B2B
When the addressable audience is a few thousand companies and the cycle runs for months, volume metrics stop being useful almost immediately.
Purchases are made by groups. The person who fills in the form is often not the person who signs, and the two respond to different arguments. Campaigns aimed at one of them and measured on the other tend to underperform quietly.
Deal values are high enough that a small number of outcomes decides the quarter. That makes statistical confidence difficult and makes judgement, sequencing and account level thinking more important than test volume.
What we work on in b2b.
Six areas that decide whether marketing contributes pipeline or produces activity.
Buying group reality
Messaging built for the several people involved in a decision rather than a single persona.
Lead quality over volume
Fewer, better qualified conversations, agreed with sales before campaigns are built.
Long cycle measurement
Stage progression used as the working signal while closed revenue catches up.
Account level targeting
Where the audience is small enough, spend concentrated on named accounts rather than broad reach.
Sales and marketing alignment
Definitions, routing and feedback agreed in writing, because most lead quality disputes are definition disputes.
Pipeline contribution
Marketing held to its share of pipeline and closed value, which is the only figure the board will ask about.
Measurement that matters here.
These are the figures we would expect to report on, agreed with the client before a campaign starts.
- Cost per qualified opportunity, not per enquiry
- Progression rate by source and by segment
- Pipeline value created against media investment
- Sales cycle length by acquisition channel
- Account engagement where account based targeting is used
Services applied in b2b.
Different markets, different mechanics.
Working in b2b?
Send the deal size, the cycle length and how sales currently rates the leads. That is usually enough to see the problem.