Four Critical Stages of the B2B Buying Cycle
Greg Sherwood is CEO of DBC digital, a Hybrid marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado. With over 30 years of marketing experience with traditional and inbound marketing, Greg helps medium-sized businesses get a better return on their marketing dollars.
The Four Stages of the B2B Buying Cycle
We generally get two or three questions a week from our clients asking what kind of content to include in their blogs and how to guide a prospect through their buying cycle. I thought it might be helpful to put together a post that covers the Business-to-Business buying cylce and the mindset that a propect/buyer has at each stage. Paul McKeon with Marketing Profs had a great discussion on this topic.
Here’s what he says: "Marketers usually don't fully understand how their prospects and buyers use content" "B2B (Business-to-Business) marketing is no longer just in the business of brand management and lead generation," he continues. "It must serve a huge demand for content that spans buyers' needs, from ‘pre-awareness’ to post-sale."
Marketers must match their content with the buying stage
So how can a B2B marketer match the right content to a buyer's needs throughout a potentially long buying cycle? "The B2B buying cycle has four recognizable stages," McKeon explains, "each requires a different approach to content."
Here are the four stages he discuss —as well as suggested ways to grab a prospect’s attention at each stage.
- “Unaware.” The buyer is not explicitly in the market but should be. Your content should be “interruptive.” Some suggested attention-grabbers at this stage of the buying cycle would be: Speak to their pain; provide "news," such as a research report or other white paper.
- “Tentative.” The buyer is standing at the edge of, or quietly wading into the market. Your content should be educational. Attention-grabbers would include: Write about the buyer's problem and how to address it, not about your solution. Encourage “buyer interactivity” at your website.
- “Engaged.” The buyer is in a dialogue with your company. Your content should be validating. Provide case studies detailing customer success stories. Provide third-party articles to support your position.
- “Invested.” The buyer is a customer. Your content should be exclusive. Personalize your email and Web content. Offer insider tips, use a conversational style.
The Take Away: It's more about them than about you! The key to creating valuable marketing content is to identify where your prospects are along the B2B buying cycle—and speak to their unique challenges. "Compromise nothing to internal drivers," McKeon advises. "Concentrate on your buyer."
Focus on these four areas when you are designing your web pages, blog posts and landing pages. You'll see a nice increase in your traffic and your prospects will be turning in to buyers more often.
Good luck!
Do you agree? What are we missing? Add your comments!