The B2B lead generation trap: How marketers are obsessed with the wrong thing.

B2B Marketers are obsessed with Lead Generation and that’s totally understandable…

With the increasing pressure of generating trackable financial results, marketing teams focus the majority of their efforts in designing and maintaining lead generation strategies. But by doing so, they are missing out on a terrific opportunity to build a more sustainable and compounding strategy: brand marketing.

This is perhaps due to the false perception that lead generation marketing is a science, while brand marketing is seen as a form of mystical art. Or, it could be due to increasing internal pressures.

While it’s true that we haven't, in most cases, been able to scientifically track and assert brand marketing, we also tend to look at lead generation data in the wrong way, or at least with an inflated perception.

The problem with the data behind lead generation marketing is that it fails to highlight how only a small percentage of potential customers are in the market at any given time for a service your company can offer, a mere 5%.

The other 95% of customers do not have, yet, a need for your services. This means that the majority of your potential leads aren't ready to purchase now, but they may be soon or in the future. This is known as the 95-5% rule by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.

Here's where lead generation efforts, no matter how sophisticated, can't convert what isn't there.?

This is where traditional strategies miss the mark, by not planting seeds for future sales.

Companies should enhance their lead generation efforts by also developing strategies to build lasting memories with their target users. Much like you wouldn't purchase a car or fridge annually, your customers probably won't need your services often or may not be willing to switch B2B suppliers frequently.

By building a system that keeps you top of mind, precisely when customers need you, you can save a significant amount of your targeting budget.

This strategy avoids spending on customers who don't yet have the need for your services. This is particularly important today, in a time of minimum resources, cuts and a desperate desire for optimisation and efficiency. So what can be done?

The LinkedIn B2B Institute suggests using this framework instead:

R - Reach the whole category.

M - Message around several relevant category entry points.

B - Brand (and track) everything.

You should build a system to track and review all brand marketing outputs that are traceable to financial outputs:

Creative: Track and review annually

Reach: Track monthly, review bi-annually

Attention: Track quarterly, review annually

Awareness: Track and review annually

Lift: Track quarterly, review annually

It's time for brand marketing to also be trackable so to have a fairer discussion when compared to performance marketing. Currently, performance marketing is easier to track, yes, but it doesn't necessarily mean it generates more sales.

If you think performance marketing is crucial? Do not forget your brand…I call it the long-term foundation for sustainable performance marketing.

Start today to create the consumer of tomorrow.