B2B Customer Journey Guide for Creative Agencies

Creative agencies lose revenue when the deliverables do not support the clients' B2B customer acquisition goals. It’s not always your fault— budget cuts, in-house hires, threats from AI, and many other things could make you lose a client. 

However, you can improve the value of your work (and your client retention rate) if every piece of creative work is strategic. If each deliverable shows that you thought about your clients’ users & prospects and is strategic in helping through the B2B customer journey. 

In this article, I will explain the customer journey, how you can contribute to it through strategic deliverables, and what success should look like for you. I’ll also show you the type of assets you should create for your clients to help them meet their target audience’s needs when it matters. 

What are the B2B Customer Journey Stages and Their Impact? 

The B2B customer journey is the stages business clients go through before they become customers. It is the period between being aware of a problem and choosing the best solution. 

To HubSpot, it is "the process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service." That’s why the stage is divided into 5: 

• Awareness Stage: The business (or persons in charge) recognizes a problem and seeks a solution. They search for information to better understand their challenge and potential solutions. 
• Consideration Stage: The business finds solutions and shortlists potential vendors/B2B companies that can solve their problems/pain points. They evaluate options through product-led content, case studies, etc., to determine the best fit for their needs.
• Conversion Stage: They finalize their selection after evaluating specific solutions. They also try to know if the product can help them execute their plans/strategy faster. In other words, they analyze ROI on the purchase — just like you did when you subscribed to a software. 
• Loyalty/Retention Stage: They use the product, and they love it. They're committed to staying with the brand. 
• Advocacy Stage: Satisfied customers become advocates of the brand. They tell their friends and colleagues about it and are willing to sit for an interview for testimonials and case studies.

Most of your work is in the awareness, consideration, and conversion stages. They are where your assets are valuable and can be strategic in helping your clients get their prospects from A to Z. 

Your client’s prospects (B2B buyers) spend only 17% of their time speaking to your client. This means that although they become more problem-aware by learning from your client’s website, they prefer to evaluate the top solutions and decide whether or not to choose your solution over others— without speaking to your client’s team 83% of the time. 

The last time you subscribed to a software, you most likely didn't reach out to the company during the research. 

You didn't email them after you saw their YouTube videos or read other content that made you feel strongly about the product. 

Your clients' customers would do the same before they convert. Every touchpoint with your client’s brand must have actionable assets to make the prospect choose their brand. And that’s where you come in. 

This means that if you are a Webflow (or web design), graphic design, marketing, or video creation agency, your deliverables are meant to help throughout the multiple target audience touchpoints. 

According to Gartner, your deliverables do two things: 

• Value-framing deliverables (or content) that specifically explain the problem and how the solution can help. 
• Value affirmation deliverables show how the solution can get the buyer from the starting point (visitor/prospect) to their destination (customer). 

Let’s zoom out a bit. What are the specific deliverables for each B2B customer journey stage? 

Creative Deliverables Across B2B Customer Journey Stages

Each agency type contributes different deliverables at different stages. By understanding where your work fits in the journey, you can better optimize the impact of each asset. Here's how different agencies typically support their clients' customer journeys: 

Webflow/Web Design Agencies 

Awareness Stage Deliverables 

• Optimized landing pages with a clean design that focuses on the pain points your client’s product/service addresses (in partnership with copywriters) 
• Resource hubs with filterable content
• Mobile-responsive layouts that improve search visibility

Consideration Stage 

• Interactive product comparison with context like this: 

• Feature-focused landing pages with clear CTAs
• Custom ROI calculators like this 

• Self-service demo scheduling systems

Conversion Stage Deliverables

• Design a guided tour (like Remote does here)

• Design clear, intuitive navigation.
• Use design features to highlight the client’s value propositions on key pages.
• Embed interactive tools like cost calculators.
• Place strong, clear CTAs throughout the site.
• Use a pop-up to feature testimonials, detailed case studies, or other CTAs that could help the client take action faster. For the article on keyword research, SEMrush has a dedicated sidebar with the CTA “find keyword ideas in seconds” because that’s one of the things someone looking to learn about keyword research wants to eventually do. 

• Provide live chat and visible contact options.
• Ensure mobile responsiveness.
• Display HTTPS security certifications.
• Maintain a professional and aesthetic design that reflects the client's brand.

Graphic Design Agencies

Awareness Stage Deliverables 

• Visual designs that stand out in crowded markets and on social media
• Infographics (and templates) to visualize necessary data. These designs can be on web pages, eBooks, or industry reports like the Gartner study design below: 

• Social media designs and carousels for content promotion and brand awareness 
• Email designs for outreach campaigns

Consideration Stage Deliverables

• Pitch deck templates
• Product specifications sheet 
• Visuals on service comparisons
• Implementation roadmap designs

Conversion Stage Deliverables

• Offer customizable proposal templates that reflect the client’s brand and features in their product.
• Design compelling portfolios that showcase work and results.
• Create visual branding guidelines and style sheets for brand consistency across every design.
• Include user-friendly design elements that improve readability and engagement.
• Develop a streamlined process for clients to request revisions or new designs.

Content Marketing Agencies

Awareness Stage Deliverables 

• Optimized pillar content around top-of-the-funnel keywords 
• Content gap analysis and topic clusters focused on common pain points for the solution 

• Industry research reports and whitepapers
• Expert-led content or interviews covering specific pain points 
• Educational newsletter content for marketing qualified leads 

Consideration Stage Deliverables

• Case studies about how the product has helped existing client 
• Client success stories 
• Content from webinars, podcasts or other product-led content asset from the client 
• Industry-specific guides. For example, “How to do X: Guide for 2025”. 

Conversion Stage Deliverables

• Provide ROI calculators to demonstrate potential gains from services. The people at Siege Media have this: 

• Write in-depth case studies and customer success stories that show how your client’s solution has helped.
• Provide downloadable content like white papers to educate prospects on an industry pain point and how your client’s solution helps. For example, this is what I saw after reading a Gartner report— bear in mind that I gave a company’s email address before I had access to the report: 

• Write content optimized to attract traffic and convert readers.
• Highlight client logos as trust signals. Here’s an example from Amplitude: 

Ensure that the web designers also embed ratings like Ahrefs did here: 

• Create product mastery content series.
• Produce feature optimization guides OR how-best-to-use-X-software-for-X-problem type of content.

Video Production Agencies

Awareness Stage Deliverables 

• Thought leadership interviews and deep dives into pain points 
• Analysis of industry trends. Rand Fishkin of SparkToro does this a lot; here’s an example. 
• Educational product demos
• Market insight documentaries

Consideration Stage Deliverables

• Detailed product demos
• Technical deep-dive into a core challenge that’s not surface-level. For example, discussing Kubernetes resource management for those in cybersecurity or cloud technology. 
• Client success story videos
• Behind the product/solution videos or documentaries like this on Stroybrand’s page. Check this video of Julia Block Perason: 

• Feature comparisons 

Conversion Stage Deliverables

• Show a video of the offices behind the product, team, or the tech behind the software solution.
• You can even show strategic acquisition videos like this brilliant video from Paddle. 
• Produce videos around the software's multiple use cases— create videos explaining the different use cases. 
• Include client testimonials that speak to the effectiveness of the product. 
• Create CTA buttons for booking consultations or getting quotes. 

• Create customer spotlight features.
• Design quick-tip video libraries

How to Align Each Deliverable to Specific B2B Customer Journey Stages 

Successful creative agency project management begins with understanding how each deliverable supports your client's journey stages. FocusVision’s 2020 survey shows that the average B2B buyer interacts with 13 pieces of content before engaging with a brand. This includes websites, webinars, videos, and other social media assets, as seen below: 

This shows that every company asset contributes to how people perceive their brand. They also contribute to how third-party vendors rate their brands (or explain the company's solution). 

So, how can your work support your clients’ B2B customer journey? These steps form the foundation of effective creative agency project management to ensure deliverables consistently meet client objectives. 

1. Ask the client for the intent of every deliverable. This includes asking the “why” for

• Every design feature the client asks for.
• Every graphic design/asset they asked you to make
• Every content they ask you to create 
• Every video content they ask you to produce or direct or add sounds and other visual elements to. 

Use this 3-point checklist when discussing the intent of a deliverable: 

1. Target audience segment and their stage in the customer journey
2. Specific pain points or needs being addressed
3. Desired action/next step for the audience 

Then, they’d give answers that look like this example for a SaaS client comparison article:

• Audience: Technical decision-makers in the consideration stage
• Pain point: Need to evaluate technical capabilities against competitors
• Desired action: Book a demo. 

You can use this brief for other questions: 

When they tell you why they want that feature or asset, you’ll understand how to better ensure the asset meets their target audience’s needs. 

2. Know the buyer persona’s pain points. Spend enough time researching them to understand how your client’s solution can solve them. 

This will help you create valuable and relevant deliverables as they would be precisely what they need. 

3. Understand the client’s solution so you can improve the resonance of the deliverable. This is relevant for design, written, and visual content agencies. 

If you don’t understand your client’s solution, learn more from their website or use the product. If there is more to know, book a call with your point of contact or one of their product developers to ask questions about their product features. 

This is important for content and video marketing agencies. 

4. Finally, educate yourself on industry best practices so that your deliverables align with trends and are usable in the short and long term. 

You can also consider the six strategic elements of an actionable plan from Forrester summed up below: 

Now, what next? 

Use Project Management Best Practices to Align Deliverables with B2B Customer Journey 

Creative agency project management works best with tools that match how agencies work—handling multiple projects, organizing client assets, and tracking deadlines without creating extra busy work. 

Using a project management tool with a client portal like ManyRequests is the best way to stay organized. ManyRequests is designed for service agencies and has different features to support your work through: 

1. Client Portal: use the portal to invite your clients to a platform. You can brand this platform with your logo, colors, and domain name like one of our clients, Prontto, did here. 

Here, you can quickly onboard clients, show them your workflows, and create new tasks when they need you to work on something. It’s best to have a breakdown of your services so clients can “subscribe” to a specific service category with a specific number of deliverables they can ask for. That category breakdown can look like this: 

Or this: 

2. Organize Tasks: When clients request a deliverable, it automatically becomes a task box. You can assign this task to someone on your team. You can use the order form attached to each service/task to take details about the deliverable so that you and your assignee can know precisely what the client needs. Here’s what a task box looks like: 

3. Use tags. The tags in ManyRequests can indicate if the deliverable is an awareness, consideration, conversion, or retention stage deliverable. All you’d have to do is select it while assigning a task. Here’s an example: 

You can use this tag to report on the asset stages you’ve delivered for all clients over time, as seen here: 

4. Use the project tracking feature: ManyRequests lets you track project progress in real-time. The client can also see when the project status turns to “In Progress” or “Pending Feedback,” which means the assignee has delivered the project and your team is reviewing it. 

You can use permissions to decide what your clients can see so that private information (such as who your contractors are) stays private. 

5. Client Collaboration Features: The messaging feature lets you directly chat with clients. This helps you carry them along or ask for more details about the project (if needed). 

ManyRequests also has a file storage section where you can upload all kinds of files: contracts, project files, brand messaging, deliverables, and requirements. 

6. Track time: If your clients pay you hourly (or you pay your contractors hourly), use the time tracking feature to know their billable hours without any administrative error. 

7. Invoicing and billing: ManyRequests shows clients their invoice immediately after a service is complete. Depending on your payment structure, you can collect 100% or 50% of the payment upfront before the task begins. 

You can also use ManyRequests’ Stripe integration to accept direct payments. 

Willing to onboard your team members and clients to see how it works? Sign up for a 14-day free trial to see why Hatchly’s founder says, “ManyRequests has been the backbone of our business since day 1”. 

No credit card is required for sign-ups. 

How to Measure the Success of Your Deliverables for the B2B Customer Journey 

One of the ways to demonstrate ROI is to measure the success of every deliverable. Some of these metrics are what you should use: 

• Organic traffic growth 
• Content engagement rates 
• Time spent on page 
• Click through rates on CTAs
• Website page load speed 
• Engagement rates on social media and the website 
• Brand visibility scores on search engines and social media 
• Social media mentions 
• Asset download rates (for whitepapers and case studies) 
• Increase in demo requests 
• Increased proposal acceptance rate 
• Customer lifetime value 
• NPS scores to gauge customer overall satisfaction levels 

I understand that this information is confidential data for your clients. But if you’re curious, ask them. 

Marketing agencies can also use tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to track the results of the content they create for their clients. 

Graphic designers can check the brand mentions on social media to know the performance of your deliverables. 

Webflow/web designers can use tools like PageSpeed Insights and other website analytics tools to see if the website is functioning as it should. 

The bottom line is that you’ll become a trusted partner to the client, which can increase your value and the volume of jobs you’ll get. They can also refer you to high-paying clients. 

FAQs 

How do I align my agency's services with client journey stages?

Start by mapping your core services to specific stages of the B2B customer journey. 

Ask your client for the intent of the deliverable they have asked for and identify how your work can deliver the most impact. 

Use ManyRequests to organize everything from task assignments to eventual deliveries. 

What tools do I need to manage projects?

These are project management with a client portal like ManyRequests and website analytics tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush.

How can I demonstrate ROI for journey-aligned work?

Track metrics like conversion rates, organic traffic, click-through rates, and others listed in the previous section. 

Conclusion 

The B2B customer journey allows you to show your value to your clients. This guide has shown how your agency can evolve from a typical service provider to a strategic partner by aligning your work with your client’s B2B customer journey stages. 

To get started, know where your creative services influence client journey stages, structure your offerings around these stages to maximize client success, and use ManyRequests to manage everything. Sign up for free today and use it with your client and team members for 14 days—no credit card required. 

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