{"id":70777,"date":"2022-05-04T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/uncategorized\/5-signs-you-dont-know-your-b2b-customer\/"},"modified":"2023-09-14T04:59:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T08:59:05","slug":"5-signs-you-dont-know-your-b2b-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/demand-generation\/5-signs-you-dont-know-your-b2b-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Signs You Don\u2019t Know Your B2B Customer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being an expert on your market or being able to identify target companies is great and all, but these things do little to develop your understanding of your B2B customer\u2026 And that\u2019s where real success lives.<\/p>\n

For a board game like Guess Who, taking a shot in the dark and hoping to arrive at the right answer through the process of elimination is a good strategy. For marketers however, a guessing game might not be the right way to go.<\/p>\n

Misunderstanding your buyer can manifest itself in many ways; maybe it\u2019s poor campaign performance, a rise in email unsubscribers due to irrelevant messaging, dwindling conversion rates from mis-targeted website copy, or it could be failing sales numbers due to unqualified leads<\/a> plus a lack of effective training and sales enablement materials, and more.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re experiencing any of these symptoms, don\u2019t worry! We\u2019re here to help. Here are 5 signs that you might not know your B2B customer as well as you should.<\/p>\n

Quick Takeaways<\/em><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Make your B2B customers feel like the main character.<\/li>\n
  2. Revisit and make updates to your buyer personas.<\/li>\n
  3. Stop relying on assumptions.<\/li>\n
  4. Put yourself in the shoes of your buyers.<\/li>\n
  5. Focus on the people, not the process.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Your product is the protagonist of your story.<\/h2>\n

    First things first – grab the nearest piece of marketing content \u2013 your last email campaign sent is a great place to start. Count how many times you see the words \u201cwe\u201d or \u201cour.\u201d Next, count how many times the word \u201cyou\u201d or \u201cyours\u201d appears. Hopefully, your copy is skewed towards the latter. But let\u2019s take an even closer look.<\/p>\n

    Is the copy focused on the following?<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Your solution<\/li>\n
    • The benefits of your solution<\/li>\n
    • The features of your solution<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Who is the real main character in the storyline of this piece of content<\/a>? If it\u2019s not the intended recipient, here\u2019s a reality check: they don\u2019t care. In the New York Times Customer Insight Study<\/a>, researchers found that the #1 reason people share content online is to bring valuable content to others.<\/p>\n

      \"Bring<\/p>\n

      2. Your buyer personas need some updating.<\/h2>\n

      Alright, let\u2019s be honest: when was the last time you conducted fresh research to understand your buyers? Is your team relying on information about customers that was created before Instagram was (10 years ago)? If the answer is yes, it\u2019s probably time to revisit what\u2019s happening in the worlds of your buyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      The pressures of business are constantly evolving \u2014 and fast. With industry segments (especially technology) moving so quickly, understanding your buyers is never a once-and-done project. Even if you think you know, I can promise you there\u2019s still room for updates.<\/p>\n

      \n
      \n
      \"CreatingImage Source: Google Templates<\/em><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

      Building your buyer personas<\/a> gives your marketing strategy a more personalized feel; making your targeting and ability to generate leads more effective.<\/p>\n

      3. There\u2019s a donkey in the room.<\/h2>\n

      Ok, so not a donkey – more specifically an ass. Yes, I\u2019m referencing the age-old saying \u201cwhen you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Simply relying on assumptions can often lead to incorrect judgements or dangerous conclusions. So when you\u2019re creating marketing content, product strategy, or sales playbooks (for example) don\u2019t make an ass out of you and me.<\/p>\n

      Have some humility – admit that it\u2019s possible you may be wrong. It\u2019s a relatively simple concept, but it can go a long way when you\u2019re trying to do some course-correcting <\/a>on any long-standing assumptions about your buyers.<\/p>\n

      Figure out where these assumptions came from in the first place. If the assumptions are coming from the very top of an organization, it might seem impossible to change them. Seek to apply as much data as possible to assumptions to help validate, or invalidate, ideas.<\/p>\n

      4. Your empathy is\u2026 nonexistent.<\/h2>\n

      Buyer persona innovator and marketing strategist Tony Zambito strives for a more human centered approach to modern marketing. In a post about empathy in marketing<\/a>, he writes:<\/p>\n

      \u201cIn the modern marketing world where content has become the dominant way we communicate, empathy serves as a foundation to stand above the overdosing flood of information experienced by customers and buyers.\u00a0 It requires us to understand the context of the goals and challenges of our customers and buyers. Have you taken the time to put yourselves in their shoes? Lived a day in their life, considered the challenges they face and the problems they seek to solve?\u201d<\/p>\n

      If the answer to these questions is no\u2026 chances are you don\u2019t know your buyer very well.<\/p>\n

      Forming a relationship with the people you\u2019re selling to is essential in B2B marketing. The video below does a great job of mapping out the journey of a buyer, and how your relationships with potential buyers is affected by that journey.<\/p>\n