What is the most elusive part of setting B2B marketing goals? The answer is anchoring them into the company and its business goals.

Some B2B companies have worked a few years at content marketing without much success. In fact, a number of them are just going through the motions, hoping to stumble across something that gives them that elusive success. The problem is they are stumbling around in the dark with blindfolds and noise-cancelling earphones on. They lack direction. They lack marketing goals.

How can you market without goals? No goals means no direction. It means no way to measure progress. It means spending money on marketing that has no clear connection to your company needs. And that is the heart of it.

The first step you need to take in creating B2B marketing goals is to understand your company and its business goals.

Understanding Your Company

Your company is unique and holds a particular position in your competitive set. Understanding that position will give you insights into how to use marketing to achieve your business goals.

Getting to know your company’s position in the market place begins with understanding a few things:

• Unique value proposition – How does your company offer a unique value to customers? What sets your company apart from the competition? You can set marketing goals that emphasize this unique proposition.
• Strengths – What makes your company strong from the inside? You may have a unique product. You might have a well-established logistics network. You may have one of the best R&D divisions in your industry.
• Weaknesses – What makes your company vulnerable from the inside? You might be slower to bring new products to market due to a cautious approach in R&D. You may have an outdated production facility.
• Opportunities – Are there opportunities in the marketplace that you can exploit? You might have new markets opening up domestically or internationally. You might have a chance to expand your product line.
• Threats – What threats are you facing in the marketplace? You might have a competitor coming out with a new innovative product later this year. You might be competing in a marketplace with low cost importants.

You might have noticed that the last four items are the classic SWOT categories. Doing a SWOT analysis is a good way to get a deeper understanding of your company’s place in your industry. A management team discussion of those four areas for an hour will produce amazing findings and direction. It seems simple but it works.

Your Business Goals

You need to use your business goals as the guiding force in setting your B2B marketing goals.

Here are a couple of business goal questions to answer that will help you set your marketing goals:

• How much sales revenue growth do you hope to achieve? State this as both as a percentage and an amount.
• What key performance indicators do you want to meet? These indicators are quantifiable measurements that show the success factors important to the business. A couple of examples would be to increase income from return customers by a certain amount/percentage and to increase your lead counts by a certain amount or percentage.

When you answer those questions, you have the information that will help you create your B2B marketing goals. 

Taking the First Step

You can do it. The biggest barrier to getting that first step completed is actually starting the work.

What challenges do you face with marketing goals?

photo credit: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester} via photopin cc