B2B marketing mistakes can kill campaigns and response rates, and are usually made by two kinds of marketers. A typical example is a marketer who creates a direct mail campaign, but realizes he/she knows nothing about direct mail. So they may hire a consultant with direct mail experience to help.
The worst kind of marketer is one who does not realize that they don’t know direct marketing basics but forges ahead anyway. Both groups repeatedly make these seven common B2B marketing mistakes, and here's how you can avoid them:
Every lead-generating promotion should include a response device. In a banner ad or email, this is a hyperlink to a landing page. That landing page should be congruent with the email or ad copy. Direct mail should include a reply element.
In your copy, use the same language your prospects use when discussing your product or its application. Be wary of clichés and hackneyed phrases, because while marketers use them often, it’s not how prospects think. For instance, engineers may look for process equipment that’s reliable, modular or energy efficient.
There is an increasing trend to have copy reviewed by more people than ever, in particular people who are not qualified to do so — either because they don’t have the industry, technical, sales, or marketing background to make critiques that are based on knowledge rather than merely likes or dislikes reflecting their personal preference.
Know the rules and specifications for good blog posts, subject lines, offers, headlines and copy. Judge the promotion against these guidelines and not just on whether you “like it” or not. For instance, the “4 Us” are a sensible way to evaluate subject lines and headlines: Does it say something unique? Is it ultra-specific? Does it present a useful benefit or advantage? Is there a sense of urgency?
The uneducated marketer calculates maximum customer acquisition budget based on the price of the product — the revenue from the order the promotion generates. So if the product costs $100, and the seller wants a 100 percent profit, her maximum marketing spend is $50.
On the other hand, the educated marketer bases maximum acquisition cost not on the initial order but on the average lifetime customer value (LTCV) of a customer. For instance, if the average order is $100, customers order one unit monthly and remain customers for five years, the LTCV is $100/month X 12 months X five years = $6,000. If you spend 10 percent of LTCV, you can afford $600 vs. the $50 budget of your uneducated competitor. So you can buy more online ads and send out more emails, resulting in more orders and customers.
Uneducated marketers start with the product — its features, specifications and benefits. Educated marketers start with the prospects — what buyers want, desire, feel, fear and care about — their most urgent needs and finding solutions to the big problems keeping them up nights with worry. Then, by connecting your product’s capabilities to the prospect’s needs, you make more sales.
Qualifying prospects is more than asking them lots of questions such as title, types of products purchased or application. On your landing page, you should have qualifying check-box options. The three options should be to request product information, an estimate or initial appointment. Those visitors who click the last two items are more qualified than those who just want the product information.
For a no obligation review of your marketing communications program and a chance to win a $50.00 AMEX gift card, call Bernie Prohaska at 732.238.3420 or email bp@ProhaskaAdvertising.com
Source: Target Marketing - Bob Bly
