Why Is Most B2B Advertising So Awful?

If you don't work for a B2B company, this blog may not mean much to you. Unless you've ever picked up one of those B2B targeted magazines and had a chance to check out the ads in them.

Most are strategically confused, poorly targeted, graphically sloppy and loaded with jargon and techno-babble. Or, they adopt another tried and true B2B ad tactic. They feature a really pretty woman who has absolutely nothing to do with the product, service or company running the ad (Think "GoDaddy.com" and you'll have the idea).

There are an assortment of reasons for this huge waste of money.

1. Most B2B companies do not have a CEO who understands marketing. They are usually either operations types or they've come up through finance or sales.

2. Consequently, most B2B companies do not have a trained marketing person in the CMO job. It's usually someone who has somehow demonstrated a bit of creativity in some other corporate job and that has qualified them to run marketing as far as the CEO is concerned. The CEO has no idea that the person running marketing is really clueless about marketing because the CEO is equally clueless.

3. These clueless people then think they're being frugal by developing their marketing plans and programs in-house. They don't hire marketing consultants or agencies that can help them. They use an in-house graphics team to do their ads or find a cheap freelance source that is often someone's relative.

4. They think that their product or service is much more interesting, relevant and important than it really is. They've drunk so much of their own Kool-Aid that they've lost touch with their customers. Instead of building advertising that is customer-focused, they build advertising that is self-focused. Blah blah blah blah about them and their products and their services. Marketing 101: You must focus on your customers and what they think, what they need, and what they want.

5. Some only want their ads to get attention. Those are the ones who tend to adopt the "let's just put a hot babe in the ads" approach. Silly and embarrassing and a stupid waste of money. How do Boards of Directors look the other way when this is going on. Hello???

6. They never develop long term campaigns or treat marketing like an investment. They create ad-hoc one-shot ads and manage marketing like it's only a cost-center.

7. They think that unless you're an expert in their product or service, that you can't possibly market it effectively. This leads to industrial inbreeding (only hiring or promoting from within that industry) and the inevitable retardation that follows. It stifles creativity and prevents progress.

The good news is that whenever a B2B company comes to its senses and brings in a real marketing pro from "outside", the improvements are dramatic, fast and easy to make. The bad news is that so many B2B companies don't have the sense to do this. If you're in one of those B2B companies and the top marketing person is not a true marketing pro, but a marketing amateur who's faking it for a CEO who's "marketing-challenged" then you need to think about heading elsewhere.