TL; DR
Stop Choosing. Your B2B campaigns need both angles of messaging.
Should you target industries or job roles in your marketing campaigns? The best B2B campaigns do both—but at the right time.
- Early funnel? Go broad with role-based messaging.
- Mid-funnel? Layer in industry-specific pain points.
- Late funnel? Get hyper-targeted with both industry + role.
A balanced approach keeps your campaigns relevant and effective. Need help refining yours? Let’s talk!
At NOPEA, we’ve worked with B2B businesses across industries to refine their sales and marketing campaigns.
A common challenge that an internal marketing team faces is deciding between targeting industry verticals or focusing on functional roles in their messaging.
The truth is that these approaches aren’t mutually exclusive; they work together at different stages of the sales funnel.
In this post, we’ll break down how you can structure your campaigns for maximum impact at every stage of your digital sales funnel.
A layered approach to campaign targeting
Top of the Funnel (Awareness stage): Broad & value-focused
The goal at this stage is to maximize visibility and engagement by communicating the core capabilities of your product that apply across multiple industries.
- Focus on highlighting the general problems your product solves and its broad benefits, such as improving efficiency, compliance, or collaboration. You can make it as specific as appropriate in a given customer scenario (e.g., we save 6+ hours/week for the field procurement officers). The rule of thumb is to highlight benefits that your prospects can visualize in their own or their peers’ situations.
- Targeting Strategy: Target roles across industries (e.g., legal counsels, compliance officers, and procurement teams) instead of narrowing down by vertical too soon.
- Example Message: “How [Product Name] helps teams streamline document workflows and reduce compliance risks.”
Middle of the Funnel (Consideration Stage): Tailored & Multi-Directional
As prospects move further into the funnel, your messaging should become more tailored. This is where you begin segmenting audiences based on both function and industry while still keeping some general campaigns running for broader engagement.
- Example Message: “How Compliance Officers in Finance ensure regulatory adherence with automated workflows”
- Introduce use-case-driven content packaged as case studies, feature demos, and whitepapers.
- Targeting Strategy:
- Industry-Specific Messaging—Address unique pain points within specific industries.
- Function-Specific Messaging—Speak directly to the challenges faced by particular roles across different industries.
Bottom of the Funnel (Conversion stage): Hyper-specific & decision-driven
At this stage, potential buyers are looking for clear, concrete reasons to convert. This is where precision targeting—combining both industry and role—becomes crucial.
- Decision-makers require highly relevant, actionable content that speaks directly to their needs.
- Targeting Strategy: Align messaging with both industry and function simultaneously for maximum impact.
- Example Messages:
- For Legal Teams in Healthcare: “Reduce contract review time by 50%—see how [Healthcare Provider X] used [Product Name].”
- For Procurement Teams in Manufacturing: “Ensure compliance and streamline vendor agreements with automated approvals.”
Key takeaways and best practices
The most effective campaigns use both vertical-specific and function-specific messaging and campaign targeting in a layered, dynamic manner throughout the sales funnel.
Haseeb Danyal, CXO Nopea Partners
- Early Funnel (Awareness) – Keep campaigns broad and role-based across industries.
- Middle Funnel (Consideration) – Introduce vertical-specific messaging while maintaining role-based targeting.
- Late Funnel (Conversion)—Hyper-targeted messaging that combines both industry and function.
By adopting this approach, businesses can build a sales funnel that efficiently nurtures prospects from awareness to conversion without sacrificing reach or relevance.
Do you need help in executing better campaigns?
At NOPEA, we specialize in helping B2B businesses optimize their marketing strategies for better engagement and higher conversion rates. If you’re looking to fine-tune your approach, get in touch with us today!
This strategy is the result of our hands-on experience helping clients navigate the complexities of modern digital marketing. If you found this useful, share it with someone who might find it helpful.
