In B2B marketing? Consider these stats:
Now, you’re planning your budget and the split of activity between performance and brand, and you’re having meetings with Finance to get sign off. Imagine for a moment, going into that meeting with your CEO & CFO and saying:
“OK, so, only around 5% of our target audience are actually in a position to buy and actively looking right now. But, stay with me here, our plan is to spend, mmm, maybe somewhere in the region of a whopping 92% of our marketing budget on activity and messages that shout ‘buy now’. Even though only 5% are going to be responsive to that kid of message.
Yeah, yeah, I know. 95% aren’t in a position to buy now. So it sounds like the vast majority of our activity will fall on deaf ears and the bulk of our budget will be wasted. And, yep, that’s right, it leaves us with just 8% we’re planning to spend on growing our pipeline and future sales, which, I know, is the lifeblood of our business, through brand building activity aimed at the 95% who aren’t looking to buy now. With messages that’ll:
- increase our brand awareness
- position us as the best choice to solve their needs
- convince them to put us on their consideration list
- be the brand that comes to mind first when they’re ready to buy
But, we’ll at least be able to give you useless channel ROI stats that measure efficiency not effectiveness on a weekly basis, well daily if you want, that you can then use to drive down our budget and help hasten how quickly the pipeline dries up.
So to recap, we’ll spend 92% of our budget on 5% of our audience. And just 8% of our budget on 95% of our audience.
Sound like a solid plan?
Signed off?”
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OK, so that conversation would never take place. But, imagine if it did! Because it’s basically the reality of what happens at the majority of B2B businesses. An when it’s set out like that, the numbers just don’t stack up do they?
Your brand is your competitive advantage. It’s what imbues your product or service with meaning and emotional relevance. Without it you’ve just got a faceless, undifferentiated commodity.
Don’t let that be your business.
If you want help with your B2B Marketing, get in touch now. Because we do marketing that makes you matter. And together lets drive your brand, and your business, forward.
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For more on The 95:5 rule. Or, if you found that interesting, here’s another related post you might also be interested in:
