B2B technology marketing organizations, both large and small, continually struggle to scale their capacity so they can deliver on more and more tactics. They increase their budget, hire additional people and bring on even more agencies to help them execute. I’ve seen this time and time again with similar results that aren’t what they expect.
Instead, this approach increases expectations and starts a never ending cycle of always being asked to do more and more. And, when they can’t keep up with the always growing to do list, the team starts to miss deadlines, sacrifice quality, don’t meet their goals, or lose team members who move on or burn out. I don’t believe it needs to be this way.
Marketing with focus
We tend to make marketing far more complicated and onerous than it needs to be. The simple fact is you don’t need to do hundreds of tactics to be successful. I am willing to bet that of all the tactics you currently do, there are only a very small handful that have delivered exceptional results.
The simple fact is you don’t need to do hundreds of tactics to be successful.
It’s the 80/20 rule. You need to identify the 20% of your tactics that are delivering 80% of your results and stop doing the rest. You should test and use data to guide decisions not debate opinions. But, you need to be prepared to cut your favourites. With some careful analysis, you can quickly see the ones that are working and then make them even better.
That’s my prescription – Marketing with Focus – and it’s built on three core principles:
It starts with a strategy
Great marketing starts with a strategy that is focused on delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time. While many skip this or do it quickly, you really need to spend time to understand your buyer and their journey while defining differentiated messages to communicate real value to them. This foundation is critical and you need to focus on it or very little that you do will work as it should.
Less is more
Great marketing is about quality not quantity. Quite frankly, there is a lot of crap out there and you don’t need to add to it. You don’t need hundreds of pieces of content, distributed across every channel available to generate thousands of leads. Less is more… if it’s the right things. You need to focus on developing fewer, compelling content pieces that build thought leadership and shows your buyers how you solve their challenges. Then, you share this content with your target buyer only where they do their research. Nothing more, nothing less.
Driven by results
Great marketing can help your organization become successful. It can play a pivotal role but to do that you need to set clear goals aligned with the overall business objectives. You need to measure what you are doing but only as it relates to these goals. Without clear goals, you don’t know if you are being successful and what to stop doing. At the same time, measuring everything leaves you with too much data and no clear answers. With clear goals and a simple set of data to measure against them, you can focus and optimize the tactics that are working so they are even better and stop doing the ones that are not working altogether.
For many readers, I bet you are thinking that this all makes sense but that it won’t work in my company. Or, it’s easier said than done. Some of you may even try it for a while and then give in to the never-ending requests. So, how do you stop doing everything and focus?
Introducing your B2B marketing team
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m off to start my own company that will help B2B technology start-ups, scale-ups and even established enterprises focus their marketing efforts for better ROMI. This better approach of Marketing with Focus is what we offer at Zinc Marketing.
This better approach of Marketing with Focus is what we offer at Zinc Marketing.
A marketing company recommending you focus and do less may sound surprising to you. I bet it’s not what your current agency tells you. That’s because they have a vested interest in doing more and keeping marketing in a black box. They will recommend tactics they can execute not what will deliver against your goals.
Building and executing a marketing plan involves making choices. At Zinc Marketing, we will explain the pros and cons of each so you can weigh them in an informed way and build a better strategy. Our experienced team can also help you execute the right marketing mix, including developing compelling content and delivering an integrated campaign that creates demand and drives revenue.
Unlike a traditional agency, at Zinc Marketing, we want to be part of your team to help you focus, do less and deliver results. Regardless of where you are today on developing and executing your marketing plan, we have an experienced team that can guide you on this journey. We are your B2B marketing team.
Let’s get started at zincmarketing.com.
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