The Top 9 Reasons You're Wasting Money On B2B Marketing That Does! Not! Work! ??
Brian Webb
?? B2B Marketing, ?? Fractional CMO, ?? Business Growth Coach, ??? Host of 'The Business Growth Show' podcast, ?? CEO: Whatbox Digital, ? Private Investor
If there's one thing I hear over and over again, it's, 'Brian, our marketing doesn't work and we don't know why.' Well, there are a plethora of reasons why that could be happening, but today I'm going to share the 9 top reasons your B2B marketing isn't working.?
'Brian, our marketing doesn't work and we don't know why.' - Business Owners
Too busy to read? No sweat! Consider listening (via the player below) to episode #54?on your way into the office. ?? ?? That way you're hitting two birds with one stone.
1. You're marketing to the wrong people.
So, let's start with number one, you're marketing to the wrong people. If you haven't precisely defined exactly who your perfect ideal customer avatars (ICA's) are, and if you don't understand exactly what their problems and challenges, and dreams are, this is going to give you a few problems. First, while you 'might' be getting in front of some of your ideal customers, you're probably saying the wrong things. And secondly, you're spending money to get paid traffic to your website, your offers, and your landing pages, but you're wasting money on people who will never, ever buy from you.
So, if you haven't defined exactly who your ideal customer avatars are, (and you probably have multiple of them) then it's going to be difficult or impossible for you to effectively get in front of the right people, the people that you want to be doing business with. Need a tool for defining your perfect Ideal Customer Avatar? No worries, I've got you covered. CLICK HERE to use my free online tool to create an avatar for your perfect customers. Feel free to use it over and over again.
2. You're saying the wrong things.
When you don't know what to say in your marketing efforts, this is called a 'failed message to market match.' Your messaging needs to consistently speak into the dreams, problems, and challenges of your ideal customers. And by the way, use the same vocabulary they do. Once you've fixed problem number one by precisely defining your ideal customers, you'll know exactly how to communicate and engage with them. And never forget that every single customer that you're looking for has the exact same two goals; they want to move away from pain and move towards pleasure.
When you can help them to achieve that, and they believe you when you tell them, you're going to get more customers more quickly.
'Every customer you're looking for has the exact same two goals; to move away from pain and towards pleasure.' Brian Webb
3. You're asking them to do the wrong thing.
'Well, thanks, Brian. That's really helpful. What are we supposed to be asking them?' There's a scene in the film, Ocean's Thirteen , that I've never forgotten because I see businesses doing the same thing. Al Pacino, a real estate mogul, is talking to one of the contractors. His character is working towards building the most beautiful, luxurious, and prestigious hotel and casino in the world. One of his building contractors' tells Pacino's character that delays in progress are coming.
Pacino impatiently exclaims 'I don't want the labor pains. I just want the baby.' I'd bet a large sum of cash that if I were to audit all of your marketing collateral, messaging, and sales processes, you're likely saying the same thing to your prospects, but in a different way. You don't want the labor pains. You just want the baby.
In other words, your B2B marketing and sales processes likely scream out to your prospects
Your marketing probably sounds a lot like Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character in the film, 'Jerry Maguire,' when he says 'Show me the money.'
Did you know that data (and empirical evidence) shows that it takes at least 21 to 24 interactions with your brand before someone goes through the three phases of a relationship?
If you're not inviting people into your brand story at the natural tempo and cadence that your audience naturally forms relationships; if you're not using all of the sales funnel strategies that are available to you, then you're asking them to do the wrong thing. Every time that you run an ad, you're basically saying 'Give me your money.' Every time you post on social media, you're selling, selling, selling.
And I get it, we're all out here to grow our businesses and generate new revenue opportunities. Consider using generosity as your lead foot moving forward. Instead of always asking your audience (cold audiences) to buy now, right now, upfront, instead, ask them to
Then once you've had some time to nurture and indoctrinate your prospects over an extended period, then you'll have earned the right to ask them to do what you want, which is to set up that meeting, buy your product, or engage with your services.
4. You think you can advertise anywhere and everywhere.
The fourth reason your marketing is failing is that you think you can advertise anywhere and everywhere. 40 years ago, choosing the right media or platform was easy. But in today's modern era, new platforms, and new channels emerge seemingly every day. Once you've identified where your ideal customers are, you're going to want to show up only where they are, but everywhere they are to the best of your financial ability.
5. You have no effective marketing systems.
The fifth reason, and by far the most overarching problem, is that you have no effective marketing systems. Without a system you're just flying blind, right? When you don't have effective marketing systems, by default you actually do have a system. 'It's called the 'Home Marketing System' or the 'Spray & Pray ?? System.'
You're just going to do a lot of 'stuff' and create a lot of activity. You're going to spray a lot of marketing into the air, and then pray that something comes back from it. You hope it works. And what's ironic to me, is that marketing is typically the one system that most businesses don't have. You have accounting systems, HR systems, IT systems, payroll systems, product development systems, and accountability systems.
I work with $7MM, $8MM, and $9MM figure businesses. You'd be stunned at how the vast majority of them had no marketing systems in place before I arrived.
Lead generation is the ongoing acquisition of leads for your business. Conversion is the process of taking those leads and converting them into customers. Retention, referral, and ascension are systems for ensuring that you keep the customers you've acquired and ascending them to the new or higher-ticket products or services you want them to buy, and then generating referrals for new customers.
'Oh my goodness, this is us!'
If you're reading this and you're thinking, 'Oh my goodness, this is us,' we really need to talk.
Visit whatboxdigital.com or just text me personally at 832-324-2432. You can also email me at [email protected].
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6. You're chasing your customers instead of magnetically attracting them.
Ponder this question for a moment. What is your natural inclination and response when you discover yourself being chased in hot pursuit? ANSWER: You run away as fast as you can. But when you leverage the power of sales funnels, which again almost always starts with an irresistible offer, a lead magnet, (aka lead generator) you're now going to magnetically attract your ideal customers and prospects to raise their hands and just take a tiny step in your direction.
'Instead of chasing your customers, magnetically attract them.' - Brian Webb
7. You forget that you don't have the ad budget of Coca-Cola.
The seventh reason your marketing doesn't work is that you forget that you don't have the ad budget of Coca-Cola. Circa 2017, reportedly that Coca-Cola's advertising budget was just shy of $4 billion dollars. Unlike Coca-Cola, you're not going after every single parched throat on the planet. You want to be smart with your financial resources by wisely allocating budget resources on showing up where your customers actually are, and nowhere else.
The Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast
Check out the?'Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast' ?to learn for free how to grow your business smarter and faster! You can find the show on all the major platforms like?Apple ,?Google ,?Spotify ,?Pandora ,?iHeart Radio ,?Amazon ?(with an Amazon Prime account),?Podchaser , and?Stitcher .
8. You're racing to the bottom line in pricing.
And number eight, racing to the bottom in low pricing without an effective marketing system, which includes good branding that's in place. It's going to be tempting to look at the competition and see what they're doing to grow their business, which oftentimes is lowering their prices. But the problem is there can only be one, numero uno, lowest cost provider. Unless you're Walmart, bottom-dwelling is not the path to success. And it's not going to give you the business model that you desire and that inspires and attracts the best talent to your organization. So don't do that.
9. You're not consistently and systematically following up with your prospects.
And last but not least, number nine, no follow-up. Most of your prospective customers are not ready to buy from you at the moment that you show up. And they're certainly not ready to buy from you just because you are ready to sell. Some will take weeks to buy, others will take months. Sometimes, and this has happened to me and my clients, it takes years before your prospect may arrive at a need for your products or services.
Once you've attracted the right ideal customer into your brand's ecosystem, it's imperative that you follow up forever. Something that's semi-silly, but actually true, that I tell my customers all the time...
'Follow up until they buy, die, or unsubscribe.' - Brian Webb
And it's okay if they unsubscribe. But you are going to follow up with them forever. I don't mean you're calling them every week and being a pest. But until they buy, die, or unsubscribe, you continue to nurture them, never stop sending them resources that help them move away from pain and towards their goals and pleasure. You can't afford to make this expensive and fatal mistake.
Commentary
Let me close with this thought. Isn't it fair to say that you owe it to yourself the world to be a better marketer?
Your products and your services solve a problem. But you can't solve the problems of your customers until they pay you. If you give up prematurely, if you just stop following up, it's almost as though you have the cure (metaphorically) for the world's cancer and you said, 'Eh, we're done! We're going to leave this alone. This is just never going to happen.'
Meanwhile, whether or not it's by their own choosing, your customers continue to suffer from the problems that plague their lives.
So, follow-up is king, until they buy, die, or unsubscribe. That's how you're going to follow up moving forward.
My Marketing Agency Technology Stack
I'm frequently asked,?'Brian, what are the software tools and apps you use to grow your business, and that you recommend to your top paying clients?'
The following list of tools are s some of the?'primary'?GO-TO tools I use in my own agency business, and that I recommend to all of my clients. The actual list would be a bit too long to include in this article.
WhatBox Digital, LLC, is a paid affiliate for many of the software tools and service providers recommended, which allows WhatBox Digital, LLC to be compensated for any new business procured by the software and service providers. However, no recommendation will ever be made that Whatbox Digital, LLC doesn't authentically believe in, and when necessary, utilize for our business needs and/or our clients.
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