the b2b buying journey
TRANSCRIPT
Todd EbertChief Marketing Officer
The B2B Buying Journey
This is the fictional story of one marketing director’s buying journey for a new CRM system and the digital advertising that influences her every step of the way.
B2B marketers can use this narrative to understand the path-to-purchase for their own prospects, and plan digital marketing campaigns that drive brand awareness, engagement, leads, and ultimately customers.
The Challenge for B2B MarketersHow do you ensure that prospective customers know your brand…
Before they need your product?
During their
research?
Through the evaluation (RFP)
process?
…and beyond?
Part soccer mom
Part marketing professional
Meet Mary the marketing director and soccer mom. Like most adults, she spends over seven hours a day surfing, searching and socializing online. She is almost always “connected” with smart phone in hand.
How can the companies that make CRM software capture Mary’s attention?
First, they must understand her and other prospective buyers’ online behavior.
Daily Media Consumption
24%Email / IM
@6%Online Shopping
23%Surf Content
1%Search
19%Surf Video
28%Surf Social Media
Surfing, not searching.
Like most of us, Mary spends a lot of her day surfing the Web and reading content relevant to her personal life and her profession. She spends over 70 percent of her time online surfing content, watching videos and checking social media. Mary spends about 1 percent of her time conducting searches — a mere fraction of the time that she spends reading content. This is typical of most people who quickly search and click the result to visit another site. The takeaway for marketers is that display advertising provides the best opportunity to reach Mary with targeted advertising.
Online / Mobile
7.6 Hours
Offline7.0
Hours
One woman, two buyers.
While at work, Mary takes frequent breaks to check Facebook, visit her favorite meal planning sites and catch up on child-rearing tips in parenting blogs.
At home Mary often burns the midnight oil, staying up-to-speed with the latest marketing trends by reading articles on industry news and association sites as well as email newsletters.
Interestingly, as she surfs the web Mary sees ads for work-related products on consumer sites and ads for personal products on her business sites. This is an example of “Programmatic Advertising” at work, where technology enables different advertisers to competitively bid on putting their ads in front of Mary [or any of us] on any site she is visiting.
Mary’s business buying journey is long and complex.
In addition to knowing how Mary consumes digital media, CRM companies vying for her business need to understand the overall B2B buying journey.
Mary, and other B2B buyers, are now in total control as they self-educate online prior to engaging with a sales person. They can get nearly all the information they need in just a few seconds from their smartphones or
laptops. Product details, technical specs, analyst ratings, user reviews and even pricing are only a few clicks away.
B2B buying is a much longer and more complex process than its consumer equivalent, with wrong decisions being very costly to both the bottom line and the decision-maker’s career.
“Buyers do their own research online. On average, they are 70% through the journey before even contacting a sales rep.”
Mary’s not in the market for a CRM system…yet.
Mary recently joined ABC Widgets as the marketing director and is focused on building a new website, updating collateral and planning their major trade show. She has no budget for a new CRM and no time to think about it right now.
Unaware Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
1
Mary notices CRM ads on her favorite sites. Mary is very aware of SalesForce.com since they have a strong presence across marketing trade publications, conferences and shows, but she is unaware of their many competitors like Sugar, Act!, Insightly, Sage, Base and Zoho.
In addition to offline tactics like trade shows and direct mailers, a few of those companies use programmatic display advertising to get their ads directly in front of marketing managers at companies of the right size and geographic location.
Not surprisingly, Mary starts seeing display ads for CRM companies on the marketing sites she frequents. However, she also sees a lot of CRM ads on her favorite news, entertainment and lifestyle sites — pages that are not related to her work life.
2
Unaware Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
Repeated exposure to display ads increases the number of relevant search queries by up to 25%.- Harvard Business Review
85% of consumers don’t mind digital display ads when they are relevant. - Bizrate
Good creative captures Mary’s attention.
Awareness Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
Over time Mary has developed an affinity for some brands whose ad campaigns are highly creative, even though she’s not actually interested in buying at the moment.
At this stage of the buyer journey, companies are using persona targeting to reach Mary. Persona targeting is when you use key firmographic and demographic data to target your ideal customer profile – for example, people in marketing roles at companies with over 100 employees in the manufacturing industry. This approach enables you to get your message in front of a highly defined audience of prospects instead of wasting budget on a general campaign that hits many people who are not your target customer.
Building brand recognition increases the likelihood that your product will be included in the consideration set when a prospect actually has a need and starts researching solutions.
High-quality creative increases ad viewing time six times (5.8x) and nearly doubles purchase intent (+93%) vs. low-quality creative. – MarketingLand
60% of marketers believe data is essential to improving their advertising effectiveness and reaching the right audience. –eConsultancy
3
Six months have passed and a need arises.Mary is now developing her marketing plan and budget for next year. The CEO expects the marketing department to build and manage a pipeline of leads for the sales team. So, Mary starts researching CRM systems online. She checks marketing trade association sites and blogs, reads lots of industry articles about CRM and attends several webinars.
4
Research Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
93% of B2B purchases start with online research. - Fierce CMO
Consideration Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
Mary checks out several brands.Soon after starting her research, Mary notices display ads for many CRM brands, including some new ones, as she surfs the Web.
At this stage of the buying journey Mary is being targeted due to her recent online behaviors – searching and reading about CRM systems. Behavioral targeting is when you target your ads to the people who have searched industry/product keywords relevant to your business and/or who have read content containing those keywords.
She recognizes ads for brands she’s seen over the past few months but doesn’t have time to check them out. So later that night she “Googles” some of the brands she remembers to learn more about their products.
3 out of 5 online buyers say they notice ads for products and services they looked up on other sites. - CMO.com
38% increase in branded search activity for prospects exposed to a display ad. - comScore
5
During The Day Later That Night
A new contender emerges.Mary has done a lot of research and is now trying to narrow down her list of potential companies to contact.
During this time she starts seeing ads for a different CRM brand she hadn’t considered yet. So, she clicks on the ad and visits their site. It meets all of her criteria and is priced lower than most so she adds it to her RFP list.
Mary is now being reached by a form of behavioral targeting called competitor conquesting, which is also known as search retargeting. This is when you target your ads to people who have searched your competitors’ branded keywords and/or visited their websites.
64% of marketers use traditional display advertising to conquest customers from competitors. - Kapost
6Consideration Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
Evaluate Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
What’s on Mary’s mind?
7
Throughout her research, Mary visits many CRM vendor websites. Most of the time she leaves without filling out forms or downloading content.
But, time and time again, Mary sees specific ads for Act! software after visiting their site. One ad even reminded her to download an ebook that she had checked out but never completed the form.
The Act! brand is now definitely top of mind for Mary and she’s gone back to their site several times after seeing their ads.
Mary is now being reached by site retargeting, a technique that tags people who leave your website and shows them your display ads as they surf their favorite sites across the Web. This approach helps you stay top-of-mind with interested prospects and reminds them about your unique value proposition.
98% of website visitors do not convert.
Users exposed to site retargeting spent 50% more time than the average site visitor and consumed more pages.
Website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert on your site.
- CMO.com
Evaluate Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
Mary hits the road.While waiting on responses to her request for proposal [RFP] Mary attends the annual Direct Marketing Association tradeshow.
During breakfast at the hotel she is reading articles on her phone and is surprised to see an ad from Act! that directs her to visit their trade show booth for a demo and free gift. She is charmed by this coincidental encounter, given that the brand was already on her consideration list.
She did not know that Act! would be at the show, so she makes a note to stop by their booth and chat with their product manager.
Mary is now being reached by geo-fencing. This is a form of audience targeting you can use to target users at very specific geographic locations, such as industry association trade shows and conferences.
8
Mary finally buys, but her journey is far from over.
After months of research, numerous proposals and rounds of competitive pitch presentations, Mary signs a contract with Act! for their CRM software.
Several months later Mary has the system deployed and is using it to power her email marketing campaigns.
Again, she starts seeing Act! ads as she surfs around the Web but this time it’s for a different product. In this instance Mary is being targeted specifically by Act! as part of their customer upsell campaign. They are using CRM data targeting to display their ads to current clients [and prospects] in their database, helping them drive interest in additional products.
9
Purchase & Renew Stages - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
It’s time to renew.Mary has had a successful year using the Act! system to fuel her email campaigns, and the sales VP she works with is happy that the CRM enables him to stay on top of his pipeline.
The Act! contract has come up for renewal, so Mary researches online and visits competitor websites to make sure that Act! is still competitive with the latest features.
Once again, she starts noticing that CRM ads show up on her favorite websites, which means that Mary is now being behaviorally targeted by other brands.
Ultimately Mary decides she has received strong ROI from the Act! system, so she signs a two-year renewal and agrees to do a testimonial video for the company.
10Renewal & Advocate Stages - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - »
Mary Adds Display to Her Marketing Plan
The Three Pillars of Digital MarketingAs described in the previous section, Mary is a savvy marketer who successfully built and executed an initial marketing plan, including a new website, several major trade shows and, last but not least, a new CRM system to power her email campaigns.
Now that she has accomplished all of that, Mary is expanding her strategy to cover all three pillars of a best practice digital marketing plan: owned media, earned media and paid media.
Mary is particularly excited to ramp up her paid media strategy.
Towards that end, she adds the powerful combination of display advertising and search engine marketing to influence potential buyers across the entire purchase journey for her products.
She knows that this strategy will drive awareness with prospects, draw them to her website and enable her to capture leads for her CRM system and follow-up email marketing campaigns.
OWNEDMEDIAWebsiteBlogSocial PagesEmail
EARNEDMEDIAPR MentionsSocial SharesReviews
PAID MEDIADisplayRetargetingSearch Ads Social Ads
The Digital Marketing Power Combo: Search + DisplayFrom prior experience Mary knows that she needs to use a mix of search and display tactics at each stage of the buyer journey in order to reach the right person at the right time with the right message.
She also knows that display advertising is the quickest and most cost-effective way to reach prospects compared with SEO, social media and PR — which are great tactics but take a lot of work and time to drive results.
At her prior company, Mary saw display advertising drive a significant lift in the results of her other marketing tactics, including a higher click-through-rate on search results, increased email open rates, and higher social media likes/shares on her content assets.
Mary witnessed first hand what is commonly referred to as brand lift. Brand lift occurs when prospects who have prior familiarity with a brand [from advertising] are more likely to engage with that specific brand when they see it in other places, such as in search results or emails.
Unaware
Research
Consider
Evaluate
Purchase
Renew
Few Mins/Day Several Hours/Day
I investigated the product, brand or company through social media or message boards
I typed the company Web address into browser and navigated to the site
I searched the product, brand or company using a search engine
I clicked on the ad itself
Why is this True?Because when you’re watching TV or reading an article on your favorite website you are focused on that content. You notice the advertisement but are not in the mood to stop and go check out the brand. So you make a mental note [sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously] to review it later. Then when you have time you Google the brand name to learn more.
Responded to Online Display AdsDid not respond to Online Display Ads
The Digital Marketing Power Combo: Search + Display
2/3 of Online Users Have Taken Action Based on an Online Ad
When Display Ads Drive an Immediate Response, it is as Likely to Take the Form of a Search as it is an Ad Click
Immediate Response to Online Display Ads
Source: Forrester / iProspect
Why is this True?Because when you quickly scan a page full of search results your mind instantly recognizes the brand you already know and draws you to click that result. It all happens in a micro-second, the same way you notice a new product on a crowded grocery store shelf after seeing it’s TV commercial numerous times.
Average Click Lifts for Branded and Category Terms (Compared to Those Who Did Not See a Display Ad)
This Increase in Display Activity Drives Significant Improvements in the Performance of Paid & Organic Search
The Digital Marketing Power Combo: Search + Display
Source: comScore
Unaware
Aware
Research
Consider
Evaluate
Purchase
Renew
Advocate
Mary’s got the whole buying journey covered. Mary plans to use several display campaigns to build brand relevance and affinity with her target audience as they traverse the buyer’s journey, readying the path for when they need her product.
Mary will use a persona targeted campaign to reach highly defined segments of potential customers based on their industry, company and professional role. She will also start a behavioral campaign to reach prospects who are actively researching her types of products and competitors.
Last, but definitely not least, Mary will implement a site retargeting campaign to stay top-of-mind with people who have visited her website and leftwithout converting.
Again, being a savvy marketer, Mary uses custom ad creative for each campaign that cuts through the clutter and captures the attention of her prospects, delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.
Keep your brand top-of-mind with website visitors who don’t convert and remind them to come back
Create brand awareness with a highly defined audience of decision-makers and influencers
Drive awareness and engagement with prospects exhibiting buying behaviors for your products and services
Display advertising reaches B2Bbuyers — no matter where they areWith the combination of persona, behavioral and retargeting campaigns at her disposal, Mary creates a digital marketing strategy that reaches more potential buyers at all stages of the buying journey. And by adding display to her digital strategy Mary dramatically increases brand lift — driving fresh prospects into her CRM and email initiatives.
You can have marketing that is more engaging and effective, establishing a truly one-of-a-kind presence in your industry. Build your name. Win new business. Enhance relationships with your customers. Expand your possibilities with decades of proprietary, first-party B2B data, best-in-class technology and an intense dedication to creativity. Tell us your goals and we’ll work with you to create a tailored marketing solution that goes even further.
About MultiView
From Fortune 100 enterprises to technology startups, I’ve spent twenty-five years with my sleeves rolled up leading B2B marketing teams that drive growth. As CMO of MultiView I’m marketing products that help other B2B marketers connect with more customers. I believe that marketing is the biggest key to success in today’s hyper-competitive markets, and that companies who don’t understand that fact will ultimately fail. When I’m not working I’m a Snapple drinking, chili pepper growing, craft beer loving, volleyball coaching, bad golfing, Longhorn cheering husband and father. I’d love to connect with you on Twitter -- you can find me @ToddEbert.
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