Views from Catherine Henderson, Founder of Boudicca Consulting
In the rapidly evolving world of B2B marketing, success hinges on a deep understanding of the complex buyer journey. Unlike traditional B2C marketing, B2B decisions often involve multiple stakeholders, extended timelines, and diverse entry points. For B2B marketers, this landscape can seem daunting, but with the right strategies, it can lead to meaningful relationships and sustainable growth.
Two of the most critical concepts for navigating this complexity are collaboration between sales and marketing teams, and the ability to cater to the diverse stages of the buyer’s decision-making process. These principles are key to ensuring that marketing efforts align with sales goals and drive results throughout the buyer journey. Drawing from industry insights, this article will explore how B2B marketers can cater to complex journeys, prioritise metrics by stage, and integrate brand and demand in their strategies.
Cater to Complex Journeys: Account for Multiple Stakeholders and Entry Points
In B2B, buyers are rarely a single decision-maker. Instead, purchase decisions are made by a group of stakeholders across various departments and roles, each with unique concerns and priorities. As Katherine, a seasoned marketing consultant in recruitment, shares, “Our job is to do the opening of those deals, the qualifying of those deals, ultimately it’s about attracting and engaging leads, and feeding them into the sales pipeline for our sales team to close.”
For marketers, this means tailoring content and messaging to meet the needs of each stakeholder. The journey is rarely linear, and multiple entry points—whether through direct outreach, content marketing, or referrals—require that marketers be prepared with the right tools and strategies.
Strategic Engagement Across Multiple Touchpoints
Understanding the entry points in the buyer’s journey means recognising where customers are most likely to engage with your brand. “You need to understand your business’s sales cycle,” says Katherine, stressing the importance of aligning marketing tactics with the sales pipeline. With today’s fragmented landscape, ensuring that your marketing approach supports various channels, from social media to email campaigns, allows businesses to engage potential customers at the most opportune moments.
Customer Insights as the Foundation
To address these various needs, B2B marketers must leverage customer insights. This can be accomplished through regular communication with sales teams, as they are often the ones who hear directly from prospects. Katherine explains, “In consultative environments, your business’s product is essentially sold by salespeople. So it’s crucial to understand how your sales team engages with leads.”
Spending time with salespeople—attending meetings, shadowing calls, and gathering feedback from both customers and internal teams—enables marketers to create highly-targeted content. This not only builds stronger relationships but ensures that content is aligned with the buyer’s pain points and motivations, regardless of where they enter the sales funnel.
For further insights into navigating complex buyer journeys, explore Harvard Business Review’s articles on non-linear customer journeys here.
Prioritise Metrics by Stage: Focus on Metrics That Align with Each Phase of the Buyer’s Decision-Making Process
In the world of B2B marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to metrics. Different stages of the buyer journey demand different performance indicators to accurately gauge success. As marketers, it’s essential to focus on metrics that align with each phase of the decision-making process, from awareness to conversion.
Early Stages: Awareness and Engagement
At the awareness stage, your goal is to generate interest and introduce your brand to potential buyers. Marketers should track engagement metrics such as website traffic, social media interactions, and downloads of key resources like whitepapers or market reports. For instance, tracking landing page conversions or email open rates can provide insight into how well your content is resonating with your audience. “You’re essentially building a pipeline of leads that could later convert into opportunities for sales,” Katherine notes.
Mid-Funnel: Qualification and Nurturing
As leads progress through the funnel, the focus shifts from generating awareness to qualifying prospects. Here, metrics like lead scoring and sales qualified leads (SQLs) come into play. Understanding the types of leads that have the highest likelihood of converting helps marketing and sales teams target their efforts more effectively.
Bottom of the Funnel: Conversion and Revenue
At the final stage, marketers should focus on metrics tied to conversion and revenue generation. Tracking sales pipeline velocity and conversion rates allows for more accurate forecasting and helps both marketing and sales teams adjust their strategies to close deals more efficiently.
By prioritising the right metrics at each stage, marketers can ensure they’re not only feeding sales with quality leads but also optimizing the process for better overall performance. The goal is to align marketing efforts with the buyer’s needs, ensuring that content, communication, and outreach are relevant at each phase.
For deeper insights into measuring marketing success at each stage of the buyer’s journey, explore Forrester’s research on the ROI of brand equity in B2B here.
Integrate Brand and Demand: Recognise That Strong Branding Fuels Demand Generation at Every Stage
In B2B, strong branding is not just about having a catchy logo or a memorable slogan. It’s about establishing a clear, consistent narrative that resonates with prospects throughout their decision-making process. “Branding plays a huge role in qualifying leads before handing them over to sales,” Katherine explains. “A strong brand helps justify fees and builds trust with potential clients.”
Building Trust Through Consistency
Branding helps build trust at every touchpoint in the buyer’s journey. From the first impression made through a landing page to ongoing engagement through email campaigns, your brand’s message must remain consistent and aligned with the buyer’s needs. Strong branding signals reliability, expertise, and value—crucial factors for B2B buyers who are making high-stakes decisions.
Content as a Branding Tool
Branding and demand generation are intertwined, with content serving as a powerful tool to amplify both. Well-crafted content—such as case studies, customer testimonials, and product demos—not only educates but also reinforces your brand’s credibility and value proposition. “In a consultative environment, a well-branded report or event can make a huge difference in whether or not a client chooses to work with you,” Katherine adds.
Ultimately, strong branding isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about creating a perception of trustworthiness and expertise that resonates with customers at every stage of their journey. A consistent brand message drives demand generation, ensuring that when prospects are ready to make a decision, your company is top of mind.
Conclusion: Navigating the Complex B2B Journey
In the ever-evolving world of B2B marketing, collaboration between sales and marketing teams is crucial for driving success. By catering to the complexity of the buyer’s journey, prioritising relevant metrics, and integrating brand with demand generation, marketers can create a seamless experience for prospects, guiding them from awareness to conversion. As Katherine wisely notes, the key is to “be in their spaces,” whether through formal or informal communication, to build relationships that will last.
To stay ahead in this complex, multi-stakeholder environment, B2B marketers must continue to evolve their strategies, incorporating new tools, technologies, and insights to optimise every stage of the buyer’s journey.
For more insights on non-linear customer journeys, explore Harvard Business Review’s articles on this topic here. Additionally, to understand the role of brand equity in B2B success, check out Forrester’s research on ROI here.
