The biggest B2B marketing mistakes

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!

This week, we're exploring the dangerous defaults of modern marketing with Matt Maynard, VP of Global Brand and Advertising at Asana. Matt reveals why so many marketing "best practices" are actually holding us back, especially in B2B. 

—Elena  

Brand-building can be even more important for B2B than B2C.           

Long purchase cycles and high consideration make it even more important for your brand to be the first name that comes to mind when your audience is finally ready to buy.  

The risky assumptions sabotaging your marketing.                   

Matt Maynard reveals why some of B2B marketing's most popular tactics backfire. These assumptions can sound brilliant in meetings, but they weaken your results. 

1. Pipeline obsession without long-term thinking. Performance culture isn't bad, but focusing only on easy-to-measure metrics means missing future buyers who aren't shopping yet. 
2. Putting customers in brand ads. Customer stories work brilliantly for in-market buyers seeking credibility, but in brand advertising, you risk building memory for someone else's brand instead of your own. 
3. Confusing brand narrative with brand advertising. Your brand narrative explains what you do and why you're different. Brand advertising does the job of building memory by connecting your brand to buying situations. 
4. Over-targeting at the expense of reach. Responsible reach means being disciplined about building unduplicated reach among future buyers, not just hitting a narrow target audience

The solution isn't throwing out performance marketing. It's understanding that brand building makes performance more effective by ensuring people already know your brand when they respond to your ads. 

Listen in on our discussion.

"Is this applicable to B2B marketing? Please stop asking"       

Mark Ritson settles the debate once and for all. Yes, marketing effectiveness principles absolutely apply to B2B. In fact, research from LinkedIn's B2B Institute proves they often work better in business markets than consumer ones.  

Read the article.

Challenge the obvious.             

“If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've always gotten." 

— Unknown