A few days ago, a B2B customer asked us:
"What we want is to create a buzz."
Silence.
When asked why, he hesitates. No real business objective behind it. No tunnel. No ready offer.
Just a vague conviction that "creating a buzz" could boost the brand, trigger something.
What is it? Nobody really knows.
It's become a reflex. A reflex fed on LinkedIn novlangue, likes, impressions and "we've got to be talked about".
But in 9 cases out of 10, this reflex generates nothing. No customers. No sales. No strategy.
The truth is that visibility without conversion is called noise.
And in a B2B environment, noise is expensive. Very expensive.
The mirage of buzz: exposure without consequences
Buzz is a performative illusion. It gives the impression of movement, impact and success.
But this is just an empty signal, disconnected from commercial reality.
At its best, it attracts attention.
But in most cases, this attention is :
- poorly targeted (not the right audience),
- misdirected (not to the right offers),
- badly converted (as there is no path behind it).
A visibility peak without acquisition architecture is like filling a leaky bucket.
It overflows... then disappears.
Symptoms of a strategy running out of steam
Companies that chase buzz quickly adopt toxic reflexes:
- produce shorter, more sensationalist, more superficial content;
- over-investing in social networks with no link to their real audience;
- drift their editorial line to "make people react", not to convince.
What's worse? It degrades the brand's image more than it elevates it.
And, above all, it distracts marketing teams from the fundamental task of building a solid acquisition strategy.
What a sustainable acquisition strategy builds
Unlike event-driven content, perennial acquisition is based on three simple principles:
- produce useful, referenced content aligned with the offer,
- set up clear tunnels to guide prospects,
- measure results that have a real business impact.
Example:
A company that publishes targeted SEO content on "outsourcing DAF Suisse romande", integrated into a landing page, linked to a clear form, will see concrete leads arrive.
Not in three days.
But over twelve months, on a continuous basis.
📊 What the studies say
- A study by Cairn.info (2023) shows that buzz marketing operations improve awareness in the short term, but have no significant impact on conversions if no acquisition path is planned behind them.
- Apps Explorer (2022) notes that 71 % of B2B viral campaigns generate less than 5 % of truly exploitable leads, due to a lack of integration into a CRM or SEO strategy.
- According to Content Marketing Instituteevergreen content generates 3 to 4 times more ROI over 12 months than non-funnel "pop-up" campaigns.
What to do instead
It's not a question of demonizing all visibility.
But to ask yourself just one question, before every campaign, every post, every content production:
What happens next? What happens once you've been seen?
If there's no logical follow-up, no link to an offer, no next step... then the buzz is useless.
A good B2B strategy doesn't try to impress the algorithm.
It seeks to convince a real person, with a real need, at a real time.
| ❌ What does not work | ✅ What works |
|---|---|
| Buzz without purpose | Create useful, targeted content |
| Isolated viral campaign | Structured acquisition tunnel |
| Posts aimed at likes | Conversion pages |
| Talking to everyone | Addressing a specific target |
| Traffic peaks without retargeting | SEO evergreen with nurturing |
| Fashionable strategy | Strategy aligned with offering |
| Ego-focused (metrics) | Focused on business (leads, MRR) |
It's what you build that counts
Buzz gives a false impression of success.
But just because we make noise doesn't mean we generate value.
A mature company will always choose to build on a solid foundation:
- content that lasts,
- messages aligned with its offer,
- a clear tunnel between attention and decision.
The rest?
It's all hot air.
And we've all heard that wind: strong, fast, spectacular.
Like those hits we all have in our heads without ever remembering the name of the band.
This is what we call a one-hit wonder A short-lived success with no follow-up and no structure.
In marketing as in music, making a splash isn't enough.
What counts is what's left after the echo.
🎧 A little nostalgia → 20 "one-hit wonders" tracks we've all forgotten... except the melody
Co-founder of Smart Impact.Passionate about the web from the outset, he launched his first project in 2006: an online music magazine that is still running today. With almost 20 years' experience in SEO, a federal diploma in marketing and a solid geek culture, he and his team transform customers' (sometimes vague) ideas into concrete digital projects.