Most B2B marketing advice treats funnels like a step-by-step conveyor belt: awareness leads to interest, interest leads to consideration, and consideration magically turns into a sale.

In reality, B2B buying is rarely linear.

Sales cycles are long, decisions involve multiple stakeholders, and prospects might engage with your content for months (or even years) before taking action.

That’s why a good funnel isn’t just about pushing leads from one stage to the next: it’s about meeting them where they are, staying relevant over time, and guiding them toward a decision at their own pace.

If your funnel isn’t converting, it’s probably not broken. It might just not be aligned with how your buyers actually make decisions. Here’s how to fix that.

Sales Funnel vs. Lead Magnet Funnel: What’s the Difference?

Funnels are often overcomplicated. But at their core, they’re just structured ways to move a prospect from not knowing you exist to becoming a paying customer.

A sales funnel is the classic approach—guiding a lead through stages of awareness, consideration, and decision until they (hopefully) buy. It’s designed to nurture relationships over time, building trust through consistent engagement.

A lead magnet funnel is a smaller, more focused part of that process. The goal isn’t to sell immediately—it’s to capture attention and collect contact information by offering something valuable upfront. Think e-books, webinars, white papers, or interactive tools: content that earns you the right to keep the conversation going.

How They Work Together

A lead magnet funnel doesn’t replace a sales funnel. Instead, it feeds into it.

• The lead magnet funnel warms up potential buyers.
• The sales funnel guides them toward a decision once they’re ready to engage.

Too many companies treat these as separate things. They throw out lead magnets but don’t connect them to a broader strategy—or they expect a cold audience to jump straight to a sales call. The key is understanding how they fit together so you’re meeting buyers where they are instead of where you wish they were.

Choosing Your Funnel Audience

Using a great funnel with the wrong audience is like yelling into the void. Before you think about content, automation, or conversion rates, you must answer one question: Who are you actually trying to reach?

Start with Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and Buyer Personas

Not everyone in your industry is a good fit for what you offer. The best funnels aren’t designed for everyone. They’re designed for the right people.

• ICPs (ideal customer profiles): Focus on companies. What industries, revenue sizes, or business models make them a fit?
• Buyer Personas: Focus on people. What job titles, responsibilities, and pain points do decision makers and influencers have?

Align Your Content with Buyer Psychology

Not every role engages at the same stage of the buying process. A plant manager and a CFO care about different things. A junior engineer is looking for insights, while a VP is thinking about ROI.

If your funnel isn’t built with these differences in mind, you’ll either attract the wrong people or lose the right ones too early.

• Top of funnel: Broad awareness. Appeal to pain points, trends, and education.
• Middle of funnel: Trust-building. Case studies, proof, and deeper insights.
• Bottom of funnel: Decision-making. ROI calculators, demos, and pricing conversations.

Funnels work best when they meet buyers where they are—not where you wish they were. The more dialed in your audience is, the easier it is to guide them toward a decision.

Top of Funnel: Choosing the Right Attraction Content

The top of the funnel is not about selling but getting on the radar. At this stage, your audience isn’t searching for a solution yet. They’re looking for insights, education, and industry perspectives. 

Be the brand that shows up with something valuable before they even realize they need you.

If all you do is talk about your product, you’ll lose them. If you give them something that helps them think differently or solve a problem, you’ll earn attention and credibility—the whole point of top-of-funnel content.

Types of Attraction Content

• Lead Magnets (E-books, White Papers, Guides) – Deep dives into industry challenges. If it’s just a fluff piece rewording what’s already out there, skip it. It needs real insights that position you as the expert.
• Calculators and Interactive Tools – People engage with content that gives them something useful in return. ROI calculators, cost-saving estimators, or benchmarking tools turn passive readers into active participants.
• Blog Posts – Answer common industry questions and pain points. A good blog post isn’t about you—it’s about helping your audience think through their challenges in a smarter way.
• Industry Pages – Make it clear that you understand the specifics of their world. A strong industry page speaks their language and makes them feel like you’re built for them.
• Video – Video works across everything. Break it into clips for LinkedIn, transcribe it into blogs, repurpose it for emails. It’s one of the fastest ways to stand out and build trust.

Appropriate Calls to Action

The goal here isn’t to sell. It’s to pull the reader deeper into your ecosystem. Consider using calls to action (CTAs) like “Learn More” or “Download”—no paywalls yet, just value.

A well-built top-of-funnel stage is about earning attention, building trust, and setting up the rest of the funnel for success. If you do this part right, the next steps get a whole lot easier.

Middle of Funnel: Nurturing Trust and Moving Toward a Decision

At this stage, your audience should know you exist, but knowing isn’t the same as trusting. Middle-of-funnel content must prove your expertise, reinforce credibility, and keep the conversation going.

This is where most companies lose people. They attract leads at the top but have no clear path to deepen engagement. So those leads go cold, lose interest, or—worst of all—end up buying from a competitor who nurtured them better.

The key? Consistent, valuable follow-up that keeps you top of mind.

Types of Nurture Content

• Email Sequences – Well-structured emails keep your brand in front of leads without being pushy. The best ones don’t just sell—they provide real insights, case studies, or industry updates that make opening them worth it.
• Exclusive Gated Content – Now’s the time to ask for an opt-in. White papers, research reports, or webinars that go deeper into industry challenges can turn passive leads into engaged prospects.
• Case Studies and Testimonials – Social proof matters. Showing real-world results builds trust faster than any sales pitch. But make them specific. “We helped a company increase efficiency by 27%” hits harder than “We improve efficiency.”
• Webinars and Live Sessions – Interactive content is a game changer here. A webinar lets prospects engage, ask questions, and see your expertise in action. Even better? Repurpose it into blog posts, email sequences, and short LinkedIn clips.

Choosing the Right Nurture Strategy

Your leads are still evaluating their options. The more helpful and relevant your touchpoints, the more likely they are to move forward with you when they’re ready to buy.

• Personalized, segmented emails drive up to 50% more engagement than generic ones.
• 77% of marketers have seen increased email engagement in the past year.

The moral of the story is to not send the same content to everyone. Make it relevant, make it personal.

Appropriate CTAs

At this stage, you’re guiding leads toward deeper engagement. Use CTAs like “Join” (a webinar, an exclusive group, an event) or “Download” (a research report, a white paper, a deeper resource).

Middle-of-funnel content isn’t about closing the deal—it’s about making the decision easier. When done right, it sets up the final step: conversion.

Bottom of Funnel: Converting Leads in Long Sales Cycles

This is where most B2B funnels break down—especially in industrial marketing.

Why? Because industrial buying cycles are long.

Unlike B2C or fast-moving sectors of SaaS, your buyers aren’t impulse-purchasing a solution after one email. Decisions are complex, involve multiple stakeholders, and often take months (or even years) to finalize.

That’s why bottom-of-funnel (BoF) content isn’t just about closing deals—it’s about staying relevant while the buying process plays out. If your brand disappears between the first conversation and the final decision, don’t be surprised when the deal goes to someone else.

Types of BoF Content That Actually Move Deals Forward

• Demos and Consultations – Your prospects need to see your solution in action. But don’t just show features. Show ROI, efficiency gains, and real-world application. Make it as tailored as possible to their specific challenges.
• Pricing and ROI Calculators – In long sales cycles, buyers need to justify the investment internally. Give them hard numbers—cost savings, efficiency improvements, ROI projections—that can sell your solution for you.
• Implementation Guides and Process Overviews – One big reason deals stall? Fear of change. Make it clear what onboarding, training, or integration looks like so prospects feel confident in the transition.
• Customer Proof (Case Studies, Testimonials, Referrals) – At this stage, prospects need evidence that choosing you is the right call. Show them others who’ve made the same decision and the results they got.

The Waiting Game: Staying Top of Mind in Long Buying Cycles

Here’s the hard truth: BoF content might not land immediately.

Industrial buyers don’t rush decisions, and if your deal is stuck in approvals, budget cycles, or internal discussions, pushing harder won’t help. There are some things you can do, though.

• Consistent, non-intrusive follow-up. Stay on their radar without being annoying.
• Ongoing value. Keep sending relevant insights, updates, or industry trends that reinforce why you’re the best choice.
• Internal enablement. Give your champions inside the company the tools they need to advocate for your solution.

Appropriate CTAs

At this stage, you’re driving toward final engagement. Use CTAs like …

• “Talk to a person.” (Human conversations close deals.)
• “Request a quote.” (Make it easy to move forward.)
• “Request a demo.” (Show, don’t just tell.)

Bottom Line: Winning Long Sales Cycles Requires Patience and Strategy

BoF isn’t just about asking for the sale—it’s about staying relevant long enough for the sale to happen. If your content disappears before your buyer is ready, so does your opportunity.

Industrial deals take time. The companies that win are the ones that stick around.Are you looking to stay on top of industrial marketing trends and impactful strategies? Join our Facebook Group: The Industrial Marketing Lab. We post regular insights, strategies, templates, and more!