A B2B cybersecurity company reached out to us because their lead volume was low and had hit growth plateau.
The business was relying on brand search campaigns, and throwing more budget wouldn't have fixed the problem because that type of search is limited.
They needed to find new ways to increase pipeline, and fast because their average sales cycle of six months created delays.
That meant not just capturing the bottom of the funnel, but building a full-funnel demand generation engine to drive earlier interest, capture it, and nurture it.
We ran this in two phases: interest and shift.
Phase 1: Generate mid-funnel interest with segmentation and content
We designed a paid media strategy based on buckets (branded, non-branded, and competitor), each with its own campaigns and budgets.
This is important because it gives you a structured perspective on what's driving the sales pipeline, and allows for faster reaction to adjust on what delivers results and what doesn't.
Then, we mapped non-branded search around the stuff buyers actually search for when they are mid-problem.
The messaging wasn't communicating "Here's our product.". More like "This is the risk, this is the gap, this is what teams do when they are already feeling pain."
Because the sales process is long, we needed something in between now and a demo request.
We promoted educational offers, such as free research, and used them as a filter. If someone won't see them as a useful asset, they're probably not buying a managed security service this year.
After that, we ran a cross-channel Performance Max campaign as a fast way to spot patterns on what converts.
Then, we pulled the lessons learned back into search and LinkedIn ads, such as:
- What messaging pulled clicks from the right people?
- What themes attracted junk?
- What audiences were worth retargeting?
This phase was about getting the basics right, then proving we can generate more qualified leads and achieve a great LTV:CAC ratio.
Phase 2: Shift into demand generation, then nurture
Once the contact was acquired, we made it obvious that this isn't a one-touch journey.
Because people don't just see an ad and book a call. They show up, disappear, come back, click again, ask internally, stall, then finally ask for a solution.
So we created a lead nurturing program that makes sense for a security buyer who isn't ready to talk yet, and didn't force demos from cold or warm traffic.
First, we picked one clear offer that was worth a security leader's time, like a short threat-focused report, a buyer checklist, or a self-assessment that helps them spot gaps fast. The point was to earn the click without sounding like a vendor.
Then we distributed it the way these buyers actually browse. Primarily, with LinkedIn Demand Gen ads that reached the right roles at the right companies with creatives that looked like content rather than ads.
Tight targeting, but not so tight that volume dies.
And the messaging wasn't about features. It talked about situations: missing visibility, alert fatigue, tool sprawl. The goal here was to get the right people to raise their hand for something useful.
Once someone engaged, we treated them like a real buyer.
If they downloaded, they got moved into a nurture stream that matched the pain they touched.
If they only clicked and bounced, they got retargeted with the next logical piece, not the same ad about the same pain again.
When they engaged twice, we switched the message from education to comparison and risk: what teams get wrong when they try to run detection in-house, what a managed approach changes, what to look for in a provider. Always helpful and grounded.
In parallel, we made sure Google Search was ready to catch the spike in intent that demand generation creates.
It goes like this: someone sees the content on LinkedIn, then a week later, they search the category, a competitor, or a specific problem. So we tightened non-branded search around those problem themes and set up remarketing lists for search so we could bid differently on people who already knew the name.
That's one of the biggest levers in long cycles: same keyword, totally different buyer.
We also used the risk assessment experience as the mid-funnel conversion point. A lot of people won't book a call, but they'll run a quick assessment if it feels private and useful.
So the demand gen flow fed into that, and the messaging positioned it as a way to get clarity, not as a sales trap. That gave the sales team warmer conversations because the buyer didn't show up empty-handed. They showed up with context.
We doubled down on the themes that kept showing up in high-intent search and in the leads sales actually wanted.
Over time, the account stopped relying on brand demand to "save" performance, because we were creating new demand upstream and then catching it downstream when buyers were finally ready.
Thanks to this marketing-to-sales orchestration, the sales team was able to talk to leads that were objectively readier to buy and showed more urgency.
So, that's how, in just six months, we hit 92% of the sales pipeline value achieved in the previous calendar year, while we also lowered the lead acquisition costs in all paid media channels.
We've also generated over $17M with paid social and paid search for engineer-oriented companies, so if you want help, drop me a message on LinkedIn or schedule a strategy call.