The Common Breakpoints in your B2B Marketing Strategy and How to Fix Them

Most B2B marketing strategies look great on paper – they tick the right boxes, sound strategic, include a funnel diagram and content calendar, and have a rough sense of budget.

But then comes the real world.

Leads slow down.
Sales don’t follow up.

Brand campaigns fall flat.

Someone panics.

And the entire strategy gets thrown out.

The majority of B2B brands that come to us all present a version of the same problem: a strategy that is breaking down, in all the usual places. But what are these common breakpoints, and what can you do to ensure you don’t crack under the pressure?

Misaligned Commercial Goals

The Breakpoint:

Your marketing team is launching campaigns, while your sales department is chasing leads. Despite all the activity, no one can clearly answer the most important question: what are we actually trying to achieve?

This results in scattered efforts, misaligned priorities, and progress that’s hard to measure.

The Fix:

Start by anchoring your entire strategy to a single, focused commercial objective – whether that’s increasing pipeline, value, growing market share, or generating revenue from a specific sector.

Once that’s defined, work backwards to ensure every marketing and sales activity directly supports that goal. Eliminate vanity metrics, cut the noise, and focus only on the actions that drive the business forward.

Underestimating Brand

The Breakpoint:

When everyone is chasing leads, it’s easy to lose sight of what your brand stands for.

When there’s no clear identity, no point of view, and no emotional connection, the outcome is all too predictable (and not in a good way): low recall, low trust, and constant pressure to discount your product or service. Simply trying to outlast the competition in a race to the bottom.

The Fix:

We say this over and over – and will continue to say it over and over: stop treating brand as a soft metric, or a nice-to-have addition. And start treating it like the invaluable business asset that it truly is.

Because strong brands don’t just look good, but they help you to sell better too. They build familiarity, showcase credibility, nurture trust, reduce friction in the sales process, command higher prices, and attract higher-quality customers.

In crowded B2B marketing, brand is often the only differentiator. So, invest, invest, invest. Be clear on your narrative, show up consistently, and build a brand that earns attention – before your sales team ever makes contact.

Sales & Marketing Are Out of Sync

The Breakpoint:

All too often we hear about marketing teams launching flashy new campaigns that aren’t communicated internally. Or sales teams that gatekeep client pain points and industry challenges. As a result, the business experiences disconnected activity, duplicated effort, and a budget that’s working twice as hard for half the return. It’s inefficient, expensive, and hugely jarring.

The Fix:

Alignment across your business is crucial. Because if your teams aren’t all striving towards one shared goal, no amount of budget can save you.

Sales and marketing teams must be working harmoniously. That means shared goals, joint planning sessions, regular feedback loops, and a culture of collaboration where insights move freely in both directions.

Same Old Tactics, Same Results

The Breakpoint:

Each month rolls around and you issue another whitepaper, another email nurture, another round of LinkedIn posts that look just like everyone else’s…

You’re drowning your audience in content but starving them of clarity. Yet when campaigns fall flat, you’re blaming the algorithm, the timing, or low engagement.

But it’s time to face the truth: you’re not saying anything worth listening to.

The Fix:

Forget guesswork – great marketing starts with learnings:

• Talk to your customers directly
• Sit in on sales calls to hear real questions, objections, and pain points
• Understand what your audience really cares about.

Then, build creative, brand-led campaigns based on these insights that resonate with the people who matter the most to you, creating an emotional connection while aiming to be honest, authentic, and memorable.

Chasing Quick Wins & Missing Big Opportunities

The Breakpoint:

Every quarter, you introduce a new tactic or focus – whether it’s a new channel, a new campaign, or a new trend – causing the messaging to be changed and brand consistency hindered.

Nothing sticks around long enough to truly make an impact or for you to be able to review its metrics, because you’re too busy pivoting to the next big thing.

The Fix:

Let’s be clear: short-term experiments can be useful, but they’re not a strategy. They should just make up a small part of it.

Long-term growth in B2B comes from focus, clarity, and the discipline to commit to a plan that’s rooted in holistic understanding and gifted the time to actually work. And yes, absolutely optimise, pivot, and evolve where needed. But stop blowing up your strategy every five minutes – consistency is underrated, but incredibly important.

Strategy Isn’t a Document

If your B2B marketing feels messy, stuck, or reactive, it’s likely there’s some weak links within your strategy:

• Maybe sales and marketing teams aren’t talking
• Maybe your messaging is based on assumptions
• Maybe you’ve lost sight of the bigger picture
• Maybe your brand is forgettable
• Maybe you’ve never given anything time or focus to work.

But the good news is that once you find the real breakpoints – and fix them – everything else starts falling into place.

Tired of marketing that doesn’t deliver? Let’s create a strategy totally tailored to you and your team.