Joined up marketing is what you really want to do in B2B, but it’s actually quite hard to do. It needs a lot of deep thought before you start executing.

The temptation – especially when you have monthly demand generation and pipeline targets to hit – is to take a scattergun approach and puts loads of stuff out there and see what sticks. You can get into a cycle, or perhaps it’s a rut, where you have to get content out there and rather than pause for a week or two and get your strategy tightened down you fire ahead and keep pumping out material.

Notice that I’m not talking about closed loop marketing, though that’s a pretty good approach too.

What I mean by joined up marketing is that your messages appear joined up to your customers. They understand how the messages fit together because you zero in on a certain aspect or message, and then zoom out to show how each aspect fits into the overall picture. You give your customers context, and they understand the buttons they need to push to get the impacts they need to solve the problems you have helped them identify.

To do this right, you have to get your big picture sorted, as well as the component parts that make up your big picture. It’s worth it in the long run though, because with a joined up approach each element reinforces your overall positioning, your stance on the world, the difference that the market acknowledges you make.