If B2B feels harder lately, it’s because it is. The buying journey isn’t linear, attention is atomised into micro‑moments, and most of your future buyers are making up their minds long before they fill out a form. That reality should reshape how we show up, what we measure, and how we align brand, ABM, and demand into one coherent system.
A recent INFUSE paper does a tidy job of myth‑busting the old GTM reflexes that keep marketing teams busy but not effective. Let’s break down the themes I see most often in B2B Tech – then convert them into practical moves you can deploy this quarter without contradicting the long‑term brand work we’ve been preaching about at Cremarc.
Bottom‑of‑funnel tactics do not make buyers consider your brand
When pipeline gets tight, the reflex is to push more BOFU ads, more CTAs, more meetings booked. The problem with this is that buyers don’t begin at the bottom. They’re shortlisting vendors long before a “request a demo” appears in their vocabulary; in fact, most vendors are chosen before Sales ever gets a look in. That makes early, brand‑led exposure a revenue imperative – not a nice‑to‑have.
Our CEO, Gary and I spoke about this on a recent podcast episode:
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Haq6XvF4QVc
My advice is to instead invest in recognisability across fragmented touchpoints – consistent codes, memory structures, and a simple promise that can be decoded in three seconds. If a prospect only sees a product screenshot in Slack or glances at your booth graphic at speed, they should still know it’s you. Build for pattern recognition first; narrative comes later. Buyers now compound your proposition over multiple touchpoints so make sure this is feasible with consistency and distinctiveness.
The INFUSE report shows that 95% of buyers shortlist vendors before engaging Sales, meaning late‑stage tactics alone cannot generate true consideration.
Buyers aren’t starting from scratch
People bring prior beliefs, biases, and shortcuts to the table. By the time intent spikes, the game is often already won or lost in the brand’s absence. INFUSE frames this as a shift from demand capture to buyer‑led GTM – owning the journey before signals appear.
This requires B2B marketers to orchestrate brand, ABM, and demand under one measurement spine. Treat brand as the upstream force that increases ABM match rates, improves paid efficiency, and raises conversion on in‑market plays. If your dashboards only light up once an MQL appears, you’re measuring the tip of the iceberg and calling it the ocean.
According to the INFUSE report, 4 out of 5 vendors are chosen on “day one” of the buying journey, proving that buyers bring pre‑existing preferences rather than starting clean.
You need to win more than one decision‑maker
In 2026, buying groups are big, cautious, and allergic to risk. Internal indecision – not competitor brilliance – kills more deals than we admit. If your motion doesn’t build confidence across the group, you’ll stall. That means building brand amongst a full buying committee within your ICPs is more important than targeting only the A+ customer.
Map your messaging to roles across the group – the implementor/user who wants activation clarity, the budget owner who needs risk mitigation, the security stakeholder who needs proof of compliance, and the exec who cares about business outcomes. Then run creative that accumulates confidence, not one hero asset expected to convert the whole room in a single touch.
The report highlights that B2B buying groups now average 11+ stakeholders, making group‑level confidence – not single‑contact persuasion – the real determinant of deal velocity.
New campaign will not impact this quarter’s number
We all want the tidy slide where a shiny campaign lands in Q2 and fixes Q2. Real life doesn’t comply. Category entry point association is built over months; distinctiveness compounds gradually; buyer confidence accrues as a series of credible but fleeting moments. Expecting a net‑new business campaign to transform an in‑quarter target is a planning error, not a creative one.
Split your targets into now and next. Now‑revenue is driven by in‑market conversion plays (retargeted high‑intent pages, partner co‑motion, timeline‑anchored outbound). Next‑revenue is driven by consistent brand codes, memory structures, and content that answers the questions a nervous buying group will ask three quarters from now. Measure each on its own terms.
INFUSE’s report explains that elongated buying cycles and high indecision mean most stalled deals stem from internal buyer hesitation, not campaign timing, reducing the likelihood of immediate in‑quarter impact.
One touchpoint, no matter how big, will not convert the whole buying group
If your conversion math requires a miracle, it isn’t a strategy. One‑and‑done touches rarely move multi‑stakeholder groups dealing with FOMU – the fear of messing up. You need repetition, salience, and social proof that lowers perceived risk. Will all the B2B buyers in your target buying committee put their job on the line after one touchpoint?! Of course they won’t, and that’s the reality of B2B marketing.
Our CEO, Gary and I touched on this topic on a recent episode of the podcast too – discussing how risky B2B purchases actually are on individual careers and why this risk makes B2B buyers much more cautious than B2B buyers:
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3pf2bIyWUnQ
Design multi‑moment marketing programmes. Start with discoverability assets that are recognisable at a glance, follow with de‑risking proof (third‑party validation, implementation blueprints) to reduce the purchase friction, and then don’t set your sales hounds on them to attack and get a meeting booked. Success looks like a rising engagement rate from intent‑timed outbound and an uplift in “brand was on our initial shortlist” during win‑loss interviews – not just cheaper CPLs. If your approach is to let your salespeople attack MQL’s you’ll only put buyers off. Do your bit, sustain your bit, and then let them do theirs.
With larger, risk‑averse buying groups and lengthier decision cycles, the INFUSE report shows that single‑touch conversion is unrealistic in a market defined by FOMU (fear of messing up). This is a good one to remember when reporting on the success of your marketing activity to the board.
How to Put Buyer‑Led GTM to Work
Codify your brand for the fragmented feed
Build (or refresh) your distinctive assets – colour, shape, tagline, UI motifs. Stress‑test them in three‑second exposures – LinkedIn scrollers, pre‑roll, booth panels, partner slides. If it’s not spottable, it’s forgettable.
Unify brand, ABM, and demand capture under one operating model
Use brand to earn recognition, ABM to focus on and engage the right accounts, and demand capture to convert declared intent – measured as one system. At Cremarc we’ve consistently argued for this holistic model because fragmented execution without a shared spine just feeds platform metrics, not revenue. And profitable revenue growth should be the only thing you care about as a marketer.
Switch from platform KPIs to progress indicators
If the number only rises when the platform’s algorithm smiles, it’s not a business metric. Track the % of opportunities where you were on the day‑one shortlist, buying‑group engagement coverage by role, and timeline‑anchored outbound engagement rates. Then connect those to Opportunity generation and win rates.
Create content to build confidence, not clicks
Across the journey, pair distinctiveness (be remembered) with de‑risking (be chosen):
- Early: category entry point association, short form proof of value
- Mid: implementation plans, security & compliance answers, reality checks
- Late: ROI cases, references, integration demos, next step pathways to remove uncertainty
This is the buyer‑enablement spine that reduces internal indecision.
Time outbound to buyer milestones, not activity quotas
Intent‑timed outreach with a relevant timeline hook (renewals, regulatory cycles, budget gates) consistently outperforms generic problem‑pitching. Coordinate Marketing & Sales to share data and own one pipeline number. Marketing & Sales should be one cohesive function!
The Payoff from this buyer-led GTM approach
The goal isn’t to “do more marketing.” It’s to become the obvious, low‑risk choice before the buying moment. That takes brand codes people can spot in a heartbeat, discipline to focus on where you can win, engagement or recall from a widening buying committee, and demand capture plays hooked to buyer timelines and not your internal targets.
To read the full debunking B2B myths report from INFUSE, click here.
