If you’ve worked in B2B marketing for any length of time, you’ve probably felt the pressure to generate more leads.
I know I have.
Lead generation is an important part of my role, and there’s good reason for that. Leads give sales teams opportunities to engage with potential buyers, and metrics like conversions and pipeline help marketers demonstrate the impact of their work.
But the longer I work in B2B marketing, the more I’ve realized that a lead is really just one point in a much larger journey.
The person who fills out a form today may have been learning about your brand for months. They may have read your content, watched a video, attended a webinar or simply seen your name while researching an industry challenge.
That’s why I don’t think of lead generation as the entire marketing strategy. I think of it as one part of a much bigger picture.
Buyers don’t start with a form fill
When someone downloads your whitepaper or requests a demo, it’s easy to focus on that moment.
But where did that interest come from?
Maybe a prospect has been reading industry newsletters for months. Maybe they’ve attended webinars, watched short videos or seen your brand consistently while researching challenges in their industry.
Those touchpoints matter.
By the time someone is ready to fill out a form, they’re often responding to familiarity and trust that has already been built. They’re not necessarily discovering your company for the first time.
Every marketing tactic has a job
I think one of the challenges marketers face is trying to make every campaign accomplish everything.
- We want a webinar to generate leads, build awareness, educate buyers and influence pipeline.
- We want an email campaign to drive immediate action while also keeping our brand top of mind.
- We want every piece of content to have a measurable return.
The reality is that different tactics solve different problems.
- Brand marketing helps buyers recognize your company.
- Thought leadership builds credibility.
- Video can capture attention and make complex ideas easier to understand.
- Content helps buyers learn.
- Demand generation gives interested buyers a clear path to engage.
The goal isn’t for every tactic to do everything. It’s for each tactic to play its part in a larger strategy.
Marketing doesn’t start when a buyer raises their hand
B2B buyers aren’t all in the same place at the same time.
Some are discovering a problem for the first time. Others are actively researching solutions. Some are comparing vendors, while others are trying to build consensus internally.
That means marketing has a role to play long before someone becomes a lead.
When we focus only on the people who are ready to engage today, it’s all too easy to miss the people who may become valuable prospects tomorrow.
When we create more holistic programs that build affinity well before a buyer is ready, that groundwork often makes our lead generation efforts more effective.
Questions to take back to your team
As you plan your next campaign, ask yourself:
- Are we asking this campaign to accomplish too many things?
- What are we doing to create interest before we try to capture it?
- Are we reaching the people who may be in-market tomorrow, or only the people who are ready today?
Lead generation will always be an important part of B2B marketing. But leads don’t happen in isolation.
They’re often the result of the awareness, education and trust that came before them.
If you’re looking to build a marketing strategy that supports demand before, during and beyond the lead-generation moment, SmartBrief offers solutions that can help brands stay connected with professional audiences throughout the buying journey. From trusted industry newsletters and sponsored content to video and audience targeting, these touchpoints can work together to build familiarity and create opportunities for meaningful engagement when buyers are ready.