The challenges
What makes growth hard in B2B.
- 01
Marketing is measured on leads while sales is measured on revenue, and the two numbers rarely agree.
- 02
Buying groups are large, and the person who fills in the form is seldom the person who decides.
- 03
Most research happens out of sight, in private conversations, communities and AI tools.
- 04
Sales cycles outlast reporting periods, so effective programmes are cut before they pay back.
Search behaviour
How buyers search and decide.
B2B purchases involve several people, long timelines and a lot of independent research. Much of the journey leaves no trace in your analytics, which makes measurement and patience as important as tactics.
Demand generation
Where demand comes from.
B2B demand is built slowly and harvested briefly. At any moment only a small part of a market is actively buying, and the rest are forming impressions that will decide the shortlist later. Organic search and AI answers serve buyers researching a problem, LinkedIn reaches defined roles and accounts whether or not they are searching, and paid search catches the few who are ready now. Email and events maintain relationships between buying windows. The programme works when all of it is measured against pipeline in the CRM and not against lead counts.
Content needs
What B2B buyers expect to find.
- Problem-led content that helps a buyer make the internal case for change
- Role-specific material for finance, technical and operational stakeholders
- Comparison and evaluation guides, including the build-or-buy question
- Pricing, implementation and security information that procurement will ask for
- Evidence of method: how the work is done and what the client must provide
Each of these is written or reviewed by someone who knows the subject. AI speeds up research and drafting. It does not decide what is accurate.
Conversion challenges
Where interest is lost before it becomes business.
- 01
Lead definitions
Until marketing and sales agree what a qualified lead is, conversion rates measure nothing useful.
- 02
Gating
Forms in front of every asset reduce reach and fill the CRM with people who wanted a PDF. Gate sparingly.
- 03
Handover speed and context
An enquiry passed to sales with its history is worked sooner and with more care.
- 04
Multi-stakeholder journeys
Give a champion what they need to persuade colleagues: summaries, business case material and answers to objections.
The SERPMOZ approach
Three priorities for B2B.
- 01
Account-relevant content
Material that answers the questions of each role in the buying group.
- 02
LinkedIn and search together
Paid and organic programmes coordinated around target accounts.
- 03
Sales alignment
Lead definitions, handover and feedback agreed with the sales team.
Relevant services
Typically involved.
- Lead GenerationCampaigns, offers, pages and qualification designed around sales-accepted leads.
- LinkedIn AdsAccount and role targeting with reporting on pipeline, for considered B2B sales.
- SEOTechnical, content and authority work prioritised by commercial value and measured against pipeline.
- Content MarketingStrategy, expert-led production and original research that earns rankings and citations.
- Marketing AutomationCRM, lead routing, email and WhatsApp journeys, and AI agents that qualify and nurture.
- AI SEOAI workflows for research, content and monitoring, with human strategy and validation.
In practice
The kind of work this leads to.
Examples of what we would build for a B2B business. They describe work, not outcomes. What is right for you is decided after the diagnostic.
- 01
A content map that assigns each asset to a role in the buying group and a stage in the decision.
- 02
A LinkedIn and search programme planned around a named account list agreed with sales.
- 03
A pipeline dashboard connecting channel, campaign and content to opportunities and closed revenue in the CRM.
What we measure in B2B
Outcomes we plan around
- 01Sales-qualified pipeline
- 02Engaged target accounts
- 03Opportunity win rate
- 04Sales cycle length
Targets are set after the diagnostic, against your own baseline.
Related industries
Sectors with similar buyers.
Start with a growth audit
Stop Buying Marketing Activity.Start Building a Growth Engine.
Tell us where you are today, where you want to go and what is holding growth back. We’ll identify the highest-impact opportunities.
What happens next
- 1
You tell us where you are
A short form about the business, its goals and what is holding growth back.
- 2
A strategist reviews it
Search, AI visibility, paid media, content and conversion, read together.
- 3
You get the priorities
The highest-impact opportunities, in order, with the reasoning shown.
No obligation, and no guaranteed outcomes promised. Just an honest read of where you stand.