5 Strategic Must-Haves for B2B Marketing That Actually Drive Growth

Posted by Anya Sleezer << back to blog

Last Updated on July 11, 2025

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Know Your Audience Inside and Out
3. Build Trust Before You Sell
4. Align Sales and Marketing
5. Invest in Brand for Long-Term Wins
6. Create Content That Solves Problems
7. Frequently Asked Questions
8. Final Thoughts and Call to Action

For mid-sized businesses looking to scale, your marketing strategy shouldn’t just look good—it needs to perform.

Whether you’re aiming to win bigger clients, expand into new markets, or shorten your sales cycle, your business-to-business marketing efforts must do the heavy lifting. After 20+ years of running B2B campaigns, one thing is clear: effective marketing isn’t optional—it’s a growth engine.

So how do you make sure your B2B marketing strategy is working hard enough to move the needle? Below are five non-negotiables that should shape every strategic conversation.

Key Takeaways

Understand your ideal buyer inside and out.
Build trust by positioning your brand as a reliable expert.
Align marketing and sales for a seamless customer experience.
Don’t just chase leads—invest in long-term brand visibility.
Use educational content to guide the buyer’s journey and close faster.

Know Your Audience Inside and Out

The most effective B2B marketing strategies begin with a clear picture of who you’re targeting. This means understanding the structure, pain points, goals, and decision process of the specific types of businesses you want to reach.

Mid-sized companies often have multiple stakeholders involved in buying decisions—sometimes from operations, finance, IT, or marketing. Your message needs to speak to each of those perspectives. Start by building out detailed buyer personas and mapping the typical buying committee. Go beyond demographics and job titles. Understand what motivates your buyers.

What goals are they trying to achieve?
What internal obstacles might slow down their decision?
What language do they use when describing their challenges?

When you can answer these questions, your messaging becomes sharper, your outreach becomes more relevant, and your campaigns get more efficient.

Companies that deeply understand their audiences tend to see stronger engagement, higher conversion rates, and more ideal customers.

Example: Red Maple: Aligns Brand and Strategy
Red Maple, a software development firm, partnered with Levo to better define and connect with their core audiences. We began with a full audit of their marketing efforts, then developed a tailored strategy rooted in buyer personas and audience insights. This informed a full overhaul of their brand, website, advertising, and content—ensuring every touchpoint spoke directly to CFOs and IT leaders.

The Result: We boosted conversions by 394% year-over-year and increased organic traffic by 93%.

Example: Slack’s “The Big Meeting” Campaign
Slack created “The Big Meeting,” a humorous video ad that showcases the ease of communication using their platform. This campaign reflects Slack’s deep understanding of workplace challenges and effectively addresses their target audience’s pain points.

Build Trust Before You Sell

Mid-sized and enterprise-level buyers don’t want to be “sold to.” They want to partner with companies that understand their challenges and can help solve them. That trust-building process starts long before your sales team gets involved.

A key part of B2B marketing is creating content and experiences that build authority. This means investing in thought leadership, publishing insights your audience finds genuinely helpful, and highlighting real-world proof points like case studies, testimonials, and measurable results.

In fact, research shows that 73% of B2B buyers say thought leadership is a more reliable way to evaluate a company’s expertise than traditional product marketing. It’s not about being loud—it’s about being relevant, consistent, and credible.

Everything from your website and content to your sales decks and email templates should reinforce the same message: we understand your world, and we know how to help.

Example: N3 Earns Fortune 500 Trust
When N3 needed to attract top talent while building credibility with their Fortune 500 target audience. We crafted a brand identity, website, marketing materials, and more that reflected their professionalism, unique culture, and company growth.

The Result: Stronger trust signals that supported and boosted their B2B efforts.

Example: McKinsey & Company’s Case Studies
McKinsey publishes detailed case studies demonstrating their successful collaborations with clients. These case studies serve to build credibility and trust with potential clients by showcasing McKinsey’s expertise and proven results.

Align Sales and Marketing

It sounds obvious, but many mid-sized businesses struggle with internal alignment between sales and marketing. One team is focused on building awareness and generating leads, while the other is trying to close deals—but if the handoff between the two is clunky, the whole system suffers.

Sales and marketing should be fully aligned on a few core areas:

Ideal customer profile (ICP)
Lead qualification criteria
Messaging and positioning
Handoff processes and timing
Shared metrics and performance goals

This alignment ensures that the leads marketing generates are sales-ready—and that sales isn’t starting from scratch with every conversation. A buyer who’s seen relevant content, attended a webinar, or read a case study should feel like they’re getting a consistent experience when they finally talk to sales.

When done right, this kind of alignment improves pipeline velocity and strengthens your customer relationships from the start.

Example: Industrial Service Company Empowers Sales Team with a Consistent, Conversion-Focused Toolkit
Levo created a unified marketing system to enable and support this Industrial Service Company’s internal sales team. This included sales decks, ad templates, brochure templates, email templates, case study templates, and more—all crafted to support real conversations and lead nurturing.

The Result: A more consistent buyer experience and stronger sales follow-through.

Example: Microsoft’s B2B Mobile Advertising Strategy
Microsoft developed a mobile campaign to boost awareness and drive demand for the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server among technology decision-makers. This strategy exemplifies the alignment between sales and marketing efforts to effectively reach and engage the target audience.

Read about Microsoft’s Strategy

Invest in Your Brand for Long-Term Wins

Too many companies treat brand building like a luxury—something to do once lead gen is taken care of. But in reality, brand is what drives demand over the long term.

At any given time, research shows that only about 5% of your total addressable market is actively looking to buy. That means the other 95% aren’t in-market yet—but will be in the future. The question is: when they are ready, will they remember you?

That’s the job of brand. It’s about showing up consistently, delivering a clear message, and building awareness over time. Even if a buyer isn’t ready today, your presence in the market makes it more likely they’ll consider you when the time comes.

This doesn’t have to mean flashy campaigns or a complete rebrand. It can be as simple as refining your core messaging, building brand consistency across all platforms, and reinforcing your unique value proposition through regular content and communication.

Brand investment is growth investment.

Example: Red Maple Invests in Branding for Scalable Growth
Red Maple didn’t just need leads—they needed a brand that could grow with them. Levo realigned their identity, launched a bold new site, and created consistent branded content and advertising across all channels.

The Result: A dramatic lift in awareness and qualified traffic, fueling long-term sales growth.

Example: Morning Brew’s Rebranding
Morning Brew rebranded its corporate name to Morning Brew Inc., reflecting its growth beyond its core daily email newsletter. This rebranding effort positions the company for long-term success by encompassing a broader range of products and services.

Create Content That Solves Problems

Your buyers aren’t looking for marketing—they’re looking for solutions. The most effective B2B content strategies center on creating resources that genuinely help decision-makers move forward.

This might mean comparison guides to help buyers weigh options, ROI calculators to justify investment, case studies that show real results, or playbooks that simplify complex problems.

When your content answers real questions and helps buyers do their job better, it earns trust—and shortens your sales cycle.

Avoid generic blog posts or gated PDFs with little value. Every piece of content should serve a purpose in the buyer’s journey. From awareness to decision, make sure your content is clear, relevant, and useful.

And don’t forget about distribution. Great content needs to be seen—so think about where your audience spends time and how you can reach them consistently.

Example: Industrial Service Company Solves Complexity and Shortens Their Sale Cycles
For an industrial client, we created practical tools—like an interactive service map and a streamlined website for their research and technology division—to make complex offerings easy to understand.

The Result: Shorter sales cycles and stronger resources for their team to educate prospects quickly and effectively.

Example: Cisco’s Customer Stories
Cisco produces video testimonials featuring customers discussing how Cisco’s solutions have addressed their specific challenges. These stories provide relatable content that potential clients can learn from and see the practical applications of Cisco’s products.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long does it take to see results from a B2B marketing strategy?
That depends on your sales cycle and industry, but you should expect to see early signals of success within 3–6 months. More sustained results, especially from brand-building efforts, often show up within 6–12 months.

2. Is branding really that important if I just want leads?
Absolutely. While lead generation might deliver short-term results, brand awareness is what keeps your pipeline full over time. The most successful B2B brands combine both.

3. Do we need to be active on every marketing channel?
No. Focus on the platforms that matter to your audience. It’s better to show up consistently in fewer places than to be spread thin across too many.

4. What types of content work best for mid-sized B2B buyers?
Content that helps buyers make informed decisions—like in-depth guides, calculators, demos, and case studies—tends to perform best. Avoid fluff and focus on value.

5. How do we align sales and marketing if they’ve always been separate?
Start with shared goals, regular communication, and a common understanding of your ideal customer. Tools like shared dashboards, CRM, and feedback loops can make a big difference.

Final Thoughts

Mid-sized businesses have a real opportunity to outmaneuver bigger competitors with smarter, more agile marketing. But to do that, you need more than a marketing plan—you need a strategy that connects insight, brand, and execution.

At Levo, we help companies turn marketing into a true growth engine. If you’re ready to sharpen your B2B strategy, elevate your brand, and close more deals with the right customers, we’d love to help.

Talk to a B2B Growth Strategist

Anya Sleezer

Anya Sleezer is the owner of Levo, a full–service marketing agency, focused on helping companies from all industries who are concerned with their marketing results, traffic, branding, advertising, or websites.

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