Nerd Alert: The Availability Gap in B2B Marketing

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Marketing Architects

Episode: Nerd Alert: The Availability Gap in B2B Marketing
Date: January 15, 2026
Hosts: Elena Jasper & Rob Demares

---

Overview

This episode dives deep into the concept of "physical availability" in B2B marketing, drawing on the latest research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. The hosts explore why B2B marketers often overlook this key growth lever and share actionable strategies for improving physical availability through presence, prominence, and portfolio management. The tone is fun, nerdy, and accessible, with the hosts using memorable metaphors and playful banter to clarify complex research findings.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Difference Between Mental and Physical Availability

• Mental Availability: Making your brand top-of-mind when customers are ready to buy (the traditional "fame" factor).
• Physical Availability: Making your brand easy to actually find and purchase in the key buying situations.
• Quote [01:05] (Rob):

  "If you can dial up the fame factor... how do you make them really unforgettable through that fame lever, you know, mental availability."

• Correction [01:30] (Elena):

  "That would be mental availability... This paper is actually looking at physical availability."

2. The Challenges of Physical Availability in B2B

• B2B brands often rely on complicated sales channels: distributors, trade shows, websites, direct sales.
• Marketers usually defer physical availability strategy to sales or product teams, missing a major lever for brand growth.
• Quote [02:41] (Elena):

  "B2B marketers too often hand that control over to just sales, product, or engineering... they're missing this big lever for growth."

3. The Three Levers for Physical Availability

Presence: "Be Where Buying Happens"

• Effective brands have the right coverage in the channels that matter most to category sales—not just trying every channel.
• Introduces the "duplication of channel shopping" law: if two channels overlap heavily, you may not need both. If channels reach new buyers, it's expansion.
• Example/Timestamp:

  [03:22] (Elena): "If everybody eats at your downtown location also orders from your delivery service, you've got that overlap. But then say you add a drive thru and that brings in a completely new group of people. That's expansion."

Prominence: "Be Easy to Find"

• Distinctive, owned assets (logo, colors, sounds) are crucial, not just paid placements ("rented" prominence).
• Paid prominence (like a Google Ad) is fleeting; owned prominence endures and saves money over time.
• Quote [06:05] (Elena):

  "If you're having to pay for prominence, you have to keep paying right over time for your brand to stay there versus if you have something that's owned."

• Elena's Clarification [05:35]:

  "You need these assets that stand out in any environment, digital or physical."

Portfolio: "Focus Where It Matters"

• Many B2B companies don’t know what percentage of their revenue comes from their core product.
• A cluttered or unfocused product portfolio dilutes brand and drains resources.
• Advice: Protect the core, prune weak products, and plan for future needs.
• Quote [07:55] (Elena):

  "If you can simplify to what’s profitable, it's gonna be helpful."

4. Memorable Metaphors and Moments

• The Lighthouse Analogy [08:00]:
  • Elena: "Think of your brand like a lighthouse. Mental availability is the light beam... Physical availability is making sure you have enough docks in the harbor so they actually can go somewhere."
  • Rob's Response [08:27]: "Now, that was fantastic."
• The episode includes playful banter and admissions of confusion to make the research accessible.
  • Rob's Self-Effacing Humor [07:57]: "Did I butcher that one too? I'm..."
  • Elena’s Encouragement [07:59]: "No, you did great. That was good encouragement."

---

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• [01:05] Rob: "If you can dial up the fame factor... mental availability."
• [02:41] Elena: "B2B marketers too often hand that control over to just sales, product, or engineering... missing this big lever for growth."
• [03:22] Elena: "If everybody eats at your downtown location also orders from your delivery service, you've got that overlap. But... drive thru... new group of people. That's expansion."
• [05:35] Elena: "You need these assets that stand out in any environment, digital or physical."
• [06:05] Elena: "If you're having to pay for prominence, you have to keep paying... versus if you have something that's owned."
• [08:00] Elena: "Mental availability is the light beam... Physical availability is making sure you have enough docks in the harbor."
• [08:27] Rob: "Now, that was fantastic."

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:41] Research Introduction: Overview of the paper “Easy to being where B2B buying happens.”
• [01:30] Mental vs. Physical Availability: Clarifying the difference.
• [02:41] B2B Channel Complexity & Role of Marketers: Why marketers need to be involved in physical availability.
• [03:22] Presence: The right channel coverage and the "duplication of channel shopping" law.
• [05:35] Prominence: Distinctive assets and “owned prominence” versus “rented prominence.”
• [07:11] Portfolio: The importance of focusing and simplifying the product offering.
• [08:00-08:27] Lighthouse Analogy: Illustrating mental and physical availability.
• [08:44] Closing Thoughts: The value in clear, jargon-free explanations for marketing strategy.

---

Tone & Style

• Approachable, playful, and self-deprecating: The hosts openly share confusion and learning moments to make dense research relatable for marketers at all levels.
• Research-backed but practical: Emphasis on actionable, straightforward advice without unnecessary technical jargon.
• Motivational Close: "Go forth and build great marketing."

---

Takeaways

• B2B marketers must take charge of not just mental, but physical availability—ensuring the brand is easy to find and buy, not just easy to remember.
• Focus efforts on the channels, assets, and products that matter most, and build long-term brand salience through owned, distinctive assets.
• The best marketing strategies are simple, research-driven, and accessible—even for self-described "marketing nerds."

Transcript

[A]

Nerd Alert. Learning is important, right?

[B]

Yes, exactly. But a bunch of nerds.

[A]

Nerd alert. That's right.

[B]

Marketing Architects. Hello and welcome to the Marketing Architects, a research first podcast dedicated to answering your toughest marketing questions. I'm Elena Jasper on the marketing team here at Marketing Architects, and I'm joined by my co host, Rob Demares, the chief product architect of misfits and machines.

[A]

Hello.

[B]

Hello. We're back with your weekly Nerd Alert. Every week I'll take a deep dive into academic marketing research and translate its complex ideas into simple, understandable language for Rob and of course, for all of you. Are you ready to nerd out, Rob?

[A]

I'm so ready to nerd out. I just tucked my T shirt into my underwear.

[B]

Okay, let's get into it. As always, we'll link the research we cover in the episode notes. This week I read Easy to being where B2B buying happens. This is by Magda Nenich Teal and Jenny Romanick from the Erinberg Bass Institute, published recently in November of 2025. Rob, to get us started, what do you think makes the B2B brand easy to buy?

[A]

I think if you can dial up the fame factor so much B2B advertising is technical and rational and. But how do you make them really unforgettable through that fame lever, you know, mental availability. Right. That is what fame does. How do you make sure that they're top of mind in those buying situations? Especially because they have long sales cycles, just generally. That's why I'm saying easy to buy. Make it like top of mind.

[B]

Okay, perfect. So this paper is actually not about that because that's like you said, that's mental. No, no, sorry. Actually, this is about. Get the buzzer here. I'll. I'll explain and we'll give you a second shot. So that would be mental availability, which you're right, like very important. Are you easy to think of drives brand growth? Yes. This paper is actually looking at physical availability. So say you've already come to mind. It's about being easy to find and buy when it matters. Does that change your answer?

[A]

So how do we. How does a B2B brand make itself easier to buy? Now I'm confused. So I just want to hear, like, do you mean their location? Like, I walk out my door and they're standing right there. Well, yeah, because it'd be saying, here, buy this.

[B]

Yeah. And see. Okay, this is good. You're setting me up. Well, because. Yeah, and B2B, that's. That doesn't. That's Tougher. Right, because you're not selling soda in a store. You're not selling something. Exactly. You're selling software, logistics.

[A]

How do you make it. How do you make it easier? Elena.

[B]

Right. That's what we're going to get into.

[A]

And tell me.

[B]

Yeah, you'd stop interrupting me.

[A]

I'm just teeing you up.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, you did. Okay. So like I said, B2B, this is tough. You're often selling across complex sales channels. You might have to include distributors, resellers, trade shows, websites, direct sales team. So these authors argue that B2B marketers too often hand that control over to just sales, product, or engineering. So too often marketers are just not as involved in the physical availability side. As a result, they're missing this big lever for growth because both mental and physical availability are important. So the goal of this paper was to show how marketers can make smarter investments in physical availability. They break it into three parts. Presence, prominence, and portfolio. So let's start with presence. That's how can you be where buying happens? The researchers define a strong presence strategy as having the right coverage across both revenue and customers. So that means you're not just showing up in channels that could work. You're in the ones that actually drive category sales. So, for example, if 30% of your category revenue comes from brand websites, then 30% of your sales should too. If you're only getting 12% for mobile apps, but the category average is 20, that's an opportunity. They introduced something called the duplication of channel shopping law. Basically, it's the idea that customers use multiple sales channels in predictable ways. If one channel overlaps heavily with another, you might not need both. But if two channels reach completely different buyers, that's a sign to expand. So think of it like a restaurant. If everybody eats at your downtown location, also orders from your delivery service, you've got that overlap. But then say you add a drive thru and that brings in a completely new group of people. That's expansion. So marketers, not sales, should lead those decisions because marketing is the only function that has visibility across all channels. Sales teams see what's in front of them, product sees what they've built. But only marketers see where customers actually buy and where they don't. Okay. The second piece is prominence being easy to find in sales environments. Rob, if I say a brand is easy to find, what comes to mind first? Is it a logo? Ad placement? Their reputation? Which is it easy to find?

[A]

I just, I'm nervous now. To answer, I'm going to go with what is the easiest to find. I'm going to go with ad placement.

[B]

Okay. You want to expand on that at all?

[A]

I've been hanging out with you and ang too much because reflexively I, I want to say mental availability. And that's, you know, an ad placement helps to, to increase mental availability. I'm really, I'm struggling on this one.

[B]

That's okay. That's okay. So we're talking about how can you make yourself easy to find in sales environments. And the authors point something out. Having a great logo doesn't make your brand easy to spot. Feel like B2B brands especially, or maybe lacking some distinctive assets.

[A]

Okay, so I got that part right. Check that. Didn't, didn't pick logo.

[B]

You got that. You need these assets that stand out in any environment, digital or physical. So think of your colors, icons, taglines, even sounds that help people find you quickly. What they call this is owned prominence as opposed to rented prominence. So what would rented prominence be? That's like paying for a placement, Maybe a booth sponsorship.

[A]

I got it right.

[B]

Then no, they don't want you to do this.

[A]

Oh boy. I feel like I'm in high school and I had to stay after to get tutored on the topic.

[B]

So their issue with. So no, it's. This is getting confusing, but you're making it more confusing than it needs to be. They're saying that you want to be wary of rented prominence. Having too much of that. Like a Google Ad, the front page of a marketplace site paying, put my brand there. If a sugar high, it fades when you stop paying. So they're saying that you want more owned prominence. So that's like building a long term visual or verbal asset that buyers recognize anywhere. That's how you get found without paying for every inch of space. That makes me think of like when we go to shows, we like to have a booth because then people can find you and they know how to come up to you and it's very, very expensive. They're basically saying if you're having to pay for prominence, you have to keep paying right over time for your brand to stay there versus if you have something that's owned. Okay, all right. Finally there's portfolio. So that's the third one having enough options but not too many. So the authors is very interesting. They analyzed data showing that most B2B companies don't actually know what percentage of their revenue comes from their core product. The average answer was 50%, but 30% of marketers couldn't even estimate it. That's Kind of a problem, because if your portfolio gets bloated with low performing products, it drains focus and budget from things that actually drive growth. So the advice they gave is this, Protect your core, prune what's weak and plan for future needs. So, Rob, does that resonate with some things you've seen, like brands maybe losing focus because they're managing too many products?

[A]

It does. I feel like this is a bit more of a B2C example, but there's definitely B2B implications of all the large language models out there and what they're offering between ChatGPT and Gemini, it becomes they're basically a house of primary products, a branded house of products. And it. It can be a very confusing story to try to tell. So. Yes.

[B]

So, yeah, if you can simplify to what. What's profitable, it's gonna be helpful.

[A]

Did I butcher that one too? I'm. I'm.

[B]

No, you did great.

[A]

That was good encouragement.

[B]

No, you did great. That was great. Let's get to our Rob GPT. All right. Think of your brand like a lighthouse. Mental availability is the light beam. It helps ships remember you exist and where to find you. Physical availability is making sure you have enough docks in the harbor so they actually can go somewhere. So if you shine the brightest light in the harbor, but you only have one tiny dock and it's always full, ships will remember you, but they'll drop anchor at your competitor instead.

[A]

Now, that was fantastic.

[B]

Should we have just had this be like 10 seconds? It should have just been the Rob.

[A]

And now I just need, like, a glass of milk and a cookie break. Like, I feel like I need the preschool version of that. That was very helpful, thank you.

[B]

No, I'm sorry. It reminds me, like, there. There gets to be so much jargon too, that sometimes it's like we're not. I don't think you were so much confused as, like, stuck in jargon sometimes. So that helps. The lighthouse example. I like it.

[A]

It was so good.

[B]

That's it for this episode of the Marketing Architects. We'd like to thank Taylor De Los Reyes for producing the show. You can connect with us on LinkedIn and if you like the podcast, please leave us a review. Now go forth and build. Great marketing.

[A]

I'm nervous to say anything anymore on this topic. No, no, I just.

[B]

I feel bad. Okay.

[A]

Oh, no, no. I'm giving my. This literally is how I felt in biology class in high school, where I'm just like, I'm. Now I'm nervous and I can't even process anymore. Like, I don't. You know, I'm like, now I'm panicking. I. I don't even hear.

[B]

That'S a real thing. I just give up when I hit that mode.