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Given that most enterprise buyers aren't actively purchasing, the key marketing function is to build brand recall for future needs. This requires consistently showing up with thought leadership and valuable content where potential customers spend their time, long before a sales cycle begins.

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Because B2B buying cycles are long, one-off influencer posts are less effective. A recurring presence over 3-6 months or longer builds trust and keeps the brand top-of-mind for when buyers are actually in-market.

A crucial but often overlooked B2B marketing goal is to build "buyability." This means establishing enough brand trust and authority that your internal champion can confidently defend their decision to purchase your product to the rest of the buying committee. It's about arming the champion.

Research shows half the buying committee consists of "invisible buyers" (e.g., C-suite, procurement) that sales can't access but who hold veto power. Marketing's primary ABM role is to build brand trust and familiarity with this hidden cohort to prevent them from killing a deal due to unfamiliarity with your solution.

Only 5% of your audience is ready to buy. For the other 95%, the goal is to build "mindshare"—a runway of awareness and trust through valuable content. This ensures that when they eventually enter a buying cycle, your brand is already a known and respected entity.

Many B2B marketers obsess over precisely targeting a small buying committee. This is a mistake. To achieve 'buyability' and de-risk the purchase, brands must be known across the entire organization, including finance and procurement. This means intentionally loosening targeting to build broad brand recognition.

Stop viewing brand as a top-of-funnel activity. For elite companies, brand isn't a precursor to selling; it is the selling. It creates inbound demand that bypasses traditional conversion tactics like search ads or affiliate marketing, making it the most powerful and sustainable growth engine.

Citing LinkedIn's 95/5 rule, most of your target audience isn't ready to buy. Brand marketing should focus on this out-of-market majority with memorable, emotional content to build long-term affinity, rather than just serving product demos to the 5% who are actively buying.

Frame brand-building efforts as a long-term investment, similar to research and development. These initiatives create the 'oxygen' that sustains demand and accelerates future channel performance, rather than being forced to justify immediate clicks and conversions.

Instead of chasing quantifiable but often misleading metrics like MQLs or pipeline attribution, focus on qualitative feedback from sales. Successful brand marketing means the sales team enters 'warm rooms' where customers are already familiar with and receptive to the company, eliminating the need to start from zero.

While difficult to attribute directly, strong brand recognition provides critical "air cover" for sales teams. When prospects already know who the company is, sales reps can skip the introductory explanation and focus immediately on selling the solution. This shortens the sales cycle and increases the effectiveness of outreach, justifying brand investment.