B2B marketing funnels explained

Strategy is essential to make content marketing effective. If your sales pipeline is still empty despite content going out, you may have a strategy issue — and coming back to the basics of the B2B content marketing funnel can help.

In this post, we break down what the B2B marketing funnel is, the different B2B marketing funnel stages, and how you can use content to create, nurture, and close sales leads.

What is the B2B marketing funnel?

The B2B marketing funnel is a framework for organizing content to coincide with the steps of a customer’s buying journey. The objective of a B2B marketing funnel is to guide potential clients from initial awareness of the problem you solve through to the decision to buy.

When you use the B2B sales funnel in your content marketing strategy, you can be sure that every piece of content plays a critical role in winning new business. You can be confident that no effort is wasted, and you can better measure the effectiveness of your content marketing investment.

B2B marketing funnel stages

There are three main phases of a B2B marketing funnel: upper funnel, mid funnel, and lower funnel. You’ll see marketers use different names for different stages of the funnel — for example, some say “attention” rather than “awareness” for upper funnel content — but the idea is the same. The funnel starts broad, where you’re introducing your brand to a potential market, then filters (or funnels) down to target the specific demographic(s) who are most likely to convert.

Let’s take a look at the stages from top to bottom.

Top of the funnel: Awareness & interest

The top of your B2B content marketing funnel is all about capturing new leads. Upper-funnel content focuses on unpacking and exploring the problem your product or service solves. This, in turn, creates awareness of and interest in your brand.

At this stage, it’s best to assume that potential leads know nothing about what you do. Your brand is a stranger to them. So, you need to make a clear and friendly introduction before going into a hard sell. Upper-funnel content that unexpectedly shifts into a direct sales piece feels like that nuisance door-to-door salesperson who shows up out of the blue. And no one likes that person!

Upper funnel content examples

Examples of upper-funnel content include industry research or commentary and “How to…” or “What is…” guides. Both create empathy with readers and show your brand understands their challenges. 

Remember to keep your content broad at this stage to address a general need — information, not promotion, is the name of the game. Your content will get more tailored and targeted as the funnel progresses.

Middle of the funnel: Consideration & intent

The role of mid-funnel content in the B2B sales funnel is to create intent among potential prospects who are now problem-aware and in the market for a solution. 

Let’s say that your business sells productivity software to marketing teams. In this case, your upper-funnel content may have established the need for smarter ways of working against a backdrop of tighter marketing budgets and a more competitive marketplace. Your mid-funnel activity might focus on productivity tools that help or on how to get marketing teams to start tracking their time. 

Ultimately, you want to position your product or service as a solution to prospects’ needs. The aim is to get leads to consider your brand, but we’re still only in the middle of the B2B marketing funnel here. It’s still not the right time to go hell for leather on the sales pitch. 

Mid-funnel content examples

Education balanced with gentle persuasion works best at this stage. 

Product comparison guides are often used in the middle of the B2B marketing funnel, as are gated ebooks that help build a business case for investing in your type of solution. Newsletter content can also keep your brand top of mind as prospects actively browse the market.

Bottom of the funnel: Decision & action

Now’s the time to really build a case for partnering with your brand. Lower-funnel content is all about helping prospects feel confident in converting to a sale. It’s about illustrating the value they’ll get and the results they can expect. Why you over your competitors? Why now rather than next quarter?

Lower-funnel marketing increases urgency and minimizes friction. You want to leverage all of the empathy, trust, and goodwill you’ve created at earlier stages of the B2B sales and marketing funnel — and close that deal! Double down on your authority as a conversion tactic. You still don’t need to get pushy if you’ve got real results to support your claims.

Lower-funnel content examples

Popular lower-funnel content includes data-driven customer success stories and other materials that emphasize ROI. 

Depending on your sector, this could include a downloadable ROI calculator showing how much money can be saved — or value gained — by using your solution. Product or service explainers and demos offer prospects practical reassurance on UX and ease of use, while showcasing your impact.

What happens after the B2B sales funnel?

The B2B sales funnel doesn’t end when you close a new deal. 

Retention and customer advocacy are both essential for business success — and content is equally as influential here as it is for the rest of the B2B marketing funnel. 

In the post-conversion stages of your funnel, you’ll want to keep your current customers engaged and encourage them to leave positive reviews. Referral schemes can be an effective way to reward loyal customers and generate new, warm leads. You can even use email campaigns to upsell and grow within existing accounts. Share success stories and insider tips from other customers to keep reinforcing the value of working together.

Stop guessing and start building your funnel

Nailing the B2B marketing funnel doesn’t necessarily mean increasing the volume of your content. Effectiveness comes from having the right strategy. And less can actually be more when you’re focusing on the right things.

So, before you invest more time in content for content’s sake, sit down and map out your ideal customer journey. Who are you engaging? Why would you want to work with them? What problem can you help them solve — and how would you do it better than anyone else? 

From there, you can start to build a B2B content marketing funnel to capture the right leads and nurture them to a sale.

And, of course, we can help too. At Scribly, we take a highly strategic approach to content marketing. If you’re not sure how to create a B2B sales funnel for your brand, or you want to talk through potential B2B content ideas at each stage, book your free strategy call. We can support you with content strategy and planning, as well as expert writing and delivery.