Build a B2B Marketing Funnel in 5 Steps [Guide]
A Practical Guide with Examples
The B2B Marketing Funnel outlines the customer journey from prospect to customer. Understanding and actively managing this journey is essential for B2B marketers.
Build a B2B marketing funnel requires 5 steps: creating a customer journey, mapping marketing channels, building a multi-touch attribution model, establishing and measuring KPIs, and constantly adapting the funnel.
Read how to do this and learn that marketing and sales alignment are essential.
Let’s go.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
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B2B Marketing Funnel Definition
Definition of the B2B Marketing Funnel
Understanding the customer journey is crucial for effective B2B marketing. It’s not just a linear path. It’s a complex funnel that leads potential customers from their initial interaction to the final purchase.
Unlike B2C funnels, B2B funnels have long decision-making processes with many stakeholders involved.
What is a B2B Marketing Funnel?
The B2B Marketing Funnel outlines the customer journey from a prospect to a customer and traditionally has 3 steps.
Traditionally, the B2B marketing funnel was simple: awareness (TOFU), exploration (MOFU), and decision (BOFU). But times have changed. Technology is more advanced, and buyer behavior has shifted. The old model no longer applies a 100%. Modern marketing requires a more flexible approach.
In this article, we present an updated B2B marketing funnel with five stages:
TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU remain vital—they attract and convert leads.
However, the journey doesn’t end there.
AFU focuses on post-purchase engagement, turning customers into brand advocates.
LOFU leverages customer insights to refine and improve the funnel continuously. This new approach is not static. It’s dynamic, getting better with every interaction.
5 Steps to Build a B2B Marketing Funnel © B2B Marketing World
5 Steps to Build a B2B Marketing Funnel
Learn How to Create the Funnel
Let us get straight to the point. Here are the 5 steps to build your B2B marketing funnel:
B2B Marketing Funnel Development Cycle © B2B Marketing World
Step 1: Have a Customer Journey
Understanding the customer journey is important.
It’s the core of a successful B2B marketing funnel. The journey covers every interaction a potential buyer has with your brand. From the first contact to the final purchase decision and even beyond.
As traditional funnels start to fall short, two additional steps are important: “After the Funnel” and “Loop the Funnel”. These concepts are crucial in today’s marketing landscape.
Customer Journey Definition
In B2B, the customer journey can be complex. It often involves multiple stakeholders, extended sales cycles, and numerous touchpoints.
Without a clear understanding of this journey, your marketing efforts are weak. This leads to missed opportunities and inefficiencies.
Mapping the Customer Journey:
- To map this journey, start by identifying key touchpoints. List every way a customer might interact with your brand. Whether online or offline. From the moment they become aware of you to post-purchase activities. Remember, not all touchpoints are obvious or trackable. Try to capture as many as possible.
- Next, understand what your customers need at each stage. What problems are they trying to solve? What information do they seek to make a decision? Focus on providing solutions, not just selling products.
- Then, define the criteria that influence their decisions. It could be pricing, product features, or even your company’s reputation. In B2B, buying journeys are complex and involve multiple decision-makers. Craft messages that resonate with these factors at each stage.
Aligning the Journey with the Funnel:
Once you’ve mapped the customer journey, align it with every part of your marketing funnel. Each of the 5 stage—awareness, consideration, decision, beyond and looping the funnel—should correspond to the touchpoints and needs identified in your journey map.
This alignment ensures your marketing efforts are focused to guide leads through the funnel.
In simple terms, deliver the right content to the right person at the right time, using the appropriate channel.
Example in Practice:
Consider a B2B software company that identified a gap during the evaluation phase of their customer journey. Potential customers struggled with unclear product comparisons. By providing detailed comparison guides, the company sees a significant increase in conversions at the middle of the funnel.
Mapping the customer journey lays the foundation for an effective B2B marketing funnel. It ensures your strategies are customer-centric.
This will lead to more focused efforts, better engagement, and higher conversion rates.
Step 2: Map your Marketing Channels
Mapping your marketing channels is key to crafting an effective B2B marketing funnel. Each channel plays a distinct role at different stages. To optimize your efforts, choose channels that connect with your audience. Finally, align them with the funnel stages.
Identifying Marketing Channels
B2B marketing offers different channels, each with its own strengths. Here are some examples:
- Email Marketing is ideal for nurturing leads and being in touch with contacts. Useful in the middle and bottom of the funnel.
- Social Media is great at the top. Use it to build brand awareness through emotional content and thought leadership.
- Content Marketing, with blogs, whitepapers, and case studies, is used across all funnel stages. The aim is to educate and engage prospects.
- PPC and Display Ads are powerful for targeting specific audiences and driving traffic. Especially at the top. Platforms like LinkedIn even offer specialized PPC options for bottom-funnel activities.
- Webinars and Events, effective in the middle of the funnel, help establish credibility and offer in-depth insights.
Mapping Channels to Funnel Stages
Start by understanding where your audience spends their time. And how they prefer to receive information at each stage. Then, assign your channels strategically.
A seamless experience guides prospects through the funnel.
Example of Effective Channel Mapping
A tech company offering enterprise software. They mapped their marketing channels by using educational webinars in the middle of the funnel. They began by engaging prospects through top-of-the-funnel content like blog posts. Then, they provided deeper insights through webinars. Finally, they followed up with personalized email campaigns, bringing prospects closer to making the purchase.
Map Your Marketing Channels for an Effective B2B Funnel © B2B Marketing World
Step 3: Build a Multi-Touch Attribution Model
You need to understand how your B2B marketing efforts lead to conversions. A multi-touch attribution model is one way to do so. Single-touch models credit just one interaction. Multi-touch attribution shows the full complexity of the buyer’s journey. Buyers do not make decisions based on a single touchpoint. They engage with various touchpoints before converting. Hence, multi-touch attribution offers a clearer picture of what truly drives conversions.
What is Multi-Touch Attribution?
It’s a method that assigns value to every prospect’s interaction with your brand. It shows how each channel and campaign contributes to moving prospects through the sales funnel. Multi-touch attribution considers every interaction rather than attributing a sale solely to the last click. From the first advert to the email they open and the webinar they attend. Each touchpoint plays a role.
Attribution Models in B2B Marketing © B2B Marketing World
Steps to Build a Multi-Touch Attribution Model
Building a multi-touch attribution model involves several key steps:
- Identify Key Touchpoints: List all marketing channels you have used, such as ads, emails, social media interactions, and webinars.
- Choose the Right Model:
- Linear Attribution, which gives equal credit to all touchpoints
- Time Decay Attribution: assigns more credit to touchpoints closer to the conversion
- U-shaped attribution emphasizes the first and last touchpoints.
- Implement the Model: Apply your model using analytics tools. These tools track and analyze touchpoints across campaigns.
- Analyze and Refine: Which touchpoints contribute most to conversions? Adjust your marketing budget accordingly.
Leveraging Attribution Data to Optimize the Funnel
Optimize your strategy by clearly identifying which channels and campaigns drive conversions.
If data shows that webinars and email campaigns are particularly effective in the middle of the funnel, increase your investment in these areas. Similarly, if social media impacts the top of the funnel, refine your content strategy there.
B2B marketers gain deeper insights into customer behavior with a multi-touch attribution model. The result: optimized marketing spending, more conversions, and better strategies for maximum impact.
Step 4: Identify, Measure, and Analyze KPIs
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) provide clear insights into your strategies’ performance. Your interpretation gives areas for improvement. Without them, you’re lost, navigating in the dark.
KPIs are more than numbers. They are vital signs showing whether your campaigns are healthy or need attention. For example, the lead conversion rate is a key indicator of your top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) success. It shows how well you are attracting qualified leads. Or customer acquisition cost (CAC), which shows how efficient your marketing budget spend is.
Identifying KPIs for Each Funnel Stage
Each funnel stage has its own KPIs.
- Top of the Funnel (TOFU):
- Website Traffic: Measures the number of visitors to your site. It helps you to understand how much awareness you have generated.
- Number of Leads: Conversion in the form of captured leads.
- Middle of the Funnel (MOFU):
- Engagement Metrics: Includes email open rates, webinar attendance, and social media interactions.
- Lead Nurturing Metrics: Tracks how well your MOFU content helps move leads through the funnel. How many cold leads turned into hot leads?
- Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU):
- Conversion Rate: The percentage of leads that turn into customers.
- Sales Cycle Length: Measures how long it takes from prospect to customer.
Tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Salesforce keep track of these KPIs. Regular analysis helps you spot bottlenecks and make necessary adjustments. If your lead conversion rate is low, perhaps it’s time to refine your targeting. Or strengthen your call-to-action (CTA).
Fine-tune your strategies by selecting, measuring, and analyzing KPIs at each stage. The result? More effective campaigns, more substantial ROI, and sustained success.
Step 5: Adapt the B2B Marketing Funnel
Successful B2B marketers know they need to continuously adapt. Market trends, customer behavior, and performance data changes. And this needs to be reflected in the funnel.
Why Flexibility Matters
The B2B marketing funnel is no one-size-fits-all solution. It is a framework that needs ongoing refinement. Markets shift, customer needs change, and competitors come and go. If your funnel remains the same all the time, you risk becoming obsolete.
Strategies for Funnel Adaptation
- Data-Driven Adjustments:
Regularly dive into your performance metrics. Look for bottlenecks or inefficiencies. If your lead conversion rate is low, you need to dig deeper. Ask yourself: Is the issue in your targeting, your content, or perhaps in your follow-up strategy? Each scenario requires its own solution.
- Test and Optimize:
A/B testing is your ally at every stage of the funnel. Experiment with different content. Vary the Call-to-action, or test new outreach methods. Sometimes, even a small tweak can boost engagement. E.g., Changing an email subject line in the middle of your funnel.
- Stay Attuned to Market Trends:
Watch industry trends and changes in customer behavior. If a new technology becomes vital to your target audience, modify your funnel to address this need. For example, add educational content in your TOFU stage.
Adaptation isn’t just a strategy. It is essential for long-term success.
Align Sales and Marketing
Make them Work together to Establish a B2B Marketing Funnel
Aligning marketing and sales is essential for any organization’s success. Both teams are crucial for driving growth. Yet they often work in silos, which can hurt performance. When marketing and sales collaborate, they both contribute to generating revenue.
Marketing plays a key role in preparing for sales and building the brand. It creates great content, launches campaigns, and provides market research. The mission is clear: prepare the ground for sales success. Marketing creates a strong brand image. This strategy elevates awareness and builds trust and credibility, which is crucial when leads move into the sales phase.
Sales depend on the insights marketing provides. When marketing fills the pipeline with leads, the sales teams can focus on converting these prospects into customers. This alignment increases leads and turnover. Instead of chasing cold leads, sales now engage with interested prospects. This makes conversion easier.
Aligning Sales and Marketing © B2B Marketing World
A coordinated marketing and sales strategy results in better communication and teamwork. Regular meetings, shared goals, and joint performance metrics streamline both teams. Marketing needs to understand sales challenges to adjust strategies and campaigns. Similarly, when sales give feedback on lead quality, marketing can refine targeting and messaging.
The relationship between marketing and sales is, therefore, crucial. These departments can create a smooth experience for potential customers and drive growth. It is about creating a strategy that supports the entire customer journey from awareness to conversion.
Summary [TL;DR]
Build a B2B Marketing Funnel
The B2B Marketing Funnel reflects the customer journey—the path a prospect takes from the first interaction to the sale and beyond. Understanding this journey in detail is essential for marketers. Equally important is to manage the marketing funnel actively.
It takes 5 steps to build a B2B marketing funnel. They are:
Have a Customer Journey
Identify key touchpoints and understand customer needs at each stage. It is necessary to align these with your marketing efforts. You can trigger engagement and increase conversions by delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time.
Map your Marketing Channels
Each channel requires a different marketing approach. This includes different channels and content. This step is to map your activities with the customer journey along the marketing funnel. This ensures that to provide the right content at the right time.
Build a Multi-Touch Attribution Model
Today’s journey is neither linear nor does a customer purchase after the first contact. A multi-touch attribution model includes all touch points a prospect has. Use tools to track each touchpoint.
Identify, Measure, and Analyze KPIs
The right key performance indicators are necessary to understand the effectiveness and effectivity of your actions. Each step, each marketing action, and each interaction has its unique KPI. Track them and interpret them to conclude with the last step of building your funnel.
Adapt the B2B Marketing Funnel
Learn from real-time data and adapt your funnel accordingly. The environment changes constantly, and modern marketing funnels are flexible. Make sure to include a feedback loop.
Stephan Wenger
B2B Marketing Expert, Editor and Marketing Management Consultant
Stephan Wenger is a seasoned B2B Marketing Expert with more than 10 years of experience in leading global companies. His extensive expertise lies in the realms of B2B online marketing, content marketing, strategic marketing, and driving synergy between sales and marketing, including effective lead management.
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