Win-loss analysis has gained ground in B2B over recent years. It involves third-party reviews of the pitches, deals or tenders you’ve been involved in, whether or not you secured the business. The idea is that it provides unbiased insights into where, why and how you surpassed the competition – or were outstripped by them.
This is great for sales teams. But marketers need to delve deeper. They need to understand broader factors that may have shaped underlying attitudes and opinions to influence decisions made on the day. Applying this knowledge to improve communications with prospects still in the pipeline can increase their propensity to convert when it comes to the crunch.
The role of market intelligence
Overlaying win-loss findings with detailed market intelligence data is vital and entirely possible in the digital age. It’s about truly understanding how your organisation stacks up against the competition in terms of awareness, perception, positioning, messaging and content. It enables decisions surrounding asset allocation to be driven by tangible insight, rather than gutfeel and hindsight.
Traditional targeting techniques – such as segmentation – are as relevant as ever. But they can be hugely enriched with current market intelligence. If you discover awareness and consideration of your brand are comparatively low in a given segment, you can approach it differently to a segment where your brand is more highly regarded than the competition. In fact, you might decide to ignore segments where existing awareness is low for the short- to medium-term and instead focus on exploiting those that are more likely to engage with your messaging and content. This knowledge empowers strategic decision-making that is better aligned with overall business objectives.
Know your enemy
Identify which competitors you regularly come head-to-head with in new business situations, and get to know their strengths and weaknesses. Once you’re familiar with their messaging, brand values and tone of voice you can carve a unique proposition and brand territory.
It can go further than this. You might actively monitor their content marketing and news releases or live job alerts. These factors can provide valuable insights into where their business priorities lie, and where they’re anticipating future growth.
Go one better
Get to know what competitors are saying to customers, and combine this with an impartial analysis of how you compare across key capabilities. This facilitates more sophisticated, purposeful campaign planning and message development. Play to your strengths and out-manoeuvre them!
This can help your business stay one step ahead, making intelligent moves to distinguish your business in a way that resonates with buyers and maximises product-market fit.
A similar approach can be taken with content planning. Scientific use of data can ensure content assets are firmly rooted in what your customers need and don’t simply reiterate what your competitors are saying. This allows content to be positioned in a way that achieves strategic differentiation while striking a chord with key audiences.
Monitoring how decision-makers engage with content prior to a making a purchase can also underpin more objective planning. It might be as simple as positioning your killer asset as an eBook rather than a whitepaper, or it may be that case study-led materials are more effective. Over time, these understandings can drive a virtuous cycle of continual improvement. Better clarity on what buyers need at different stages of their journey enables marketers to serve content that offers value where and when it has the greatest positive impact.
Turning the right dials
Danish philosopher Kierkegaard said: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Once upon a time, this was true of B2B marketing. But today we have the tools and capabilities to deliver better visibility and clarity on how buyers and competitors sit in the present moment. By seizing and applying this knowledge we can align marketing and sales efforts more intelligently, turning the right dials to leverage the desired future outcomes. The time has come for B2B marketers to start acting on insight, not hindsight.
