Different audiences. Different jobs for marketing.
We work across the full B2B buying journey, from buyers who do not yet know you, to buyers deciding right now, to customers choosing to stay and buy more.
Three states at once.
Most marketing treats the market as one audience and sends it one message. In reality your market is in at least three different states at once, and marketing's job is different in each. Get the job wrong for the audience and even good work falls flat: brand-building aimed at someone ready to buy, or a hard sell aimed at someone who has never heard of you.
At any moment, the large majority of your market is not in the market at all. The LinkedIn B2B Institute's 95-5 rule puts it at roughly 95% out of market and 5% actively buying. So the work splits three ways: being remembered by the many who will buy later, being chosen by the few buying now, and being kept by the customers you already have.
Out of market. No relationship with you yet.
This is most of your market: the buyers who will need you one day but are not looking today, and do not yet know who you are. You cannot sell to them, because they are not buying. What you can do is make sure they remember you when they are. The job here is mental availability, being the name that comes to mind when the need finally arrives.
- →Create awareness
- →Drive recognition
- →Establish relevance
- →Build preference
Actively in market. Building a relationship.
These are the buyers in market now, weighing their options. In B2B that is rarely one person: Gartner puts the typical buying group at six to ten people, each doing their own research before the group decides together. The job here is to be chosen, to reach the whole committee, earn trust, and move interest towards a commitment.
- →Foster engagement
- →Build trust
- →Nurture intent
- →Drive commitment
In service. Deepening the relationship.
These are your existing customers. Winning them was expensive, and keeping and growing them is where a lot of the value sits. The job shifts to adoption, loyalty, expansion and advocacy, turning satisfied customers into the proof that helps win the next ones.
- →Drive adoption
- →Cultivate loyalty
- →Drive upsell and cross-sell
- →Initiate renewals
- →Build customer advocacy
Connected, not stitched together.
The mistake is to run these as three disconnected efforts, or to do one and ignore the others. Build only for the audience in market and you win the 5% while a competitor builds preference with the 95% who buy next year. Build only brand and you fill the dashboard with attention that never converts.
We run all three as one connected system, with the same senior team, so today's awareness becomes tomorrow's pipeline and today's customers become your best proof. It is the same idea behind closing the gap between marketing and revenue: connection, not more activity.
Frequently asked questions.
What are passive, receptive and engaged audiences?
They are three states your market is in at once. A passive audience is out of market with no relationship to you. A receptive audience is actively buying. An engaged audience is your existing customers. Marketing's job is different for each.
What is the 95-5 rule?
The 95-5 rule, from the LinkedIn B2B Institute, holds that at any given time roughly 95% of business buyers are not in the market and only about 5% are actively buying. It is why building preference with future buyers matters as much as capturing demand today.
Why market to people who are not buying yet?
Because most of your future pipeline is out of market today. If you are not building recognition and preference with the passive audience now, a competitor is, and they will be the name that comes to mind when those buyers are ready.
Which services match each audience?
Passive audiences are served mainly by brand, creative and media. Receptive audiences by demand generation, account-based growth and deal acceleration. Engaged audiences by account expansion, brand and measurement.
Not sure which audience your marketing is missing?
Tell us where growth is stuck, and we'll show you which part of the journey needs the work.
Talk to us