Beyond the Funnel: Designing the Journey That Converts

Why Your B2B Marketing Needs to Think Beyond Lead Generation

Did you know that 95% of your audience isn’t even in the market to buy your services right now? Yet, 70% of B2B marketers are spending more time focusing on lead generation than they were three years ago. So, we are effectively spending more time trying to target just 5% of our audience. Let that sink in.

If your sales cycles are long and complex, and most of your audience aren’t ready to buy, why are so many marketing teams still focused on short-term lead gen tactics?

It’s time to rethink your strategy and start playing the long game.

The Reality of B2B Sales

B2B sales cycles are complex – they’re long, they involve a lot of people and the buyers already have a good idea of what they want and who they’d like to work with before they even speak to you.

Here’s what the data says:

• The typical B2B sales process in 2024 takes 25% longer than it did five years ago. (Biznology)

• Buying groups have grown to include 10-11 stakeholders, with final decisions requiring alignment from at least 5 key stakeholders. (6Sense)

• Buyers don’t engage with sales until they’re 69% of the way through their journey. (6Sense)

• 91% of buyers enter a sales meeting already familiar with the vendor. (6Sense)

This isn’t a linear funnel – it’s a complex, multi-touchpoint journey that demands a fundamentally different approach.

With the length of sales processes increasing, you need to ensure you are running activity across the whole length of that journey and engaging with as many stakeholders across your target organisation as possible.

Added to this, by the time most of your buyers are engaging with you they have already formed opinions of you and your brand, and will have a good idea of whether they would like to work with you or not.  You need to factor this into your communication and content strategy so that you’re creating the right image of your company.

The Solution: A Long-Term, Multi-Channel Approach

So, what should B2B marketers be doing instead?

Here are five things you should be incorporating into your strategy to drive a better pipeline and more sales:

1. Create a Business Case & Educate Internally

Your leadership team and sales counterparts need to understand that B2B marketing isn’t just about generating leads – it’s about shaping demand, influencing stakeholders, and creating brand loyalty long before the buying cycle starts.

This can take time, but it’s so important that the business understand the full value of what marketing can deliver across the whole sales cycle, and not just at the point of ‘lead generation’.

You can use data like what we have shared in this article and case studies of other organisations doing this well to help shift internal conversations. But most important is to build trust in the marketing department which will give you the license to try new things.

2. Understand Your Customer Journey

Map out a realistic customer journey, from initial awareness to final purchase.

• What are their pain points at each stage?

• Who are the key stakeholders?

• What information do they need at each step?

• What do you want each touchpoint to achieve?

  
  

This is fundamental and should be the first part of your strategy. If you do this well, you can be purposeful with every piece of content you create and every channel you use. It can be easy to get lost in the amount of data you could use to create this, so to begin with try to keep things simple by broadly mapping the different stages of the buying process and what people are engaging with at each stage. That way you can create something practical that you can start to use right away.

3. Develop a Multi-Channel Approach

Your audience isn’t confined to one platform. They consume content across LinkedIn, industry blogs, webinars, podcasts, email and face-to-face events.

By using your customer journey as a starting point you should be able to define a multi-channel approach that engages your audience at different stages of their journey. Never assume that because you’re very active on one channel you will be reaching all of your audience.

A well-integrated, multi-channel strategy ensures you stay top of mind throughout the entire buying cycle.

4. Focus on High-Quality Content & Thought Leadership

Buyers trust brands that provide valuable insights. In todays world, our social feeds and inboxes are flooded by AI generated content that isn’t high quality or unique. Having a position on something and providing genuine insight is so important for your brand.

Invest in:

• In-depth reports – using data captured from your clients or surveys that will provide the most up-to-date insights on the market.

• Engaging webinars – feature your clients and industry experts to tell stories about how to do things well that provide unique perspectives.

• Compelling case studies – tell your clients stories and how you have supported them. Focus on outputs so that people looking to achieve similar results can relate to them.

• Opinion-driven content – make sure you get your own point of view across. Don’t worry that this will alienate some of your audience – that is a good thing! It’s better to have a position than try to be everything to everyone.

Focus on what your audience wants to hear, not what you want to say.

5. Engage Internal Employees

Your employees are one of your most powerful marketing assets.

• Educate them on the reality of B2B marketing—its complexity and longevity.

• Use insights from sales and business development teams to gain a deeper understanding of touchpoints and improve them.

• Encourage them to share content, build personal brands, and become advocates for your company.

If you use your employees effectively, you can reach far more people than you would be able to alone.

Final Thoughts: Are You Ready to Play the Long Game?

B2B marketing isn’t about quick wins. It’s about building relationships, influencing decisions over time, and staying top of mind for when buyers are ready to act.

So, the question is: are you still chasing leads, or are you ready to create demand that is sustainable over the long term?