Are you frustrated with the lackluster results from your company’s marketing activities?  Is your marketing “all over the place” with no clear direction?  Do you see no end in sight?  You’re among the millions of frustrated businesspeople who know they have a marketing problem but are not sure where to begin to fix it.

Sound familiar? You’re likely experiencing one or more of these five common marketing mistakes:

1. Inability to make strategically smart and calculated marketing decisions: Your organization isn’t leading marketing with a strategy or process. This results in a hodgepodge of random tactics with no coherent strategy, guessing games and a lack of strategic innovation and intelligent creativity. Digital marketing, with its jargon and endless tools, only adds to the chaos. Many companies end up relying on external agencies, without clear direction, resulting in frustrations on both sides.

   
   Most often the biggest challenge for companies is that internal marketing positions get filled with ambitious smart entry-level talent that lack direction and strategy.

2. Not enough measurable ROI, a bunch of waste and not enough budget. A lack of accountability and insufficient return on investment leaves CEOs and leaders unable to make calculated decisions—so they often don’t make any marketing decisions at all. Marketing budgets shrink, which leads to even worse results. The vicious cycle continues. Marketing turns into a problem instead of a pillar of business success.
   
   

3. Marketing teams are running rogue. Sales and marketing are not aligned with business goals. This happens for one, or all these reasons; First, they are not included in leadership or business development discussions. So, they are not privy to or understand the company’s challenges, priorities and opportunities. Secondly, they lack experience, leadership and guidance to execute tactics without any strategy. Lastly and the most frequent scenario, the sales and marketing teams are operating independent of each other instead of being viewed as one team. Sales and marketing teams should be working in sync pitching the same value propositions to the same people.
   
   There is often confusion and debate over whether sales are a function of marketing or marketing is a function of sales. Does it really matter? No. The goals of both “sales” and “marketing” is building strong, trusting and sustainable relationships to drive business growth. I am not debating who should report to who. Instead, I am reinforcing that in every business, the sales and marketing teams work in sync – on the same team – rowing in the same direction.
   
   

4. Inconsistent branding and messaging blends you into the background instead of standing out. Your website, tradeshow booth and LinkedIn ads all look different and say different things. Worse, your company looks and sounds just like all your competitors. Another common mistake is that companies create noise and clutter by trying to cram every capability into every communication. Brands that appear to be “everything to everybody” get lost and lose their uniqueness making them unnoticed
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5. Lacking understanding of customers’ or market needs: Your organization does not truly understand what your customer and market wants…and even worse…doesn’t adapt to meet their needs. When you are not focused on your customer needs or changing market dynamics you miss out on sales now and in the future.

If one or all these mistakes and challenges are familiar to your business, what can you do?

Just as every ship needs a reliable map and compass to navigate treacherous waters, every business needs a strategic marketing plan to navigate the complexities of today’s complex B2B markets. With the right tools and guidance, you can steer your ship to success, no matter how rough the waters get.

That solution is MAPS®. MAPS® is a roadmap to more sales. The process starts with goals that are supported with business intelligence and strategy. MAPS® allows teams to align their people and processes with the basic principles of marketing.

Companies can access MAPS® with a veteran coach or implement it on their own. Either way, you can now take control of their marketing and brand.

MAPS® helps companies answer the following questions:

• What is the gap between your sales goal and current commitments?
• What do the customer and industry want now? What will they need in the future
• How is our company currently perceived and valued?
• What will our industry look like in five years?
• What does the brand need to accomplish in 1-2-3 years?
• What is the vision for the brand?
• What is positioning?
• Who cares about what we do (our ideal customer)?
• How do we humanize our brand and create an emotional connection with our customers?
• How do we measure our marketing plan?
• What aspects of marketing are performing well? How are we calibrating?
  
  

MAPS puts you and your team up the challenge to answer these questions. When you do, your answers can help guide your strategic planning and marketing direction.

Good Luck!