Bob Apollo + Doug Kessler at DemandCon 2012

ALIGNING CONTENTTO THE B2B BUYER’S JOURNEY

Bob Apollo Doug Kessler

Two dangerous B2B metaphors.

Two dangerous B2B metaphors.

“The Funnel” “The Purchase Journey”

They’re onlymetaphors

OVER TO BOB…

Enter theBoston MatrixAnd a Journeyinto Zen

KNOW

WHER

EKNOW

HOW

DON’TKNOW

HOW DON’T

KNOW

WHER

E

Four States of the B2BBuying Journey

Painting by Numbers

Paint byNumbers

KNOW

WHER

EKNOW

HOW

DON’TKNOW

HOW DON’T

KNOW

WHER

E

Lost in the Fog

Lost in the Fog

KNOW

WHER

EKNOW

HOW

DON’TKNOW

HOW DON’T

KNOW

WHER

E

Quest for the Grail

Quest for the Grail

KNOW

WHER

EKNOW

HOW

DON’TKNOW

HOW DON’T

KNOW

WHER

E

Leaderless Mission

MissionImpossible

KNOW

WHER

EKNOW

HOW

DON’TKNOW

HOW DON’T

KNOW

WHER

E

Lost in the Fog

Which State is your Prospect in?

KNOW

WHER

EKNOW

HOW

DON’TKNOW

HOW DON’T

KNOW

WHER

E

Paint byNumbers

Quest for the Grail

MissionImpossible

CLEAR

GOALS

CLEARPROCESS

POORLY

DEFINED

PROCESSPOORLY

DEFINED

GOALS

ProcurementQuest

Lost in the Fog

Paint byNumbers

Paint by Numbers: Come up with Best Bid

Lost in the Fog: Hold their Hand

Quest for the Grail: Show them a Path

Mission Impossible: Give them a Vision

ZenAnd the Art of B2B Buying

First there is no problemThen there is a problemThen there is no problem

The Nature of ProblemsA Pain that must be relievedA Goal that must be achievedAn Opportunity that must be realised

The Buying Decision Process

• The B2B buying decision process is a cognitive journey

• The destination is not always obviousfrom the start

• Your prospects pass through several levels of enlightenment along the way

• At each stage, they can choose to move forward, to stay where they are, to retrace their steps or to abandon the journey

• The things they need to know – and the questions they ask – evolve as they move from stage to stage

• Your content must adapt and evolve with them if you are to help lead them towards the right destination

Satisfied with Status Quo

• Passively absorbing information

The current state of most of your potential prospects

• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Something Happens

The key jumping-off point in their buying decision process

• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

ExploringImplications

Not yet sure whether the issue justifies their attention

• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Researching Solutions

What options might be open to them? Can they afford them?

• What would a good solution look like?• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Establishing Criteria

How should we go about choosing between options

• What’s the best solution for us?• What would a good solution look like?• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Selecting the Best Option

Which of the available options is going to be the best for us?

• What’s the best deal we can negotiate?• What’s the best solution for us?• What would a good solution look like?• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Negotiating the Best Deal

How can we secure the best possible terms and conditions?

Securing Final Approval

• How can we get this approved?• What’s the best deal we can negotiate?• What’s the best solution for us?• What would a good solution look like?• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

How can we build the best possible internal business case?

• How can we get this implemented?• How can we get this approved?• What’s the best deal we can negotiate?• What’s the best solution for us?• What would a good solution look like?• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Implementing the Solution

How can we ensure that the project goals are achieved?

• Have we actually solved the problem?• How can we get this implemented?• How can we get this approved?• What’s the best deal we can negotiate?• What’s the best solution for us?• What would a good solution look like?• What can / should we do about it?• What impact is it having?• What just happened to us?• Passively absorbing information

Resolution

Are we ready to Advocate the Vendor?

?Where are Each of Your Prospects Today?

Your Prospect’s Evolving Priorities

REFERENCEABILITYCERTAINTYCONFIDENCECRITERIACAPABILITYCURIOSITY

Your Goal

Offer relevant content and conversation that supports each stage of their buying decision process and that persuades them to take the next step in their buying journey with you.

Guiding Principles

Enable the buyer to convince themselvesShow why you’re different before proving how you’re betterPromote your approach before you sell your solutionExplore the problem before you promote your approachFocus on the problems you’re best at solvingEducate before you sell

OVER TO DOUG…

MAPPING CONTENTTO B2B BUYING STAGES

How do you know what stage people are in?

• The search terms they use

• Social media activity

• The content they choose

Early stage content

• Sell the problem (or the opportunity)

• Plant the idea that it’s easily addressed

• Show that others are doing so right now

• Prove that you know a hell of a lot about it

• Show you’re a company they’ll enjoy engaging with

Meeting the buyer’s information needs

• What do our prospects care about?

• How can we harvest our expertise to help?

• How can we get this content to market now?

Top of the Funnel: Salesforce.com Social Success content site

How it works

SocialSearch

Outbound

How it works

SocialSearch

Outbound

Content

Rich, varied, targeted

Types of contentOriginal Curated Collaborative Legacy

Results

• Traffic for January up 80% vs year ago

• Traffic from social sites +2500%

• First year targets achieved in <3 months

• 6,500 newsletter sign-ups

• 10,000 eBook downloads (with data capture)

Trigger events

Middle stage content

• Move from evangelising to differentiating yourself

• Start answering ‘how’ as well as ‘why’

• Start building credibility

• Emphasise the ease of change

• Use cross-promotion to advance each engagement

• Find out more about the prospect

• Use ‘index content’ to help guide buyers to the right content

eBooks

Dr. Marketo’s Cabinet of Curiously Mechanical Marketing MachinesAn Index Piece

The Rant

Late stage content

• Use what you’ve learned about the prospect

• Ramp up the credibility

• Use cases & testimonials

• Demonstrate responsiveness

Late buying stage: The pitch

Conclusions

A few things to think about

What do your buyers’ journeys look like?

What are the key trigger events?

How can you tell what stage they’re in?

Where does each piece of content fit?

How are you measuring the impact?

Where are the gaps?

How are you planning to fill them?

How are you cross-promoting your content?

Before you create any new content…

Who am I writing this for?

Don’t forget the Psychographics!

What are they thinking about?

What do I want them to think?

What do I want them to do?

How can I ensure this piece of content stands out?

How does this relate to my other content?

How am I going to measure success?

When these principles really matter

When you’re thinking about investing in Marketing Automation for the first time

When you’re wondering why your existing investment in Marketing Automation isn’t paying off

When you want to be something more – something better – than just another content machine

When you’re determined to curate your content as well as creating it

When you want your content to work

When you want your content to matter

THANKS.

Bob ApolloInflexion-Pointbob@inflexion-point.comwww.inflexion-point.com07802 313300@bobapollo

Doug KesslerVelocity Partnersdoug@velocitypartners.co.ukwww.Velocitypartners.co.uk0208 940 4031@dougkessler