Five Things That Marketers Need to STOP Doing in 2018

Marketers

Embracing every new Martech “solution” 

Let’s face it, there are now more than 5,000, yes 5,000, martech companies that all claim to hold an important place in your martech stack. Not possible. Curate your partners to only the ones that truly engage, convert and win over prospects and help drive your revenue.

Thinking that Account-Based Marketing (ABM) will solve everything

Sure, ABM is a valuable marketing approach, but maybe because many marketers have been executing these high-touch, personalized campaigns focused on a specific account, for some time now. I’d instead recommend marketers focus on improved ABM technologies that help us more effectively know who the buyers are and have conversations with them.

Assuming your Martech stack is magically integrated

Guess what, it probably isn’t. Unfortunately, most martech solutions have a very loose definition of integration and interoperability. Why on-board martech vendor solutions at all unless you are 100% sure they are all working together? It’s worth a conversation with your marketing ops lead.

Focusing on quantity of leads

I say this everywhere I go, it’s about quality of engagement, NOT quantity. Marketers will see better results by pursuing high-touch experiences and redefining how their leads are qualified, including the prospect’s likelihood to purchase. I’d rather have 100 highly-engaged prospects than a pipeline of 5,000 contacts we got from a form fill.

Ignoring your database

Chances are, if you aren’t spending time with your CRM platform, its data is garbage. It’s a terribly common problem, as the quality of the information we put in, directly dictates the effectiveness of what we get out. That data must include prospects’ and customers’ behavior as they interact with content. Arm your salesforce with that information and those insights will separate merely a list of names from the real sales opportunities.