Good morning, and happy Friday! Let’s talk B2B marketing.

• The most common GTM mistakes (and what to do instead). A great go-to-market plan is critical to success. Skip these four mistakes when making yours.

• It’s not a tool problem. Why adding to your marketing stack won’t solve performance issues.

❌ The most common GTM mistakes (and what to do instead).

Winning business and delivering value to customers begins with a go-to-market (GTM) plan. When rolling out new products or features, you need a solid GTM plan. Without one, you won’t reach your audience with a message that resonates.

After working with hundreds of companies on their marketing, we’ve seen a lot of go-to-market plans. We’ve seen every mistake there is, but there are four common ones that we see crop up over and over.

#1 - No narrative

A compelling story draws in the right people, makes you relatable, and gives your team a common message to shout from the rooftops. Plus, it makes people remember you. In his book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, psychologist Jerome Bruner says information is 22x more likely to be remembered if it’s part of a story.

Don’t list off facts and features. Craft a narrative that tells the story of what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and why the world should care.

#2 - Trying to go everywhere

Understanding where your customers consume info online is essential. You know what’s equally important? Understanding where they don’t consume info.

If your audience doesn’t spend time on YouTube, don’t spend time trying to build your channel. If they don’t listen to podcasts, don’t create one.

Many marketers think they need to create a wide but shallow GTM plan. That’s a mistake. Go narrow but deep.

#3 - No clear value proposition

Your audience doesn’t care that you’re launching a new product/service/feature. All they care about is what your offer can do for them.

Interview customers and stakeholders to find out what they care about. Show how you offer them that and why they should be willing to pay for it.

Be specific and use your customer’s words in your messaging. Don’t use made-up salesy language or jargon.

#4 - Not using partners

Brainstorm who outside of your company should be involved in your launch. What existing relationships can you leverage to amplify your message?

Find the right partners and give them assets they can post or use to spread the word. Remember to tailor these assets to the person you’re giving them to. The assets you make for your sales team will most likely be slightly different than the ones your partners use.

📰 In the news this week.

💰  Are you paying too much for your brand keywords?

📱  Could TikTok become an eCommerce powerhouse?

🍪  What marketers need to know about a post-cookie world.

📈  Facebook ad examples that actually work (and why).

👨‍🏫  How to train ChatGPT for marketing.

🛠 It’s not a tool problem.

Way too many marketers try to fix bad marketing with some sort of tool. Inbound leads are down, so they buy a chatbot and stick it on the website. Revenue is low this quarter, so they buy a new list to blast with emails. Conversions dropped, so they purchase intent data.

Technology can feel like an easy way out. When faced with failing KPIs, many marketers default to blaming their tech stack or marketing ops processes. Why? Because implementing a new tool or system at least shows action. It makes it look like you’re solving the problem. Even if you actually aren’t.

And here’s the rub. More tools almost never solves the problem. They just add more complexity.

You'll keep facing the same challenges unless the root issue is properly identified and solved.

Sometimes, marketers need to ask themselves the tough questions of whether or not they truly understand their customers and if the company’s message resonates with them.

The vast majority of the time, the issue is the message you’re putting out. It's not the medium you’re putting it out in.

Implementing more and more tools without solving foundational messaging issues only exacerbates the problem. Because you’re still expected to hit your original KPIs, plus now you’re on the hook to measure the ROI of tools you shouldn’t have bought to begin with.

Lock in successful messaging first. Then, pick new tools to help you amplify it.

😂 Marketing meme of the week.

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