Do you understand how your buyers make their buying decisions?

So much has changed in the last decade. Technology has helped buyers craft their journey to purchase without having to engage with sellers until the late stages of their process.

Do you know how your buyers are getting from the first step (“do I have a need”) to their justified decision? How do you manage your marketing to focus on the customer lifecycle?

SirusDecisions publish a now popularly-quoted statistic that 70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before a buyer even reaches out to sale.
How do you adjust to align your marketing and sales to this behaviour?

First, let’s look at the stages the buyer is going through Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.

Awareness: The beginning of the buyer journey. It is likely that your buyer doesn’t know your company and doesn’t even know they have a need.

The first step in Awareness is to Identify Need. Since your buyer doesn’t know you, how you can help, or that they even have a need, focus your content on your buyer’s pain points, not on your brand, product or services.

Once your buyer understands they have a need, they start their Research. Did you know that 72% of buyers will turn to Google as their search tool? Their initial research will start with general search terms. They usually look for educational material, reviews and testimonials. You can help them in their research; provide these types of materials on your website.  With the right tools, you can start to track your buyer’s interactions with your content.

Once buyers have started their initial research, they start to Prioritize Criteria. At this point your buyers start to understand what criteria fit with their needs.  They will start to eliminate vendors that they perceive don’t align with them. They also compile their questions for their product demos, and begin their short listing of viable answers. Emotional content like white papers, analyst reports and industry reports provide credible 3rd party information to help you build trust and virtual rapport. Enrolled prospective buyers in a nurture campaign on average will produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities vs non-nurtured leads per the DemandGen Report.

Consideration: Your buyers move from Awareness to Consideration as they gain more knowledge about their needs and available solutions. Research continues after your buyer has narrowed down their choice of potential vendors. Pardot’s State of Demand Generation report has found that 70% of buyers return to Google 2 to 3 times during their research, continually looking for more specific information about how specific offerings can address their challenges. As buyers continue to return, you can monitor their interactions with your content and ensure they are getting the content they need.

The inevitable moment will come when buyers start to Compare vendors and offerings. They will want to have a more in-depth experience at this point and possibly a demonstration. Usually buyers then reach out to sales reps for further information and personalized demos so they can ensure their specific team needs are being met. Remember to share all the information that has been collected about their buyer’s journey so far, so the sales reps can have proper insight.

Of course, most major company purchases are made by a team, with a senior executive having sign off. The next step is to Justify the purchase. Buyers are going to focus on content regarding pricing, ROI, and the bottom line. Provide your buyers with the “executive suite friendly” content that helps them to mitigate their risk and barriers to purchase.

Decision: It’s time for the buyer to make their Decision. They have upper management support (or are upper management) and now they think about what they need to do to prepare, how their chosen vendor will support them, unforeseen costs and burdens. This is where your brand focused materials, case studies, and testimonials help your buyer feel comfortable and confident in their choice.

The final step after your buyer’s journey is Purchase. They sign the paperwork, but their work isn’t finished. They will probably look for content on best practices, process guides, and other materials to make sure they hit the ground running. You get to continue to build your rapport with your customer and begin to focus on customer experience and retention. The goal is to have every customer Evangelize their success with your company and your solution. Extremely happy customers can become the driving force behind your word-of-mouth activities.

Understanding your buyer and their journey can more effectively focus your content marketing strategy and sales approach. Match their journey every step of the way. Help your team to be more successful to attract and convert buyers into customers.

What are your next steps to further align your marketing and sales activities to your buyer’s journey? Want help? We’re here. Contact us @ info@mycxo.ca.