Full-funnel marketing: What is it and how does it drive B2B demand generation?
You're thirsty to drive demand generation. You need to increase Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and drive sales. We totally get this having been Heads of Marketing 🤠
But the reality is, only 3% of your target market is ready to buy at any given time. And you probably won’t know who they are.
Even if you did, nobody wants to feel “sold to”. We like to do our own research, and educate ourselves often without ever contacting a salesperson.
🔍In fact: B2B buyers have done up to 70% of their research before they even speak to sales.
As a marketer or business owner, this is not what you want to hear. But don’t worry, there’s a new way to drive B2B demand gen. To be honest, it’s actually been around for a little while, just a few B2B businesses are using it to the best effect.
Let’s dive in…
Demand gen ‘must have’: Why you need full-funnel marketing
Whilst the percentage of businesses in your marketplace that are ready to buy is very small, we believe the remaining 97% is where the opportunity lies.
If they’re still not fully aware of their problems and the solutions available, you have a brilliant opportunity to engage them earlier in the funnel. You can lead the way by establishing a relationship and building trust and credibility to be top of mind for when they are ready to buy.
How you do this is through content marketing.
But not just any old content. Nowadays, the content that underpins marketing needs to focus on adding *value* to the end customer at EVERY stage of the sales funnel.
Seems obvious? We've seen so many skip this stage and go straight to sales messaging - often as a result of pressure to make quick revenue.
We've been there! But this approach attracts prospects that just aren't ready to buy. And when they are, they will weigh up the brands that have provided value with those that have blasted them with sales messages and it becomes a no-brainer.
So to generate demand, prospects and existing customers need nurturing with additional thought leadership. This provides expert advice, from you, to solve their challenges. And they'll remember you for it.
Full-funnel content marketing: The new way to drive demand gen
The biggest difference between traditional content and demand gen-focussed content is that value is provided upfront and then at every stage of the sales funnel.
This satisfies your target audience by helping solve their problems with hints and tips and it increases intent to purchase, which is more likely to generate sales and drive larger orders or regular purchases.
Here’s a simple illustration:
For full-funnel marketing, content needs to be mapped and created for the different stages of the sales funnel to ensure there is a mix on your key channels that appeals to the different stages of the sales cycle - Top, Middle, and Bottom 👇
Top of Funnel (TOFU) - The "awareness" stage, where people are looking for answers, resources, education, research data, opinions, and insight.
Content examples: Blogs, guides, and eBooks.
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) - The "evaluation" stage, where people are doing heavy research on whether or not your product or service is a good fit for them.
Content examples: Case studies, webinars, and product-led content.
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) - The "purchase" stage, where people are figuring out exactly what it would take to become a customer.
Content examples: Product brochures, demos, and comparison guides.
Essentially, it provides information to each prospect’s unique pain points, readiness to buy, and where they are in the sales cycle. And it supports lead nurture campaigns, social media strategies, PR, website conversion and more.
📕Find out more: How to write demand gen content.
Top benefits of full-funnel marketing
The main reason B2B businesses opt for a full-funnel approach is that it makes them stand out against competitors. It provides the target audience value from the first interaction and continues to nurture them towards a sale by continuing to be incredibly helpful.
It's a softer sell and a better way to build brand awareness. And fundamentally, happy customers equate to driving consistent sales for your business.
But the main thing is that a full-funnel marketing approach is measurable.
For example, measures like MQLs and conversion rates per stage of the funnel help to see the impact of tactics to see where you can scale your efforts up or down. Plus, you can report marketing impact to the board - essential for proving ROI and supporting additional budget requests.
Here are a few common benefits of full-funnel marketing:
KPI alignment across the business - Sales and marketing are much more closely integrated towards the buyer journey rather than separate responsibilities (marketing generating leads, sales converting them). The two teams collectively drive toward the business’s revenue objectives.
Quick test and learn - Whilst a funnel-funnel marketing approach is a long-term growth strategy, you can test the impact of campaigns to see how they impact your KPIs (like engagement levels with LinkedIn). It helps maximise ROI for all activities, throughout the financial year.
Better alignment with agencies - Using demand gen experts helps get to your revenue goals quicker. But only if you are working towards the same goals. A good agency should already advise on the KPIs it will aim to achieve at each stage of the sales funnel but you can share your business’s KPIs to ensure you are all working towards the same objective.
Looking to outsource? ✋ First, take a look at this checklist and top tips for choosing a demand generation agency.
Heads up: Consistency is key, even with full-funnel marketing
Whilst writing for the target market and addressing their challenges is a must, for it to even get seen in the waves of content out there you need to ensure two things:
1) It’s SEO-optimised (more on this here).
And 2) You are regularly putting new content out there.
As a basis, we aim to blog twice per month on topics that we know are hot for our audience and Google >> Check out our *exact* writing method here << If we have a super busy month and blog once, we’ve seen our content drop from number one in Google to near the bottom of page two. And that’s just within a couple of weeks!
The bottom line: Consistently create high-quality content to fuel the demand gen machine.
Key takeaway
Demand gen strategies focus on long-term growth, but the results are much stronger.
For example, leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (ex. cold-calling, direct mail, etc.) have a 1.7% close rate.
And that’s why demand gen content is the way forward.
Yet, so few of your peers are using this approach - which is why sales ain't booming.
But for you, this is an opportunity to enable you to stand out in the sea of content and drive customers through to you.
Looking to improve demand gen today? With our free audit, we create actionable advice to help you improve your marketing to increase website traffic, create demand, and convert more sales. Get in touch to get yours.