Most B2B websites don’t generate leads because they were built to inform, not to persuade. The five most common causes are wrong traffic, weak positioning, insufficient trust signals, conversion points that don’t match where buyers actually are in their journey, and no measurement system to improve over time. Fixing it requires aligning strategy, messaging, and design together, not just redesigning the site.

The traffic is there. Google Analytics shows people visiting. But the phone isn’t ringing and the contact form is quiet. Every new piece of business still traces back to someone your sales team called, an old relationship, or a referral.

If that’s your situation, you’re probably asking some version of the same question: why isn’t the website working?

The honest answer is that most B2B websites weren’t built to generate leads. They were built to inform. They explain what a company does and give prospects somewhere to go when they want to learn more. That’s a different job. And if you’ve built a website to do one job but you need it to do another, you’re going to be disappointed by the results.

Before you assume it’s a copy problem or a design problem or a budget problem, it’s worth understanding what’s actually driving the outcome. Most of the time, it comes down to one of five root causes.

Often it’s more than one.

Root Cause 1: You’re Not Getting the Right People to Your Site

This is the first thing to rule out, because if this is the issue, nothing else matters. You can have the best website in your industry and if the people finding it aren’t the people who would hire you, it isn’t going to convert.

This is more common than it sounds. A company gets some traction with content marketing, starts ranking for a handful of keywords, sees traffic climb, and assumes that traffic represents potential buyers.

Sometimes it does. Often it doesn’t.

What it looks like

Your analytics show healthy visitor numbers, but when you look at where they’re coming from and what they’re searching for, it doesn’t map to your actual buyers. You might be attracting researchers, students, competitors, or people solving a slightly different problem than the one you solve.

What to do about it

Before you touch the website, get clear on who your actual buyer is and how they search.

• What problems are they trying to solve at the moment they’d consider hiring someone like you?
• What keywords would they use?
• Where else do they spend time online?

Audit your traffic against that profile. If there’s a significant mismatch, the traffic problem has to be solved before the conversion problem.

Root Cause 2: Your Messaging Isn’t Compelling to the Buyer

Assuming the right people are finding your site, the next question is whether what they find when they get there is actually convincing.

Most B2B sites fail here in one of two ways.

The first is obvious, the messaging is generic.

Claims like “we deliver results,” “we’re committed to quality,” “we’re a trusted partner,” or language that could appear on any competitor’s site don’t give a buyer any reason to choose you.

The second failure is subtler… the messaging is specific to your company but not meaningful to your buyer.

This happens when a website is written from the inside out, organized around how the company thinks about itself rather than how a buyer thinks about their problem.

This is a positioning problem, and it doesn’t get solved by rewriting headlines. It gets solved by doing the work to understand three things:

1. Your target audience and what they actually care about when making this type of decision
2. Your competitors and how they’re positioned
3. The specific ways you’re meaningfully different in ways that matter to that audience.

What it looks like

Landing on your homepage, a prospect can’t immediately understand what you do, who you do it for, and what problem you solve. Or they understand those things, but nothing differentiates you from the three other companies they’re also evaluating.

What to do about it

Don’t start with the website. Start with discovery.

Talk to your best customers about why they hired you and what almost made them choose someone else. Look at your competitors’ sites with the same critical eye you’re applying to your own. Find the intersection of what makes you genuinely different and what your buyers actually care about. That’s your positioning. The website messaging comes after.

Root Cause 3: The Site Doesn’t Build Enough Trust

In B2B, risk aversion is extremely high. The person evaluating your company isn’t just trying to solve a problem, they’re making sure they don’t make a mistake. A bad vendor choice reflects on them professionally. In a lot of cases, choosing the safer option matters more than choosing the best option.

People would rather select a vendor they’re confident in than take a chance on one that might outperform.

What this means for your website is that trust signals aren’t optional. They’re load-bearing. If a skeptical buyer can’t find evidence that you’re credible and that others have had success working with you, they’re going to keep looking.

There’s also a visual component to trust that’s easy to overlook. Your audience arrives with a mental model of what a credible company in your space should look like. If your site is significantly out of step with that expectation (dated design, inconsistent visual quality, a look that doesn’t match the sophistication of what you’re actually selling), it creates doubt before a single word gets read.

What it looks like

A technically strong company with genuinely impressive work, but a website that looks like it was built in 2014 and has no social proof, no named clients, no case studies, and no evidence of real outcomes.

What to do about it

Build trust through specifics.

• Logos of recognizable clients
• Stats that demonstrate scale or results
• Case studies that walk through a real problem and a real outcome
• Testimonials attributed to actual people with names and titles
• Associations and certifications relevant to your audience
• Tenure and experience framed in a way that’s meaningful to a buyer trying to assess risk

The goal is to give a skeptical person a clear answer to the question: why should I trust these people with this problem?

Root Cause 4: Your Conversion Points Don’t Match Where Buyers Actually Are

Even if your traffic is right, your messaging is compelling, and your trust signals are solid, there’s still a conversion problem that catches a lot of B2B companies off guard.

Gartner has been tracking a growing trend: B2B buyers increasingly want to complete most of their research independently and only engage with a salesperson once they’ve nearly made a decision. They don’t want to talk to you at the beginning of the process.

They want to use your website to learn, evaluate options, and build confidence, then reach out when they’re ready.

If your only conversion point is a “Contact Us” form or a “Schedule a Demo” button, you’re asking buyers to commit to a sales conversation before they’re ready to have one.

Most of them won’t.

They’ll leave and continue researching elsewhere.

What it looks like

A website that does a reasonable job of explaining what the company does, but offers no way for an interested person who isn’t ready to buy to stay in the relationship. Every path leads to a sales conversation or nothing.

What to do about it

Create intermediate conversion points, i.e. places where someone who’s genuinely interested but not ready to commit can exchange their contact information for something valuable.

And valuable is the keyword.

A brochure, a spec sheet, or a generic overview isn’t valuable enough. The standard we use: if your ideal prospect wouldn’t be willing to pay for it, it’s not valuable enough to gate.

Instead, consider:

• A detailed guide that helps them solve a real part of their problem
• A tool that makes their job easier
• An assessment that helps them understand where they stand

These are the kinds of resources a buyer will trade their email address for, and that keep you in the relationship through the research phase.

At the same time, make sure your website gives buyers everything they’d want to know to make an educated decision without having to ask. Answer the questions they know they have. Address the ones they don’t know to ask.

The more you help them think through the problem on your site, the more trust you build before the first real conversation.

Root Cause 5: You’re Not Measuring, So You Can’t Improve

Everything you do on a website at launch is, at best, an educated guess. You’ve thought carefully about your audience, your message, your design. But until real buyers interact with it, you don’t actually know what’s working.

Most B2B companies set up basic analytics and leave it there. They can see overall traffic. They might track contact form submissions. But they can’t see where interested people are dropping off, which content is actually moving people toward a decision, or what a visitor who eventually converts looks like compared to one who doesn’t.

What it looks like

After a launch or a redesign, the question “is the new site performing better?” gets answered by whether leads went up overall, a metric that mixes too many variables to be meaningful. Nobody can point to a specific page or flow and say confidently why it is or isn’t converting.

What to do about it

Set up measurement before you need it. Track meaningful events; Not just pageviews, but which content people are engaging with, where they’re exiting, and what path visitors take who eventually convert versus those who don’t.

Then review it consistently and use it to make decisions.

Every website at launch is a hypothesis. Measurement is how you find out if you’re right.

The Actual Problem

The reason all of this is hard is that a B2B website that doesn’t generate leads isn’t a website problem. It’s a marketing system problem.

The website is downstream of everything else. It reflects how well you understand your audience, how clearly you’ve defined your positioning, how effectively you’ve translated that positioning into messaging, and how well you’re getting that message in front of the right people. If any of those components is weak, the website reflects it.

That’s why a redesign without strategy rarely fixes a lead generation problem. You can make a site look better without changing what it says or who it reaches. The look improves. The outcomes don’t.

The companies that turn their websites into real lead generation assets treat it as a system, starting with a clear understanding of who they’re trying to reach and what those people need to believe before they act, building the website around that, putting it in front of the right audience, and then running a continuous loop of measurement and improvement.

It’s a longer process than a redesign. But it’s the one that actually works.

The post Why Your B2B Website Isn’t Generating Leads (And What to Do About It) appeared first on Three Seven.

For the past couple of years, we’ve watched this shift happen. AI overviews, platform algorithms, walled gardens. It all adds up to one thing: getting people to click through to your website is much harder than it used to be.

Every platform wants to keep users engaged on their site, not send them to yours.

You’re creating content expecting traffic, but the traffic doesn’t come. Maybe you get some visibility, but probably not enough to justify the effort. You end up spinning your wheels, wasting time and money on an approach that just doesn’t work anymore.

There’s still value in that visibility though, even without the click.

We’ve Gone Full Circle

There’s something almost funny about where we’ve ended up. Before digital marketing took over, there was this saying:

“Half of every marketing dollar is wasted, I just don’t know which half.”

Billboards, TV commercials, radio spots, print ads. You had a broad idea of reach, but no real way to know who paid attention or who took action. Marketing was about awareness, and the data was fuzzy at best.

Then digital came along and changed everything. For a while, it was beautifully clear: create content, publish it, promote it, see impressions, see clicks, see conversions, see sales. One-to-one tracking from start to finish.

Now we’ve circled back to something closer to the pre-digital era. We’re in a middle ground where brand awareness matters again, where the path from content to customer isn’t a straight line you can track in Google Analytics.

The difference is we do have some data now. We can see impressions and engagement. We can track lagging indicators like overall traffic growth and branded search volume. It’s less precise than what we had, but it’s more than what marketers worked with for decades. And really, this is how marketing has always worked for most of its history.

There’s no alternative at this stage, so you need to embrace it.

The Zero-Click Content Framework

We developed this framework to help us and the clients we work with rethink how top-of-funnel content actually functions in 2025. It’s a five-step approach you can start using right away.

1. Create Pillar Content

Long-form, deeply valuable content that solves real problems. Comprehensive guides, frameworks, research-backed insights, in-depth analysis. Make it substantial enough that you can split it into multiple pieces while still being valuable as a complete work.

This is your foundational content. The stuff that demonstrates expertise and gives people a reason to pay attention to you.

2. Publish Fully on Owned Media

Post the complete content on your blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or email newsletter. This is your home base, where you own the relationship. Don’t gate it. Make it accessible.

People will still read long-form content on your owned media; only the approach to getting them there has changed.

Long-form content on your website also gets picked up by AI models. It contributes to topical authority. For commercial and transactional searches, it helps there too. Both the pillar content and the platform content matter, but your expectations around how each piece drives results need to shift.

3. Isolate the Punchlines

Extract the 2-3 most compelling insights from your pillar content. The “aha moments.” If someone consumed just these on their own, they should still get significant value and think differently.

We did this recently with our Marketing-Led Growth System. We have this comprehensive framework that looks at marketing as a system with a foundation and an engine.

While we’ve posted about the overall system, we pulled out one specific insight: your marketing isn’t working because either the foundation is broken or the engine is broken.

That’s the punchline. The bigger story (how to fix those things) lives in the full framework.

4. Share Natively on Platforms

Publish those punchlines as complete content where your audience already is. LinkedIn posts, X threads, YouTube Shorts, etc…

Give away the full insight.
No teasing.
No “click to read more.”

You used to tease the intro: “We wrote about XYZ. If you want to learn ABC, click here.”

That doesn’t work anymore.

Instead, you give them the conclusion, the main takeaway. That’s what makes them remember you, drives engagement, helps with positioning, and makes them more likely to search for you later or want to read the additional context.

5. Track Brand Lift, Not Clicks

Shift your focus from traffic and clicks to brand searches, direct traffic, and engagement signals like saves, shares, and comments.

You need to look at both leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators (impressions and engagement) tell you if people are actually seeing and interacting with your content. If you’re creating content that gets no impressions and no engagement, you can be pretty sure you won’t see increases in brand search or traffic.

Lagging indicators like direct traffic, branded search volume, and overall website traffic show you the impact over time. These take longer to move. Maybe a month or two before the change is significant enough to notice. Check them weekly or monthly, but keep in mind you’re looking for correlation, not immediate cause-and-effect.

If you’re doing a lot of promotional work and these numbers are going up, that’s your signal. If nothing’s happening or they’re going down, whatever you’re doing isn’t making an impact.

The Mindset Shift

Simply put, you need to change how you think about content marketing.

Old model
Content → Impressions → Clicks → Conversions

New model
Content → Awareness → Affinity → Brand Search → Conversion

It’s slower. Harder to measure. But it works.

The platforms are walled gardens now. The old playbook of “publish and drive traffic” doesn’t work anymore. Top-of-funnel content still builds awareness when you share the full value natively, but getting there requires rethinking the metrics you care about and the patience to let the compound effect happen.

What About Giving Away Too Much?

I get this question a lot: if you give away your best insights for free, why would anyone hire you or buy from you?

Information is rarely the problem. Execution and implementation are.

Take EOS (The Entrepreneurial Operating System) as an example. You can buy a book for less than $20 that gives you everything you need to implement EOS in your business. But most people, even with all that information, struggle to actually do it. They end up hiring implementers, buying additional resources, taking classes, and purchasing software.

They give you the information to get you sold on the idea. Once you’re sold, the challenge shifts to implementation, and that’s where people are willing to invest.

Your content works the same way. Give them the punchline. Help them understand the problem and see the solution. The people who need help executing will find you when they’re ready.

The post The Zero-Click Content Framework: How Top-of-Funnel Content Works in 2025 appeared first on Three Seven.

Three Seven is now Three Seven – Strategy-Led Marketing & Design

The work hasn’t changed. But the name finally reflects who we’ve become.

This is the story of where we started, what we learned along the way, and why this evolution was the natural next step.

How Three Seven Started (and What We Saw Early On)

I started Three Seven in 2005 with a friend while finishing college. Back then, I was doing IT consulting to earn extra money, and as “the computer guy,” I kept getting pulled into website projects.

I’d always been drawn to visual design. I studied fine arts, considered animation, and loved that intersection where creativity meets technology. Web design felt like an emerging field where I could bring those interests together.

But early on, something stood out.

Most “web design” wasn’t really web design at all, it was print design pasted onto a screen.

Agencies treated websites like digital brochures. A brochure works because you pick it up, see it all at once, and interact with it in a linear way. A website is nothing like that. It’s interactive, navigational, dynamic. It behaves more like an interface or a product than a printed page.

And beyond usability, I kept asking myself:

Why treat this like a branding artifact when it could be a marketing engine?

Why couldn’t a website guide visitors, communicate value, and meaningfully move a business forward?

So that’s what we set out to do at Three Seven:

Build websites that worked, not just websites that looked good.

Where the Name “3.7” Came From

The original name came from the Butterfly Effect. The idea that small actions can spark big outcomes. In the mathematical model used to explain the phenomenon, the tipping point occurs when the multiplier reaches 3.7.

That idea became our philosophy.

A small, thoughtful input (a well-designed website, a refined message, a clearer structure) could create outsized results for a business.

For our first decade, that’s exactly what we did. We built strategic websites. We occasionally supported SEO or Google Ads, but design was the focus.

And it worked… until we realized something important.

Why We Had to Evolve

Around 2016 or 2017, we began noticing a pattern.

We’d launch a website, check back three to six months later, and the feedback was always something like:

“We think it’s good. People say they like it.”

But clients couldn’t tell us if it actually made a difference in their business.

We’d created a highly effective destination, but only if the right people found it. And many clients didn’t have the resources, skills, or time to get those people there.

They weren’t running campaigns.
They weren’t testing or optimizing.
They weren’t using the site as the marketing tool it was designed to be.

It helped them and it was certainly better than what they had. But it was still just a fraction of what it could achieve.

We also realized something humbling:
Even when you design a site based on research and best practices, your “best guess” at launch is still a guess.

We’ve seen small tweaks deliver massive gains.
We once changed two words on a button and increased leads by 50%.

So the need became clear:

Clients didn’t just need us to build the destination.
They needed us to help people reach it. And to continuously improve it.

That shift sparked our evolution beyond web design into a holistic, strategy-led marketing partner. Helping clients with positioning, messaging, SEO, content, campaigns, and ongoing optimization. 

It grew organically, but inevitably. It was simply what our clients needed.

Why the Name Had to Change

As we expanded, one thing became unmistakable:

“Designs” no longer described who we were.

It didn’t match our expertise.
It didn’t match our work.
It didn’t match what clients valued about us.

Clients choose us for our strategy, clarity, psychology-informed approach, and proactive partnership, not just our design capabilities. 

We considered a completely new name. We explored dozens of options. But every alternative felt disconnected from our roots and from the philosophy that shaped us.

Because that original idea still rings true:

Small, strategic moves create big outcomes.

It’s how we think about marketing today. It’s how we approach positioning. It’s how we help clients grow without unnecessary complexity or bloated plans.

So instead of reinventing the name, we refined it.

Three Seven → Three Seven.

Simple. Clear. True to who we are.
And aligned with the strategic, whole-system marketing work we deliver now.

What’s Changing (and What’s Not)

Here’s what’s new:

• A name that reflects our full capabilities.
• A clearer articulation of what we do and how we help.
• A brand system centered around the Butterfly Effect and the ripple impact of smart marketing.
• A focus on strategy-led, psychologically-informed marketing supported by creativity and technical strength. 

Here’s what’s not changing:

• Our team.
• Our process.
• Our mission.
• Our belief in thoughtful, intentional work that drives measurable results.
• Our commitment to acting as a proactive, invested partner, not just a vendor. 

We’ve been this company for years. Now we simply have a name that matches.

What This Means for Our Clients

Whether you’ve worked with us for years or are learning about us for the first time, here’s what the rebrand means for you:

• A more holistic partner: We don’t just build websites. We build momentum.
• A strategy-first approach: Everything we do ties back to clarity, psychology, and business outcomes.
• Greater transparency & alignment: You’ll see more communication around strategy, results, and “why it matters.”
• Deepened expertise: We’re bringing even more focus to the disciplines that make marketing work — positioning, messaging, content, audience understanding, and continuous optimization.

Our aim remains the same:

To make our clients the hero inside their organization by delivering clarity, confidence, and measurable growth.

The Philosophy That Still Guides Us

The Butterfly Effect has always been more than a clever metaphor to us.

It’s a reminder that marketing doesn’t have to start with a massive, expensive overhaul. It starts with a clear message. A shift in positioning. A refined audience. A stronger experience. A small but strategic decision.

When done thoughtfully, those small inputs compound, shaping momentum, driving demand, and creating long-term growth.

That’s what Three Seven represents.
Small inputs. Large outcomes.

A New Chapter, Same Mission

After 19 years, this change feels less like a rebrand and more like coming into alignment with who we’ve been becoming all along.

We’re excited for what’s ahead.
We’re grateful for the clients and partners who’ve trusted us.
And we’re looking forward to building this next chapter together with clarity, strategy, creativity, and intention.

Welcome to Three Seven.

Small inputs.
Large outcomes.

The post 3.7 Designs is now Three Seven: Why We Evolved and What Comes Next appeared first on Three Seven.

Over my 20 years of experience, the most common issue I see preventing B2B companies from growing is treating marketing as a collection of disconnected tactics.

They run ads without clear positioning.

They create content without understanding their audience.

They chase channels because competitors are there, not because their buyers are.

This results in wasted budgets, knee-jerk reactions about “what works and what doesn’t,” and ultimately, missed sales and marketing targets.

We created the Marketing-Led Growth (MLG) System to fix this common challenge.

What the MLG System is

Marketing is an interconnected system. If you’re weak in any of the six foundations, your campaigns will underperform. Most companies are strong in one or two areas and weak in the rest.

The MLG System is a repeatable framework designed to:

• Identify the weakest parts of your marketing foundation
• Sequence the work so you’re fixing the right things in the right order
• Balance quick wins with long-term structural improvements
• Build momentum through focused sprints

The approach is lean. You do the minimal effective work to get measurable impact, then test and iterate from there. No 100-page strategy decks. No perfecting guesses. You fix what’s broken, measure what happens, and adjust.

The MLG System isn’t built on new ideas. It’s grounded in proven concepts from over 15 classic marketing books like Positioning, Obviously Awesome, StoryBrand, Traction, Buyer Personas, Competing Against Luck, and Ogilvy on Advertising. We just organized them into a structure you can actually use.

Companies that use the system see improved results from their marketing efforts and continued growth through ongoing optimization.

Let’s dive into the six fundamentals of any marketing system.

The six fundamentals

North Star Metrics

The one to three metrics that best measure your desired marketing outcomes. These need to be relevant, achievable, and laser-focused on measuring where you want to go. Fewer is better.

Most B2B companies want to grow revenue. That’s the real goal. But marketing doesn’t work that fast. The work you do today might not show up in the sales pipeline for months.

If you set “increase pipeline by 20%” as your metric in month one, you’ll kill good work before it has time to pay off. You’ll think marketing isn’t working when you just didn’t wait long enough.

North Star Metrics change as you make progress.

Annual North Star: The big outcome you’re driving toward. Revenue. Pipeline. Market share.

Sprint North Star: Leading indicators that show you’re on the right track. Traffic to high-intent pages. Engagement on target accounts. Conversion rate improvements.

Early on, you focus on sprint metrics. They give you confidence that if you keep going, the annual metrics will follow. As those leading indicators improve, your North Star Metrics shift closer to revenue outcomes.

Audience

If you don’t understand your audience, you can’t reach them. You won’t know why they’d buy from you over a competitor. You won’t know how to talk to them in a way that connects.

Most businesses think they understand their audience. They’re usually wrong. They’re relying on intuition instead of research and data.

The MLG System includes a process to develop a deep understanding of your audience’s psychology and behavior. Then we document it on a single page (front and back) that you can share with your entire team so everyone’s working from the same understanding.

Brand Edge (Positioning)

Your brand edge is what makes you different from your competitors in a way that actually matters to your audience. Not what you think is unique. What they value.

This isn’t three or four loose differentiators rolled into one run-on sentence. It’s the one thing your competitors can’t touch that resonates with the right people you’re trying to reach.

Value Story (Messaging)

Once you have your brand edge, you need to know how to communicate it. Psychologically speaking, humans respond best to stories, so the MLG System helps you develop one around your brand. Your audience is the hero. You’re the guide in their journey.

From there, you build a simple yet flexible messaging strategy that reinforces your value without sounding repetitive. The strategy adapts to every channel and its specific nuances.

Reach (Promotion)

Where does your audience pay attention? How can you reach them when and where they want to be reached?

With infinite time and budget, you could test every channel. But most brands don’t have that luxury. Spreading effort thin across half a dozen channels means nothing gets optimized.

The MLG System prioritizes two to three channels that are either already working or have a high likelihood of success. The rest get sorted into “probably effective” and “long-shots.”

As you test and optimize the priority channels, you cycle in the probables, then eventually the long-shots. It’s a way to get quick impact without leaving results on the table. You just evaluate channels over time instead of all at once.

Momentum (Consistency)

Even with a strong foundation, on-point strategy, and great execution, you’ll fail if you don’t do enough marketing. Especially in B2B.

The average buyer needs over 10 touchpoints before they’re ready to buy. They’re spending more time researching on their own than talking to sales or scheduling demos. Less than 10% of your audience is ready to buy at any given moment.

If you’re not reaching your audience consistently over a long enough period, you won’t see results.

Once your foundation is set, you need to build momentum and keep it going. You do that through focused sprints where you execute against a specific goal or initiative. This process doesn’t stop. You test, learn, optimize, and improve, which leads to compounding growth over time.

Why foundations come before tactics

Here’s what happens when you skip the foundation work:

You launch a paid ad campaign. It drives traffic. But the messaging is generic, so visitors bounce. Even if they stay, they don’t understand why you’re different from three other options they’re comparing. Even if they get that, they don’t know what to do next because your site wasn’t built with a clear buyer journey in mind.

You spent money. You got clicks. Nothing happened.

Or maybe you’re tracking the wrong metrics. You think you’re being successful when you’re not. Or you’re doing great but the numbers say otherwise, so you kill what’s working.

Or you’re reaching people, but they’re the wrong people. You don’t understand your audience well enough to know where they are or what they care about.

Or you’re reaching the right people, but your positioning doesn’t matter to them. They see you. They just don’t care.

Or your positioning is spot-on, but you don’t know how to communicate it in a way they understand or that motivates them to act.

Or you’re not doing enough marketing. You’re spreading yourself too thin across too many channels, or you gave up too soon, or you’re not hitting your audience enough times for it to stick.

Or you’re not testing and improving. You assume you’ve hit the ceiling or that something doesn’t work when it just needed a different approach or more time.

These aren’t tactics problems. They’re foundation problems.

Tactics are the floor pedal. Foundations are the engine. If the engine is weak, pressing harder on the pedal just burns fuel.

The MLG System starts with foundations because they multiply the impact of everything else. Fix positioning and suddenly your content resonates. Clarify your audience and your ad spend gets more efficient. Nail your value story and sales conversations get shorter.

Sprints and Growth Levers

Once you’ve addressed your marketing foundation: North Star Metrics, Audience, Brand Edge, Value Story, you move into sprints focused on reach and momentum.

A sprint is roughly 100 hours of effort focused on a specific growth lever. Growth levers are aspects of improving and executing against an already solid foundation.

The growth levers are:

Audience Growth

Reach more of the right people by growing an existing channel or testing new ones. You might improve search visibility or start building an email list.

Engagement

Increase engagement on your existing channels. You’re reaching people, but are they clicking? Reading? Sharing? Commenting? Subscribing?

Conversion

Turn interest into leads. Improve calls to action. Create new conversion opportunities. Test landing pages, messaging, ads, and creative. This can also include sales enablement, CRM implementation, and lead nurturing.

Brand Authority

Build brand awareness, trust, and credibility. Examples include positioning-focused social and advertising campaigns, testimonial and review acquisition, public relations, and managing AI descriptions of your brand.

Retention and Expansion

Keep existing customers longer. Grow them into bigger accounts. Convert them into advocates who recommend you to others. This can focus on the post-purchase/onboarding experience, customer satisfaction surveys, upsell strategies, reengagement initiatives, and referral programs.

Building a Marketing Engine

The Marketing-Led Growth System treats marketing as what it actually is: a connected system where every part affects the others.

Most companies approach marketing as a series of independent decisions. They pick channels based on what competitors are doing. They create messaging in a vacuum. They set metrics without understanding what drives them. Each decision gets made in isolation, so nothing compounds.

The MLG System reverses that. You start by understanding the foundation—who you’re reaching, what makes you different, how to communicate that difference, and where to focus effort. Then you build on top of that foundation through focused sprints that improve one growth lever at a time.

The result is a marketing engine that gets stronger over time. Early wins fund later investments. Channels that work get optimized. Channels that don’t get cut. Your positioning sharpens as you learn what resonates. Your messaging adapts to what converts.

Marketing stops feeling like guesswork. It becomes a system you can measure, improve, and scale.

If you want to see how it applies to your business, contact us for a quick assessment.

We built a 12-question, multiple-choice assessment that measures all six foundations. It takes about five minutes. You’ll get a baseline rating and see where your gaps are.

From there, you can request a free marketing assessment. We’ll dig into your business, run a few exercises, and show you what fixing the foundation could look like.

No pitch. No pressure. Just clarity on what’s holding you back and what to do about it.

The post The Marketing-Led Growth System: How to Build a Marketing Engine That Actually Works appeared first on Three Seven.

Spoiler: it doesn’t. llms.txt is a way to curate, not to climb. Think of it as picking your outfit before the spotlight hits. It doesn’t make the light brighter, it just makes sure you’re not quoted wearing sweatpants.

What llms.txt Actually Is (and Isn’t)

At its simplest, llms.txt is just a plain text file that lives at the root of your site (/llms.txt). Inside it, you list the content you want large language models to reference. The polished guides, the evergreen FAQs, the research that actually represents your brand.

It’s not robots.txt. It’s not your sitemap. And it is definitely not some secret SEO switch you flip to leapfrog into ChatGPT answers. Right now, adoption across AI tools is spotty at best. But adding it now is a bet on the future. You’re handing AI assistants the right materials before the practice becomes standard. Adoption is still early and voluntary; most major AI platforms haven’t formally committed to honoring these files yet, but they’re watching closely.

llms.txt vs robots.txt: Key Differences

If robots.txt is the bouncer deciding who gets in, llms.txt is the VIP list for AI. Robots.txt tells crawlers what they can or can’t touch; llms.txt points AI assistants to the pages worth quoting. Different jobs, complementary tools. Don’t confuse the two.

What LLMs Actually Pay Attention To

Spoiler: they’re picky. Even with a beautifully written llms.txt file, large language models don’t just take your word for it. They still decide what’s trustworthy based on the same things Google has been hammering for years: expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness. That means visible authorship, real bios, organizational identity, and citations.

Think of llms.txt as one layer in a broader ecosystem of machine-readable signals. Even if an AI never reads the file directly, structured data — things like schema markup, author profiles, and clear content types — helps models understand what your pages represent and who stands behind them. In short, schema + E-E-A-T still carry more weight than the file itself.

They also prize content that’s structured for clarity. Short paragraphs, scannable headings, tables instead of long rambles—these things matter because they’re easy to parse. Freshness counts, too. Content that shows it’s been recently updated or reviewed is far more likely to be trusted. And, just like users, AI assistants prefer pages that load cleanly without pop-ups or JavaScript gymnastics.

Should You Block Anything?

In most cases, the answer is no. Blocking content from AI doesn’t protect you; it just limits your reach. The exceptions are when something is outdated, context-dependent, or sensitive. Old pricing pages and deprecated features? Don’t feed them to AI. Legal copy that requires careful context? Probably not safe to summarize. Internal docs that were never meant for public eyes? Definitely block those.

The simplest test is this: if you’d be uncomfortable seeing the content quoted in a press article, don’t make it available to AI.

Myth vs Reality

There’s a lot of noise around llms.txt. Here’s what’s real and what’s still taking shape.

Which LLMs Actually Support llms.txt Right Now

So what does all this mean in practice? Let’s look at where llms.txt actually stands today. While the llms.txt protocol is gaining attention, real-world adoption remains early-stage.

• As of late 2025, major AI platforms—OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), and Google (Gemini)—have not publicly confirmed that they crawl or follow llms.txt directives.
• Independent audits show that most llms.txt files are not yet being requested by identifiable LLM user agents.
• However, the file is beginning to appear in SEO toolsets like SEMrush, which now flags it as missing in technical audits. This signals that industry platforms are starting to treat llms.txt as part of the modern website checklist.
• OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google haven’t publicly confirmed support — and it’s worth noting that there’s no formal standard yet for how large language models would even read llms.txt. Some may eventually fetch it during crawl-based indexing (like robots.txt), while others could reference it when curating new training datasets. Until major providers explicitly adopt the protocol, its influence is more about readiness than guaranteed compliance.

What this means: Even if AI crawlers aren’t using it yet, llms.txt has entered the visibility conversation. Implementing it now signals that your brand is staying ahead of evolving web standards.

Does llms.txt Affect SEO or Performance?

Right now, llms.txt doesn’t directly impact rankings or speed — but it’s starting to matter indirectly as part of modern site health checks.

• Search engines don’t reference it for indexing, but tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Yoast are beginning to factor it into technical audits.
• This means a missing llms.txt might soon appear as a “minor issue” or “best practice warning” in site health scores.
• The file itself is static and lightweight, so there’s zero effect on page speed or crawl efficiency.

You might start seeing this in your technical audits, too.
Tools like SEMrush have already rolled out warnings like “llms.txt not found — why and how to fix it.” That means it’s officially on the radar for site health and best practices.

How to Verify or Test Your llms.txt File

Testing options are still basic—but that doesn’t mean it’s useless. Here’s what to do:

1. Confirm accessibility
Visit https://yourwebsite.com/llms.txt and make sure it loads correctly (HTTP 200 OK). It must live in your site’s root directory.

2. Check your logs or analytics
Monitor server logs for requests to /llms.txt. You likely won’t see known AI crawlers yet, but logging this now gives you a baseline for future reference.

3. Watch your audit tools
Because SEMrush, Ahrefs, and other scanners are now detecting llms.txt, you can verify recognition directly within their audit dashboards. This is the easiest way to confirm the file is visible.

4. Optional plugin support
Plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math are beginning to add llms.txt creation features, making it simple for WordPress users to manage updates alongside robots.txt.

Pro tip: Treat llms.txt like a sitemap or security.txt file—something you add early, keep accurate, and monitor as standards evolve.

Your llms.txt Playbook

So what’s the move?

Start by actually creating an llms.txt file and putting it at your root domain. Use it to point AI toward your canon: your most authoritative guides, FAQs, and research pages. Then make sure those pages are anchored in E-E-A-T—real authors, dates, and a clear organizational identity.

Even though major LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini haven’t confirmed they’re reading these files yet, SEO tools are. SEMrush, Ahrefs, and even Yoast now flag llms.txt as a missing best-practice file—meaning it’s quietly becoming part of technical SEO hygiene. Adding one now positions your site as AI-ready while improving your overall site-health profile.

As you update, focus on readability. Chunk your content into logical sections, lead with clear answers, and use entities and terms that AI can easily map. Finally, revisit the file every quarter. Trim what’s outdated, add what’s new, and keep the signal strong.

# Your Website Name
> A brief one-sentence description of what your organization does and why it matters.  
> Example: "Strategy-led design and digital marketing solutions that help brands grow smarter online."

## Overview
This file follows the emerging [llms.txt](https://github.com/answerdotai/llms-txt) convention proposed by Answer.AI’s Jeremy Howard (2024).  
It provides AI systems with a concise, Markdown-formatted roadmap to your most authoritative and evergreen content.  
AI assistants may summarize or cite the pages below for factual, attributed use only.

Site: https://www.yourwebsitehere.com  
Owner: Marketing / Web Team  
Contact: webmaster@yourwebsitehere.com  
Last-Updated: YYYY-MM-DD  

---

## Solutions / Services
> Core offerings or solution areas that define your expertise.

- [Service One](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/services/service-one/) — Short one-sentence summary of what it covers.  
- [Service Two](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/services/service-two/) — Short description emphasizing outcomes.  
- [Service Three](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/services/service-three/) — Another key area of expertise.

---

## Resources & Guides
> Educational content, tools, and evergreen resources you want AI to reference.

- [Example Blog Post](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/blog/example-post/) — A practical article offering insights or data.  
- [Case Study Title](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/case-studies/example/) — Demonstrates a measurable success story.  
- [Guide or Template](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/resources/template/) — Helpful framework or step-by-step process.  
- [Whitepaper or Report](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/resources/report/) — Authoritative research or long-form content.

---

## About / Company
> Content that establishes credibility, background, and team expertise.

- [About Us](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/about/) — Mission statement and leadership overview.  
- [Team Page](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/team/) — Key contributors or experts.  
- [Results or Case Studies](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/results/) — Evidence of success.

---

## Optional / Secondary Content
> Pages that provide additional context but are lower priority for AI retrieval.

- [Blog Archive](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/blog/)  
- [Resource Library](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/resources/)  
- [Contact](https://www.yourwebsitehere.com/contact/)

---

## Access Policy
Public content may be summarized or cited with proper attribution to *Your Organization Name*.  
Do not train on, reproduce, or redistribute non-public materials (e.g., client portals, draft pages, or gated PDFs).  
If uncertain, treat content as restricted.

---

## Technical Notes
- This file complements **robots.txt** and **sitemap.xml**; it does **not** replace them.  
- Exclude low-value or sensitive directories such as `/wp-admin/`, `/checkout/`, `/login/`, `/private/`, and `/drafts/`.  
- Reviewed periodically as part of ongoing content, SEO, and AI-readiness maintenance.

Important Note: The syntax here is based on early community conventions, not an official spec. Some AI providers are experimenting with alternatives — such as metadata tags (<meta name="llm-access" content="allow">) or HTTP headers — which means the format may evolve. For now, the goal is consistency and transparency, not perfect compliance.

The bottom line

While llms.txt is framed as a best-practice signal, it doesn’t carry legal weight. Major media publishers and organizations are actively exploring data-licensing frameworks and opt-out standards (like noai and noimageai) to manage how their content is used in training datasets. For now, think of llms.txt as a polite request — not a contract — and keep an eye on how industry standards evolve.

llms.txt won’t rocket you into AI answers on its own. It’s maintenance, not magic. Use it to curate, block sparingly, and double down on the signals that actually earn you citations: authority, clarity, and freshness.

As standards mature, expect to see organizations like W3C, Partnership on AI, and the AI Crawl Coalition shaping what ‘AI-ready’ metadata really means. In other words — llms.txt is just the start.

The post llms.txt Explained: What to Share, What to Block, and What Actually Matters appeared first on Three Seven.

Everyone obsesses over headlines, hero copy, and product descriptions—but then slaps a “Get Started” button at the bottom and calls it a day. In most B2B marketing, the CTA is an afterthought. That’s a problem.

Your CTA is the second most important part of the page. If your headline gets their attention, your CTA is what turns that attention into action. If it’s weak, vague, or irrelevant, the whole page underperforms.

The good news: there’s a structured way to write CTAs that pull their weight. This post walks through the process we use at Three Seven to make sure CTAs don’t just fill a space, they work.

Why Most CTAs Don’t Work

Let’s start with the bad habits.

Most marketers treat CTAs as a formality. They write an entire page of thoughtful messaging, only to stick a generic “Get Started” button at the bottom. It’s easy to assume the hard work is done by the time you reach the button. That’s not true.

Here’s why CTAs fail:

• They’re vague. You’ve seen it: “Submit,” “Click Here,” “Request Info.” These don’t tell the user what happens next, what they’ll get, or why they should care.
• They’re generic. One CTA gets pasted across every page regardless of content. It doesn’t adapt to the offer or the user’s readiness.
• They’re pushy. CTAs like “Schedule a Call” or “Talk to Sales” show up on pages designed for people who are still learning.
• They don’t add value. If there’s no implied benefit, there’s no motivation to click.

A weak CTA undercuts the whole page. You might have nailed the messaging and visuals, but if the CTA doesn’t convert, none of that matters. The page falls flat where it should be turning interest into action.

What Makes a CTA Effective

A high-performing CTA isn’t clever. It’s clear, grounded in context, and focused on what the user needs.

Every CTA should do three things:

1. Match the moment

The CTA has to feel like the logical next step for the person reading the page. If they’re early in the journey, give them something light-touch. If they’re product-aware, get more specific.

2. Offer real value

The copy should make it obvious what the user gets. A free trial? A live demo? A comparison guide? The value should be visible and attractive.

3. Set clear expectations

Ambiguity kills clicks. People want to know what will happen when they click. Will they have to fill out a form? Talk to someone? Download something? Set expectations so there are no surprises.

When you do those three things well, the CTA becomes an invitation, not a hurdle. It feels like help, not pressure.

A Step-by-Step Process for Writing Better CTAs

Here’s how we approach CTAs in our client work, and how you can use the same process on your site.

1. Start with the user’s context

What page are they on? Where are they in the funnel? What questions might they have?

Someone on your pricing page has different goals than someone reading a blog post. Match the CTA to their intent.

2. Pick the right next step

Don’t jump to “Book a Demo” by default. Other options might work better:

• See a feature breakdown
• Watch a short video
• Read a case study
• Compare plans

Lower-commitment CTAs often outperform “conversion” CTAs early in the journey.

3. Make the value crystal clear

“Get the comparison guide” is better than “Download now.”

“See how it integrates with Salesforce” is better than “Learn more.”

Tell them what they’ll get. If there’s a benefit, say it.

4. Write multiple versions

Write 3–5 options for every CTA. Don’t settle for the first one. Play with:

• Outcomes: “Find the right plan for your team”
• Specifics: “Compare packages side-by-side”
• Tone: “Take the 2-minute tour”

Even small wording changes can make a difference.

5. Test and refine

If the page gets traffic, the CTA is worth testing.

Use A/B tools like Google Optimize, VWO, or HubSpot’s built-in testing. Or go manual: swap in a new CTA and watch what happens over a week.

Measure clicks, but also what comes next. A button that gets clicked but leads to a bounce isn’t helping.

Good CTA vs. Bad CTA

Here are a few real examples (sanitized from client work):

Weak CTA: “Submit”

Better CTA: “Get my free product roadmap template”

Weak CTA: “Contact Us”

Better CTA: “Talk to a specialist about FDA compliance”

Weak CTA: “Download Now”

Better CTA: “Compare pricing tiers in one simple chart”

The difference? The good CTAs feel timely, specific, and useful.

Matching CTAs to Page Type

Not every CTA belongs everywhere. Here’s how to think about CTA intent by page:

Homepage:

• “See how it works”
• “Explore solutions”

Product Page:

• “Compare to [Competitor]”
• “Get feature checklist”

Blog Post:

• “See how we solved this for [Client]”
• “Download the step-by-step guide”

Pricing Page:

• “Talk to Sales”
• “Get custom quote”

Each CTA should feel like the logical next step, not a push, just a pull.

Where CTAs Live

CTAs aren’t just buttons. Think about:

• Top navigation (“Schedule a Demo” or “Free Trial”)
• Sticky headers or scroll-triggered bars
• In-line within copy
• Form buttons (e.g., “Book My Time” instead of “Submit”)

Each one needs attention. Each one should feel intentional.

Tools to Improve Your CTA Game

If you’re guessing about whether your CTA is working, you’re already behind. Tools exist to remove the guesswork and give you hard evidence. They show you what people click, what they ignore, where they stall, and how they behave in real time.

Behavior Analytics Tools:

• Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity can show heatmaps of where users click, how far they scroll, and whether they even see your CTA.
• Use session recordings to watch users navigate your page. Do they pause on the CTA? Do they backtrack? Do they scroll past it completely?
• If users hover near your CTA but never click, it could mean your wording is unclear—or the offer isn’t appealing enough.

Web Analytics:

• In GA4, track micro-conversions like CTA clicks as events. Add them as steps in your funnel visualization to see where people fall off.
• Create different segments for visitors who clicked the CTA versus those who didn’t. Compare time on page, bounce rates, and next steps.

User Feedback Platforms:

• Tools like UserTesting, Maze, or UsabilityHub let you test multiple CTA versions with real people. Ask them to complete a task and observe what draws their attention.
• Run preference tests where people choose between different CTA versions and explain their choice. You’ll often uncover copy issues you’d never spot on your own.

A/B Testing Tools:

• Use Google Optimize, VWO, Optimizely, or your CMS’s built-in testing tools to run controlled experiments.
• Start by testing the CTA text. Then move to button color, placement, and surrounding copy.
• Always test one change at a time. That’s how you know what’s actually working.

You don’t need to use every tool at once. But if you’re not tracking behavior or running any tests, your CTA strategy is mostly guesswork. The right tools help you turn good intuition into great results.

Final Takeaways

If you want your site to convert better, start by rewriting your CTAs. They’re the point where curiosity turns into action, or doesn’t.

A strong CTA doesn’t have to be clever or punchy. It just has to feel helpful. It should match where the visitor is, offer something they want, and explain clearly what’s going to happen.

Use the structure: context, value, clarity. Write multiple versions. Test often. And never treat your CTAs as throwaway content.

They’re the tipping point.

Need help crafting better CTAs across your site?

That’s the kind of work we live for. Let’s talk.

The post How to Craft CTAs That Actually Convert: A Structured Approach for B2B Marketers appeared first on Three Seven.

That’s where customer journey mapping comes in. A journey map gives you a clear, visual representation of what your prospects are thinking, feeling, and doing along the way to becoming a customer (and beyond). Done right, it can transform how you market, sell, and support your audience.

In this article, we’ll break down:

• What a customer journey really is
• The stages every customer passes through
• The benefits of creating journey maps
• How to build one step-by-step
• Practical examples of what they look like

What Is a Buyer Journey?

At its core, the buyer journey is the process someone goes through from the moment they realize they have a need to the moment they solve it, whether by buying your product, choosing a competitor, or even doing nothing.

Consider a simple example: I live in Michigan, which experiences very cold winters. Before I moved into a home with a garage, every morning I’d be freezing when I walked out to my car.

After a few mornings of shivering, I realized I wanted to do something about it. That’s the trigger. From there I considered options… move somewhere warmer (that would be nice,) buy a remote starter, or pick up a scarf. Eventually, I researched scarves, compared them, and made a purchase.

This small example illustrates a universal truth: every buying decision has stages. Some are fast and impulsive; others are long and complex. Either way, mapping them helps you understand what customers need at each step so you can meet them there.

The Common Stages of a Buyer’s Journey

While every business will see differences, most journeys share a few common stages:

1. Trigger (Motivation): The moment someone realizes they have a problem or need.
2. Awareness: Exploring possible solutions, sometimes broadly, sometimes very specifically.
3. Consideration: Narrowing down the options and evaluating pros and cons.
4. Decision: Selecting a specific product, service, or provider.
5. Purchase (or Commitment): The moment of conversion.
6. Post-Purchase: Delivery, onboarding, and long-term experience that shape satisfaction and loyalty.

For low-stakes purchases, these steps can happen in minutes. For B2B solutions, each one might stretch into weeks or months, with multiple stakeholders weighing in.

Buyer Journey Maps are Fantasy

Now, it’s important to note that in reality, the buyer’s journey is rarely as straightforward or linear as I’ve outlined above. Reflect on your own buying journeys; it won’t take much effort to identify times when you’ve bounced back and forth between stages, jumped between stages, started in the middle of a journey, and even ended up in stages that don’t typically exist.

The value in journey mapping isn’t to document a factual depiction of what every buyer goes through, but rather to understand the buyer at each stage of the journey so you can identify opportunities and improve your marketing as a result.

Let’s talk a bit more about why journey mapping matters, even if it’s somewhat make-believe.

Why Journey Mapping Matters

As noted previously, the primary benefit of journey mapping is to identify opportunities to better market to your audience and serve them more effectively.

By creating a visual map of your customers’ start-to-finish experience, you can realize several benefits:

Reach more prospects earlier.

Most companies only focus on people once they’re ready to buy. Journey maps highlight the questions people ask much earlier, giving you new opportunities to target them and campaigns that bring them in sooner.

Improve conversion rates.

By identifying objections, questions, and emotions at each stage, you can tailor messaging that moves prospects forward instead of leaving them stuck.

Discover new segments.

Sometimes mapping uncovers audiences you weren’t intentionally serving.

Create happier customers.

Mapping post-purchase experiences shows where frustration occurs (onboarding, packaging, support) so you can improve them.

Align your team.

Sales, marketing, and service often have different views of the customer. A shared map brings everyone onto the same page.

Real-World Examples

A Simple Consumer Journey

Let’s go back to the scarf. A journey map here might look like this:

• Trigger: “It’s freezing outside. My neck is cold.”
• Awareness: Research different ways of staying warm such as clothing, remote car starters, hand warmers, etc…
• Consideration: Focuses on scarves and reads reviews, narrows options by design and budget.
• Decision: Selects one on Amazon.
• Purchase: Orders with one-click.
• Post-Purchase: Receives it two days later, notes packaging and comfort.

Even for a simple item, the map highlights potential touchpoints: ads targeting “winter clothing,” product descriptions that emphasize warmth and materials, reviews that foster trust, and packaging that delights.

A Complex B2B Journey

Now consider a company choosing an e-learning platform. The stages expand:

• Trigger: In-person training is no longer feasible.
• Awareness: Researches alternatives, including manuals, webinars, and online courses.
• Consideration: Evaluates hosted vs. self-hosted solutions, feature sets, and costs.
• Decision: The options are narrowed down to three vendors.
• Purchase: Signs a contract.
• Post-Purchase: Faces onboarding challenges and usability hurdles before reaching steady adoption.

This longer journey creates far more opportunities for tailored content, including guides to evaluating platforms, comparison charts, onboarding support, and customer success programs.

How to Create a Buyer Journey Map

The process consists of five straightforward steps, but each requires rigorous attention to detail.

1. Audience Definition
2. Insight Gathering
3. Documentation
4. Visualization
5. Analysis and Outcomes

1. Define Your Audience Segments

Start by breaking your audience down into segments. Now, not all segments will need individual journey maps. You might find that even though you have multiple groups that purchase your solution, they often share the same journey.

Plan to create a map for each unique journey you identify.

2. Gather Insights

Journey maps aren’t valuable if they’re based on guesswork; in fact, an incorrect journey map can hurt more than it helps. You need to base your journey maps on research and data.

Some effective methods include:

• Interviews with customers
• Input from sales and support teams
• Surveys and on-site feedback tools
• Analytics on website behavior

When conducting your research, begin by identifying all the common triggers that initiated the buyer’s journey, and then walk through each step the buyer took leading up to their final purchase.

With every step, ask these simple but powerful questions:

• How did you first realize you had a problem?
• What solutions did you consider?
• What questions or concerns did you have?
• How did you compare your options?
• What happened next?

Patterns will emerge that define the stages.

3. Document Each Stage

Using your research, document what’s happening at each stage in the journey. What you include in your journey map at each stage will vary depending on your business, audience, and intended use.

For example, your journey map might include different information if you’re focused on how your audience finds and interacts with your website compared to a broader marketing campaign.

Some more common elements you could draw from include:

• What they’re thinking
• What they’re doing
• Questions and objections
• Touchpoints with your brand
• How they’re feeling
• Opportunities for improvement
• Relevant or important content
• What moves them to the next stage
• Decision criteria

Don’t worry about how it looks at this stage; you can even start with a spreadsheet that has simple rows and columns, including stages and notes.

4. Visualize the Map

Once you’ve captured the stages, you have actionable information ready to leverage for your sales and marketing efforts; however, there is value in packaging the information in an attractive format.

A wall of text won’t get used. Condense your findings into a visual that’s easy to reference. Good maps often include:

• Stages are laid out in order
• Notes on actions, thoughts, and emotions
• A timeline or duration indicator
• Icons or graphics showing touchpoints
• A “feeling line” tracking positive/negative emotions

Make it attractive enough to print and hang. The more visible it is, the more likely it will guide real decisions.

5. Turn Insights Into Action

All of the research and documentation are ultimately intended to help you identify areas for improvement. Analyze your journey map and ask yourself:

• Where do customers get stuck?
• What objections stop them?
• What touchpoints are missing?
• How can we smooth post-purchase frustrations?

Every map should generate a list of practical changes, content to create, processes to adjust, and experiences to fix.

Tips for Making Journey Maps Useful

Journey Maps are only as useful as you make them. You won’t get value out of them if you treat them as a one-time exercise and then stick them in a Google Drive, never to be revisited.

Here are some practical tips to maximize the benefits of your journey map.

Keep versions at different levels

A detailed map for strategists, a simple one-page overview for the broader team.

Update regularly

Journeys change as markets shift. Revisit your maps every 6–12 months.

Use them in meetings

When discussing new campaigns or site updates, check: does this align with the journey?

Don’t overcomplicate

The perfect map isn’t the goal; actionable insights are.

Final Thoughts

Customer journey maps are powerful because they shift perspective. Instead of focusing on what you want customers to do, you focus on what they actually experience. That empathy makes your marketing sharper, your sales smoother, and your customers happier.

And the best part? It’s not rocket science. With a few interviews, a spreadsheet, and a little design effort, you can build a tool that guides better decisions across your entire organization.

So start simple. Map one audience, one product, one journey. Share it. Use it. And watch how much clarity it brings to your marketing efforts.

The post B2B Buyer Journey Maps: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Converting Your Audience appeared first on Three Seven.

The challenge with optimizing for AI recommendations is that it isn’t exactly SEO and it isn’t exactly PR, but it’s influenced by both. Until recently, we’ve had little more than anecdotal evidence on what works.

TL;DR – What the Research Says About AI Citations

Three major studies (Adi Srikanth, Ahrefs, Diggity Marketing) found that AI models like Google’s AI Overviews cite sources based on relevance, clarity, authority, and recognizability, not just domain size or backlinks.
Key patterns emerged:

• Topical depth and intent alignment outweigh raw domain authority (Srikanth)
• Brand authority signals like branded mentions, branded anchors, branded search volume are the strongest statistical indicators of inclusion (Ahrefs)
• Organic top rankings matter. 91.4% of citations come from URLs in the top five results, but structure, clarity, and E-E-A-T also heavily influence selection (Diggity Marketing)

In short: be specific, be easy to quote, be visible, and be recognized.

Want to get into more detail? Let’s start by outlining what we know about being cited or recommended by AI.

How AI Optimization Works

Much of the current recommendations for AI optimization is what I would call “informed speculation.” Recommendations are based on theorizing how LLMs work, incorporating a few traditional SEO best practices.

Three notable studies analyzed AI Overviews and LLM recommendations to reverse engineer what situations trigger an AI Overview and what factors influence which brands are cited within them. The first study by Adi Srikanth focused on authority, search intent, and content. More recently, Ahrefs published a study that identified brand authority signals, and finally, Diggity Marketing published a case study with findings on how to structure and write content.

Let’s dive into each study one by one.

AI Overviews value authority, search intent, and content

Adi Srikanth’s study tracked 1,000 informational search queries across 10 industries, monitoring whether an AI Overview was triggered and which domains were cited. He then analyzed the cited domains for frequency in appearing in AIOs, domain authority (via Moz), overall organic search performance (via Semrush), and the use of structured data.

What he found was:

With AI Overviews, authority does not guarantee inclusion

High-authority domains were cited frequently, but authority alone was not predictive of inclusion. Some lower-authority domains still appeared prominently.

Relevance and context are strong signals to AI

Domains that deeply covered a specific topic or had highly relevant content performed better than more generalist sites—even if they had lower authority.

Niche domains can compete in AI Overviews

In certain verticals, smaller or niche players outperformed industry giants, suggesting Google’s AI systems prioritize content relevance and topical depth over just size or authority.

Structured content increases citation likelihood

Pages with clear, scannable formatting (like FAQs, how-tos, summaries) were more likely to be cited, supporting the idea that content structure aids AI comprehension.

Search intent alignment is critical for AI mentions

Content that aligned more precisely with the user’s search intent, particularly informational or educational, was featured more often than purely commercial or sales-oriented content.

Essentially, what he found was that tropical depth and specificity trump domain authority and that clear, structured, and intent-aligned content is where to focus your efforts. Additionally, where possible, using schema and smart formatting can help AI interpret your content and increase the likelihood of being cited as well.

More recently, Ahrefs released a study analyzing over 75,000 brands across 100,000 AI-generated responses and discovered strong correlations between citations and brand authority signals.

AI heavily relies on brand authority signals

As mentioned earlier, the key takeaway from the Ahref study is that brand signals had the strongest relevance for appearance in AI overviews. Specifically:

• Branded web mentions
• Branded anchors
• Branded search volume

These weren’t just loosely associated; they were the most statistically significant indicators across the study.

We’ve seen the same trends reflected in our client work, particularly when comparing AI citation performance before and after brand or content investments.

With that context in mind, here are the three areas to focus on if you want to increase your chances of showing up in AI-generated buying recommendations or citations.

AI Overviews favor top rankings and clear, relevant content

Diggity Marketing’s study analyzed 10,000 keywords and 40,000 citations in Google’s AI Overviews and found that the algorithm leans heavily on existing organic rankings when selecting sources.

In fact, 91.4% of cited URLs ranked in the top five results for the query, making organic visibility the single strongest predictor of inclusion. Similar to the previous studies, they found that authority still played a role, with high Domain Rating sites appearing more often, but smaller sites could compete when their content precisely matched the search intent and was easy for AI to parse.

Key takeaways from the study:

• Rank in the top five for your target queries to maximize inclusion odds.
• Match search intent exactly with concise, direct answers.
• Use structured formatting such as lists, tables, and headings to aid AI extraction.
• Show E-E-A-T signals with expert bios, sourcing, and trust indicators.
• Expect diversity, as most AI Overviews cite 3–5 different sources.

1. Deepen topical coverage with structured, intent-aligned content

The single most impactful thing you can do is improve your content.

LLMs rely on public information to decide who to recommend. If your site doesn’t clearly describe the specific problems you solve for the specific people you serve, you won’t be mentioned. General content won’t cut it.

LLMs excel at matching specificity. With traditional search, someone searching “secure file sharing for automotive engineering teams with complex permissions requirements and modest budgets” would struggle to find a useful result. Because of its specificity, the provider would need to create a specific page discussing that particular use case.

LLMs can develop a comprehensive understanding of your solution and make a recommendation based on nuances. This, of course, requires content on your website speaking to the nuances and specific use cases.

A client offering document automation for life sciences firms wasn’t being mentioned by AI when users asked for “document management platforms for FDA-regulated businesses.” We created a targeted page explaining their compliance-ready workflows, specifically for the life sciences industry. After publication, they began appearing in recommendation-style answers within 60 days.

To do this well, you need a solid understanding of your ICP. Interview your customers. Run win-loss interviews. Use keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or AlsoAsked to study how real people describe their problems. Use SparkToro to better understand the language your audience uses and where they get information.

Focus your content strategy on use-case-specific pages and long-tail prompts.

For example, instead of targeting “expense software,” aim for queries like “expense tracking software for remote nonprofit teams managing grants.” Include subheadings that match the types of natural queries people use in AI tools, such as “Does this tool support grant reporting?” or “Can it automate multi-currency reimbursements?”

Focus on:

• Specific verticals
• Specific company sizes
• Specific use cases
• Specific integrations or features
• Specific regions or industries

You don’t need dozens of pages. You need a handful of clear, confident explanations that reflect how your ideal customers would describe their problem.

2. Prioritize traditional SEO and create digestible and conversational content

As the Diggty case study shows, Google’s AI overwhelmingly relies on sites that are already winning in organic search. 91.4% of the URLs cited ranked in the top five for the query. That means your AIO strategy is, in large part, an SEO strategy.

There is more to AIO than traditional SEO; AI pulls from sources it can easily understand, trust, and quote. That means writing in a clear, conversational style, structuring information so it’s easy to lift directly into an answer, and demonstrating that expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

Here’s how to put those findings into practice:

Double down on SEO for AI visibility

Even though the landscape of SEO is changing, it’s still vitally important for online findability. Now is not the time to take your foot off the gas; if anything, you need to invest more into your SEO strategy and efforts.

Answer AI Questions Directly

The study found that content that precisely addressed the search intent was far more likely to be included. Avoid burying the answer lead with it in the first paragraph and then expanding.

We recommend including a “Key Takeaways” or “TLDR” section at the top of an article or page that helps both humans and robots get the key insights without having to consume long-form content.

Structure content for AI

Use bullet points, numbered lists, tables, and descriptive headings. These make it easier for Google’s AI to pull clean, scannable snippets.

Additional examples include summaries, FAQs, pros and cons lists, and comparison tables. These help both humans and machines understand what you’re offering and why it matters in a specific context.

Demonstrate expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness

Search engines and AI aim to provide their users with trustworthy, accurate, and expert information. When either platform fails to do so, users lose trust in the platforms themselves and are less likely to use them in the future.

The three studies referenced earlier all validate that evidence of expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) increases the likelihood of being included in both traditional search and AI.

You can demonstrate E-E-A-T by:

• Including expert bios
• Citing reputable sources (notice that’s what AI does at the end of every query?)
• Linking to active social profiles
• Demonstrating transparency on where you got your information
• Discussing your own experiences
• Creating content around a topic demonstrating knowledge and authority

Target a piece of the overview

Since most AIOs cite 3–5 sources, you can win by being the most relevant source for a specific angle, even if you’re not dominating the whole SERP.

3. Expand branded authority through mentions and search volume

According to the Ahrefs study, the most cited brands weren’t necessarily those with the most backlinks or the highest domain authority. They were the ones with the strongest brand presence.

There are two areas of brand authority you need to focus on, brand mentions and branded search volume.

Build brand mentions to increase AI traffic

According to the Ahrefs study, the more relevant and authoritative sources that mention your brand, the more likely it is to be mentioned.

To increase your brand mentions, start with:

• Mentions in editorial content (press, roundups, expert quotes)
• Listings in industry directories or association sites
• Consistent review activity on platforms like G2, Capterra, Trustpilot

Branded mentions on relevant third-party sites also play a key role. This includes blog mentions, podcast appearances, being quoted in roundups, and being listed in industry-specific directories. When your name keeps appearing in contextually relevant places, LLMs are more likely to associate your brand with specific solutions.

Reviews are especially important because they offload risk. When LLMs recommend vendors, they tend to pick names that are widely cited and safely validated by other users. A high volume of recent, descriptive reviews on platforms like G2 or Trustpilot increases confidence in your brand as a low-risk suggestion.

How to increase branded search volume

As the name suggests, branded search volume refers to the frequency with which users search for your brand name on search engines like Google and Bing.

There is no single way to increase the number of times that your brand is searched every month. Content marketing, brand campaigns, and partnerships can indirectly drive search demand for your brand by name. Generally speaking, any activity that increases brand awareness will result in more branded search volume.

We previously ran a Google ad campaign for a cafe franchise that focused on brand awareness, and one of the strong indicators of success was the steady growth in branded search volume.

You can keep an eye on branded search volume through tools like Google Search Console, SEMRush or Ahrefs to see if your efforts are working.

4. Use Schema markup to help AI understand your content

Schema.org markup helps search engines and AI systems better understand the structure and purpose of your content. While it won’t guarantee inclusion, using structured data can improve how your content is interpreted, particularly for service-based businesses, FAQs, reviews, and articles.

Start with the basics:

• Add schema for your organization, including name, description, and contact info
• Use FAQ and HowTo schema where appropriate
• Tag review content and testimonials with Review schema

We worked with a client that had strong blog content about compliance software added structured data to highlight service pages and FAQs. After implementation, their content began surfacing more consistently in AI answers that quoted specific feature sets.

Beyond the basics like Organization, FAQ, and Review schema, consider Article schema for blog posts, Breadcrumb schema for site structure, and Product or Service schema for core offerings.

Tools like Google’s Rich Results Test, Merkle’s Schema Markup Generator, or Yoast (for WordPress) can help with implementation. HubSpot users can embed schema via script modules or HTML blocks.

Make sure your structured data is clean, consistent, and reflects actual page content. When paired with semantic HTML, strong subheadings, and clearly labeled content sections, schema can make it easier for AI models to extract and understand the core message.

Schema won’t make you rank on its own, but it’s a smart, low-lift technical investment that supports the other levers that do, content and brand authority.

The Takeaways

If you want to increase your presence in AI-generated vendor recommendations, you need to do more than just rank—you need to be easy for AI to understand, trust, and reference. Based on the combined findings of the three studies:

• Deepen topical coverage with structured, intent-aligned content
  Write to the exact problems your ICP describes in their own words. Create clear, use-case-specific pages with subheadings that mirror natural queries AI tools might see. Use bullet points, summaries, and schema to make information easy to parse and cite.
• Pair traditional SEO with conversational, citable writing
  Strong rankings are the biggest predictor of inclusion, but the content has to be presented in a conversational, concise way that surfaces the answer immediately. Lead with the key takeaway, then expand.
• Build branded authority
  Earn branded mentions on credible, topic-relevant sites, in industry directories, and through reviews on trusted platforms. Increase branded search volume with awareness campaigns, partnerships, and thought leadership.
• Demonstrate E-E-A-T everywhere
  Include expert bios, cite reputable sources, show your own experience, and be transparent about where your information comes from. AI tools echo the same trust signals that humans look for.
• Use schema markup to reinforce structure
  Tag core elements like organization details, FAQs, and reviews. This helps AI models (and search engines) understand your content and map it to user intent more precisely.

By combining these approaches, you’re not just improving your AI visibility—you’re creating content and brand signals that strengthen SEO, increase buyer trust, and make it easier for both people and algorithms to recommend you.

The post How to Get Recommended and mentioned by AI: A Practical Guide for B2B Marketers appeared first on Three Seven.

Your growth model is the underlying framework that drives your marketing approach, specifically in terms of how people find, evaluate, and adopt your solution. It influences how your team should approach all aspects of marketing, including messaging, channels, tactics, and even the purchasing process of your product.

Choosing the right growth model can be the difference between successfully growing your user base and struggling to attract buyers.

What Is a Growth Model?

A growth model is the primary path your business uses to acquire, convert, and expand customers. Different models emphasize different channels, content types, and buyer expectations. The growth model you choose should match how your buyers want to experience your product or service.

For example, a growth model that’s growing in popularity is Product-Led Growth. I’ll dive into more detail later, but with this model, companies focus on building a self-service approach where free trials do most of the selling and users can upgrade independently when they’re ready to buy.

Let’s look at the most common growth models for B2B software companies.

Product-Led Growth (PLG)

As previously discussed, Product-Led Growth is exactly what it sounds like: letting the product itself drive sales, rather than relying on a sales team. You’re using the product itself to drive interest and adoption by leveraging free trials, freemium plans, and self-serve onboarding.

Users explore the tool independently, often without consulting sales, to determine if it addresses their problems.

Slack, for example, leverages Product-Led Growth by allowing teams to start using it in minutes. Once you hit a usage threshold, you’re prompted to upgrade. Typically, by the time you reach the threshold, the product is already embedded within your organization, making the upgrade to a paid account more likely.

Pros of Product-Led Growth:

• Shortens sales cycles
• Lower customer acquisition cost
• Drives organic growth

Cons of Product-Led Growth:

• Only works if the product delivers value quickly
• Requires strong onboarding and UX
• Not viable for complex or enterprise tools

Simply put, PLG is ideal for products with relatively flat learning curves, offering self-service sales, free tiers, and pricing that enables decision-makers to make purchases independently without involving procurement.

Enterprise software solutions are typically not a great fit, as they tend to be more complex, more expensive, and present greater challenges in setting up self-service onboarding or building free tiers.

Sales-Led Growth (SLG)

Sales-Led Growth (SLG) is nearly opposite to Product-Led Growth and is built on one-to-one conversations. Marketing creates interest. Sales teams qualify leads, run demos, and close deals.

The model intentionally requires sales involvement, and users have no ability to demo or purchase the software independently.

SLG execution heavily relies on CRMs, outbound efforts, live demonstrations, and custom proposals. SAP is a classic example, where buyers expect to speak with a representative who helps them configure the solution to their specific needs and provides a customized quote before making a purchase.

Pros of Sales-Led Growth:

• Better for high-ticket or complex sales
• Easier to handle objections and customization
• Builds relationships early

Cons of Sales-Led Growth:

• Expensive and slower
• Can create friction if buyers want to self-serve

If your software is more expensive, has a steep learning curve, and is highly custom, you’ll likely benefit from a Sales-Led Growth model. Expect to hire a sales team that will focus on both inbound and outbound leads, and establish a marketing function that attracts interested parties and generates sufficient interest to produce sales-qualified leads.

Marketing-Led Growth (MLG)

Marketing-Led Growth can include self-service purchase or involve a sales team. This growth model differs in that it focuses primarily on inbound marketing. Content, ads, SEO, LLMs, and social media attract people to the site. Forms capture leads. Marketing nurtures them with targeted emails and valuable resources.

MLG-focused teams have larger marketing teams and a group of sales specialists to answer questions and handle larger accounts.

A good example is HubSpot, which publishes educational content to attract leads and then utilizes automation to guide them through the buyer’s journey. Asana, a project management SaaS, publishes general business content, such as “What is Scope Creep,” to build top-of-the-funnel awareness. This way, when prospects are considering switching project management platforms, they already know, like, and trust Asana.

Pros of Marketing-Led Growth:

• Scales well
• Helps educate the market
• Builds long-term visibility

Cons of Marketing-Led Growth:

• Takes time to gain traction
• Hard to tie top-of-funnel to revenue
• May need sales support to close

Marketing-Led Growth is a good fit for brands that have ample subject matter expertise and target an audience that consumes large amounts of online content related to the problems they’re trying to solve.

Community-Led Growth (CLG)

Community-Led Growth focuses on building an engaged user base that acts as evangelists, helping to support, educate, extend, and promote the product.

CLG requires building a community team that focuses on nurturing and growing evangelists. The community team will typically identify high-visibility users who are already vocal about the platform and engage with them to encourage continued outreach and participation in a forum, user group, or by creating more content around the product.

You may establish your own forum and encourage users to join and participate, or cultivate and support the community where they’re already engaging, such as Reddit, Discord, or other social platforms.

Community-led growth often includes events, ambassador programs, and directly involving prominent community members in marketing efforts.

Notion is a recent example of successful Community-Led Growth. Their online community shares templates, creates YouTube tutorials, solves problems, and spreads the word. Notion does minimal direct marketing and advertising, and most of its growth has resulted from its community.

Pros of Community-Led Growth

• Builds loyalty and retention
• Creates ongoing content and support
• Reduces reliance on ads or outbound

Cons of Community-Led Growth

• Takes time to build
• Harder to measure and control
• Needs active moderation and engagement

In my experience, Community-Led Growth is most effective when you have a platform that users can build upon (like Notion.) Extendable platforms give end-users ownership by allowing them to build and share their own solutions, which creates an incentive for them to help grow the platform (if the product goes away, so does all their effort.)

WordPress, while an open-source project, is another classic example of CLG. WordPress’s growth can be directly attributed to the tens of thousands of add-ons, plugins, events, and other services and solutions created by the community. Each person who builds on top of WordPress has ownership in the project and an incentive to ensure its continued success.

Partner-Led Growth

Partner-Led Growth leverages third parties to promote or sell your product. Execution includes affiliate and partner programs, co-branded materials, channel partners, training, and revenue sharing.

Shopify generates a significant portion of its sales through Shopify partners who sign up clients who need e-commerce but haven’t specifically selected a platform.

HubSpot has a similar model with their agency partners. They provide training, education, and sales support to implementation partners and then share a portion of the sales generated by these partners.

Pros of Partner-Led Growth:

• Expands reach without direct acquisition costs
• Leverages existing trust of partners
• Scales in new markets quickly

Cons of Partner-Led Growth:

• Relies on external motivation
• Less control over the sales process
• Requires good partner enablement

Partner-Led Growth is ideal for complex solutions that benefit from expert implementation. HubSpot, Shopify, Monday.com, Salesforce, etc., are all extremely powerful and flexible platforms. Consequently, most businesses that want to use them don’t want to hire an in-house expert to set up and manage them.

This creates the need for a partner ecosystem where providers develop expertise on implementation and provide ongoing support. The platforms further incentivize the ecosystem by creating partner programs to offer implementers additional revenue and resources to sell the platforms themselves.

Ecosystem-Led Growth

Ecosystem-led growth leverages visibility within a larger system by integrating with already popular tools. You gain visibility by showing up in app directories, being featured by the integrating tools, and being promoted within the tools community.

This was one of the strategies we adopted when marketing Project Panorama, a WordPress-based project management add-on. Not only did we leverage visibility within the WordPress.org plugin directory, but we also intentionally developed free integrations with other popular WordPress plugins like Gravity Forms, WooCommerce, BuddyPress, and more.

For more examples, look at the Basecamp integration directory. There are dozens of tools that integrate with Basecamp, so when users look for ways to extend their project management platform, they discover new tools and options they might not have found otherwise.

Pros of Ecosystem-Led Growth

• Immediate visibility through integrations
• Can drive high-intent traffic
• Differentiates through compatibility

Cons of Ecosystem-Led Growth:

• Can become a commodity in large ecosystems
• Platform risk if dependencies shift
• Limited control over traffic and experience

Choosing the Right Growth Model

There is no best model. It depends on what is feasible and what your audience expects.

PLG only works if your product can be experienced without support. That means you need strong UX, instant value, and the ability to trial or demo features independently. If your users expect a guided experience, PLG may be frustrating for them.

In cases where PLG is not feasible, you can consider other models as strategic levers. If your competitor is winning on PLG, consider differentiating yourself with a community. If you’re not in a marketplace, consider building strong partnerships.

The key is to understand your audience. What do they expect when evaluating a product like yours? How do they want to learn about it? What resources do they have available?

Let the Growth Model Shape the Strategy

Once you’ve selected your growth model, you can build a strategy that supports it. If you’re PLG, focus on onboarding UX, tooltips, and pricing transparency. If you’re sales-led, invest in enablement, battlecards, and sales content. If you’re community-led, your marketing should support discussion, connection, and shared ownership.

A marketing strategy only works if it aligns with how people want to make a purchase and leverages the strengths of your tool and the broader ecosystem. Choosing a growth model gives you that clarity.

Start there. Then build everything else around it.

The post Growth Marketing Strategies for Software and SaaS Companies appeared first on Three Seven.

We talk to a lot of B2B marketers and sales leaders who are navigating long sales cycles, juggling multiple decision-makers, and trying to cut through the noise of endless options. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

So let’s be honest.
HubSpot isn’t a silver bullet. But in the right scenarios, it can be a powerful sales enablement and CRM platform that helps B2B teams close deals faster.

As a certified HubSpot Solutions Partner, we’ve seen the full range. Some clients thrive with it. Others find it wasn’t the tool they needed most. This article walks through five real-world HubSpot CRM use cases that help sales teams gain visibility, automate outreach, and engage decision-makers more effectively.

If you’re looking for clarity without pressure, this is for you.

Where HubSpot Fits In, And Where We Often Add Value

HubSpot can be extremely useful for organizing outreach, managing contacts, and automating follow-ups. It becomes even more helpful when marketing and sales teams need to collaborate on complex deals or long buying cycles.

But like any tool, it’s only as good as its setup. Many teams hit limits with reporting or find that automation doesn’t reflect how their real sales process works.

That’s where we often step in. We use Looker Studio to turn HubSpot’s data into clearer, full-funnel insights. For SEO, we pair HubSpot with competitive tools like SEMrush to drive stronger content strategy. And when it comes to configuring the platform, we focus on aligning it to your actual workflows — not a generic best-practice template.

1. You Know Who You Want to Reach, But They Aren’t Engaging

Imagine having a list of dream clients saved in a spreadsheet. Maybe you’ve reached out a few times, but it’s hard to tell if they’re even aware of your brand.

HubSpot makes this easier to manage. You can tag those companies as target accounts, track their visits to your website, and get notified when someone from their team takes action. With this visibility, outreach becomes more focused and less of a guessing game.

With this visibility, outreach becomes more focused and less of a guessing game. You can view a contact’s activity feed, including which pages they visited, what forms they filled out, and whether they viewed key content like pricing or case studies.

2. You Sell to More Than One Person at a Time

In complex B2B sales, you’re rarely dealing with just one buyer. You might have a user who loves your solution, a manager concerned with ROI, and a compliance officer making sure it clears all the internal checks.

HubSpot helps you group everyone from the same company into a single view. You can track their roles, tailor your messaging to what matters to them, and see how the entire team is engaging across touchpoints. Instead of sending the same email to everyone, your outreach speaks directly to their part in the process.

Using custom properties, you can segment contacts by role or buying influence, then tailor workflows or sequences to speak directly to each persona. For example, a technical evaluator might receive a different follow-up than a financial decision-maker, while all activity is tracked under the same company record.

3. You Have a Long Sales Cycle and Timing is Tricky

If you sell to hospitals, universities, or other large organizations, it’s not unusual for opportunities to go quiet for weeks or months. It’s hard to know when to check back in.

HubSpot helps by showing when interest starts to resurface. For example, if someone downloads a resource after a long pause, that can be your signal to reach out. You can also set up light-touch check-ins that stay helpful and relevant, rather than overwhelming.

You can also use HubSpot’s Deals pipeline to automatically track average time to close, identify bottlenecks in the process, and optimize how you engage contacts at each stage. Combined with lead nurturing workflows, this helps your team stay top of mind without overcommitting reps.

4. You’re Navigating Complicated Internal Buy-In

In enterprise sales, you might talk to five different teams before anything moves forward. One team likes what you offer, but another hasn’t even heard of you.

With HubSpot, your team can track all engagement at the company level. You’ll know who’s opened what, what’s been shared internally, and where things may be stuck. That insight can help move conversations forward more strategically and avoid repeating yourself.

5. You Want to Grow Existing Accounts, Not Just Land New Ones

Sometimes your first deal is only the beginning. Maybe you’ve signed on one region or department, but there’s potential to expand across other teams or locations.

HubSpot helps you spot those opportunities. You can track engagement trends, identify which contacts are interacting with emails, content, or landing pages, and trigger timely follow-ups based on behavior, all tied to the same company record.

If you’re using WordPress, we often integrate HubSpot tracking across your site to capture key behavioral signals. That way, you’ll know when interest is growing in a different service line or region, and customer success becomes part of your growth strategy, not just a support function.

When HubSpot Isn’t the Best Fit

If your sales process is short and straightforward, or you’re not ready to invest in a CRM system, there are lighter tools that might make more sense for now.

But if you’re managing a longer journey with multiple contacts and a lot of moving parts, HubSpot can help keep everything connected. It works best when it’s customized to fit the way your team already works — not the other way around.

Final Thought: HubSpot Only Works When the Strategy Does

Most teams don’t need more platforms. They need a system that gives them clarity.

That might mean seeing which accounts are engaged, understanding what’s working, or creating content that speaks to different decision-makers. HubSpot can support all of that, but it has to be part of something bigger.

We help companies use HubSpot effectively by making sure it’s aligned to strategy from the start. If you’re building a more connected system and want a partner who’s been there, we’d be happy to help you think it through.

No pressure. Just perspective and a clearer path forward.

The post 5 Real-World HubSpot CRM Use Cases That Actually Work for B2B Sales Teams appeared first on Three Seven.