Grey Matter Guides

The long reads we send clients before the first call.

Agency selection, pricing, budget benchmarks, website performance, messaging, and GEO. Each guide is built from real engagements, with the numbers left in.

How to choose a B2B marketing agency: a buyer's scorecard, illustrated with precision measurement tools and machined components.
Guide

How to Choose a B2B Marketing Agency: A Buyer's Scorecard for 2026

Many agency searches start with a tactic instead of an outcome. Here's how to define the real problem, tell agency models apart, score finalists and ask the right questions on the first call.

Tony Bradberry
What a B2B marketing agency actually costs: pricing and models, illustrated with an engineering drawing of a pressure gauge.
Guide

How Much Does a B2B Marketing Agency Cost? 2026 Pricing and Models

B2B marketing agency pricing ranges from about $1,000 to $100,000 a month. Here's what typical engagements cost in 2026, how each pricing model works, what's excluded and how to compare proposals that don't match.

Tony Bradberry
B2B marketing budget benchmarks by annual company revenue, showing typical spend ranges from 3% to 15% and a 7.8% average.
Guide

B2B Marketing Budgets: What Companies Spend in 2026 and How to Set Yours

B2B marketing budgets run 3% to 15% of revenue, with most companies between 6% and 12%. See the 2026 benchmarks by company size and industry, where the money goes, and how to set a number you can defend.

Tony Bradberry
Conversion benchmark gauges with lime tolerance bands and the text 2.9% is an average. Yours is a segment.
Guide

B2B Website Conversion Rates: The 2026 Benchmarks, Segmented by Channel, Industry, and Deal Size

The median B2B website converts at 2.9%. Direct traffic hits 3.3%, paid search 1.5%, and legal services 7.4% against cybersecurity at 1.0%. Here are the 2026 conversion rate benchmarks that hold up once you segment them.

Tony Bradberry
Manufacturing engineer's desk with technical blueprints, precision machined parts, and a monitor displaying search results — representing a manufacturing marketing strategy built around buyer search behavior
Guide

Manufacturing Marketing Strategy: How to Build One That Drives Pipeline, Not Activity

A manufacturing marketing strategy should build pipeline, not activity. Here's the framework: positioning, buyer-intent content, demand capture, and revenue measurement.

Tony Bradberry
B2B Messaging Guide
Guide

The Grey Matter Guide to Problem-Centric Messaging in B2B Marketing

Most B2B messaging sounds like everyone else’s. Learn how to build problem-centric messaging that actually resonates with buying committees and closes deals.

Tony Bradberry
Find the leak — B2B website conversion optimization
Guide

B2B Website Conversion Rate Optimization: The Playbook for Pipeline, Not Rate Tricks

B2B website conversion rate optimization is not a checklist of button colors. Here is the systematic playbook: find the leak, fix the message, cut friction, and tie every change to pipeline.

Tony Bradberry
Person using AI search on a laptop to research B2B solutions
Guide

Generative Engine Optimization for B2B: How to Show Up in AI Search

Generative engine optimization is how B2B brands earn citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Here is what it is, why it matters more than most B2B teams realize, and the operational checklist for getting your brand into the answers your buyers are already reading.

Tony Bradberry