What’s Not Working in B2B Marketing Right Now — And What Actually Is

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn lately, you’ve probably noticed a familiar theme: everyone claims they’ve “modernized” their GTM. But when you look beneath the surface, the strategies haven’t changed at all.

Most teams are still doing what they’ve always done, just with better automation and bigger lists.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: It’s not working.

In my consulting work and in my years inside B2B organizations, especially in healthcare, tech and services, I keep seeing the same patterns repeat.

Companies invest in volume instead of strategy. They treat every prospect the same, regardless of awareness or intent. They evaluate success by meeting count, not by revenue or win rate.

The result? Exhausted sales teams, bloated pipelines, and a market that’s tuning you out.

It’s time to get honest about what’s not working and, more importantly, what is.

What’s Not Working in B2B Marketing (Even Though Teams Keep Doing It)

1. Oversized, unsegmented lists

   More names doesn’t mean more pipeline. When your “audience” includes everyone, you’re speaking to no one. Cold outreach at scale is easy to automate, but it rarely drives high-quality opportunities.

   
   

2. Endless sequences that feel robotic

   If your cadence looks like a countdown (“follow-up #4, just checking in…”), prospects can sense it. Buyers expect personalization and relevance, not pressure.
   

3. Demo CTAs everywhere

   “Book a meeting?” “Got 15 minutes?” “Quick chat?”

   Pushing these asks to an audience with zero awareness or interest doesn’t create pipeline; it burns bridges.
   

4. Meeting volume as the North Star metric

   A packed calendar doesn’t equal revenue. Teams with low win rates often hide behind aggressive meeting goals because activity looks like momentum. (It’s actually noise.)
   

5. Treating awareness, intent, and readiness as the same

   These are three completely different stages of the buying journey. When your messaging doesn’t reflect that, your pipeline quality suffers.

If you’re struggling to convert opportunities or constantly scrambling to “make the month,” it might not be your product. It might be your approach.

What’s Actually Working in B2B Marketing Right Now

Teams who shift to buyer-led, signal-driven marketing are seeing better results with fewer resources. Here’s what works consistently, across sizes and industries:

1. Clear, consistent POV from leadership

   Buyers follow humans, especially in B2B. When founders, CEOs, or departmental leaders show up with a real point of view (not a sanitized corporate statement), it builds trust, credibility, and awareness in ways paid campaigns struggle to replicate.

   Your executives’ voice is one of the most underutilized demand engines in your company.
   

2. Always-on awareness

   Educate your market long before they’re ever “in-market.”

   Share insights, explain trends, clarify confusing topics, and help your ICP do their job better. No pressure. No desperation. Just resonance. It builds familiarity, and familiarity builds pipeline (for later).
   

3. Earned CTAs

   Not every touchpoint needs to be a pitch.

   A CTA should match the buyer’s signal, not your quota. High intent earns a strong ask. Low intent earns more value and nurturing. When teams make this shift, demo rates go down, but win rates go up.
   

4. Smaller, smarter targets

   This is especially relevant in mid-market and enterprise sales.

   Twenty highly engaged, ICP-perfect accounts outperform 20,000 cold names every time. Quality trumps quantity, and it shortens sales cycles.
   

5. Programs built for incremental, compounding growth

   Webinars that generate months of content.

   Resource centers designed for conversion.

   Nurture journeys aligned to the real buying process.

   These aren’t “big splash” campaigns. These are foundational programs that quietly compound in the background—exactly what modern teams need, especially with limited resources.

The Shift B2B Teams Need to Make

If your GTM still relies on aggressive volume to get results, your issue isn’t pipeline; it’s the framework that created it.

Modern B2B marketing isn’t about shouting louder or producing more. It's about clarity, timing, relevance, and respecting your buyer’s journey.

The companies winning today aren’t the ones doing more. They’re the ones doing the right things, consistently.

And the best part? Building this kind of marketing engine doesn’t require a massive team or a huge budget. It requires intention, discipline, and a clear strategy rooted in what buyers actually respond to.

Volume is easy.

Discipline is the differentiator.

If you’re interested in doing this, let’s talk and I’ll send over my free content framework template that helps you map the right content you need.