Every B2B marketer is dealing with similar challenges. They may change based on the industry and product, but as a whole we are all working through the same things. Understanding your biggest B2B challenges can not only help you deal with the issues that arise – it can help you prevent a crisis altogether.
Here are 4 challenges that all B2B marketers face, and how you can tackle them the right way:
Aligning Marketing and Sales
The buyer decision begins in the early stages of the marketing funnel, well before a potential client even comes in contact with your sales representatives. Companies already know that if their sales and marketing team are not aligned, their marketing efforts are being wasted. These wasted marketing efforts due to misalignment between marketing and sales costs businesses $1 trillion a year. (HubSpot) As such, the close alignment of marketing and sales is crucial to running a successful B2B business.
Sales and marketing teams should be working very closely to develop a holistic approach toward structuring the integration of both departments. This includes educating the sales team on the marketing goals and objectives, as well as establishing the company voice with all the sales representatives. In turn, marketing must fully understand the sales process, as well as where certain leads are in the buyer journey.
In addition, a universal agreement on goals, key performance indicators (ABM KPIs), and which accounts to focus on is crucial. It’s not just about understanding each other’s roles – but rather the fundamental need to align on the same goals. Learn more about developing stronger sales and marketing alignment.
Keeping Your Database Clean
Reaching the right audience at the right time can be difficult, as the most important decision-makers are always moving targets. The most effective way to measure the readiness of a potential client for specific messaging is through data analysis. However, if your data is outdated, you’re messaging may be inadequate – as those decision-makers change roles, names, contact information, companies, etc.
With the ML Data Cloud, you can use data from your marketing automation and CRM combined with firmographic, technographic, audience and intent data to find your perfect targets. So, make sure this data is accurate, because otherwise your efforts – and budget – can be wasted. By using Madison Logic’s ABM Content Syndication, marketers can easily get updated information to keep their database squeaky-clean and get more engagement at the same time.
Balancing Strategy and Execution
Many marketers are strapped for resources and end up having to juggle the development of strategy and the execution of that strategy on multiple platforms. Marketers are often spread thin with an abundance of tasks that are in turn listed based on priority, which often leaves less-prioritized tasks at the bottom – even though they are still extremely worthwhile. You could conduct super expensive market research, or you could tie in sales and marketing alignment!
Before you embark on a project, meet with your sales representatives, product team, etc. Make sure that the marketing tasks that you’re prioritizing match their needs, allowing you both to become more efficient and save your time to create more value for your organization.
Adopting Innovative Technology
Often, companies want to run with a shiny new software, because on the surface it seems to be the new frontier. Nobody wants to be a late adopter and miss the boat, when your competitors are all on top of their game. The questions every marketing team must ask are: Are we internally prepared to integrate this platform into our tech stack, and how is this actually going to help our marketing efforts become more efficient and more effective?
Before purchasing a new product, you need to be positive that your staff is aligned to work through this change. At our London Symposia, we also noted that the “ultimate tech stack” is tailored to your company independently. No two tech stacks are or should be the same, because your company is unique in its own ways. Make sure your employees are prepared to take on additional technology before making a purchase to achieve the best results!
Reach out to our sales team now to request a demo and learn more about how Madison Logic’s ABM solution gives you tools to improve your sales and marketing alignment and enables you to convert your best accounts faster.
