Building a Repeatable B2B Marketing Funnel for a Consultancy Business
How I Built a B2B Marketing Funnel That Generates 100+ Leads Per Month.
Client
Business Thinking Ltd.
Project Role
Marketing Manager
Focus
Strategy, funnel design, lead generation, marketing systems
Tools Used
Mailchimp, YouTube, Buffer, Canva, LinkedIn, Zapier
Industry
B2B Data Engineering & Analytics
Constraints
Zero budget, small team, high-value sales (£100k+ LTV)
Outcome of this project
Designed and implemented a connected marketing funnel that increased qualified lead generation, enabled consistent nurturing, and reduced long-term commercial risk.
Context
Business Thinking is a specialist data engineering and analytics consultancy operating in a high-value, low-volume B2B market.
Before this project:
Marketing activity was fragmented and unstructured
Content existed but did not drive conversations or revenue
The business relied heavily on a few anchor clients
Marketing resources were minimal
There was no repeatable system connecting awareness to sales.
The Problem
Marketing activity produced isolated assets (posts, white papers) with no clear path from interest to revenue.
Key issues:
No lead nurturing
No optimisation or tracking
No consistent conversion path
Without intervention, the business risked stagnation and declining market relevance.
Goal
I wanted to create a low-cost, repeatable marketing funnel that:
Increased the efficiency of marketing time investment
Built trust before asking for a sales commitment
Generated qualified leads without paid advertising
Provided clear feedback on what worked and what didn’t
Success was measured by:
Impressions → lead conversion rate
Email list growth
Sales calls generated
Target Audience
Target decision-makers
Heads of Data
BI Managers
CDOs
Senior data professionals
Key insight
Buyers distrusted generic consultancy marketing
Many believed they already had sufficient internal capability
Aggressive sales tactics increased resistance
Authority, education, and safety mattered more than speed
For conversion to occur, the funnel needed to:
Reduce perceived threat
Increase trust and authority
Reframe external expertise as a support, not a replacement
Strategy
I designed the funnel around one core principle:
give disproportionate value before asking for commitment.
Strategic decisions:
Use personal brand-led content (CEO LinkedIn and YouTube) rather than company pages, as senior buyers trust people more than brands
Lead with deep technical education rather than surface-level lead magnets
Use email nurturing to build trust in a low-pressure, private environment
Optimise for authority and reciprocity, not speed to sale
This approach prioritised long-term conversion quality over short-term volume.
Funnel Structure
Top of funnel
LinkedIn (CEO personal profile)
YouTube (long-form education)
Entry points
Medallion Architecture white paper
Free Data Vault core concepts training
Nurture
Educational email sequences
Segmentation by role, industry, company size, and location
Clear but restrained CTAs
Conversion
Primary CTA: book a call
Sales introduced only after sustained value delivery
Results
100+ white paper downloads in the first month
(previous average: 10–20/month)Multiple sales calls generated directly from the funnel
Results visible within days
Clear performance gap identified between personal brand and company channels, informing future strategy
In a business with £100k+ LTV, even a single conversion represented significant ROI.
Learnings
Funnels fail at connection points, not content quality
Authority compounds faster than volume in high-ticket B2B
Personal brands outperform company pages for senior buyers
Speed without technical diligence creates hidden risk
What I’d Do Differently
Validate automation and tooling more thoroughly upfront
Test multiple email sequencing approaches earlier
Accept slightly slower delivery to reduce technical debt
Ownership & Impact
This project was owned end-to-end:
Strategy and positioning
Funnel architecture
Content direction
Systems and automation
Iteration and optimisation
It demonstrates my ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments, design marketing systems from first principles, and take responsibility for work with direct commercial impact.
