Insights: The state of B2B marketing: Key trends and transformations
Chapter 5.
Balancing Brand and Demand: Content that Drives Long-Term Value
The most experienced marketing organizations recognize that ongoing growth requires both immediate demand generation and long-term brand building. This dual focus has become more important as B2B buying journeys extend in length and complexity, requiring marketers to influence decisions months or even years before purchase intentions emerge.
Kate McQuade from P360 articulates this challenge clearly: "It's crucial to recognize that marketing is actually a marathon, not a sprint. Today's digital landscape requires approximately 18 touchpoints for brand recall, a notable increase from the traditional seven touchpoints of the past. Think of it like inflating an air mattress with a hole – focusing solely on short-term metrics like form fills or downloads means constantly pumping resources just to maintain results. Instead, we invest in building a solid foundation through consistent presence and messaging across multiple channels."
Denise Dahlhoff from The Conference Board reinforces this point: "The solution lies in education and communication. With only 10% of Fortune 250 CEOs having a marketing background, and similarly low representation on boards, there's often a basic misunderstanding of marketing's complexity. The key is to educate stakeholders at all levels—from the CEO, senior executives and board to colleagues and investors—about how marketing works."
This balancing act extends to content strategy. D'Anna Siegle shares their approach: "Several years ago during my last role, we made the important decision to ungate all our core content, which greatly changed our entire marketing approach. This shift led to improved user engagement metrics, including increased time spent on pages and reduced bounce rates. More importantly, it allowed us to move away from traditional funnel categorizations and create a more fluid experience where our ICPs could engage with valuable content at any stage without friction."
The emphasis on educational content that builds trust over time appears consistently across interviews. Sanjana Chappalli from Revinate explains: "We invest considerably in creating and distributing educational and informational content. Our podcast, which releases weekly episodes and has surpassed 100 episodes, consistently attracts C-suite level executives as guests. We focus on facilitating valuable discussions about the hotel tech industry without any product pitches. Our CMO serves as the host, and we take a thoughtful approach to building relationships through these conversations."
Greg Tucker from CSG shares their approach to early-stage brand building: "By offering unique perspectives that make people think differently, we instantly create affinity. When someone has a question later, they think, 'I wonder what CSG has to say about that?' This naturally generates multiple touch points. We're balancing how people buy with top-funnel education, budget limitations, and complex buying cycles—all while working within an organization that wants speed and linear pipeline metrics."
The value of thought leadership is reinforced by survey data, which reveals that industry-specific thought leadership is considered the most valuable content type by 46% of respondents, followed by tailored case studies (31%) and ROI calculators (23%).
Mohib Ahmad from Brink's Inc emphasizes the practicality of their content approach: "I'm not a fan of gating content. In a previous role, I ungated all case studies when redesigning the website, which led to a 65% increase in pipeline. It's critical to understand that 'signals are not intent signals.' We need to differentiate between someone actively looking for solutions versus someone just trying to learn more. By positioning ourselves as guides rather than heroes, we create a better experience."
Community building emerges as a powerful strategy for creating long-term value. Derek Weeks from Katalon shares: "We've built a community of nearly 100,000 members, focusing on education, certification, and sharing best practices. This approach has proven highly effective – our analysis shows that companies more engaged with our community pre-sale typically generate higher revenue levels post-sale."
Customer advocacy represents another critical element of effective content strategy. D'Anna Siegle describes their approach: "I employ a multi-faceted approach to customer advocacy that goes beyond traditional case studies. For example, sponsoring sessions at events where customers can share their stories face-to-face, positioning the company as supportive partners rather than the focus of the narrative. I also helped launch a fireside chat series that not only showcased the solution's impact on the customers' businesses but also gave the customers a platform to tell their own stories and build their personal brands."
For marketing leaders, effectively communicating the value of brand investment remains challenging. Denise Dahlhoff notes: "While CEOs understand the need for long-term brand investment, they still expect to see some form of ROI estimation or scenario planning for marketing investments. When it comes to brand building, one CEO explained to me that while they acknowledge the long-term nature of such investments, they still expect marketers to provide their best estimates or scenario analyses to help evaluate potential returns, even if those returns might be years away."
Matt Taylor from Hawk Ridge Systems anticipates continued evolution in this area: "We're focusing on two key areas. First, we're adapting our SEO strategy to account for how large language models and AI will change search behavior. Second, we anticipate a greater emphasis on creative work in B2B marketing. With more B2C marketers entering the B2B space, we're seeing increased attention to polished, refined messaging."
The key to success lies in:
- Creating educational content that positions brands as trusted advisors
- Building community around shared professional interests and challenges
- Balancing immediate demand generation with long-term brand building
- Measuring impact across both short and long-term horizons
- Communicating value to leadership through both qualitative and quantitative methods
Key Insights Recap
Ongoing B2B growth requires balancing immediate demand generation with planned brand building. Leading organizations are creating educational content that positions them as trusted advisors, building communities around shared interests, and developing measurement frameworks that capture both short and long-term impact.
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