Many companies wonder why their marketing strategies are failing them. They face very low conversion rates and very high cost per lead values, and they can’t figure out why. Often, they are also losing deals to other competitors and need help understanding why they are being beaten on deals that they are fully qualified to win.
When it comes down to it, these clients are not doing anything wrong. Their marketing works. BUT they are only targeting a very small percentage of their prospective audience. The percentage that is toughest to close.
A large portion of B2B marketing is built around capturing people who are already looking to buy. These are the buyers actively searching for solutions, comparing vendors, and preparing to make a decision. They are important, but they represent a very small portion of the total market at any given time. Many studies estimate that only about 3% to 5% of your market is actively in a buying window at any given time, but the competition for those buyers is fierce, and many times, they have already all but made a decision, and you aren’t it.
As a B2B marketer, I talk with these clients daily about their marketing. That is what I do at Zipline. I help companies develop strategies to reach their ideal customers. As a result, I am on the front end of our business development efforts and discovered these consistent pain points in our conversations—pain points that we’re going to address today.
Here’s how you can discover if you’re only targeting 3% of your customers and what you can do to maximize that number.
The Market Most Companies Never Reach
When you step back, the total addressable market looks very different.
At the bottom, you have that 3% to 5% who are actively looking. Just above that is a larger group, often around 15% to 20%, are customers who are solution-aware. They are researching options and evaluating different approaches. Another 20% or so are problem-aware. They know something is not working, but they are not yet searching for a solution.
Then there is the majority of the market, often 50% to 60%, who are not engaged, or not shopping, yet…
Those 50-60% aren’t ignoring you. They are focused on something else until you or a competitor makes them think differently.
The truth is, most marketing never reaches these groups. It shows up much later, at the point where someone is clearly in-market, which is also where competition is highest. That is where everyone is focused.
| Funnel | Classification | B2B Targeting Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Top (50%-60%) | Unaware: Focused on something else and not aware of the problem | Most B2B Marketing never reaches them. |
| Top-Middle (20%) | Problem-Aware: Knows something isn’t working, but is not yet actively searching for a solution | |
| Bottom-Middle (15%-20%) | Solution-Aware: Actively searching for options and different approaches | |
| Bottom (3%-5%) | Product-Aware: Already has 1-2 vendors in mind | Most B2B marketers are competing and focusing here. |
What This Means for Your Funnel
If you map these groups to a traditional funnel, the problem is pretty obvious.
The top of the funnel is the largest portion of your market. These are people who are not actively looking. They need perspective and awareness before they ever enter a buying process. Getting them over the finish line takes a lot of work, but few are working on solving that problem, so competition is light.
The middle of the funnel includes people who are starting to engage. They are exploring, researching, and trying to understand what is actually happening and what their options might be. Marketing from a competitor may have gotten them to look and explore possibilities, or their problem may have become more acute.
The bottom of the funnel is where active buyers compare vendors and make decisions. In B2B, by this stage, they are often product-aware. They have one or two companies that are already favorites because they influenced the buy in the middle or top of the funnel, and the buyer is now doing some due diligence before taking action.
Most companies build heavily for the bottom of the funnel. That is where intent is highest. That seems logical, but with B2B buyers, that is where influence is lowest.
| Funnel | Classification | Interest vs. Influence |
|---|---|---|
| Top (50%-60%) | Unaware: Focused on something else and not aware of the problem |
Interest: Low, making B2B sales difficult to close immediately. Influence: High potential to influence their buying journey |
| Top-Middle (20%) | Problem-Aware: Knows something isn’t working, but is not yet actively searching for a solution | |
| Bottom-Middle (15%-20%) | Solution-Aware: Actively searching for options and different approaches | |
| Bottom (3%-5%) | Product-Aware: Already has 1-2 vendors in mind |
Interest: Interest is high in this part of the funnel, so it makes sense to target them. Influence: Low, as they have mostly made up their minds. |
Why the 3% of In-Market Customers Are Even Harder to Close in B2B
Closing those in-market buyers is very tough in a B2B sales environment.
By the time someone reaches out, they are not starting from scratch. Research from Demand Gen Report shows that buyers are often between 57% and 70% through their decision process before they ever engage with a vendor. That means more than half of the decision is already shaped before your sales team enters the conversation.
These prospects have been reviewing content, reading articles, watching videos, and evaluating websites for quite some time. There have likely been internal team meetings, conversations, emails, and more that have taken place before you even knew these prospects existed. If those articles, content, and videos come from your competitors, you are already at a significant disadvantage.
Don’t take my word for it. The data is undeniable.
According to Corporate Visions, 92% of buyers start with at least one vendor already in mind. Most have already built and ranked a shortlist before they ever speak with sales, and the vendor they rank first wins the majority of the time.
This is the world we market in. Knowing this should reshape how you think about B2B lead generation. By the time someone fills out a form or books a call, they are often done evaluating broadly. They are validating a direction they have already been moving toward. They already have a pretty clear picture of what they want to do. They are simply validating their decisions.
Buyers Do Most of the Work Before You Ever Hear From Them
B2B buyers are highly self-directed. In most cases, they are doing a significant amount of shopping and research before they fill out a form or pick up the phone.
Research shows buyers typically consume around 10 to 13 pieces of content before they ever reach out about a product or service. Data from WBR Research indicates that 90% of buyers say online content plays a meaningful role in their decision process. Additional studies show that a majority of buyers define their requirements before ever speaking with a vendor.Â
They are not waiting for sales to guide them. They are forming their own point of view. They are educating themselves. They are learning, reading reviews, evaluating options, and figuring out what they need so they can make educated decisions. They are also covering their own butt. Often, in B2B, folks are spending serious money on the products and services they are buying. They have to get it right. Their job and reputation are on the line. There is a big difference between spending millions of dollars on equipment and buying a t-shirt.
You Are Likely Competing Too Late
This is what makes a bottom-of-funnel-only strategy difficult in the B2B world.
You are not just competing in a crowded environment. You are entering the process late, often after key decisions are made.Â
The buyer already has context. They have seen messaging, consumed content, and developed a perspective on what matters and who stands out. In many cases, they already have a preferred direction, a favorite vendor, an ideal product.
If you were not part of that earlier process, you are trying to influence a decision at the very end of the journey. It is still possible to win, it happens, but it is much harder to do consistently. It is like winning an election against an entrenched incumbent. You really have to stand out to have any hope.
The Other 97% of Your Market
When it comes to B2B, we have found that the market really has a few distinct layers of potential buyers:
- The bottom part of the funnel is the smallest group (3-5%) and is weighing a narrow number of options.
- The bottom-middle group (15-20%) is searching for their options and open to new offers.
- The top-middle group (20%) is problem-aware but not yet actively seeking a solution.
- The top group (50-60%) is the largest and is unaware of the problems that they have.
When we’re evaluating incoming customer campaigns, it is clear to see that most of their marketing never reaches these groups. Most B2B companies are focused solely on that 3-5%, leaving much of the market open for the taking.
| Funnel | Classification | B2B Targeting Marketing | Interest vs. Influence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top (50%-60%) | Unaware | Most B2B Marketing never reaches them. | Low Interest, High Influence on Buying Decision |
| Top-Middle (20%) | Problem-Aware | ||
| Bottom-Middle (15%-20%) | Solution-Aware | ||
| Bottom (3%-5%) | Product-Aware | Most B2B marketers are competing and focusing here. | High Interest, Low Influence on Buying Decision |
How This Actually Looks from a Marketing Perspective
If you are still with me, this is probably resonating. The question is, how do we do it? How do we reach those other areas of the funnel?
If you are going to reach beyond that 3% to 5%, you need to build marketing that aligns with each stage of the funnel. That does not mean doing everything at once, but it does mean being intentional about who you are trying to reach and what they need to see.
Bottom of Funnel: Ready to Buy
At the bottom of the funnel, most companies are already doing a decent job.
- This is where your service pages, pricing pages, demos, and conversion-focused landing pages live. Paid search campaigns targeting high-intent keywords also fall into this category. These are all designed to capture people who are actively looking. This is important work, but it is also where competition is highest, and differentiation is hardest.
Middle of the Funnel: Researching Options
For buyers who are researching, your job is to help them evaluate.
- This is where content like comparison pages, case studies, and strategy breakdowns are invaluable. Articles that walk through different approaches, explain tradeoffs, or show real outcomes can have a big impact at this point in the decision-making process. On the paid side, this is where you might run campaigns promoting a case study, a guide, or a webinar that helps someone better understand their options. Platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and even targeted display can work well in this phase because you are not waiting for someone to search. You are helping shape how they think, which is critically important if you want to win.
Middle of Funnel: Problem Aware
Above that, you have the problem-aware audience.
- These are often some of the most valuable opportunities because they are closer to action than they realize, but no one has helped them connect the dots yet. This is where content that explains why something is happening tends to perform well. Articles like "Why Your Pipeline Feels Inconsistent" or "Why Your Website Is Not Converting" speak directly to what they are experiencing. Short videos, email content, and even social posts that highlight common issues or patterns can start to pull people into the funnel. Paid campaigns here are less about conversion and more about engagement, getting someone to stop, think, and recognize that what they are dealing with has a cause and a solution. The problem with this very article you are reading fits well at this point in the funnel.
Top of the Funnel: Not Problem Aware
At the top of the funnel, you are dealing with people who are not actively looking at all.
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At the top of the funnel, you are dealing with people who are not actively looking at all. This is where most companies do very little, but it is also where some of the biggest long-term gains can be made. This is where thought leadership lives. Industry insights, strong points of view, and content that challenges how people think about their business can introduce problems they have not fully considered. This could be a LinkedIn post that reframes how companies think about their website, a newsletter that highlights shifts in buyer behavior, or a video that walks through how AI is changing visibility online. These are not direct lead drivers in most cases, but they build familiarity and trust long before someone enters a buying cycle.
The mediums matter here as well. Search is great for capturing demand, but it does very little to create it. If you want to reach people earlier, you have to go where they are spending time. That might be LinkedIn, YouTube, industry publications, email, or even direct outreach. You don’t want to interrupt, but you do want to show up with something useful or interesting enough to earn attention.
| Funnel | Classification | B2B Marketing Approaches | B2B Marketing Intent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top (50%-60%) | Unaware | Industry insights + Content that challenges and highlights problems not yet considered | Biggest long-term gains are made by positioning your organization as the thought leader for the product/service you provide |
| Top-Middle (20%) | Problem-Aware | Content that highlights common issues or patterns + Paid campaigns focused on engagement | You are pulling people into the funnel |
| Bottom-Middle (15%-20%) | Solution-Aware | Comparison pages + Case studies + Strategy breakdowns + Articles comparing approaches and pros and cons | You’re guiding them on how they think |
| Bottom (3%-5%) | Product-Aware | Service pages + Pricing pages + Demos + Conversion-focused landing pages + Paid search targeting high-intent keywords | Competition is highest + Most challenging to stand out |
- Each of these providers offers different strengths and levels of data granularity, so the best choice often depends on your specific business needs, such as targeting specific tech stacks, obtaining buying intent signals or integrating with existing CRM systems.
Think About Your B2B Marketing Differently
If you step back and look at your current efforts, most companies find that the majority of their time, budget, and energy is focused on that bottom layer. That isn’t a bad approach, but it is leaving behind a large swath of the market.
On top of that, it is making your job harder as a marketer, constantly having to compete for a very small number of leads. It is also making your sales team’s job really hard. They have to work like crazy to close the leads you send them, and they’re probably griping constantly about low-quality, unqualified leads from marketing.Â
The reality is, buyers do not start at the bottom of the funnel. They work their way there over time. They read, research, form opinions, and begin making decisions long before they take real action.
By the time someone fills out a form or books a call, the decision-making process is not starting. It’s finishing.
If your brand, your content, and your perspective were not part of that team reaching this point in the journey, you are stepping into a conversation that has already been shaped by someone else, likely your toughest competitor. They are already sold on another solution. You don’t just have to sell them your product or service. You have to talk them out of something they already feel strongly about. Something they already want to buy. That makes your sales team work far harder than they should have to!
At the end of the day, this is why so many B2B companies feel like they are competing harder than they should be. Why leads are junk. Why marketing is useless. The problem is, they are selling to leads that have already been sold. They are showing up in the 9th inning, down by 3 runs. Victory is possible, but it is certainly not assured.Â
I encourage you to really start thinking about your marketing from a full funnel perspective. Don’t limit yourself to the same 3% to 5% of buyers who are ready today that every competitor is vying for. Put some effort into reaching the market earlier, help them understand the problem, and shape how they think about the solution.
That takes a different mindset. It takes patience. It takes a willingness to invest in content and channels that do not always produce immediate leads. This is not an overnight solution, but it is the way that your company goes from a trickling pipeline of hard-to-close leads to a constant flow of qualified, engaged, high-quality prospects.Â
It is much easier to win when you have a significant head start.
Need help reaching buyers and shaping their decisions before your competitors do?
