Is the traditional marketing funnel dead?
Many marketers believe it is, with the rise of social media shopping drastically reducing consumers' consideration time before they make a purchase.
In recent years, many of us have seen an ad on social media, clicked the link, and added the product to our cart within seconds. No checking customer reviews, no finding out more about the brand, or searching for a lower competitor price point — we've skipped over the awareness and consideration stages of the digital marketing funnel and gone straight to checkout.
However, at CopyHouse, we wouldn't say this marketing strategy stalwart is dead, but rather compressed. This means that the content brands generate must often address the entirety of the sales funnel in one complete step.
This article explores why each piece of content is the sum total of your marketing efforts (and vice versa). In it, we'll outline the relationship between content and marketing, and the best way to approach contemporary marketing channels under the compressed sales funnel model. Read on to learn more.
Business to Consumer (B2C) is very different to Business to Business (B2B) marketing for a number of reasons.
In many instances (but by no means all circumstances) B2C brands are selling at lower price points, meaning customers are far more likely to buy without weighing up all the pros and cons because the offer is affordable. On the other hand, many B2B solutions cost tens of thousands, and require multi-year commitments as well as a great deal of planning before implementation –– it rarely boils down to just one person's decision to buy.
B2C products often target the buyer's emotions, promising customers their offering will make them happier, healthier, cooler, etc. Again, this isn't always the case, and B2B marketing can also claim to make their customers' lives easier and play up to their customers' emotions. However, B2B buyers' pain points don't elicit the same acute emotional response; there is logical reasoning that tempers B2B buyers' reactions to influential marketing campaigns.
Additionally, B2C marketing can be dynamic and trend-driven, as the products themselves often have a relatively short shelf life. In contrast, B2B brands have to prove they're in it for the long haul to justify the solution's expense and demonstrate the brand's expertise in the industry.
These differences highlight that, while content is essential in both B2C and B2B marketing, the tone and objectives vary massively, requiring completely different approaches to content marketing:
The proliferation of digital touchpoints helps B2B brands spread their message far and wide. But at the same time, it introduces competitor noise and conflicting views, adding more time and complexity to B2B buyers’ decision-making processes.
According to findings in 2024, B2B buyers have covered almost 70% of their purchasing journey before contact is made with sales. This underscores the need for marketers to produce versatile content that's capable of simultaneously capturing the reader's attention and shortening the sales cycle through informative copy.
To effectively compress the digital marketing funnel across various digital channels, B2B marketers should tailor their approach as follows:
Your brand website must act as your digital shop window; it needs to draw B2B buyers' eyes while articulating your value proposition clearly and concisely. Don't just list your products — show visitors how you can solve their problems.
Display your top case studies on your homepage to prove you've helped others like them. Add demo videos to show your product in action, and clear pricing to help them make decisions. Your goal should be to guide potential customers smoothly from "just browsing" to "ready to buy".
LinkedIn is the world's leading professional networking platform, so your marketing goal should prioritise LinkedIn networking over selling. This means embracing a blended approach incorporating thought leadership content and striking up genuine conversations with decision-makers in your field.
Offer fresh perspectives on market trends and mix in some targeted ads to reach the right people. Experiment with different content forms, like short-form videos (spanning 1-3 minutes), polls, and infographics, to provide valuable information and gather customer feedback to refine your proposition.
In a cookieless world, email marketing success hinges on leveraging first-party and zero-party data to craft hyper-personalised experiences. First-party data comprises the information gathered from website visits, while zero-party data might include information gathered from customer surveys, reviews, etc.
So, use automated emailing tools to tailor dynamic content based on behavioural triggers, and advanced segmentation techniques, to deliver highly relevant messages across the buyer's journey. This can help brands drive conversions within a compressed digital marketing funnel that respects users’ privacy.
In-depth eBooks and Whitepapers serve as powerful lead generation tools when they combine top, middle and bottom-of-the-funnel content in one complete package. Use these resources as a chance to position your brand as the go-to expert in your industry.
Dive deep into the problems your customers face and offer solid, actionable solutions to build trust. Also include case studies and value-adding metrics to provide a layer of social proof B2B buyers can share with other decision makers to speed up decision-making cycles.
As B2B sales cycles shorten, content becomes more than just a component of marketing – it takes the lead.
CopyHouse provides strategic content marketing to tech-led B2B clients, both domestically and internationally. Find out more about how we can help optimise your campaigns and content activity — contact us today.
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