Forget the Hype, Focus on the B2B Go-to-Market Fundamentals

B2B Marketing trends come and go, but what if the key to success has been hiding in the fundamentals all along?

In our most recent episode of Attributed, Timi Olotu, Chief Revenue Officer at CharlieHR, explained what it really takes to craft an effective go-to-market strategy, and (spoiler alert) it’s not the latest SEO trick or some secret growth hack. 

Timi is taking a step back to focus on something more enduring: the fundamentals. 

These include:

• Focus on delivering value to your target audience

• Incorporate evidence, experimentation, and insight into your marketing strategy

• Align sales with marketing with a unified value proposition

Keep reading for a breakdown of the conversation, complete with actionable back-to-basics insights every B2B marketer can use to refine their strategy.

Check out the entire conversation here. 

Focus on delivering value to your target audience 

When asked about his go-to-market philosophy, Timi cut straight to the heart of the matter:

It’s as simple as focus on value

To action this, you need to understand what value really means for your target audience. 

Simply identifying the features of your product is too broad, you have to articulate the specific benefits and outcomes your product offers, focusing on your ideal customer and understanding their pain points enough to offer tangible value. 

On top of this, Timi says that many organizations define their target markets superficially. True understanding requires going deeper than identifying pain points and challenges - It's about uncovering the "why" behind them. Why do these specific needs exist? Why are these challenges significant? What makes this particular audience the right fit for your business?

A long-term commitment to delivering consistent value builds sustainable relationships with customers, leading to lasting success rather than short-lived victories tied to fleeting market trends.

Actionable Tip: Take time to deeply analyze your ideal customer profile (ICP). Avoid superficial analysis and truly understand the deeper factors driving your audience's needs. Use this information to refine your value proposition, ensuring it directly addresses the needs of your target audience.

2. Incorporate evidence, experimentation, and insights into your marketing strategy

The second grouping of Timi's fundamentals is the triad of evidence, experimentation, and insights. Let's break them down:

Ground your marketing strategy in hard evidence

Many teams fall short when it comes to grounding their strategies in real-world data. 

Evidence is crucial because it provides the feedback necessary to verify whether the strategies being implemented are genuinely effective. 

Timi urges marketers to become adept at scrutinizing claims about their tactics and to seek proof of their success through concrete results. This vigilant approach ensures that decisions are made based on what works, rather than on assumptions or hearsay.

Embrace a culture of experimentation in your marketing team

When it comes to experimentation, Timi’s take on new channels and tactics is refreshingly pragmatic: 

I’m extremely tactic-agnostic… what I’ve learned is all tactics can work 

Timi advocates for teams to remain open-minded and willing to test new ideas rather than accepting things at face value. For example, if someone proposes a new marketing channel, rather than simply rejecting or adopting it, marketers should conduct small-scale tests to assess its viability. 

This spirit of experimentation allows teams to innovate and refine their approaches continually and requires buy-in from leadership across the organization to flourish. 

For more tips on experimentation check out this conversation with Guillaume “G” Cabane.

Turn data into actionable insights for smarter marketing

Insights are the culmination of this process. 

Timi emphasizes the need for marketers to not only collect data but to analyze and interpret it in ways that lead to practical applications. 

He warns against the allure of anecdotal success. It’s easy to see a case study or a friend's success story and assume it’ll work for your business. But real, replicable success comes from gathering hard data and analyzing trends across your entire market.

Only then can you separate what works from what doesn’t.

Tip: Implement a structured framework for experimentation within your marketing team. Designate specific metrics to evaluate the success of new campaigns or tactics. After each campaign, hold a retrospective meeting to discuss what worked, what didn’t, and how you can improve moving forward.

3. Align sales and marketing with a unified value proposition

The final takeaway from Timi focuses on the necessity of alignment between sales and marketing teams around a unified value proposition. Timi doesn't sugarcoat the challenge of this: 

Treat your team like adults and what I mean by that is not to focus on sharing with them a sort of manicured view of the business but instead sharing with them a real picture of it, as much as you can.

By providing your team with the real picture of your business - the revenue numbers, growth targets, profit margins - you can discuss how marketing and sales strategies fit into the bigger picture.

He highlights that one of the root causes of friction between these two departments is often a lack of understanding regarding the target audience and the value being delivered.

When sales and marketing teams are not on the same page, inconsistencies in messaging can arise, leading to confusion for potential customers.

To combat this issue, Timi advocates for collaborative efforts in developing the value proposition, grounded in shared evidence and insights. 

Regular meetings between the sales and marketing teams can help ensure that both groups understand the value being delivered and can speak to it coherently and consistently. 

Tip: Organize regular alignment meetings between sales and marketing teams. Use these sessions to review customer feedback and sales data, ensuring that both teams are on the same page regarding messaging and value delivery. This collaborative approach will help build trust and improve overall effectiveness in communicating with your audience.

A final word

As Timi pointed out, sometimes the best approach is to stick with the fundamentals. After all, as the saying goes, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Timi’s insights provide a refreshing reminder for B2B marketers, that by honing in on delivering genuine value, fostering a culture of evidence and experimentation, and ensuring alignment between sales and marketing, you can lay a solid foundation for success.

Lean into what works, keep refining your strategies, and remember that sometimes, the basics are all you need.

About the speaker

Timi Olotu is the Chief Revenue Officer at CharlieHR, where he designs and executes innovative strategies to drive exceptional business results. With a passion for helping startups grow responsibly and at unprecedented rates, Timi brings a unique blend of curiosity, strategic thinking, and hands-on experience to his role. His approach to marketing is rooted in timeless fundamentals, focusing on delivering real value to customers while building sustainable growth models for businesses.