B2B content marketing: the buyer journey vs the sales funnel

Why the buyer journey is more than just a sales funnel

In B2B sales and content marketing the traditional linear buyer's journey and sales funnel model often fall flat when it comes to capturing the intricacies of today's customer interactions. Portrayed as a series of step-by-step stages, the sales funnel approach fails to embrace the interconnected and variable nature of the sales cycle. As buyers take on more autonomy in researching, evaluating, and deciding, the sales landscape craves a more fluid depiction in order to properly support B2B content marketing efforts. With this in mind, it's time to kick aside the rigid methods we’ve been clinging to for years and explore a more dynamic and efficient content marketing approach.  

Buyer journey vs sales funnel: what’s the big deal? 

Some numbers on the buyer journey: 

• Only 27% of B2B buyers make a purchase from the first vendor they interact with. (Source: HubSpot) 

• The average B2B buyer spends 17 days researching and evaluating a solution before making a purchase. (Source: Demand Gen Report) 

• 60% of B2B buyers say that content is the most important factor in their decision-making process. (Source: Content Marketing Institute) 

• 72% of B2B buyers say that they are more likely to do business with a company that provides them with helpful and informative content. (Source: Demand Gen Report) 

And now some numbers on the sales funnel: 

• The average sales funnel conversion rate is 2%. (Source: HubSpot) 

• It takes an average of seven touchpoints before a buyer is ready to make a purchase. (Source: Salesforce) 

• The B2B sales cycle ranges between four and 18 months, due to budgetary cycles and other factors.   (Source: SalesForce.com) 

Buyer journey vs sales funnel: outdated and outplayed? 

The traditional B2B buyer's journey and sales funnel model has taken serious heat for being too linear.  It can lead to a number of problems, including: 

• Team troubles: If your sales squad is busy pushing prospects down a strict funnel, they might miss out on genuine opportunities to connect with buyers early on, and marketing will struggle to generate quality leads. 

• Engagement enigma: The conventional sales funnel model assumes buyers follow a neat and tidy path from finding out about your product to deciding to buy it. But life isn't that simple, and buyers might zigzag back and forth, and their needs can change faster than you can say ‘sales pitch’.  

• Bad vibes for customers: A straight-line approach feels transactional, and transactional doesn’t build trust. Trust is critical to seal the deal and keep customers around. It’s all about building those long-term relationships.  

B2B content marketing: focus on the buyer, not the sale 

So, what's the fix? Picture the B2B sales cycle like a big, interconnected web of buyer journeys. Buyers do their own thing, researching and deciding independently. They might check out different companies and info sources before hitting that 'buy now' button or signing on the dotted line. This means that success in today's B2B sales environment requires that companies take a more buyer-centric approach that focuses on understanding and addressing buyer needs. In other words, focus on the journey and not the destination.   

 If not a sales funnel, then what?  

A more accurate - and useful - representation of the B2B sales cycle is a flywheel. This model, often used by CRM platform HubspotHubspot, reflects the fact that the buyer and seller are constantly interacting with and influencing each other throughout the sales process. The flywheel also emphasises the importance of building momentum and continuous improvement.  

Now, let’s unpack the key stages of the B2B sales flywheel: 

1. Attract: Attract potential customers by creating valuable content, building relationships, and participating in relevant industry events. 
2. Engage: Engage with potential customers by providing personalised experiences, offering free trials or demos, and answering their questions. 
3. Close: Close deals by negotiating contracts, providing onboarding support, and building customer relationships. 
4. Delight: Delight customers by exceeding their expectations, providing ongoing support, and offering additional value-added services. 
5. Advocate: Provide opportunities for customers to become advocates for your brand by sharing their positive experiences (word of mouth is still the most powerful form of marketing) and referring new business.

Unlike the sales funnel, the flywheel represents consistent motion, and each stage of the cycle feeds into the next. For example, by attracting more potential customers, you can engage with more leads, which result in more closed deals, and so on. This can be an effective solution to overcoming a common frustration for B2B marketers, in which they are being driven to spend money on lead gen, without additional budget for nurturing awareness and consideration.  

Tips for applying the flywheel model to improve your B2B content marketing: 

To crush it in the B2B sales game today, companies need to become all about the buyer. Here's the playbook to elevate your content marketing efforts: 

1. Map it out: Create detailed maps of your buyer journeys based on real customer data. Know the stages, touchpoints, and what makes them tick. 
2. Persona power: Build buyer personas that capture your dream customers. What's their deal? Demographics, problems, goals - get to know them better than you would a BFF.  
3. Value all the way: Be the gift that keeps on giving. Provide killer content at every stage, not just when they're ready to spend. Build that trust, be a thought leader. This also requires that marketing budget be spread to attract and engage, not just to gain leads and close. 
4. Team spirit: Get sales and marketing on the same page. Share data, strategies, and insights. Make sure buyers get a consistent experience no matter where they're looking. 
5. Numbers matter: Track metrics like website traffic, engagement, and conversions. Use the data to tweak and perfect your sales and content marketing tactics. This means revisiting and reworking existing content, too. 

A fresh and fluid take on B2B content marketing 

The old-school sales funnel is a lot like yesterday's memes – stale and just not hitting the mark. Businesses need to shake things up and stay current with a more dynamic, buyer-centric approach to their content marketing, which is where the flywheel model comes in.  Not just a buzzword; the flywheel is the secret ingredient you’ve been searching for that will help you build marketing momentum, create lasting customer connections, and grow your business. So, pack away the sales funnel (it’s so last season!) and get ready to give your content marketing the makeover it deserves.