{"id":6647,"date":"2024-02-28T16:42:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T16:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tup.kxe.temporary.site\/why-b2b-marketing-needs-brand-building-more-than-lead-gen\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T16:42:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T16:42:47","slug":"why-b2b-marketing-needs-brand-building-more-than-lead-gen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/okdesign.ca\/en\/why-b2b-marketing-needs-brand-building-more-than-lead-gen\/","title":{"rendered":"Why B2B marketing needs brand building more than lead gen"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

B2B marketing<\/a> has become overly focused on measurement and attribution, appearing and claiming to be more science than art. Everyone wants to believe it\u2019s a science. Investors, boards and leadership expect marketing growth to be measurable, predictable and projectable.<\/p>\n

But the truth is that marketing is not a hard science. Experiments are not repeatable and playbooks are not fully transferable between companies. While benchmarks and leading indicators help guide our decisions, the variables that can change outcomes are unique to each company, category and audience.<\/p>\n

More concerning than this measurement obsession are the behaviors it has spawned. Believing B2B digital marketing differs from general marketing has led us to actions contrary to marketing theory.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The lead generation obsession<\/h2>\n

Marketing is a long-term effort, but it has come to have short-term accountability. Especially in organizations with a sales-led motion, things have to be viewable on a dashboard within a quarter to satisfy leadership. So-called \u201cvanity metrics\u201d like site traffic and ad engagement don\u2019t cut it anymore. Now, marketing needs to show ROI quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For various reasons, lead generation has become one of the dominant strategies of B2B marketing teams to satisfy this pressure. It\u2019s tangible and can be used to tell a great marketing story. It also allows for a very clean attrition path to revenue and keeps sales teams happy (initially, at least).<\/p>\n

And when a strategy serves your dashboard, you go all in on it. Marketers spend much of their budgets on lead generation, but the results are masking a worrying transformation that has taken place over the years.<\/p>\n

At its core, lead generation should be about bringing people who are interested in your solution, your category or the pain point you solve \u2014 in that order. The level of intent that comes along with each of these leads differs greatly and converts into revenue at very different rates For the sake of simplicity, we\u2019ll categorize them as follows:<\/p>\n