When you’re not marketing, your not leading in product or service terms either
If sales has become arrogant and blind, engineering finds marketing restrictive or confusing and the financial whizzes struggle to find a business case for marketing and keep chopping at it, then how the hell are you going to find out what’s really going on ?
You see, marketing is a two way channel and these days its far more “inbound” than it ever was. This means you can find out a lot about what people are really thinking and saying about your business and its products and services. This is a big deal.
If you’re not developing something new or improving something old, finding new market segments or filling gaps in existing ones or even phasing out what people no longer want, then you’re missing a crucial pieces of your businesses development and growth strategy.
Marketing can tell you where your business should be going in the future, it can unveil painful truths, redirect engineering to address real customer needs and develop messages that resonate with key audiences.
So is B2B marketing dead in the UK. Well we’re seeing things gradually change. Some businesses are now accepting insight from good analytics, their planning to invest in content and creative that helps people buy and they understand the power of sound positioning and messaging. Many though are, and will be, playing catch-up in this fast changing landscape.
It’s still early days but the green shoots are here and it will be those companies that invest now and in marketing strategies that can build businesses which will be leading when the economy improves once again.
Let us know your thoughts on marketing’s place in the world of B2B and if you’d like to know more about strategic online marketing then please download a free copy of the Internet Marketing Masterplan.