Creating A B2B Marketing Playbook

Your B2B marketing will plateau. Not because of what you're doing. Because of the order you're doing it in. You jumped straight to execution when strategy didn't exist. Most B2B teams start with tactics: → Hire a marketing team → Launch campaigns across channels → Create content and ads → Track metrics and optimize → Scale budget when things work It feels like progress. But growth stalls.  Conversion rates drop.  CAC climbs. The execution isn't the problem. The pattern across B2B companies that scale: They build the foundation first. They start with economics: → What does a profitable customer look like for your business model? → What's your minimum viable deal size? → What acquisition cost can you sustain at target margins? Then they design the market approach: → Which segment has the strongest buying conditions? → What value makes someone with that budget engage? → How do you differentiate in a way that compounds? Then they engineer the system: → How do leads get qualified and routed? → What creates repeatability as you scale? → Where will execution break under volume? Only then do they execute. Three foundations exist whether you design them or not: 1/ Strategy ↳ Market selection,  ↳ ICP definition,  ↳ Offer design,  ↳ Pricing logic,  ↳ Differentiation. 2/ Planning ↳ Volume targets  ↳ Qualification rule  ↳ Messaging framework  ↳ Routing systems ↳ Feedback loops 3/ Execution ↳ Campaigns  ↳ Content  ↳ Ads ↳ workflows  ↳ testing  ↳ optimization Most B2B marketing fails because teams start with execution. The economics weren't designed to support scale. The offer wasn't built for the market. The infrastructure can't handle growth. Build the foundation first. Strategy, then planning, then execution. Repost this if you know a team skipping the foundation. Follow Enzo Carasso 🧲 for more on B2B systems built to scale.

Harsh truth: The B2B marketing playbook that worked even 4 years ago is already outdated. I've led marketing at multiple B2B startups. Here's how I'd do it differently today: 1. Invest early and heavily in product marketing Tight ICP definition, focused positioning, and solid GTM strategy are foundational. 2. Weekly customer research Constant feedback loop to inform and tweak foundations. 3. Focus on selling before PLG Find selling to find product/market fit before launching a product-led growth motion (if at all). 4. Hire smart, not big Core team + trusted freelancers, fractionals, and agencies instead of bloated in-house teams. 5. Leverage AI strategically Speed up content creation and data analysis without replacing human insight. 6. Build personal brands Focus on founders' and SMEs' social media presence for authentic connection. 7. Prioritize video and personality Less focus on traditional blog posts and SEO, more on engaging, personal content. 8. Align on marketing's role Help executives understand marketing's role in making sales more efficient, not just lead gen. 9. Create premium-quality content Develop marketing content so valuable that people would pay for it. No more shallow fluff. 10. Stack irresistible offers Focus on improving your offers. Combine products and services in ways that make saying "no" foolish. The game has changed. Have you? What would you add to this list? What's missing? #B2BMarketing #StartupMarketing

Here is how a B2B marketing strategy SHOULD look like (and how it actually looks in most B2B companies). 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐁2𝐁 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬: 1. Paid ads promoting product/demo 2. Automated email & LinkedIn outreach 3. Gated e-books to generate "leads" 4. Product pitching webinars 5. AI-generated blog articles. 6. Occasional posts on the company's social pages 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 (based on the State of Full-Funnel Marketing research): -Miserable "lead" to opportunity conversion and endless debates about the quality of the leads - Missed revenue targets - High cost of acquisition - Extended sales cycle Usually, the core problem of these companies is a lack of marketing fundamentals and a clear GTM strategy. 𝐆𝐓𝐌 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁2𝐁 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞: 0. 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬. Goals should be based on your current resources, opportunities, and historical growth, not based on wishes or unrealistic expectations. 1. 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. Segmentation is the first step in developing ICP. Different segments have different use cases, buying processes, and revenue potential. You need to select the focus segment. 2. 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 (𝐈𝐂𝐏). Here are 5 ICP pillars. - Firmographics - Buying committee - Account segmentation (Tiers & Lists) - Qualification and disqualification criteria - Customer research 3. 𝐁𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. During customer research, define what triggers the buying process, and what are the typical steps buyers take. But keep in mind that most customers are not actively buying. Try to figure out what channels they use for education, who they follow, and what content resonates with them and motivates them to learn more about specific solutions (demand triggers). Understand typical questions, concerns, and inhouse approval process. 4. 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. In the AI era, the differentiation, strong narrative, and clear messaging are vital. 5. 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧. Define programs to influence the whole buying process: — Awareness and demand generation. — Demand capturing and activation — Sales and buyer enablement — Retention — Expansion 6. 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 & 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐜𝐲. Last stage is often ignored, but without an efficient CS and advocacy, your company will deal with: - Lack of case studies and referrals - High churn Build a great relationship and minimize time to value with appropriate onboarding. Embed customer research into the CS process. Leverage the opportunity to create case studies and share insights with marketing and sales for further expansion. 7. 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 & 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬. Create a dashboard with key revenue metrics and sales pipeline velocity. Define key leading indicators. Create a blended attribution model to see the impact of marketing.

Still, treating Every Buyer Like They’re in the Same Funnel? The Biggest Marketing Mistake of 2025: Most B2B marketers are still making a fundamental mistake in 2025: They treat all buyers as if they move through the same linear funnel. But here’s the reality: ✔️B2B buying isn’t a single journey. ✔️It’s a collection of micro-journeys happening at different speeds, with different priorities, across multiple personas. Most marketers push a one-size-fits-all narrative. 1. Your CTO prospect isn’t evaluating your product the same way their Director of Ops is. 2. Your CFO isn’t asking the same questions as the end user. 3. Your buying committee isn’t aligned internally, yet most B2B marketing assumes they are. The Problem? Static Messaging in a Dynamic Buying Process. The 2025 Playbook: ABM Content Needs to Follow the Buying Journey. ✔️Vendor-unaware accounts -Thought leadership that educates and helps learn. ✔️Vendor-aware, engaged accounts (unknown product need). -Content that helps sales validate pain points and build trust. ✔️Vendor-aware accounts (validated product need). -Hyper-personalized content that removes objections and accelerates deals. Example from an ABM playbook we ran for an enterprise SaaS client: 1. We ran a LinkedIn + email drip with industry trend reports for cold accounts to establish credibility. 2. For engaged accounts, we used role-specific insights to help SDRs book meetings. 3. We created a custom value calculator for late-stage deals that showed their potential cost savings. ✔️When buyers reach your demo request, they’ve already formed their perception of your brand. ✔️That perception isn’t influenced only by ads. ✔️It’s shaped by what they’ve seen on LinkedIn, heard in podcasts, or discussed in Slack groups. -The best B2B marketers do more than capture demand. -They engineer influence across multiple personas before the buying process even starts.

For years, the B2B startup playbook treated "brand" as a fuzzy concept and "content" as just SEO fodder. In the age of AI, this mindset is not just outdated - it’s a huge missed opportunity. Across our portfolio, the B2B companies breaking out aren't always the ones with the most product features or the most aggressive sales reps. They are the ones who realized they aren't just a software company, they are also a media company. In a world where products are getting commoditized overnight, brand is actually an important moat. Here are a few tactics that I've seen work well when building a B2B brand that matters: ✔️ Own a "conversation," not just a "keyword." Instead of just trying to rank for a specific keyword, aim to become the most trusted voice on a single, important conversation in the industry. As my co-founder Scott Hartley always points out, a team that does this brilliantly is our portfolio company Stitch. Based in South Africa, they're not just selling a payments API, they are relentlessly educating the market on the complexities of African fintech, making them the go-to resource long before a sales conversation ever happens. ✔️ Turn internal expertise into public content. Your company is a goldmine of expertise. Your engineers solve complex problems, your sales team has unique market insights, and your customer support team understands user pain points better than anyone. Build a system to mine this internal knowledge and share it generously with the world. ✔️ Treat content with the same rigor as product. Don't just "do content" - have a content roadmap, test different formats, obsess over quality and distribution, and measure the results. Understand that a great piece of content can be a more valuable, long-lasting asset than any single feature of the software (gasp!) Product and sales are still critical, don't get me wrong, but the playbook is changing for B2B. Successful founders are learning to build trust at scale by investing in their brand from day one 🔥 🔥 🔥