The Most Common Reasons B2B Marketing Teams Fail

The demands of marketing teams in B2B SaaS marketing are getting harder and harder, as the drive too fast scaling is all around us. The lens is currently staring at marketing and product as the flywheel to growth (and not just sales).

We have discussed beforehand that the CEO wants this "marketing machine" built but has no in-depth knowledge of the complexity to execution that it means operationally. This scenario causes a challenge, problem and opportunity to marketing leaders and teams.

Challenge = how do you deliver on these demands

Problem = how do you build a marketing machine to success
Opportunity = marketing is more important than ever (if you get it right, you'll be in a fantastic position within the business).

Unfortunately, those pressures lead to burnout at the leadership level and poor execution within marketing teams. I'm not going to advise how to build a marketing machine right now. Instead, please reflect on two key areas that could make a difference to your success.

That being in my experience, the typical two challenges to focus on within a marketing team are:

1) People
2) Prioritisation

It sounds simple, but it's what matters.

1) People - you have to have the right org design with limited resources. You have to have the right capabilities to deliver for the scaling journey at each point. You have to hire great people. It's true, and an adage, but your success as a marketing leader will be because you have truly great people in your team. It's even more profound in marketing because we often have finite resources compared to other groups.

2) Prioritisation - everyone talks about prioritisation. Only great marketing leaders grasp the correct orientation for their team. I see groups doing sprints, OKR's, strategic reviews, stand-ups, but most fail to address the issue of prioritisation. They often become lists of to-do items. A list of what's happening. An ever-increasing list of things over and over again. Most feedback is 'I don't have time to think about what I'm doing. You have to be maniacal daily for helping each of your team members keep a lens on the key milestones and outputs. Steer your team away from all the micro-tasks, teach them the importance of connecting and working on more profound impactful outcomes that move the needle.

Stop, think about your people and how you prioritise. Get these two elements functioning, and your potential for success will be ten-fold.

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