to help strategic thinking and planning.

This header and the opening paragraph “Most B2B interactions cannot be measured” is just wrong.?

Yes, attribution can’t directly measure large components of the B2B buyer's journey, but you can consider a whole host of different strategies to measure your marketing, with data, for example.

Brand studies - how is your marketing influencing sentiment and purchasing intent for your business?

Brand Terms / Direct traffic - have you seen an increase in users searching for your business with an increase in brand investment

Qualitative - sign up form asking where they have heard from you?

Qualified Pipeline CVR - An increase in CVR from qualified pipeline vs marketing investment, by source

There is no perfect world for measuring your marketing efforts, and your data isn’t perfect, but with context, a smart framework, and a well thought out data strategy, YOU CAN MEASURE IT.

2*? When was the last time you spoke with your customers

This illustration caught my eye this week.

Joe goes on to say…

A. The best content topics come from the mouths of your prospects

B. The best insights come from the brains of your SMEs

I’m not sure point B hit home for me.

But point A really resonated.

How much of your planned content for 2022 was informed by speaking with customers and how much was informed by thinking what they want.

It’s a healthy reminder to ensure we’re always creating content for our customers. It's a big investment of time, resources and effort, so don’t skim over the basics of ensuring your customers will like your content.

When was the time you had a conversation with your customer, carried out market research, had feedback on copy from your customers, or listened to a sales call?

If you're creating content, and hopefully you are. When was the last time you carried out any of the above?

3* Top 18 B2B marketing themes that never seem to get old

I had the intention to share my top 3 themes, but honestly, I couldn't decide, so I thought I would list ones I would include.

• Create content for people, not algorithms
• Use platforms and channels for how your customers use them (Linkedin, consume content - so make it easy for users to consume it, post natively and don’t ask for an email. Intent search keywords, make your landing pages frictionless and easy to get in touch)
• Be wary of the ant data movement!?

I would love to hear from you! What would you include?

Original source?

4* Uncovering the Truth About Account-Based Strategies in Europe

This ebook has some interesting takeaways around the behaviours of ABM in Europe. Here are 4 key takeaways you’ll get from this article.

• An evaluation of the technologies that leading companies use to ensure that their Sales and Marketing teams are working in an integrated and holistic way.
• A review of the maturity of account based strategies across different European markets.
• An insight into how European Marketing and Sales teams have overcome their pain points through effective ABM evolution.
• An overview of how leading companies have worked to overcome GTM fragmentation through working smarter, not harder.

Conversations You Should Read

Gating and ungated your content - “data insights”

The future of B2B influencer marketing??

Struggling to move from lead gen to demand gen due to budget?

Here are 5 ways I write copy for a specific target market

Weekly B2B Meme?

Tools & Platforms

Each week I share a tool I have used, plan to use or I find interesting.

Testimonial is a really cool tool for collecting video feedback.

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