Top 10 B2B Lead Generation Marketing Mistakes

The “Bad” – being a lazy marketer who doesn’t focus on the details of execution and doesn’t regularly  test/tweak  to improve effectiveness and ROI.       

I just
re-read this great report by MarketingSherpa and thought I’d share the list of
“bad marketing” as a public service.  The full 10-page report is available for free (note the short reg form).  I’ve listed their ten mistakes below and added my commentary …

1. Calling a
   monthly email newsletter a “nurturing program.” Leads are so valuable that you should score the newest/best ones and contact
   them personally versus just sending them a generic one-size-fits-all
   newsletter.
2. Phoning
   leads to qualify them … days later. Leads go cold so fast that you need to call
   them the same day, and even within an hour if possible which is when your
   product is on their mind. If your
   company has enough lead volume you’ll need to hire a dedicated phone rep but
   the ROI will be worth it.
3. Big booths
   at the big national shows. The bottom
   line is that the ROI is terrible. At my
   last company I tracked big show leads for years and can honestly say I never
   saw one of them convert into revenue. You are much better off sponsoring a dinner off-premises or conducting a
   regional series of breakfast briefings with key customers/prospects.
4. Using a
   free trial or free demo as your mainstay offer. You need to have other offers for people who are further up the funnel
   and not ready for a free trial. Though
   boring, I’ve found issue-focused whitepapers and guided presentations get great
   conversions.
5. We, us, our. If your collateral or web copy uses these
   words then you are talking too much about yourself and not enough about the
   customer. I’ve seen this when a marketer
   takes the easy way out and relies too heavily on the product manager for
   content.
6. Art-Director-Itis
   (stock photos, hard to read type). Rather
   than boring stock photos, why not use some decent pictures of your own lab,
   your own people and your own customers. Take
   some yourself for cheap or hire a pro, but either way your materials and your brand
   will be more authentic. And, there is no
   excuse for having small, unreadable fonts, but it happens all the time when
   agencies get caught up in trying to be stylish (e.g. I’ve seen lots of grey
   fonts lately). Don’t let them put form
   over function.
7. Not working
   referrals. Everyone is talking about
   word-of-mouth marketing these days but very few B2B companies are doing
   anything about it. Why not poll your
   user group for referrals? How about
   having customer service reps and CRMs ask for referrals if the situation is
   right?
8. Lack of
   investment in PR. Prospects trust trade
   journals and analysts way more than any ad or direct piece you can ever put out. Don’t spend too much time on press releases
   since they mean very little to customers. Instead focus on getting speaking
   slots at major shows, mentions in influential blogs, articles in trade pubs,
   product reviews in magazines and best of all mentions in analyst reports.
9. Blocking
   search engines from your best content. This is a no brainer.  You probably have tons of older whitepapers, technical
   docs and recorded webinars that are behind registration forms. Why? Take away the form and pump up your Google rankings. Moreover, isn’t it better to have satisfied
   prospects who got what they were looking for with minimal hassle? They just might become leads later!
10. Registration
    forms that appear daunting or too time-consuming. Do you really need all that
    info or can you get it later after you engage the prospect? Test a short form for 30 days and I’ll bet
    your abandon rate drops significantly. Wouldn’t you rather have more leads?