Debunking B2B Marketing Myths with Peter Weinberg

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!

This week, we connected with Peter Weinberg to face some contrarian truths in the B2B marketing world, including why broad targeting and brand-building are absolute musts. 

—Elena 

In B2B, 95% of your potential market is not ready to buy.  

At any given time, only 5% of a B2B company’s potential customers are actually in-market. That’s a pretty small group, so marketing to the other 95% is crucial for long-term growth.      

B2B is moving towards broad reach and greater creativity. 

As former Global Head of Development at LinkedIn’s The B2B Institute, Peter Weinberg has seen B2B marketing evolve dramatically in the last decade.  

Traditionally, B2B marketing was heavily reliant on immediate sales and precise, narrow targeting. But Peter and his colleagues discovered that most potential B2B customers are not ready to buy at any given point in time. This suggests that by fixating on the present—on those ready to buy today—marketers miss out on the potential for tomorrow.  

So what’s the solution? Peter recommends speaking to both immediate and future buyers by: 

1. Building mental availability with broadly targeted marketing. This improves the odds that your brand will be the first option your audience thinks of when they are ready to enter the market. And it ensures you reach all the important people—that mid-level IT manager might just be your key decision-maker in a few years. 
   
2. Embracing creativity and storytelling. Creativity is often sidelined in B2B in favor of rational marketing efforts. But creativity’s exactly what differentiates a brand in a crowded marketplace and forges emotional connections that last.  

Listen in on our discussion.

"95-5 Rule”                

This article from Ty Heath challenges B2B marketers to rethink their funnel and focus efforts on reaching out-of-market, future buyers. Read the article. 

Market to your full audience.     

“The marketing funnel can give marketers funnel-vision. In focusing on the transaction over the relationship, marketers can lose sight of the actual consumer the funnel was designed to reach.” 

—Tom Fishburne