Why Bad Marketing is Worse Than No Marketing
Common mistakes and how to avoid them.
While B2B startups and smaller businesses may be mindful of the need to build out marketing programs as part of their business plans, the execution of same tends to be incomplete, or marginal at best. Why is that? Let’s unpack.
Smaller B2B manufacturers historically may include any of the following:
Actual startups by company founders
Long-term family businesses acquired by new ownership groups or private equity
Management buyouts of businesses divested by larger enterprises
In each case, business plans are prepared prior to launch/re-launch, at least they should be (read Haven’t Bothered with a Business Plan Yet? Get Started.). Ideally, these give consideration to promotion, i.e. how do you plan to acquire customers? Tactics may encompass a website, social media, a schedule of trade shows, or old-fashioned cold calling to generate leads, build them into opportunities, and convert into sales.
Here’s how each of these can be well-executed to best support the business, or poorly-executed to significantly damage success:
Websites - These are core to any marketing program, providing an online presence to help customers find you, educate themselves about your products and services, and make contact. It’s important that the website is properly aligned with the capabilities of your business. Well-constructed content about your product portfolio, the value your business delivers, FAQs or blogs to educate while improving keyword rankings, clear instructions on how to do business with your company, a privacy policy on data use, and a contact section for those interested in follow-up represent the basics of a useful website. Content and appearance do not necessarily have to correlate with cost, although the best websites are typically prepared by third party media companies. Don’t rule out the use of simpler platforms such as GoDaddy or Squarespace for a quality website experience. Sites devoid of content, poor navigation, glaring formatting errors or stock images of generic people are all-too-common and will guarantee high bounce rates, or in plain English, a lack of interest. Here’s a no-brainer: use actual photos of your operations and personnel to provide familiarity and a preview of what to expect on future in-person visits.
Social media - The first impulse with social media is to be present on every popular platform e.g. LinkedIn, Instagram, X, TikTok, etc. Actually, this is wrong, and a classic amateur mistake. Think about the audience you want to reach and how they may differ by platform. LinkedIn is the default choice for B2B, but don’t rule out the other sites. For example, the short-form video provided by TikTok may fit very well for describing your products and services to a new segment of customers. Whatever you decide, ensure that content and messaging are unique to all platforms. There is nothing worse than reading through a post on LinkedIn, then finding the same content simply copied over to Instagram or X. Okay, what is worse is sporadic posting of content. If you want to develop followers and future customers, post regularly by managing a content calendar that maps out posting dates, topics, and assigned authors. There is plenty of research on which day to post and at what time, but as long as you stick to posting on the same day each week, for example, you will make it much easier to build a following for your messaging. If you don’t have the resources to commit to this type of social media strategy, then skip it altogether. Haphazard posts will actually weaken your marketing efforts by confusing and discouraging followers.
Trade shows - Shows can be excellent venues for lead generation, but they also tend to be costly. Marketing budgets can evaporate quickly if too many shows fill your schedule. You may be tempted to gain visibility quickly, but the general rule of thumb is that it takes 2-3 years of trade show booth participation for attendees to retain awareness of your company/products/services. Don’t burn cash and don’t burn yourself out trying to accelerate this process. A first foray by walking the floor at a targeted show will provide some initial impressions if this is the right venue for a booth. If so, then taking a critical look at booth types, clarity of messaging, sales collateral, and giveaways will help with your own investment into a future booth presence. Again, there is nothing worse than seeing a booth with indecipherable signage, messy tabletops, and personnel staring into their mobile phones or eating smelly food to repel customers from engagement. Don’t skimp, execute well, and the results will please you.
Cold calling - The simplest of marketing programs involves online discovery of prospects, purchasing of marketing reports or name lists, and repetitive calling to make initial contact and schedule meetings. Truly a thankless task, cold calling tends to be out of step with today’s indifference to receiving calls from people you don’t know, at times inconvenient to you, with pitches that may not align with your needs. That being said, a well-written script, focused more on curiosity or starting a dialog rather than a hard sell, can be effective. A hybrid approach using email blasting followed by calling is even better. In short, cold-calling is best when performed by personnel well-trained in your company’s products and services. A success rate of a few percent may be all that is needed to justify this type of investment.
In summary, give proper thought and planning to your marketing programs in terms of which audience you wish to pursue and what messaging you want to convey. It’s less about the pitch and more about engaging in conversation with true curiosity about the client’s business challenges. Good marketing practices will always deliver value for continued success. Bad marketing has the potential to make your business worse, so limit your program to what you can execute best.
Want to learn more about how to build a successful marketing program? Reach out today for an initial consultation.