Observations
Is it a complex product? A Complex Market? There is a solution. How to Build Demand for B2B Innovations
At a certain stage in the development of a B2B product, an odd silence emerges. The solution is ready. It can genuinely save clients money, eliminate headaches, and speed up processes. Yet, the response is almost nonexistent. Emails go unanswered, meetings end with polite nods, and the website does not convert. This is especially painful when the team is confident in the technology, has completed pilots, and invested resources, yet outside there is what feels like an impenetrable wall. In this silence, it’s easy to hear the phrase, “The market is simply not ready.”
However, more often than not, the market is not the problem — the business has failed to explain. The business has not found a way for the product to be perceived as necessary. They have not determined the best way to approach potential clients so as to not appear complex, unclear, or premature. Unlike in the FMCG or B2C software industries, no one in B2B is searching for innovations. New things are not anticipated here — they are resisted.
When the market is silent, it is not a verdict. It indicates that marketing is working from a template that does not fit. Complex products require a different approach: not aggressive, not direct, but rather a gradual warming up of interest through a combination of strategy and research. This work is not for clicks, but for awareness.
Why Standard Marketing Breaks Down When Faced with B2B Innovations
When a product does not fit into established frameworks, it inevitably surpasses typical demand. In such cases, the standard tools—paid traffic, SEO content, banners, social media posts, and press releases—are ineffective at best and harmful at worst. These tools create a false sense of activity, but they do not generate real demand for the business.
Clients do not search for what they do not know. They won’t formulate queries in Yandex or Google unless there’s a corresponding category in their minds. When a product does not match familiar labels, people simply do not know how to search for it. Even if you manage to enter their field of vision, they most likely do not recognize themselves in your message. They see a complex, promising, yet unclear product and go where things are simpler.
Even if you capture their attention, standard content does not accomplish the task. All too often, it operates according to the model, “Let us show how great our tool works.” But for a product that is not obvious in itself, such a narrative is ineffective. Demonstrating capabilities without providing context only increases the distance between you and the client. They cannot “enter your logic” — they simply do not have the time.
A strategy for building demand for innovations begins with recognition that the market is not obligated to understand us the first time. This means we must first help the market make sense of itself. Show not the product, but the consequences of the problem. Show the symptoms, not the benefits. Only then should you present the solution.
Demand Does Not Arise — It Is Assembled Manually
In mature markets, marketing acts as a filter. Funnels, contextual advertising, and landing pages are all aimed at selecting those who have already identified their needs. However, this is a luxury in the case of B2B innovations. Where there is no ready demand, there is no flow. In such cases, demand is not selected — it is created. It is done slowly, precisely, and almost manually.
Many try to skip this part of marketing. There is a desire for everything to be like everyone else’s: targeting, webinars, and leads. However, when you enter the market with a new type of product, you can’t just be a supplier; first, you must be an educator. You don’t sell; you explain. You don’t persuade; you clarify. Contact with the audience is built not on the principle of “took—sold,” but as a series of meetings, each one a step toward conscious interest.
There are no quick results at this stage. Only a long process of framing exists: what can be improved, why it matters, and what hidden costs exist. If a company starts talking to the client about technology at this moment, it loses. The client has not yet reached the technology stage; they are only beginning to notice the problem.
One client we worked with initially tried to enter the market through direct sales. Their managers called and offered a solution that no one had ever heard of. Conversion was zero. However, after a few months, the first interest appeared when they started from something else: explaining the context through educational content and personal touches without pressure. This was not because the product had improved, but because the approach was different.
How to Launch a B2B Interest Funnel from Scratch
When there is no existing demand, the interest funnel is built around pain, not the product. The first to respond are not potential buyers, but people who want to understand. They are not looking for a solution; they are looking for an explanation. These people may be project managers, technologists, or heads of departments who encounter inefficiencies, losses, and risks but do not yet know how to respond to them. They are precisely the ones who become the first audience.
At this stage, the key task is not to sell, but to immerse yourself in the client’s thought process. Offer not an argument, but a focus. Help them name what they are facing in their own words. The starting point is when a client first recognizes themselves in someone else’s description. If, at that moment, the communication contains an accurate description of the problem rather than “product advantages,” attention begins.
Content works differently here. This is neither an SEO article nor a landing page with a list of features. This is a text in which the client thinks, ” “These people understand what is happening to me.” The form is not important; the tone is. It can be analytical, provocative, or even just a letter. The tone should be closer to a dialogue than to advertising. The goal is not to prove, but to help realize.
The first touchpoint can be subtle. There should be no call to action, no offer of a demo, and no appeal. At the beginning of the sales cycle, clients are not ready to act. However, if you speak to them in their language at that moment, they will remember you. When they’re ready, they’ll return to the person who helped them earlier than others.
How to Hold Attention and Lead It to an Inquiry
A complex product does not sell quickly. Even if the client understands the problem and is interested in the approach, several months may pass before the first inquiry. This is not a flaw, but rather a characteristic of B2B sales. When the solution is expensive, new, and systemic, no one rushes. However, while the client is “thinking,” it is easy to lose them. That is why, in long sales cycles, not only is initial interest important, but also everything that follows.
Once contact has been established, the main thing is to not destroy what has already been achieved. It’s easy to make mistakes here, such as overwhelming the client with presentations, sending technical documentation, or involving a “salesperson” on the third touchpoint. In such situations, everything that was built collapses. The person feels pressured before trust has formed. They shut down.
Maintaining interest in such cases requires fine-tuning. Rather than “pushing,” you need to create conditions under which the client will return on their own. This could be an article on their topic, a thoughtful comment on an industry case, or a brief clarifying email. In this case, it’s not the frequency of contact that matters, but its relevance.
Sometimes, a single phrase said at the right moment is enough. It doesn’t have to be sales-related. It can reflect how you understand the client. By doing so, you demonstrate that you are a partner, not a salesperson. This approach cannot be automated. It requires attention. However, it is effective precisely where algorithms are powerless.
An Approach Without Illusions
We took on this article, not for the sake of expert content. Rather, it is because we encounter companies almost every month that have built a strong product but cannot convey it to the market. They already have results, a team, and technology. However, there is no demand. It’s not because the product is bad; rather, there is no system that explains its value in the client’s language.
You cannot simply “pour traffic” into such projects. First, we analyze the meaning. What change does the product bring to the customer’s life? What does the customer know about it? How do they feel about the topic? This research is a basic necessity if we want to be heard, not just a step in the strategy process. Only then can we discuss channels, content, and touchpoints. Everything else is derived from meaning.
Next comes the manual assembly of demand. Content is adapted to real perception. Communication without pathos. Campaigns in which every contact is perceived as appropriate. If something does not work, we do not blame the market. We return to the foundation. We look for what was left unsaid, what was offered too early, and what was too complex.
Promoting innovations is not about scale. It’s about attention. We don’t build funnels that work on their own. We build structures that engage the B2B audience instead of repelling it. Slowly and step by step, with understanding and respect. This is how inquiries appear “from nowhere.”
The market will not mature on its own
Sometimes, the comforting thought that the market will mature on its own is voiced: “We just need to wait. The market will mature.” Perhaps it will. But not for you. Someone else will explain it faster. Someone will start explaining things more simply. Someone will come out not with a feature but with an idea. They will be heard, even if their product is not better, because they were heard earlier. They were heard earlier.
Complex products are not promoted along ready-made rails. There is no mass demand for them, no predictable behavior, and no guaranteed channels. However, there is an opportunity if you work with the market as a living audience that first needs help understanding and then choosing.
When we say that demand must be built, we don’t mean advertising. We mean establishing a structure that includes knowing who to talk to, why, and when. It’s important to know how to do this so that people aren’t annoyed, confused, or perceive it as an aggressive attempt to sell them something they don’t realize they need yet.
If your product is complex and the market seems unresponsive, this is not a dead end. It’s an invitation to create intelligent marketing, not mass marketing. Not fast, but precise. Not template-based, but genuine. Real change never happens through a standard funnel.
