The Event Marketing Funnel: A 7-Stage B2B Model

Level up your marketing game with a solid understanding of your marketing funnel. "Head of Demand Gen" at one company is "Director of Growth Marketing" at another. Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that lets you research the queries people type into Google. Semrush’s digital marketing toolkit provides the data you need to understand your audience and optimize your strategy—every step of the way. That’s why many marketers use Semrush to build a marketing strategy. Building a marketing funnel involves more than drawing stages.

• Steady-state pipeline performance is typically reached at the day mark, once target accounts have accumulated 5-7 ad impressions and engagement signals.
• What is a realistic quote-to-bind rate for a digital auto insurtech in 2026?
• If you’re only planning in quarters, you’re leaving long-term value on the table.
• Case studies may show how effective your offer is likely to be.

If you’re interested in sending direct mail but don’t have a physical location, you can incorporate QR codes or personalized URLs to allow a consumer to access discounts and promotions online. By employing audience segments and personalizing content and messaging, marketers can employ the most engaging and relevant experience to potential customers. This misses the “messy middle,” where people spend most of their time listening and researching, not ready to purchase but wanting to better understand their choices. Yet, as marketers, we often frame generating demand as a simple resource trade-off between brand and performance marketing.

That takes development of thought leadership content and a need to encourage and coach content creators from across the organization beyond the immediate mid funnel marketing control of marketing. Generating topic authority will rarely be considered across the breadth of content that a company creates for external consumption. Yet, for many brands, their website is primarily a sales tool, prioritizing product descriptions and ecommerce.

Marketing industry trend #6: Long-term brand impact is compounding

In the middle of the funnel, you’re trying to build trust with users and further educate them on why they should consider buying. At different parts of the funnel, you’ll want to focus on different metrics to track success. To measure influencer marketing performance, look beyond vanity metrics to evaluate conversions and ROI. This full-funnel approach makes sure your creator strategy isn’t just reaching people, but driving them to act and converting them into paying customers. This way, your creators can do more than just drive awareness.

That’s why a full-funnel strategy must include a plan to move people from “rented reach” on platforms to “owned audiences” that you control. Most creators rely heavily on platforms for their growth. By funneling through YouTube, creators turn views into real paying people rather than just chasing viral numbers. YouTube, for example, is an excellent full-funnel example of how creators are using the platform to get engaged viewers to join a paid membership or subscription.

Today, you can connect CRM data, attribute revenue to specific campaigns and forecast performance before you even launch, all of which we’ll cover below. In turn, this strengthens publisher content and their role as creators and providers of information and quality journalism. At MiQ, we’re seeing brands prioritise a unified view of how people are watching, browsing and buying. The most progressive marketers are building brands and strengthening real customer relationships, without compromising on the expectation that every pound spent should deliver a measurable impact. For marketers, the instinct is to double down on conversion to drive revenue but when the buying journey stretches, that only addresses part of the problem. Ultimately, as many studies over the years have proved, the brands that keep their foot on the gas during the hard times are the ones that emerge with a massive lead once the dust settles.

Build your funnel: 5 steps to get started

Segmenting your audience means targeting your marketing efforts at different groups of people. For example, let’s say that you work for a company selling safety equipment to construction workers. The main aim of MOF marketing is to connect with your potential customers on a personal level. Most consumers are pretty savvy and will respond much more positively to content that genuinely helps them to make the right decision. The main element of middle-of-funnel marketing involves creating content that speaks to your potential customers.

Your marketing focuses on moving them from passive interest to active evaluation. There are many metrics marketers can use to determine the success of a mid-funnel campaign. Lead nurturing is the process of guiding leads further down the sales funnel. Case studies, blog posts, news articles, and webinars are all great assets for this stage. Consideration stage content should be focused on educating prospects and showcasing the value of your company.