Are you selling into the B2B market? Then you know that an increasing number of stakeholders are involved in the purchase process, and sellers face a more complex buyer's journey than ever before. How do you break through? Content marketing (and lots of it)!
Printed materials such as direct mail, newsletters, and multi-piece kits are well suited to selling into the B2B market. Once delivered, these pieces often remain visible for days, weeks, or even months during the various stages of the research and decision-making process. Printed pieces can also be easily shared between team members.
How Many in the Buying Journey?
There are often a lot of team members to share with! This is because B2B buying decisions are often made by a committee rather than a single individual. According to recent research,
· 41% of B2B purchases involve 1-3 people,
· 36% involve 4-6 people,
· 23% involve seven or more people.
Moreover, the roles of these decision-makers can vary significantly. Half (50%) are primary decision-makers, while the other half cover various functions: internal influencers or champions, researchers, technical buying influencers, and even end users. For content marketing, this means segmentation is critical. The same message you send to the primary decision maker will differ from the one you send to technical buying influencers or end users.
Target by the Buying Stage
Content must be targeted by the buying stage, as well. The average B2B buyer's timeline involves various stages, including conducting research, developing a list of potential vendors, collecting information on pricing, evaluating solutions, seeking input from peers and existing users, and consulting industry analysts and consultants. With such a multi-faceted process, businesses must tailor their content marketing efforts to address different stakeholders' diverse needs and preferences at each stage.
Techniques for knowing which team members are at what stage (and require different types of content) include engagement tracking, lead scoring, progressive profiling, and many phone calls! It takes time and persistence, but the payoff can be significant.
Need help deciding which content to send during which stage of the journey—and to whom? Let our business development experts help!
Source: DemandGen "B2B Buyer Survey Report" (2022)
