The 8 Common Pitfalls of B2B Marketing Websites

And, how to overcome them

Marcus Taylor

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B2B websites come in all shapes and sizes, but they all suffer from the same pitfalls. Yes, they do serve different sectors and solve a myriad of business problems, but B2B websites have this in common: they cater to more than one audience; and according to recent marketing studies, 57% of prospects are already halfway through the buyer’s journey. That means they have done a ton of research before they hit that carefully worded, A/B tested, call to action at the foot every page.

B2B marketers know this, but there is often complexity in understanding who those audiences are and how they talk to those audiences. Their job gets even harder as their business grows, and their offer grows as new features or products get shipped.

Throw in the fact that startups move at pace, it is easy to understand how offers become fractured, and messages lose their coherence. It can be one hell of a tangle to untangle.

Fear not. It’s not hard to overcome; it just needs a little space, time and user-centric thinking to make sense of it all. But then again it’s not plain sailing either. Otherwise, these common pitfalls wouldn’t be prevalent, and I wouldn’t be writing this article.

So, what are the common pitfalls of a B2B website, and how can we overcome them?

1 Your business moves at pace, but the messaging hasn’t caught up

A fractured offer is symptomatic of a growing business (whoop! high fives). It can also be indicative of a leadership team that hasn’t fully articulated a clear vision, and the company is in headless chicken mode. No amount of design will plaster up those cracks. Design thinking can help, but this article is about B2B websites so let’s stick with our growing business.

While a growing business has a plan, it sometimes reacts to the market and changes course. Sometimes it ships a feature that takes off like a rocket and becomes a new product. Like any ecosystem, businesses tend to evolve organically, and their offer stops making sense to their customer.

I have seen it so many times before; often, the marketing team can’t see the wood for the trees as they are…

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Marcus Taylor

Design agency owner/founder, Kohde.agency. I write about design, the design process, and becoming a better human being. A buzz word free zone.