Custom B2B Marketing Programs vs. The Traditional Marketing Agency Approach
Generate Breakthrough B2B Marketing Results with a Customized & Holistic Program
If your B2B marketing efforts generate more costs than leads, you’re not alone. Too many B2B owners, marketing directors and sales executives fall victim to a marketing strategy that isn’t crafted around the different needs of B2B enterprises. They spend a lot of money for generic programs or splashy products, and end up frustrated when the efforts don’t generate qualified leads or profitable growth.
That is why we offer clients a custom and holistic B2B-focused marketing program designed to produce measurable results and profitable growth, with strategies built around the needs and goals of your business.
Causes of Ineffective Marketing
Failure can take a variety of paths:
- Buying the empty promises of marketing agencies that lack expertise and experience around the unique requirements of B2B marketing efforts
- Buying shiny objects like marketing automation and other software that require a lot of time, energy and experience and may or may not produce any measurable results
- Copying what competitors do without a strategy of your own
- Hiring a marketing person and expecting them to have the knowledge, skills and time needed to execute all marketing efforts when no one has all of these skillsets (see the B2B Experience section of the table below)
How to Accelerate Demand, Leads & Sales
Simply put, most agencies lack the holistic B2B experience across all 4 Ps of Marketing needed to drive the 5th P: Profitability. See below to learn more:
Points of Comparison | B2B Ignite Marketing Program | Marketing Agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Focus | B2B | B2C perhaps with some B2B |
| Business Focus | Creating comprehensive and holistic strategies | Creating comprehensive and holistic strategies implemented via managed services to produce 10-20%+ annual revenue growth |
| Operating Style | Partner: a tailored business relationship based on mutual trust, openness, collaboration, and shared risk; we only grow if you grow | Vendor: provides a service for a specific period of time and cost; when the transaction(s) ends, the business relationship ends; they grow based on transaction volume |
| Payback Period & ROI | Pays for itself in 9-18 months with a 300%+ ROI within 2-3 years | Rarely pays for itself and is very hard to measure |
| Engagement Process | B2B Marketing Audit > Marketing Plan > Managed Services > Results | Proposal > Contract > Project Work > Lack of Results |
| How We Charge | A set monthly amount for 12 months so you know exactly what you’ll be charged and when | Combination of project cost, hourly and retainer so you don’t know how much or when you’ll be charged |
| Approach to Client Acquisition | Selective: value-adding vendors, resellers, outsourcing providers, and professional services | Inclusive: anyone with money to spend |
| Core Company Structure | A B2B marketing consulting firm that implements what we recommend with reporting on results | B2C marketing agencies that implement marketing promotions strategies |
B2B Experience Level
Points of Comparison | B2B Ignite Marketing Program | Marketing Agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Breadth | Comprehensive and holistic strategies (across all 4 Ps) that drive the 5th P: Profitability | Limited to marketing communications (the 4th P only: promotions) |
| Depth | Our core team is comprised of market researchers, product managers, journalists, and process engineers | Marketing generalists with backgrounds in branding, web and graphic design |
| Quantitative Results | Focused on keyword rankings, organic search traffic, lead generation, sales conversions, and generating the 5th P: Profitability | Focused on overall website traffic, and social media followers/retweets |
| Qualitative Results | Focused on establishing thought leadership (while looking good) | Focused on branding, web design and social media |
| Market Research | We’ve conducted hundreds of primary market research, mystery shopping and competitive intelligence studies | Conduct secondary (web) research focused on branding and websites |
| Product Management | Extensive experience that ranges from concept to development and launch to end-of-life | Limited at best |
| Channel Marketing | We create new channel programs, recruit new resellers and create lead qualification criteria | Limited at best |
| Pricing & MAP | We conduct B2B mystery shopping and pricing studies, formulate channel and end-user pricing on a value vs. cost-plus model, and enforce minimum advertised price (MAP) | Limited at best |
| Website Development | WordPress, WP Engine, Adobe Business Catalyst, Joomla, Drupal, Modx, Shopify, Miva, Ruby on Rails, Tridion, American Eagle, Wix, and more | WordPress primarily (if you’re on an outdated version, you will get hacked and your SEO will go to zero) |
| Web & Graphic Design | We have great designers | They have great designers |
| Content Marketing &l Copywriting Experience | We’re a team of former journalists and published authors, with B2B experience across dozens of industries | Freelancers and interns with only B2C writing experience (retail and consumer products) |
| Search Engine Optimization (SEO) | Translate marketing strategy into inbound lead generation strategies centered on keywords and copywriting, plus PR and other external link building. | Implement Google Analytics, Yoast SEO and cannot tell you much beyond that |
| PR | Generates client media coverage, article publication and speaking engagements | Limited – you have to hire a PR agency ($5,000/mo. to start) or a freelancer |
How to Get Started
We recommend starting with a B2B marketing audit, which will identify what is holding back your lead generation and product sales, and recommend strategies for moving forward so you can plan for growth in the new year with confidence.
At Innovaxis, your success is our success. We only grow if you grow. Our programs typically pay for themselves in the first 9-18 months, with an ROI over 300% in the first 2-3 years.
