It might sound funny, but there are times when we bump into these things with our prospects and we have to pause and take a deep breath. It’s not your fault if you are doing these things, but you might need to stop ASAP.
A Word of Caution Before You Take This Pill
I’m going to be brief here. There are deeper reasons – and sometimes data – behind my sentiments, but you’ll have to just go with it if there is a lack of clarity. If you are a B2B marketer, just run with it and I’ll fill you in later. I’m always open to talk.
List of Things To Stop Doing
Posting the same content on all your social media channels
Reason: You need a social media strategy, and your customers see right though this lack thereof.
Relying on a non-mobile friendly website
Reason: More than half of your traffic is trying to be mobile, so Google is probably ranking you lower on their pages.
Sending email blasts from Constant Contact
Reason: Sorry, it’s nothing against the company, but you’re missing the rich features other ESP companies have, which means you are behind the times. Your email marketing can be better.
Sending email “Blasts”
Reason: If you are sending the same email to all your clients with segmentation or a list building strategy behind the scenes, you need to think this through.
Your email is @Hotmail, @Gmail, or @Earthlink
Reason: If you are running a business off a free email address, you might as well hang a sign that says we are small time. Sorry to be harsh, but that’s reality.
Buying Google or Facebook Ads without rhyme or reason
Reason: This is a big cost, and you’re not getting the return you should be getting from these ads. You need a PPC strategy.
Sending direct mail postcards
Reason: There are more effective ways of getting business, and direct mail is low ROI.
Lying in wait for referrals
Reason: With email marketing, you can jump-start your referral marketing efforts with marketing automation campaigns. Referrals are huge in B2B, so why sit around waiting?
Not having a Marketing CRM
Reason: You can’t do marketing in this day and age without a database of contacts. We use Hubspot and recommend it to others. There are other systems, but either way, you need something.
Not using data to make decisions
Reason: This one is quite simple. Marketing provides so much data, you should be using it to make your marketing decisions. Do you know the ROI of your channels? Find out.
Having a somewhat blank LinkedIn profile
Reason: If you’ve made it this far, increasing your LinkedIn marketing profile will help you and your sales team make new connections.
Thinking of your website as a passive brochure
Reason: Yes, especially in B2B spaces, your website can work to increase your lead generation. You have to think of it as a 24-7 sales person.
Trying everything once
Reason: There are lots of ideas on what to do with your marketing time and dollars, but many of them are bad ideas. Develop a core set of activities and some experimental. Don’t change the plan but twice a year. Here is a post about setting consultant marketing budgets.
Letting a graphic designer run your marketing
Reason: They are simply not marketers. I can vouch for it. I have a degree in design, and we didn’t learn a thing about marketing in design school. I learned it in the trenches for the past 12 years. I love design, but it’s not marketing – and you need marketing.
Thinking you can do marketing yourself
Reason: You are busy, why put something like marketing on your plate when it’s already full? Bring in a trusted marketing team to run this for you. You can and need to do sales, focus there.
What to do next?
If you’ve found yourself in one of these categories, relax – it can all be changed quickly. Make the change as soon as you can, or contact us and we can help you make it.
Marketing is a campaign. It takes dedicated resources to make it work effectively, and you have to know the goal. Here’s to your success!
