74% of B2B marketers set goals, but only 49% always achieve them, CoSchedule research reveals.
So, why is the 41% falling short?
The answer often lies in the complex challenges of B2B marketing, where the line between strategy and execution is oftentimes blurred, and the collaboration between sales and marketing is frequently overlooked.
In this interview, Brian Carter, CEO of The Brian Carter Group, discusses how B2B businesses can overcome these challenges to successfully capitalize on quality leads and consistently hit targets:
- Aligning marketing and sales efforts
- Leveraging personalization
- Adopting data-driven strategies
Who Is Brian Carter?
An IBM futurist and top expert recommended by LinkedIn, Brian has been a trusted keynote speaker and consultant for over two decades. He's worked with more than 250 big-time clients including Microsoft, NBCUniversal, McDonald's, and Salesforce, as well as many small businesses. Brian is also a bestselling author of seven business books you may have seen on Bloomberg TV or read about in Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.
Brian and I talked about the challenges of personalization in B2B marketing, particularly the overlap between marketing and sales which, as he says, can be messy depending on the business’ organizational structure.
“Often ‘personalization’ in marketing is really just segmentation, which is better than nothing, but not quite the level of personalization a salesperson can get into, especially after several calls.
Ideally, there is a culture of sales-marketing collaboration pushed by leaders in the company, or we find B2B salespeople ignore and devalue B2B marketers' efforts. Salespeople may only work on leads they've generated or from their SDRs, rather than B2B marketing leads,” he says.
He emphasizes that B2B marketers need to provide quality leads while leaders need to outline how salespeople can work these leads successfully and make them accountable for their performance.
“When a company has powerful performance marketing, not just brand marketing, and executives see the value and potential of that, then B2B marketers and salespeople can dramatically boost quality leads and wins.
Otherwise, they think that marketing is just fluff — unfortunately a very common view of marketing by executives and salespeople — and salespeople focus on generating their own leads and sales. If the leads take more work than other options salespeople have, why would they work them?" he adds.
According to Brian, B2B marketing has to be strategic and sales-cycle oriented.
“In B2B, when winning just one client can mean a lot of revenue, and especially when you get into smaller industries, it's important not to burn prospects with a short-sighted approach,” he explains.
In a previous DesignRush podcast, we spoke with B2B marketing leader Kandace Barker about why businesses shouldn’t believe the common myth that B2B purchases aren’t driven by emotions.
Watch below to learn more:
According to Brian, B2B companies often miss the mark when producing personalized content, producing irrelevant or overly generic material that fails to engage their target audience.
His ultimate tip for delivering relevant and tailored messaging is:
“The #1 thing I want to warn B2B marketers against is using spammy pseudo-personalization, for example, sending mass LinkedIn messages where all you're personalizing is name, company name, etc. via tokens.
These are easy to see through. It's either a program or a person who did very little work. It makes sense to get and use data, within reason and respecting privacy, but the actual creative for marketing campaigns needs to be unique and inspired.”
Additionally, he suggests that there’s a lot of potential for doing deeper segmentation with a combo of data, generative AI, and human inspiration, cautioning that this approach will have to be tested and monitored closely before it can be deployed at scale with confidence.
Brian highlights a case study where they helped a B2B brand achieve success by segmenting prospects based on their alma mater and crafting personalized LinkedIn connection invites.
Each message included elements like the school motto, alumni nicknames, and local attractions, making the outreach highly relevant and engaging.
“This was all manual but could be automated with LLM APIs now. We're actually in the middle stages of programming that app right now,” he adds.
If you’re looking for a partner to help expand your market reach and drive business growth, our DesignRush list of the best B2B digital marketing companies is the best place to start.
Maximize Impact Across Diverse Channels
Cold emails rank low in outreach due to challenges and spam concerns. Brian suggests LinkedIn messaging and ads on Google, YouTube, and Bing are more effective.
"Cold emails are now our fourth or fifth choice,” he says.
For those using cold email, he recommends LemList for personalization and stresses quality prospect lists. AI could further improve these strategies.
“In B2B, burning prospects with poor tactics can be costly,” Brian adds.
For more on how to use AI in B2B marketing, watch our podcast with ThinkersOne Co-founder Mitch Joel:
Also, many B2B brands often post the same content on all social media platforms.
Brian emphasizes the importance of customization and strategic planning in B2B social media marketing, pointing out that effectiveness varies with company size and target market.
To stay unique and maximize impact across diverse social media channels, he advises businesses to:
- Understand platform differences: The effectiveness of social media varies by platform, and it's essential to recognize that LinkedIn requires a different approach than Instagram. Each platform has its unique tone and audience.
- Target specific roles on each platform: Tailor content not only to the platform but also to the specific roles within the target companies. For instance, younger employees might engage more on certain platforms and can influence decision-makers who prefer other networks.
- Use of social ads: Using social in addition to organic ads is the key to bigger and faster results.
Interested in growing your brand on LinkedIn? DesignRush interviewed LinkedIn influencer Luke Matthews to discuss the platform’s best-kept secrets to boost your personal brand. Watch below to learn more:
Despite a pending forced sale or ban in the U.S., TikTok was the #1 trending platform in the country last March and remains to be one of the top five most used social media in the world.
But is TikTok worth the effort for B2B brands?
“TikTok is generally better for B2C activities, and the audience demographics are quite different from what's in the average B2B Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
That said, I would always double-check that for your specific niche and target audience. A TikTok dance for your audience could be completely ridiculous and get ignored — but you never know,” Brian says.
He emphasizes the importance of priorities, suggesting that if you have the resources or an enthusiastic team member who can execute it in an on-brand manner, it’s worth experimenting with TikTok for business marketing.
Key Tactics for Kickstarting B2B Social Media Engagement
For businesses that are about to embark on social media management and marketing, Brian suggests it's important to begin with a clear strategy that prioritizes the right platforms, effective advertising, and data-driven decision:
- Prioritize the right networks: Focus on platforms that align with your target audience's demographics and interests.
- Incorporate advertising: Even a low-budget ad strategy can boost exposure and drive leads effectively (Brian’s experience has proven this).
- Balance branding and performance: Combine branding efforts with performance marketing to ensure social media contributes to the bottom line.
- Set up analytics: Ensure proper analytics are in place to track and attribute the impact of social media on your overall marketing efforts.
Navigating the complexities of B2B marketing requires a strategy that truly understands your industry's needs while keeping pace with the ever-changing digital world.
It's all about fostering strong collaboration between sales and marketing, using targeted ads to reach the right audience, and having solid analytics to measure your impact.
Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang
