The most important questions about strategy, SEO, PR, communication, and lead generation.
B2B marketing encompasses all measures with which companies win or develop other companies as customers. The focus is on problem-solving, trust, and expertise. Decision-making processes are more complex and involve multiple stakeholders. Effective B2B marketing relies on professional authority, clear benefits, and long-term relationships.
B2C targets emotional, quick purchase decisions; B2B targets fact-based, low-risk decisions. B2B decision-making processes take an average of 3–6 months and require internal coordination (Forrester, 2024). Additionally, technical expertise plays a greater role than in B2C.
AI automates content creation, lead qualification, research, and segmentation. 86% of B2B buyers use AI tools in the research phase (Optimizely, 2024). AI also influences vendor shortlists and increases efficiency across the entire funnel. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity shape information gathering.
More about AI marketing with EPOS.
Source: Optimizely (2024): “Why 86% of B2B Buyers Prefer AI Tools”
Data enables precise segmentation, better lead quality, and traceable performance tracking. 67% of B2B marketers report that data-driven content delivers significantly better results (CMI, 2024). Analytics makes marketing more measurable – a decisive advantage over traditional approaches.
Source: CMI Manufacturing Research (2024)
Structural visibility describes the permanent, cross-channel presence of a company – independent of paid advertising. It arises from the interplay of earned media (trade press, external citations), owned content (SEO-optimized website, blog articles), and personal media (thought leadership of executives on LinkedIn). Structurally visible companies are found by potential customers before sales becomes active – and more often make it onto the shortlist.
As a guideline: B2B companies invest on average 6–10% of their annual revenue in marketing (Gartner CMO Survey, 2024). For companies in growth phases or with strong competition, 10–15% is realistic. More important than the total budget is the allocation: long-term measures such as content, GEO/SEO, and PR should account for at least 60% of the budget, as they have a sustainable effect and do not end with the advertising budget.
Source: Gartner CMO Spend Survey (2024)
LinkedIn, YouTube, and X/Twitter clearly lead in B2B. LinkedIn offers thought leadership, recruiting, and lead gen. YouTube serves as a knowledge platform for products that require explanation. 41% of B2B buyers prefer self-service research via digital channels (Coveo, 2025).
More about Social Media for B2B companies with EPOS.
Source: Coveo (2025)
The strongest formats are: case studies, how-tos, whitepapers, product comparisons, interviews, checklists, and FAQs. Content marketing generates up to 3× more leads than outbound marketing (Forbes, 2024). Practical content builds trust and increases engagement.
Source: Forbes Advisor Content Marketing Statistics (2024)
Strong B2B brands are based on clear positioning, recognizability, and thought leadership. Companies with pronounced thought leadership achieve 2.5× higher trust scores (G2, 2024). A consistent brand story and technical authority are crucial.
More on Brand Marketing for B2B companies at EPOS.
Also read our magazine article: Why courage for the brand decides over pipeline success
Source: G2 Buyer Behavior Report (2024)
Very important: 54% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase from brands that publicly demonstrate their expertise (LinkedIn/Edelman, 2024). Thought leadership influences trust, shortlisting likelihood, and conversion rates in early stages. Companies with a strong TL strategy achieve significantly higher win rates.
Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute (2024)
PR strengthens credibility, secures high-quality mentions, and improves AI visibility, as LLMs prefer authoritative sources. Editorial mentions significantly boost brand authority.
Read our EPOS B2B PR Guide.
Important are: relevant stories, transparent information, reliable contacts, expertise, and continuous exchange. Technical press prefers clear facts over advertising messages.
AI language models like ChatGPT are trained with content from the internet – and they rely particularly heavily on editorial sources such as trade media, industry portals, and independent studies. Those who are regularly mentioned in these sources build external authority signals that AI systems interpret as evidence of relevance. Strategic B2B PR is therefore not just a reputation tool, but the most direct measure to appear in AI-generated answers.
Find out more about the possibilities of earned media in our projects.
A B2B website must be fast (under 2.5 seconds), clearly structured, and trust-based. Pages with 1-second load times convert up to 3× better than 5-second pages (HubSpot/Portent, 2024). Important elements: value proposition, case studies, clear CTAs, technical SEO.
Sources:
* HubSpot Load Time Study (2024)
* Portent Speed Benchmark (2024)
Tech SEO focuses on technical performance, topical authority, structured data, and high-quality expert content. 72.6% of top-10 rankings use schema markup (Backlinko, 2023). For B2B, search intent is more important than keywords.
More about SEO for B2B companies with EPOS.
Source: Backlinko Schema Statistic (2023)
60% of all marketing activities are digital today (WordStream, 2025). Online marketing enables precise target audience targeting, measurability, and scalability. Particularly effective: multi-channel campaigns combining paid, content, SEO, and social.
Create a strategy with our free B2B marketing strategy kickstart.
As soon as growth, new customer acquisition, or pipeline building are goals. 86% of B2B buyers research independently before interacting with sales (MasterB2B, 2024). Therefore, content must be visible early in the funnel.
Source: MasterB2B State of eCommerce Report (2024)
Clarity, consistency, benefit orientation, and aligned processes between marketing, sales, and product. Data-based decisions and clear messaging are essential.
Create a strategy with our free B2B marketing strategy kickstart.
The causes are usually: lack of target audience focus, inconsistent core messages, unclear internal responsibilities, too few resources, or no data-based evaluation.
More on strategy and positioning in our magazine article: Positioning in the B2B tech market
Events offer direct access to decision-makers, build trust, and support thought leadership. 76% of B2B buyers rate trade shows as highly influential (Deloitte, 2024). A combination of live presence & digital follow-up is most effective.
Source: Deloitte B2B Insights (2024)
Content and brand measures require 3–6 months. SEO 6–12 months. Paid ads work immediately. Thought leadership requires 6–18 months. Continuity is the most important success factor.
GEO refers to the optimization of digital content for AI-based answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews. In B2B, GEO is particularly relevant because decision-makers increasingly use AI assistants for supplier research – and only companies that are classified as trustworthy by these systems make it onto the shortlist. GEO combines structured content (Owned), external citations through PR (Earned), and expert positioning (Thought Leadership).
More about GEO for B2B companies with EPOS.
The most direct method is manual testing: enter industry-relevant questions into ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews and check whether your company is mentioned. For systematic monitoring, there are specialized tools such as Semrush AI Toolkit, Profound, or Otterly.ai that track AI visibility over time. As a rule of thumb: those who are cited in trade media and have structured content on their own website appear more frequently in AI answers.
Consistent, technically high-quality content with clear positioning.
Buyers are more informed, faster, and use AI assistants as their primary research source.
Through transparency, expertise, case studies, and consistent communication.
Optimizely – Why 86% of B2B Buyers Prefer AI Tools (2024)
Coveo – Winning Over the Modern B2B Buyer (2025)
Content Marketing Institute – Manufacturing Research (2024)
Forbes Advisor – Content Marketing Statistics (2024)
G2 – B2B Buyer Behavior Report (2024)
HubSpot – Website Load Time Study (2024)
Portent – Website Speed Benchmarks (2024)
Backlinko – Schema Markup Statistics (2023)
WordStream – Digital Marketing Statistics (2025)
Deloitte – B2B Events Influence Report (2024)
Gartner – CMO Spend Survey (2024)
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