Successfully marketing in a B2B environment with a long sales cycle requires a strategic shift from a purely bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) approach to a comprehensive, full-funnel model. The primary goal is to build awareness and generate a steady stream of nurtured leads, rather than focusing solely on immediate demo requests. This involves creating distinct strategies for Top-of-Funnel (TOFU), Middle-of-Funnel (MOFU), and Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU) stages, each with its own content, objectives, and key performance indicators (KPIs). By capturing user interest early, nurturing them with valuable content, and using targeted retargeting, we can create a stickier brand experience and guide prospects effectively toward a sales conversation when they are truly ready.
For our audience, the top of the funnel is defined by broad awareness and educational intent. This stage is for prospects who are just beginning to research a problem and may not even know a solution like ours exists. They are using informational search queries like 'what is MDR' or 'MDR versus SOC'. Our goal at this stage is not to ask for a conversion, but to make them aware of our brand and expertise. We aim to capture their attention and draw them to our content so we can engage them further down the line.
The middle of the funnel is where prospects have identified their problem and are actively looking for solutions. This is our opportunity to capture their information and begin a nurturing process. We define this stage by the exchange of contact information for a valuable asset. These prospects are funneled to lead magnets such as ebooks, white papers, or analyst reports like the Forrester Wave™. On LinkedIn, this is where we deploy document ads with lead generation forms to get contacts directly into our CRM for nurturing.
The bottom of the funnel is for high-intent prospects who are ready to evaluate vendors. Their search queries are commercial, such as 'MDR providers' or 'cybersecurity skills training platform'. This stage also includes users who search directly for our brand name. The primary goal here is to drive a direct sales action. The content is our product and service pages, and the call-to-action (CTA) is a demo request. These are the users we expect to convert into qualified opportunities for the sales team.
At the top of the funnel, content should be purely educational and designed to attract a wide audience without an immediate sales pitch. The goal is brand awareness and initial engagement. Effective content types include:
In the middle of the funnel, the content becomes more in-depth, gated behind a form to capture lead information. This is where we offer substantial value in exchange for contact details. The most effective formats are:
At the bottom of the funnel, the content is explicitly product-focused and designed to drive a conversion. The user has high intent, and the content should make it easy for them to take the next step. This includes:
Yes, aligning LinkedIn ad objectives with the prospect's stage in the funnel is critical for an efficient and effective strategy. Each stage has a different goal, and the ad objective should reflect that.
For the awareness stage, the primary goal is to introduce our brand and content to a broad but relevant audience. While not explicitly detailed in discussions, the logical objectives would be Brand Awareness to maximize reach and recall, or Website Traffic to drive users to educational blog posts or informational pages. The focus is on getting in front of our Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and making them familiar with our name and expertise, not on generating immediate leads.
This is our most proven and effective stage on LinkedIn. The objective should be Lead Generation. Using LinkedIn's native Lead Gen Forms paired with Document Ads has been our best-performing tactic. This approach allows us to capture contact information directly within the LinkedIn platform in exchange for high-value content like ebooks, white papers, or analyst reports. This minimizes friction for the user and reliably feeds new contacts into our CRM for nurturing.
At the bottom of the funnel, the goal is to drive high-intent actions, primarily demo requests. The appropriate objective here is Website Conversions. These campaigns should target a much warmer audience, such as those who have been nurtured or are on a specific retargeting list. The ad creative and copy should be direct, with a clear call-to-action like 'Book a Demo' or 'Talk to an Expert,' sending users to a dedicated landing page designed to convert.
Moving prospects from the top of the funnel (TOFU), where they are just becoming aware of us, to the middle (MOFU), where they are willing to provide contact information, is a critical transition that relies on a deliberate nurturing and retargeting strategy. The process is not about pushing for an immediate conversion but about building familiarity and demonstrating value over time.
The first step is to identify users who show interest at the TOFU stage. We do this by driving traffic to our educational content (like blog posts or technical pages) and then tracking engagement. We use 'micro-conversions' as indicators of interest. These aren't form fills, but rather behavioral signals such as:
These actions help us build an audience pool of users who have found our initial content valuable.
Once we have this audience of engaged, anonymous users, we use retargeting to bring them back. The strategy is to 'keep our brand in their face.' We can run retargeting campaigns on platforms like Google Display and LinkedIn, serving them ads for our MOFU content. For example, a user who read a blog post about emerging cyber threats could be retargeted with an ad to download a comprehensive white paper on the same topic. The goal of the retargeting ad is to offer a higher-value, gated asset that justifies asking for their email address, thus moving them officially into the middle funnel and our CRM system.
A successful nurture sequence for a lead who has downloaded a Top-of-Funnel (TOFU) asset, like a buyer's guide or an ebook, is a multi-stage process designed to move them progressively down the funnel toward a sales-ready state. The key is to avoid an immediate, aggressive sales pitch and instead build a relationship through sustained, valuable engagement.
Based on internal discussions, a successful sequence is not a single follow-up but a thoughtful, multi-touch journey. The framework for this involves:
Immediately after the download, the lead enters our CRM. They should receive the asset they requested, but the nurturing doesn't stop there. The initial communications should offer additional, related content without a hard sell. For example, if they downloaded an ebook, the follow-up could point them to a relevant blog post or a short video on a similar topic.
A truly effective nurture plan involves multiple stages. An ideal structure might involve five to six distinct touchpoints. This could be a series of automated emails or a LinkedIn retargeting campaign that presents different messaging and assets over time. The sequence could look like this:
The sequence must be coordinated with sales. A lead from a target account list who downloads an asset might be scored differently and trigger an earlier, more personalized outreach. The goal is to warm up the prospect so that when sales do engage, the lead is more receptive, leading to a higher response rate for InMails and connection requests.
Ultimately, the goal of the nurture sequence is to guide the lead to a higher score and a state where they are ready and willing to sign up for a demo, rather than feeling forced into it.
No, it is generally not a good idea. The consensus from our strategic discussions is that pushing for a demo request immediately after a single top-of-funnel (TOFU) interaction is premature and often counterproductive. Prospects at this stage are typically engaging with informational keywords (e.g., 'what is MDR') and are not yet in a buying mindset. Forcing a bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) action on them can be alienating.
The strategy should be to nurture, not rush. After a TOFU interaction, the prospect should be entered into a retargeting sequence that offers more value, such as a white paper, an ebook, or a webinar. A more appropriate CTA at this stage would be a softer ask, like 'Learn More' or 'Download the Guide.' Only after multiple touchpoints and demonstrated engagement should we introduce a demo request ad. This ensures we're asking for the right action at the right time, leading to higher quality leads and a better user journey.
Allocating budget across the marketing funnel is a strategic decision that is shifting from a primarily bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) focus to a more balanced, full-funnel approach. The goal is to ensure we are not only capturing existing demand but also creating and nurturing future demand. While specific percentages are still being defined, the allocation strategy is based on creating separate, dedicated campaigns and budgets for each funnel stage.
The core principle is to structure campaigns by intent and funnel stage, each with its own budget. For example, the proposed MDR campaign structure includes:
This separation allows us to control spend based on the specific goals of each stage—for instance, funding awareness-building clicks at TOFU without taking away from high-conversion-rate spend at BOFU.
Budget allocation is also influenced by geography and platform. To ensure adequate coverage in all target regions (e.g., NA, UKI, EMEA), separate campaigns with dedicated budgets are necessary. A single global campaign with a limited budget would likely result in spend being concentrated in the highest-volume region (like North America) at the expense of others. Similarly, testing new platforms involves a specific budget allocation, such as the proposal to dedicate $1,000 monthly from the Google Ads budget to test Microsoft Ads.
Ultimately, the strategy is to model what successful competitors do: focus on a full top-to-bottom funnel for key topics and allocate budget accordingly, rather than spreading it thinly across many disparate BOFU efforts.
Measuring success requires using different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each stage of the funnel, as the objective of each stage is unique. Judging a top-of-funnel campaign by bottom-of-funnel metrics like sales will lead to incorrect conclusions and poor strategic decisions.
At this stage, the goal is awareness and engagement, not direct conversion. Success is measured by how well we capture attention and generate interest. The primary KPIs are:
Here, the objective is to convert an anonymous visitor into a known contact in our CRM. The KPIs are focused on lead acquisition:
At the bottom of the funnel, we measure actions that directly contribute to the sales pipeline. The KPIs are tied to revenue and sales-readiness:
While the 'Prove, Improve, Be Ready' messaging framework has been discussed primarily in the context of customer upsell and expansion, it can be logically adapted to guide new prospects through the TOFU/MOFU/BOFU funnel. Each pillar aligns with a different stage of the buyer's journey, helping to structure our content and messaging.
The 'Be Ready' message fits naturally at the top of the funnel, where the goal is to build awareness around a problem or threat. Content under this pillar would focus on educating prospects about why they need to be prepared. For example, a campaign centered on a threat like 'Scattered Spider' would use 'Be Ready' messaging to capture the attention of prospects who are just starting to understand their organization's vulnerability.
Once a prospect understands the need to be ready, the next logical step is to 'Improve' their capabilities. This aligns perfectly with the middle of the funnel, where we offer solutions and educational content in exchange for contact information. Content for this stage could include ebooks on building a security culture, webinars on specific upskilling techniques, or case studies showing how other companies have improved their teams' skills using our labs and ranges.
The 'Prove' pillar corresponds to the bottom of the funnel, where a prospect is ready to evaluate vendors and make a decision. This messaging is about demonstrating and validating capabilities. Content at this stage would include crisis simulations, information about cyber ranges, and ultimately, the call-to-action to book a demo to 'prove' the value of our platform for their organization. This is where we show them how they can prove their team's readiness and ROI to their leadership.
Based on our strategic discussions and performance analysis, campaigns should always be separate and tailored to a specific funnel stage. Attempting to make a single campaign serve multiple stages leads to inefficiencies, diluted messaging, and poor results. The user intent, appropriate keywords, and desired outcomes are fundamentally different at each stage.
Our experience with underperforming generic and competitor campaigns has reinforced this principle. The path forward is to build a structured account with distinct campaigns for TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU to align our efforts with user intent and maximize ROI.
Creating a seamless user journey is the central goal of our shift to a full-funnel strategy. It involves guiding a prospect from their first point of contact to a sales conversation through a series of connected, logical steps, rather than disjointed interactions. This requires tight alignment between our campaigns, content, and follow-up processes.
The journey begins by meeting users where they are. We use Top-of-Funnel (TOFU) campaigns with informational content (like buyer's guides) to engage users with low-intent, educational queries. For high-intent users searching for vendors, we use Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU) ads that lead directly to product pages or demo requests. This ensures the first touchpoint is relevant to their immediate need.
A user who engages with TOFU content but doesn't convert is not a lost cause. We create a seamless journey by retargeting them. By tracking 'micro-conversions' (e.g., multiple page visits), we identify engaged prospects and serve them ads for Middle-of-Funnel (MOFU) content, like an ebook or webinar. This nurtures their interest and moves them into our CRM once they provide their contact information.
A seamless journey depends on consistent messaging. We are moving away from using the 'Request a Demo' call-to-action (CTA) everywhere. Instead, the CTA will match the funnel stage—from 'Learn More' at the top, to 'Download the Ebook' in the middle, to 'Book a Demo' at the bottom. This creates a better user experience and avoids asking for too much commitment too soon.
Finally, the journey must extend beyond paid ads. Our paid campaigns need to be aligned with the demand generation team's email nurture sequences and sales outreach cadences. This creates a full, omnichannel approach where the user receives a consistent and relevant experience across all touchpoints, guiding them smoothly toward becoming a qualified opportunity.
The strategic shift away from a purely bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) focus involves a deliberate and structured build-out of our top-of-funnel (TOFU) and middle-of-funnel (MOFU) activities. This transition is essential for creating a sustainable pipeline, as it allows us to generate and nurture new demand rather than just capturing existing high-intent searchers. The plan involves several key initiatives.
We will create new search campaigns specifically targeting broad, informational keywords. For example, instead of only bidding on 'MDR providers' (BOFU), we will launch campaigns for terms like 'what is MDR' (TOFU). The goal of these campaigns is not immediate conversions but to attract a wider audience, educate them, and add them to our retargeting pools. The primary KPI for this will be clicks and engagement metrics, not form fills.
We will increase our use of lead magnets to capture contacts. This involves:
To justify the investment in upper-funnel activities, we will implement more sophisticated tracking. This includes setting up 'micro-conversions' or secondary events in Google Analytics (e.g., time on site, pages per visit). These metrics will help us measure the engagement value of TOFU/MOFU campaigns, even when they don't lead to an immediate demo request.
Capturing leads at the top and middle of the funnel is only the first step. We will develop and implement formal nurture sequences to move these contacts down the funnel. This involves retargeting leads with progressively more product-focused content, with the ultimate goal of guiding them toward a demo when they are ready.
