It's a familiar story in the tech world: a company with innovative products and a passionate team, but growth is stalling. Why? Because marketing has been sidelined, it has been reduced to a tactical afterthought when it should be the cornerstone of your strategy.
Let's face it: the perception of marketing has been whittled down to the superficial — websites, social media posts, and, yes, the ubiquitous swag. But we both know there's more to it. Much more.
The essence of real MARKETing
Real marketing — the kind that drives growth — starts with the market itself. After all, there’s a reason why ‘market’ is in the name. It begins with market research. In the B2B world, it's going beyond company firmographic data on customers to understand how decisions are made and by whom in the buying group. It’s about understanding the key people within target accounts and diving deep into their needs, pains, and the myriad of choices they juggle daily.
You need to think about the alternatives that customers can choose from to solve their challenges and do that from their perspective. Sometimes, that means you are competing against how they are solving the problem today with manual processes or general-purpose software solutions that are ‘good enough.’ You need to be tuned into both direct and indirect competition.
To win, you need to be the path that offers the most value, the one they're willing to hand their money over to.
This isn't about flavour-of-the-month tactics that might work for other companies in different situations; it's about clear, consistent communication of your unique value at every touchpoint — from the first website visit or conversation at a tradeshow to the final invoice. But it doesn’t stop there. It’s your ongoing relationship with the customer to ensure you continue to provide value. Every interaction is a chance to reinforce why you're different and the best choice.
The pitfalls of departmental silos
Yet, the reality is stark: companies are fragmented, and departments operate in silos, especially in a remote-first world. Product teams chase feature after feature without a clear direction. Sales teams feel the heat to hit numbers, wasting time with prospects that are a poor fit for your solutions, or struggle to explain how you differ from the alternatives. And if the fit isn't right, customer success and support bear the brunt of unhappy customers who feel misled. Customers churn—growth stalls.
This isn't merely inefficient; it's unsustainable. Without a unifying market-driven strategy, the entire go-to-market motion is rudderless.
Communication, coordination, direction — these fundamentals are often missing because the deep understanding of the market isn't there. Knowing who your ideal customers are, the unique value your company delivers, and how each team contributes to this is critical.
Restoring the MARKET in MARKETing
It's time to put the MARKET back in MARKETing. Real MARKETing guides everything: the product roadmap, marketing messaging and customer communication, sales narrative and tactics, recruitment, and growth strategies.
What’s needed is MARKETing leaders who will work alongside the CEO to refocus the company on the ideal customer, deliver differentiated value, and ensure everyone is aligned in communicating and delivering this value.
It’s time to change your mindset. Marketing is not just Promotion.
MARKETing is understanding the market, engaging and educating customers, building strong customer relationships, and creating customer value in exchange for customers opening their wallets to you.
For B2B tech CEOs and founders, embracing real MARKETing is the path to growth.
Long live MARKETing!