Marketing’s Long and Winding Road
If people attempted dating in the same way some approach B2B marketing, they’d come across as unhinged at best, dangerous at worst.
Dating requires time, patience and respect as each party gets to know the other. If you walk in and slam down an engagement ring on the first date, you won’t come across as a confident, self-assured go-getter who knows what they want. You’ll seem like the lead character in a Netflix true crime special.
Similarly, a successful B2B relationship should be built upon honesty, mutual understanding and shared values. Creating such a foundation can take time. We’re highly aware that marketing teams are under extreme pressure to show instant results through various commercial metrics like revenue. However, it isn’t always possible for such data to show the positive impact of marketing on strengthening brand and reputation in the long-term, which is crucial to eventually converting leads.
Despite this, we obviously understand the reticence of companies to invest money into marketing initiatives without any clear evidence of progress.
Our latest article looks at why long-term brand marketing is so important and the ways you can measure its effectiveness along the journey.
The end game
Let’s take a look at an example of the time and effort required to influence new sales. This is from our industry and a rule of thumb for market agencies.
In the Up to the Light ‘What Clients Think’ survey, research found that 72% of clients appoint an agency after a lead time of 18 months. That’s a year and a half between first contact and first brief for work.
These leads times vary by industry, company, and deal size, but the message is the same: B2B decisions take time.
The businesses that succeed are the ones who stay visible, build trust, and keep engaging prospects throughout that long cycle. The ones who don’t? They either give up too early or chase prospects with relentless follow-ups that do more harm than good.
Trying to accelerate something that naturally takes time can actually backfire. Instead of creating urgency, it often pushes prospects away. If you want to win high-value deals, patience and a well-executed strategy will get you further than a high-pressure approach ever will.
Key issues that inhibit that eventual success
Too often, companies can panic that they’re not putting any original messages out there or that they’re repeating the same themes. However, rather than seeming dynamic and creative, constantly releasing a different message every few months can make your business seem inconsistent and chaotic. By regularly promoting the same solutions, and values, you exemplify a considered, well-thought-out vision with strong leadership. This will set you apart from competitors who appear to be run by frenzied CEOs, wildly changing the direction of the company every few months, while crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.
As mentioned above, giving up on potential leads too early is also a frequent problem. The esteemed Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science states that “95% of B2B buyers are not in the market for your products” emphasising that the moment you’re marketing your services is unlikely to be the moment your prospective targets are actively interested. However, if you are solidly producing consistent and targeted marketing through a variety of different channels, it will create strong brand awareness and put you in a competitive position once your targets are open to new partnerships.
That said, if someone who started off as fresh-faced Michael in Sales is now a weathered Father Time, earnestly clawing at the door of a 20-year old prospect, it may be time to call it a day.
So how can you tell your marketing strategy is working with such a long lead time?
Each business needs to develop its own, tailored set of metrics to measure the engagement of its sales funnel. This will largely depend on the communication channels and methods being used. It’s a complex process that needs a granular level of thought and attention but, executed successfully, it can provide invaluable data as to the efficiency of your brand marketing. Here are a few examples you may wish to consider:
Meeting success rate
How many meetings are you securing? Even if they are not ready to commit, if you are attending multiple meetings with the same prospective client, this will put you in a strong position once they are ready for your product or service.
We’ve seen many examples where the engagement with direct communications (e.g. emails and social media) has increased with those prospects who have met a representative of the company in person.
If, however, you’re attending lots of one-off meetings without any follow-ups, you may need to critically analyse why this is. Is there an issue with the product? Is it the positioning or messaging within the marketplace? The presentation of solutions? The pricing? Or are you focusing on the wrong targets? There could be numerous reasons why your meetings aren’t converting and it will be valuable (and prevent further wasted time) if you can diagnose why this is the case.
Content
It’s crucial to have appropriate measures in place to check that your marketing is on the right track. No surprises there.
It’s all very well sending out beautifully presented and dynamic content but ultimately useless if it’s consigned to the Junk folder. Identify the engagement with your existing content and verify that it’s expertly honed to resonate with your targets. Build a pipeline and carefully monitor how much engagement you’re receiving and what is and isn’t working. While your messaging should still be clear and consistent, you may need to adapt the format, tone or language to increase your success rates.
Existing client focus
What better source of feedback than your current clients? Like a maligned spouse, existing clients are often taken for granted and neglected while businesses try to attain new ones. However, in small circles, reputation is everything, and the way your current clients perceive your company will inevitably be reflected in your wider target base. It’s worth frequently checking if your customers are still happy with the service you’re providing and to verify that your messaging and values are still strong and consistent. If your current clients are still singing your praises, this is a strong sign that others are soon to follow.
Whole funnel marketing
Marketing Week recently released a story highlighting the importance of Brand Marketing rather than Performance Marketing. Marketing Week columnists and Evidenza AI co-founders, Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo, spoke about a phenomenon called ‘The Flippening’ where “B2B businesses realise brand marketing creates “much more financial value than ‘performance marketing’” and B2B CMOs start allocating at least 51% of their budget to top-of-funnel activities.”
The article argues that it would be beneficial for companies to look past sales conversions as a measure of marketing success and to truly understand both the short and long-term benefits of brand building.
With the research clearly demonstrating the importance of playing the long game, it’s erroneous to judge the success of the marketing department solely on converted leads on a short-term basis (e.g. a monthly sales meetings). However, it’s natural to want evidence or reassurance that budgets are being allocated efficiently and progress is being made. An organised team with a clear vision will integrate numerous performance checks along the way to ensure that their targeting and messaging are clear and consistent, thereby giving themselves the best chance possible of meeting their long-term objectives.
About Us
At FS Partnership, we have extensive global experience helping firms identify what makes them distinctive in the marketplace and creating impactful yet consistent messaging. This is integral to allowing companies to stay relevant in an ever-evolving marketplace. We help our business partners to create a strong brand, intelligently position their offering in the marketplace and expand their client base. If you’d like to chat to our Managing Director, Chris Hopwood, about our previous work or your own specific requirements, please do get in touch by emailing chris@fsp-agency.com.
Sources:
https://www.marketingweek.com/ehrenberg-bass-linkedin-b2b-buyers/
https://www.dba.org.uk/2024-what-clients-think-report/
https://www.marketingweek.com/b2b-investment-outcome/