Marketing Navigator: the 1-page marketing plan for B2B software entrepreneurs. The compass for your best path to qualified leads in six steps. Set a course for customer acquisition with this open-source framework.
Ahoy, B2B software entrepreneur! Ever dreamed of putting your marketing on autopilot and lying in a hammock on the beach while qualified leads just tumble into the web? Well, we may not have the magic button for that, but we present to you our "Marketing Navigator" - the one-page marketing plan that will put you on course toward customer acquisition. In just six steps, you'll navigate the stormy seas of B2B marketing to finally unearth the treasure trove of ready-to-buy customers online!
We all know how B2B companies usually work: with sales-driven strategies, networking, word-of-mouth, and lots of door-to-door canvassing. But what about marketing? Well, that often plays a secondary role, with activities like website maintenance, event organization, or simply working through sales requests.
But the real treasure lies in the ability to find ready-to-buy customers online – as many new digital businesses and SaaS providers are successfully mastering. The big challenge is figuring out how best to allocate your resources without blindly betting on random results.
Midlife Entrepreneur Podcast
Subscribe to our podcast and join us on the journey through entrepreneurship
Practical experiences on lead management, product marketing and product management. Solutions from like-minded software entrepreneurs with their work-life balance stories.
Listen to the podcast, Marketing Navigator: the One Pager for your Marketing Strategy (German)
There are countless books, frameworks and advice out there, often covering only a small part of marketing or tailored for specific stages and teams. For smart entrepreneurs looking to make data-driven decisions, this can be particularly frustrating, especially in the early stages when there is often a lack of sufficient data and reliance on educated guesses.
I want to consider the existing base, see what has already worked. That's why this project also created the corresponding maturity model, which gives you a benchmark to see where you need to give extra attention.
That's why we took the liberty of combining sound theoretical solutions with practical experience to introduce you to our Marketing Navigator: The One-Page Marketing Plan for B2B Software Entrepreneurs. The compass for your best path to qualified leads in six steps. Now you can target your resources, focus your marketing team, and put your success on solid footing instead of balancing on shaky assumptions.
In the world of B2B software entrepreneurs, there are several challenges that affect lead generation success. Here are the most common problems they face:
Unclear target audiences: Without a clear definition of target audiences, marketing and sales strategies are ineffective, and the company runs the risk of wasting resources. Sometimes there is a plan, but in stressful situations, plans are thrown overboard and panic sets in. The target audience is often simply assumed without really working it out.
Difficulties with positioning: Unclear positioning can cause the company to sink in comparison to the competition. Differentiators are not clear, and companies allow themselves to be overly influenced by competitors.
Positioning difficulties.
Salesy messaging: A poor content strategy can leave potential customers feeling under-informed and instead interested in competitor offerings. Often, chaos reigns and the focus is on A/B testing headlines rather than a thoughtful strategy.
Agressive Lead Management: Unclear definition of lead qualification leads to inefficient sales efforts and wasted time as the team pursues leads that are not ready for an offer or have no intent to buy. Important information is lost, misinterpreted or incorrectly prioritized. There is often too much focus on outbound mailing and telesales.
Chaotic Marketing Automation: Lack of automation and bottlenecks in lead management lead to delays in processing leads or even loss of leads. Workflows are isolated and not well integrated. Email sequences are chaotic and difficult to track down.
No simple control center: Lack of data analytics results in CMOs not having insight into the effectiveness of their lead management strategy.
These problems mean that many good individual actions are not implemented in a cohesive or structured way. Often, experiments are not conducted systematically and the right conclusions cannot be drawn. Effective automation is only possible if the basis is right.
These difficulties prevent CMOs and entrepreneurs of mid-market software companies from implementing an effective lead management strategy and ultimately lead to a loss of potential customers.
As a B2B software entrepreneur, how do you create a 1-page marketing plan in six steps?
This involved analyzing the best frameworks and developing a plan that builds on what a company is already doing well. The result is a benchmark that covers six dimensions: action plan, product positioning, messaging, lead management, marketing automation, and control center.
To make it easier to understand, the company is depicted as a sailboat navigating wild waters. The six steps are:
There are hurdles to overcome in implementing the plan, of course. From experiences as an entrepreneur, some things to keep in mind include:
Flexibility: be prepared to adjust the plan as conditions change. Communication: make sure everyone on the team understands the plan and is pulling together. Focus: concentrate on the most important goals and tasks to avoid being overwhelmed. Evaluation: periodically review progress and adjust the plan accordingly.
Overall, this 6-step plan will help you develop an effective marketing operating system and keep your business on track for growth.