The Complete Guide to B2B Full-Funnel Marketing

Full-funnel marketing has become increasingly popular among B2B companies in recent years. Rather than focusing exclusively on top-of-funnel marketing (TOFU) or middle-of-funnel marketing (MOFU), for instance, many B2B companies now target their entire funnel. Known as full-funnel marketing, it allows them to reach more prospects while simultaneously closing more deals. But if you're thinking about making the switch to full-funnel marketing, there are a few things you should know.

What Is Full-Funnel Marketing?

Full-funnel marketing is an approach to marketing, as well as sales, that involves targeting prospects in all funnel stages. Most B2B companies use a marketing funnel. A marketing funnel is simply a visual representation of the stages in a B2B company's sales process. As the name suggests, it's shaped like a funnel. It's widest at the top and narrowest at the bottom.

A typical marketing funnel will have the following stages:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Intent
• Proposal
• Purchase

Awareness is a TOFU stage. It's typically the first funnel stage, making it the widest stage. It's wider than all other stages because it's filled with the most prospects. When a prospect is exposed or otherwise introduced to your B2B company, he or she will enter the awareness stage. The interest stage occurs after the awareness stage. During the interest stage, the prospect will show some form of interest in your B2B company's products or services.

The intent stage is where the prospect shows an explicit intent or desire to make a purchase. If the prospect makes it to this stage, he or she has already decided that your B2B company is the right choice. Then there's the proposal stage. The proposal stage is where negotiations occur. A sales rep will contact the prospect to discuss a potential deal. Finally, the purchase stage is where the prospect purchases a product or service. Full-funnel marketing encompasses all of these stages. It's a comprehensive marketing and sales strategy in which you target prospects during all of these stages.

The Benefits of Full-Funnel Marketing

You can expect several benefits when using full-funnel marketing in your B2B company's operations. According to research cited by Think With Google, full-funnel marketing campaigns yield a 45% higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional marketing campaigns.

Marketing and sales require a monetary investment. There are free promotional methods available, but your B2B company will inevitably have to spend money on marketing and sales. With full-funnel marketing, you may experience a higher ROI.

You can shorten your B2B company's average sales cycle by using full-funnel marketing. Sales don't occur. After being introduced to your B2B company, prospects will likely require persuading. You'll have to persuade them to purchase your B2B company's products or services instead of your competitors'. Average sales cycle represents the length of time, on average, that it takes you to convince a new prospect to make a purchase.

Another benefit of full-funnel marketing is a higher buyer retention rate. Buyer retention rate is the percentage of buyers who stay with your B2B company. Some buyers may leave. If a buyer has a negative purchasing experience, for instance, he or she may stop buying your B2B company's products or services. Instead, the buyer may choose a competitor with which to do business. Full-funnel marketing will create a more positive purchasing experience. You'll be able to address buyers during all stages of your B2B company's marketing funnel, resulting in a higher buyer retention rate.

Getting Started With Full-Funnel Marketing

To implement a full-funnel marketing strategy, you'll need to identify all of the stages of your B2B company's marketing funnel. Most B2B companies use a similar marketing funnel consisting of about a half-dozen stages, such as those listed above. But other B2B companies may use a different marketing funnel.

After identifying all of the stages of your B2B company's marketing funnel, you should plan a series of marketing and sales tactics for each of them. Full-funnel marketing is all about using narrow, targeted marketing and sales tactics to reach prospects in different stages. For the awareness stage, for example, you may want to use cold emailing and cold calling.

The awareness stage is essentially the lead generation stage. You can generate leads by cold emailing or cold calling prospects. Other stages will require different marketing and sales tactics. For full-funnel marketing, you'll need to plan a series of marketing and sales tactics for each stage of your B2B company's funnel.

Full-Funnel Marketing: Tips for Success

You should distribute your time and resources throughout your B2B company's funnel. In other words, don't focus on any specific stage. Full-funnel marketing is all about connecting with prospects in all funnel stages. If you only focus on a single stage, you'll fail to move prospects through your B2B company's sales process.

Don't underestimate the importance of using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. Not to be confused with a content management system (CMS), it's a type of software that's designed to help B2B companies manage interactions with their prospects and buyers. You can use a CRM solution to track all interactions between your B2B company and its audience.

A CRM solution will allow you to see how many prospects are in each stage of your B2B company's funnel. The awareness stage will typically have the most prospects in it. As previously mentioned, it's the widest stage, so it contains more prospects than the lower, narrower stages. By investing in the right CRM solution, you can see how many prospects are in each stage of your B2B company's funnel.

You can include personalization in your full-funnel marketing strategy. When planning marketing and sales tactics, try to use personalized communications. Personalization may not be possible with the awareness stage or similar TOFU stages. After all, to personalize a communication with a prospect, you'll need information about the prospect. Other stages of your B2B company's funnel, though, will likely support personalization.

Personalization will improve the effectiveness of your full-funnel marketing strategy. You can create targeted and personalized communications that encourage prospects to move through your B2B company's sales process.

Be sure to consider SalesLeads' Project Reports. Great way to find high quality sales leads that can go directly into the sales rep's sales funnel. Take a look at it now.