(3:04 Q&A Video) “Build Future Demand Beyond This Quarter’s B2B Pipeline”
In this 3:04 video, Jan Willem Doornbos explains why quarterly pressure can lead teams to overfocus on active buyers. Only around 5% of the market is buying at any given time, leaving a much larger future audience. He shares why education, trust, and awareness must begin before buyers enter a formal process.
B2B teams face constant pressure to show near-term results. Pipeline, conversion rates, opportunities, and quarterly revenue are essential measures, but they can narrow a company’s focus to buyers ready to act now. That approach may support immediate performance while quietly weakening the company’s future growth position.
Jan Willem Doornbos, Chief Marketing Officer at Nomentia, argues that marketing leaders need to balance urgent commercial targets with a broader view of their market. Most potential buyers are not actively purchasing today. Companies that earn trust before the buying process begins are more likely to be considered when demand eventually appears.
“Our job as marketers isn’t simply to generate leads. Our job is to earn a place on that shortlist before a buyer even raises their hand. Focusing on the pain points and challenges. We are not just capturing demand; we are creating future demand. ” – Jan Willem Doornbos
To learn more, watch the video or read the article below.
To catch the full interview with Jan Willem at “Why Long-Term Growth Requires More Than Demand.” CLICK HERE.
Article: "Build Future Demand Beyond This Quarter’s B2B Pipeline"
This article is based on an interview with Jan Willem Doornbos, Chief Marketing Officer at Nomentia
Quarterly Pressure Can Shrink the Addressable Market
When revenue targets become more immediate, leaders naturally focus their resources on opportunities that can close this quarter. Jan Willem recognizes that pressure directly. “Every leader feels that pressure,” he says. “When you look at targets, we naturally want to focus on opportunities that can be closed today or tomorrow.”
The problem is not that active buyers matter too much. The problem is treating them as the entire market. Jan Willem notes that only around 5 percent of the market is actively buying at any given moment. The remaining 95 percent may have a future need, but they are not yet looking for a solution, requesting a demo, or responding to sales outreach.
That larger group is easy to overlook because it can feel less measurable. It does not immediately produce opportunities or closed revenue. However, ignoring it means competing repeatedly for the same small audience while leaving future category demand to companies that are willing to invest earlier. The commercial question is not whether immediate demand matters. It is whether the business is also creating the conditions for future demand.
Jan Willem describes this as a necessary change in perspective. “One of the biggest shifts we’ve made was recognizing that only around 5 percent of the market is actively buying at any given moment, and the other 95 percent are future buyers.” That recognition should influence how leaders allocate budget, measure marketing performance, and define the role of thought leadership.
Build Familiarity Before Buyers Need a Solution
Future buyers do not need a sales conversation today. They need useful information, credible perspectives, and a reason to remember a company when their priorities change. Jan Willem explains, “Our job is to educate them, build trust, and create awareness long before they enter the buying process.”
This requires a longer time horizon than a campaign designed only to capture existing demand. Thought leadership, research, webinars, educational content, and practical industry insights can help buyers understand a problem before it becomes urgent. They also let a company show it understands the challenges buyers will eventually face.
Jan Willem compares the work to planting trees. “You don’t plant the tree because you need shade tomorrow. You plant it because you know you will need shade years from now.” The same principle applies to demand creation. Content and market education may not create a sales-ready opportunity immediately, but they can strengthen familiarity and trust over time.
For leaders, the lesson is to protect future-demand investment when short-term pressure rises. A company does not need to choose between pipeline performance and long-term brand building. It needs a balanced operating model where each activity has a clear role. Near-term programs help capture existing interest. Long-term programs help ensure the company is known when new interest appears.
Earn the Shortlist Before the Buyer Raises a Hand
By the time many B2B buyers begin engaging vendors, they already have a shortlist in mind. They have learned from peers, industry content, research, and prior experiences. Companies that haven’t established relevance before that moment may never get a meaningful opportunity to compete. “Buyers eventually enter the market; most don’t start from scratch,” Jan Willem says. “They buy from a shortlist that is already in their heads.” This is why lead generation alone is an incomplete description of marketing’s role. Capturing an inbound signal is valuable, but it is more valuable when the buyer already recognizes and trusts the company behind the signal.
Jan Willem puts it directly. “Our job as marketers isn’t simply to generate leads. Our job is to earn a place on that shortlist before a buyer even raises their hand.” That idea changes how leaders evaluate content and brand activity. The goal is not simply reach or engagement. The goal is to be remembered as a credible option connected to the buyer’s most important challenges.
The most effective content focuses on pain points and practical outcomes. It helps buyers think more clearly about their situation instead of pushing a product immediately. Jan Willem highlights investment in “thought leadership, education, webinars, research, industry content, everything that resonates.” These activities build familiarity while also demonstrating a useful point of view.
Conclusion
Short-term pipeline will always matter, but it should not consume the entire marketing strategy. The larger opportunity lies with future buyers who are not actively looking today but will eventually enter the market with a shortlist already forming in their minds.
Leaders who invest in education, trust, and meaningful market visibility give their company a better chance of being remembered when demand appears. The goal is not only to compete for existing interests. It is to build the familiarity and credibility that creates future demand.
ELEVATING CONTENT MARKETING STANDARDS RAISES A CRUCIAL QUESTION:
Why shouldn’t the very act of creating thought leadership content also spark new conversations with in-pipeline deals, top prospects, and high-priority customers for revenue expansion? Or serve as the cornerstone for learning and applying voice-of-customer strategies? That’s the power of ABM Podcasting—engaging B2B buyers and customers in meaningful conversations that uncover essential go-to-market insights, support long sales cycles, reinforce your market perspective, build peer-level trust, and dismantle objections that kill deals.
Steven MacDonald
Steven MacDonald is the founder of Content Strategies, CEO of a MarTech SaaS Company, fractional CMO consulting with leading B2B companies and former Director of Strategy and Client Service at top ten digital marketing agencies.
Steven MacDonald
Steven MacDonald is the founder of Content Strategies, CEO of a MarTech SaaS Company, fractional CMO consulting with leading B2B companies and former Director of Strategy and Client Service at top ten digital marketing agencies.
Explore more articles
Unlocking the Business Value of AI Personalization
Episode #349: Alysha McCree, Head of Marketing at FPT Americas, explains why simply claiming AI leadership no longer sets a company apart. She shares how ...
Read More
(2:19 Q&A Video) “Improve AI Learning With Prompts, Documentation, and Practice”
In this 2:19 video, Alysha McCree shares how her team learns to use AI through ongoing experimentation and peer teaching. They build documentation and prompt ...
Read More
Category Leadership: Setting the Foundations of Success
Episode #348: David Carrel, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Thomson Reuters, explains how category leadership goes beyond thought leadership to shape how a market thinks. ...
Read More
Part Seventeen: The Revenue Logic of Customer Obsession
Episode #347: Melanie Zmetek Naconecy de Souza, Chief Marketing Officer at AERTEC, explains why customer obsession begins with clarity. She shares how purpose, shared customer ...
Read More
(1:54 Q&A Video) “Customer Understanding Is a Core Business Discipline”
In this 1:54 video, Melanie Zmetek Naconecy de Souza explains why B2B customer understanding must begin with people. She shares how buyers bring priorities, challenges, ...
Read More
The Growth Asset Most Companies Barely Use
Episode #346: Ashley Deibert, a three-time Chief Marketing Officer, explains why customers are one of the most valuable growth assets B2B companies often underuse. She ...
Read More