{"id":1535,"date":"2010-07-12T14:35:28","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T19:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.exomarketing.biz\/\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2010-07-12T14:35:28","modified_gmt":"2010-07-12T19:35:28","slug":"weak-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exob2b.com\/en\/weak-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Weak Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 10 years of practice as a B2B marketing consultant, I\u2019ve noticing a preoccupying situation within small and mid-sized B2B businesses (SMBs). This post will present an outline of that situation as well as provide a solution to the problem. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Many B2B SMBs don\u2019t have a marketing department, which is to say, a team dedicated exclusively to the marketing functions of their company. Some employees get assigned some marketing tasks, but usually they have to perform other tasks as well, tasks like sales, customer service, or communication\/copywriting. This is a fact.<\/p>\n

Is this normal or worrisome? <\/strong><\/p>\n

SMBs spend important sums of money in various marketing activities, but their marketing spending \/ sales figures<\/em> ratio is quite below that observed in high-performance companies. This is another fact.<\/p>\n

What do we deduce from these two facts? That SMBs only practice \u2018moderate\u2019 marketing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Success stories in marketing are not rare. You\u2019ll most likely agree with me that success in business does not come from moderate efforts. Why then do so many SMBs adopt moderate practices when it comes to their marketing?<\/p>\n

Many times, CEOs, Presidents, and other corporate leaders, have shared with me that this moderation stems from not being able to properly measure with precision the results of their marketing efforts, which creates doubt as to the results of their marketing effectiveness.<\/p>\n

And when there is doubt, business managers abstain from practicing active and long term marketing. The most optimistic of business managers count on \u2018trial and error\u2019 and \u2018learning by doing\u2019 when it comes to optimising their marketing performance, the more pessimistic simply do it because their competitors do it, or to keep up their image, but they don\u2019t expect any real results to come from their efforts.<\/p>\n

Modern marketing has evolved a lot in the last decade and has become extremely efficient if done right. This being said, \u2018modern\u2019 marketing implies the mastery of many disciplines, disciplines that a temporary worker who is assigned some marketing tasks, simply can\u2019t master. The subject matter is too complex and it evolves too quickly.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, if we think like an investor, moderation turns out to be bad decision. Moderate marketing simply can\u2019t generate satisfactory results for a business.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more worrisome for the competitiveness and financial health of B2B SMBs is that the marketing money they do spend with moderation is often spent on the wrong things, or simply wasted altogether.<\/p>\n

Waste? No! Really? Can it be? As a consultant, I\u2019ve witnessed marketing practices that drain and progressively corrode a business\u2019s profits and resources on countless occasions.<\/p>\n

Here are 3 classic examples of marketing money spent wastefully: <\/strong><\/p>\n