Thought five reasons were enough? In an industry where we’ve ignored modern marketing for 30 years, we’re just getting started.
Reason 6: Content That Puts Buyers to Sleep
- The Problem: White papers written by committee, devoid of personality, filled with buzzwords nobody uses in real conversations
- Real Impact: Your content gets downloaded then immediately forgotten because it reads like a legal document
- The Fix: Write like a human. Use customer stories, specific numbers, real challenges. Make one clear point per piece, not ten vague ones
If you wouldn’t say it out loud yourself, don’t put it in your content
Reason 7: Treating All Accounts Like They’re Equal
- The Problem: The same email goes to a $2M target account and a $20K prospect
- Real Impact: Wasted resources on low-value targets while high-value accounts get generic treatment
- The Fix: Account-Based Marketing (ABM) tiers. Tier 1 gets personalized campaigns, Tier 2 gets segmented approaches, Tier 3 gets scaled digital. Also redistribute your sales resource allocations.
80% of marketing effort should target the 20% of accounts that drive 80% of revenue
Reason 8: No Measurement Beyond Vanity Metrics
- The Problem: Celebrating website traffic and email open rates while the pipeline stays empty
- Real Impact: Can’t prove marketing ROI, so budgets get slashed when times get tough
- The Fix: Track what matters: account engagement scores, pipeline velocity, influenced revenue, customer acquisition cost. Tie all metrics to a result that impacts sales and lead generation.
If your CRO can’t understand the metric in 10 seconds, it’s not a core KPI
Reason 9: Ignoring the Post-Sale Journey (Where Real Revenue Lives)
- The Problem: Marketing stops at “closed-won” while customer success struggles with adoption and expansion
- Real Impact: Customer churn, zero cross-sell, and no referrals because customers barely understand what they bought
- The Fix: Customer marketing programs – onboarding content, expansion playbooks, executive business reviews with marketing support. Playing golf keeps business, but helping your clients to save money and grow their business grows your business.
In logistics, a $500K initial deal can become $5M over five years. Market to the customer you have, not just the one you want
Reason 10: Playing Catch-Up Instead of Leading the Conversation
- The Problem: Reactive marketing that responds to RFPs instead of proactive thought leadership that creates demand
- Real Impact: You’re always competing on price because you entered the conversation too late
- The Fix: Build a content engine that addresses problems buyers don’t even know they have yet. Become the educator, not just the vendor
- Strategic Shift: From “here’s what we do” to “here’s what’s changing in your industry and how to prepare”
Ready to stop making these mistakes? The logistics industry is evolving at an unprecedented rate. Your marketing needs to catch up – and then get ahead. What’s your biggest marketing challenge right now? Let’s talk about it.
