B2B Marketing planning (w/template)
We share why many B2B marketing plans fail, 2 levels of planning and how to plan long-term marketing programs.
Most B2B marketing plans fail because of one reason:
Lack of clarity.
Demand generation is not about running ads with ungated content.
ABM is not about making a wish list of accounts, running display ads and automated emails.
Lead nurturing is not about setting up an automated sequence of emails to promote the product.
Content marketing is not about writing how great your product is, and sharing corporate news.
The list of "is not about" is endless.
In today’s newsletter we share:
Bad (random acts of marketing) vs good B2B marketing plan (with a template at the end of the post)
2 pillars of a B2B marketing planning
How to plan long-term marketing programs
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Bad vs good B2B marketing plan
A lot of B2B marketing teams operate in the “random acts of marketing” mode. Their plan includes:
sales and leadership inquiries
work with agencies
event preparation and promo
plus one more program they believe they need to run to hit revenue targets “We want to start ABM/ Demand Generation / Thought Leadership", etc.”
The problem though is that these programs usually are not well-planned and detailed. Programs that are clear to sales and leadership are approved, the rest is shut down.
Most B2B execs and salespeople don't support marketing programs not because they don't understand marketing, but because they don't see:
Detailed campaign playbook that describes goals and objectives, required resources and budget, timeline, metrics, and basic forecast.
How the marketing program will help to grow revenue, increase ACV, close more deals, or shorten the sales cycle
In the next section I’ll present 2 pillars of marketing planning and explain how to plan long-term programs and present new initiatives.
2 pillars of a B2B marketing plan
B2B marketing planning shouldn't be sophisticated. It should include 2 pillars:
1. Regular marketing operations.
80% of your resources (team, budget, time) should be devoted to:
Daily thought leadership
Weekly podcast or webinar
Weekly newsletter
Ads (management, optimization, tracking)
Content production
Content distribution
Customer research and insights
Intent and engagement data tracking
Pipeline review & sync meetings between marketing and sales
Reporting
These operations should have clear workflows, guidelines and ownership.
Examples:
Content production should include a process of interviewing subject-matter expert, approvals, posting and a content calendar.
Intent and engagement data tracking should include frequency, data processing, qualification and sourcing.
2. One-time programs or experiments.
One-time programs include experiments (e.g. Pilot net new revenue ABM) and events that are hosted only during a specific timeframe (e.g. Industry conference).
Treat them as mini-sprints that have a clear timeline, leading indicators to track progress, responsibilities, and budget.
Allocate 20% of your time and budget to experiments and pilot programs.
Operationalize them if successful. If they don’t perform well, cut them from your marketing plan.
You need to experiment in marketing, but keep in mind:
Growth comes from regular marketing operations that drive pipeline and revenue.
B2B marketing plan template.
Here is an example of a B2B marketing plan. You can make a copy of it here.
Get step-by-step guidance on marketing planning and marketing strategy in our B2B marketing strategy on-demand course.
An actionable training to predictably growing B2B sales. Align your marketing, sales, and executives on the focus target market, positioning, channels, campaigns, and content to land ideal customers, grow your deal size, and accelerate your pipeline.
Inside you'll find:
Short and actionable training videos
Market segmentation template
Ideal Customer Profile template
Unique value proposition formulas and validation questionnaire
Marketing plan template
Buying journey template
Lifetime future updates
How to plan long-term B2B marketing programs
Among your experiments or new initiatives, there will be long-term programs without immediate impact on revenue and pipeline (think about thought leadership, demand generation, ABM, etc).
Here are 10 steps you can use to plan them well and present them to leadership and sales to get their buy-in.
Plan in sprints - your company is already running them and is familiar with the concept.
Connect the dots between your program and revenue.
Set clear goals and KPIs.
Define leading indicators as intermediate metrics to track program progress.
Create a detailed plan and timeline, not "we'll run some ads"
Keep your timeline max to 90 days. Focus on 5-7 key activities.
Define the necessary roles you need to involve, time required to maintain tasks and responsibilities.
Define weekly pillars (key activities) the team members should focus on.
Create monthly report to track program.
Integrate it into a revenue report and track the impact on sales pipeline velocity.
Below are visual examples that might help.
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It's the middle of 2024 and the right time to take a look at:
Previous 6 months performance
Sales pipeline velocity and revenue trajectory
Performance of your long-term initiatives
Experiments that worked well and should be operationalized
Take a breath, recheck your plan and adjust to your goals accordingly.
Drive pipeline THIS quarter with a full-funnel ABM programs.
If any of these challenges sound familiar:
You are aligned in theory with sales but don’t do anything in practice aside from receiving wish lists from sales and sharing with them your marketing plan. In reality, you work in silos and miss the revenue targets and are being pressured by your executives.
You understand that your marketing and sales playbook is broken (mqls, gated content) but despite many attempts you don’t know how to fix it
Your outbound, paid ads and organic pipeline drastically decreased while CAC increased mostly because most of your market is problem unaware and not buying.
You lack brand awareness among target accounts and sales can’t get even a reply.
You clearly see that you're already behind your revenue targets
We can help.
We'll develop a custom full-funnel ABM strategy aligned with your resources, budget and stack and execute it together to drive results THIS quarter.
Super interesting and actionable - thanks.
The fact always is thinking not doing. Your points here reverse the game.
Lovely article.