Most of my day-to-day conversations are with founders, co-founders, and CEOs of PropTech startups. You guys are awesome at what you do, but there's a reason you're talking to me - you don't know marketing like I do! With that in mind, there are a few important things I'd like you to know, and I think you'll find them really helpful as you look to grow your business.
"Looking pretty" is just the beginning.
So often, the discipline of marketing is reduced to "making things look pretty." While it's important to have a professional and polished image, this will not, in and of itself, translate into revenue for your business. In fact, investing in a beautiful brand is a waste of money if you're not going to get that brand in front of the right people using the correct marketing methods.
The sales & marketing relationship is key.
There's no great marketing process without sales input, and no great sales process without marketing input. The two work hand-in-hand, and the end result of a co-operative sales and marketing team is far more than the sum of its parts! Your sales team are talking to your customers every day, understanding their needs and talking to them about whatever is going on in the market. They are at the coal face, and can give incredibly valuable insight into the sort of messaging that your marketing materials must communicate in order to hold the interest of your target audience.
This is a specialised discipline.
B2B marketing is a specialism. Tech marketing is a specialism. SaaS marketing is a specialism. You don't even necessarily need someone with a PropTech background (although it helps!) but you do need to ensure whoever you're working with knows what they're doing when it comes to B2B tech solutions. For example: when people talk about "attracting more visitors to the website", that can be interpreted as an exercise in driving volume, rather than value. If you're selling shoes or insurance, volume is the key to your success, and driving 3 million visitors to your site in a week would be a cause for celebration. Not so in B2B - in fact, that would indicate a serious problem! If you engage B2C strategies, you will get burned. Not through a lack of trying - but through a lack of strategic understanding.
You get what you pay for... sort of.
People always ask me what they should be spending money on, particularly given they want to know what sort of marketing budget they ought to have. This is a really, really important point, because it's so easy to spend money on marketing! I can't tell you how many founders I've spoken to who have told me:
"We're paying a PR firm £2K a month. They don't generate any leads, and we spend so much time correcting their pieces that we may as well be writing them ourselves."
"We hired a marketing agency for £30K and they made some really cool and creative stuff for our website. We shared it on LinkedIn, but I don't think it really generated much revenue."
"We hired a mid-tier marketing manager and they improved our website, wrote some blog posts, set up our social accounts and did a few email and PPC campaigns... but nothing much came of it."
The biggest issue I consistently see is founders who are - with every good intention in the world - throwing money at a problem instead of carefully and thoughtfully investing in a really good B2B marketing strategy. That strategy will probably include channels such as PR, email, and LinkedIn, and it will also probably involve hiring a mid-tier (or even entry-level) full time member of staff to manage the execution of that strategy once it's up and running... but you can't put the cart before the horse! You need to start with strategy, advice, and mentorship - and build from there. Invest more money in getting your strategy right, and you won't waste money further down the line. You can spend £2K on a month-long targeted LinkedIn ad campaign, but if the content of those ads isn't really compelling and well-thought-out, and the targeting isn't carefully crafted to match your ideal audience, that money has been wasted!
Did you find this post useful? Would you like some support in making it all happen? Book a call with me today - I'd love to chat with you!
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