B2B marketing fails when it borrows consumer tactics. Fewer buyers, larger values, several people involved, and a decision that unfolds over months rather than minutes. Everything follows from that.
Small audience, high value
You may be selling to a few hundred companies in total. Reach is nearly irrelevant; precision is everything. A campaign reaching ten thousand of the wrong people has achieved nothing.
That changes what a sensible cost per click looks like. Paying substantially more for the right visitor is rational when a customer is worth five figures.
The buying committee
Rarely one decision-maker. An engineer evaluates the specification, a manager builds the case, procurement negotiates terms, and someone in legal or IT can veto.
Each needs different material. Content pitched only at the champion stalls at the next desk. We map the roles and make sure each has something to take to the others.
Content that carries internally
The most valuable B2B content is the material your champion forwards: a comparison, a specification sheet, a total cost breakdown, an implementation outline.
That is a different job from awareness content. It has to be defensible when read by a sceptical colleague who was not in the conversation.
Channels
Search captures active evaluation and is usually the foundation. LinkedIn reaches defined roles at high cost per click, justified by deal size. Email works when the list is genuinely opted in. Trade publications and industry events still matter more in B2B than most digital advice admits.
Measurement across a long cycle
If a deal closes eight months after first contact, last-click attribution credits the final branded search and you cut the channel that started it.
Track assisted paths, connect enquiries to CRM pipeline, and accept that attribution will be directional rather than precise. Directional and honest beats precise and wrong.
Lead quality over quantity
More leads is not the goal if sales spends its week disqualifying them. We optimise toward enquiries the sales team wants, which sometimes means deliberately reducing volume.
FAQ
Should we gate our content?
Gating cuts reach sharply and yields contacts who were only paying a toll. Usually better open, with something genuinely worth an email address offered separately.
Is LinkedIn worth the cost?
If your targeting is genuinely precise, often yes. If you are targeting broadly, no.
How long before results?
Meaningful pipeline typically takes two to three quarters. Anyone promising faster does not understand the cycle.