The Best Marketing Channel For B2B Founders

B2B sales hinge on three things: authority, competence, and expectations. Your buyers must believe you know your stuff, trust your ability to execute, and align your product with their expectations.

As a founder, you’ve probably over-indexed on the expectations part. Your landing page likely includes all the features and benefits you believe your audience needs, with a few testimonials for social proof.

But this isn’t enough. Authority and credibility become more important for founders selling products and services worth $2k-$10k+/mo. Competing on features is a race to the bottom, where you’ll end up competing on price.

To truly become a category of one (and thus the only option for your ICP), you must become the leading voice in your space. This requires content — lots of it — and thought leadership is key.

The numbers bear this out:

• 53% of buyers say it’s important for new and small companies to produce thought leadership if they want buyers to consider working with them.?
• But 71% of these decision-makers say that less than half of the thought leadership they consume gives them valuable insights. This leaves a gap that proactive founders can exploit.

But what’s the most cost-effective way to go about this?

Option 1: Referrals

Referrals are great, and will probably be your first source of new business. But if you’re reading this article, I imagine that:

(a) you’re not swimming in referrals, and/or

(b) you’d like to build an acquisition engine beyond referrals.

Option 2: PR

PR works best when you’re getting multiple placements per quarter. This requires a strong network of journalists who can publish your story in relevant outlets — something most founders don't invest in.

PR is also ephemeral — you’re hoping enough of the right people read your press release or article on the day it’s published and happen to need your services right then.

But 95% of your buyers aren’t in-market, so that’s a moonshot. You also have zero control over how and when your article gets posted, or if you even get a backlink.

Option 3: SEO

SEO takes time, and while you can rank for certain phrases in as little as a week, it requires knowing how to write for people and search engines.

There’s also competition for high-value keywords in your space, and if you’ve just launched your website, you have no domain authority yet — you're at Google’s whims.

Option 4: Events

Events are expensive to plan, host, and promote well. They require fortuitous timing, the right mix of people to draw in attendees, and enough cachet to induce people to care.

Your first 3 events will likely be poorly attended (and lose money) — but your 10th one might get some traction. You probably don't have the time, money, and bandwidth to spend on that yet.

Option 5: Google Ads

Google Ads are great for early sales, and you should consider investing in them, but they don’t solve the authority and credibility problem.

They merely give you a chance to showcase your features and benefits on a landing page. As we’ve seen, that isn’t enough to land big deals.

Option 6: White papers

Reports and white papers can address the authority and credibility problem, but many white papers collect digital dust on websites today, never to be read again.

The real value is in promoting these assets, not merely writing them. You must also conduct original research to have anything worth reporting on.

The better option? LinkedIn

This leaves social media, and if you’re in B2B, all roads lead to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an effective way to build authority and credibility while discussing features and benefits.

For B2B founders, there’s no other channel that returns the same bang for your marketing buck than LinkedIn.?

With 1 billion members and counting, it's the single largest concentration of business buyers anywhere in the world.

You control when, how, and how much you post, and can distribute your content to your ideal buyers through ads — specifically, Thought Leader Ads.

There's just one problem:

There’s no time to post on LinkedIn yourself

Founders repeatedly complain about the lack of time for marketing, let alone daily LinkedIn content. You’re already responsible for product, customer service, and admin.

Carving out time to promote your product can be challenging, and you quickly realize you need help.

At this point, you have a few options.

Option 1: Hire an in-house marketer

This person would be responsible for creating and managing your LinkedIn presence, but this can be expensive. You'd need to budget for salary, benefits, and training.

Additionally, they may not bring the expertise you need from day one, leading to a slower start.

Option 2: Outsource to freelancers

Freelancers can help you manage content creation on a per-project basis. This is more flexible and can be more affordable than hiring in-house. However, it may take time to find reliable freelancers, and managing them can add to your workload.

They also can't do everything needed to truly make a splash on LinkedIn — writing, design, research, and distribution — all by themselves.

Option 3: Use AI tools for content creation

Many AI-powered tools can assist with content generation. But AI tools still can’t fully replace the human touch needed for authority-building posts.

While these tools can speed up the process, the content may require significant editing to match your voice and expertise, bringing you back to square one (writing it yourself).

Option 4: Delegate internally

You could ask someone on your team, such as an assistant, sales rep, or marketing hire to manage your LinkedIn presence. However, this person may lack the marketing skills needed for effective content creation and engagement.

They might also lack the bandwidth to do so, as they're too busy building the spaceship with you.

The better option? Hire a ghostwriting agency

Agencies can help you scale your LinkedIn content without the need for full-time staff. They specialize in turning your insights into engaging posts, ensuring you maintain your voice and credibility.?

They also have the creative and analytical talent needed to turn your insights into compelling content. This can be a cost-effective option as you’re paying for expertise and consistent output without long-term commitments or management overhead.

Need help with LinkedIn?

At Column, we handle every step of your LinkedIn growth — from research and writing to design and distribution.

We start by diving deep into your industry with the help of PhD research analysts who understand complex markets.

This ensures our content isn't just surface-level but deeply relevant and valuable to your audience.

Once we have your insights, our team of expert designers creates visually engaging content that stands out on LinkedIn.

We don’t just rely on text; we use high-quality visuals to amplify your message and grab attention.

Finally, our paid media specialists take over distribution. With campaigns that reach up to a 48% click-through rate (CTR) on business content, we make sure your posts are seen by the right people.

We run highly-targeted LinkedIn ads, including Thought Leader Ads, to get your content in front of key decision-makers, ensuring your message drives engagement and leads.

In short, we take the time-consuming tasks off your plate — research, design, and distribution — so you can focus on your business while still building a strong LinkedIn presence.

Learn more about who we serve at columncontent.com/icp.