Nurture Prospects throughout the Buyer s Journey Marketer s Must Provide Tailored, Relevant Content A Frost & Sullivan Executive Brief
Nurture Prospects throughout the Buyer s Journey: Marketer s must provide tailored, relevant In today s hyper-connected world, it can be difficult to get noticed among the over-abundance of continuously presented to B2B buyers. In order to reach your prospects, you ll need to have readily available and searchable for any B2B decision maker who expects high-quality to be accessible at their convenience. The best way to maximize your exposure and connect with your buyer is to offer easily discoverable, on-demand access to the most relevant resources. Your collateral should be available in places where your buyers gather online, such as professional online communities and social networks. However, simply reaching prospects does not ensure they will successfully become a customer. Professionals will quickly scan your to evaluate its relevance, and if it doesn t meet their expectations, they will move on quickly. Frost & Sullivan research shows that quality and relevancy are some of the key factors in driving and maintaining engagement in online communities. Nine out of 10 non-active users are likely to re-engage and revisit BrightTALK when they find relevant to their needs. When prospects find to be valuable, their actions in online communities are fairly consistent, regardless of how active they are in that community. A recent survey of over 1,000 registered professionals on BrightTALK found that non-active, less active and more active users are all: More likely to ask questions; More likely to read relevant news/analysis/commentary, learn about trends and read reviews; and More likely to seek best practices and less likely to rate products/services. Exhibit A- Other Activities While Viewing: By Usage Type Users predominately focus on harvesting as much information as possible from the such as reviews and trends as opposed to sharing, answering questions or posting their own. Read relevant news, analysis or commentary Learn about trends Read reviews Seek business best practices Ask questions Share business best practices Converse with peers Comment directly on 21% 24% 17% 15% 16% 12% 12% 13% 9% 4% 2% 3% 31% 30% 34% 23% 28% 21% 23% 64% 66% 60% 69% 66% 55% 58% 52% 60% Share to my social networks Seek business relationships Answer Questions Rate or review products/ services Comment on other comments on Post own Other Non- Active Users Less Active Users More Active Users Base: Non-active Users (n=193), Less Active Users (n=430), More Active Users (n=394) 2 All rights reserved 2016 Frost & Sullivan
Nurture Prospects throughout the Buyer s Journey: Marketer s must provide tailored, relevant From the survey results, we know the likely activity of prospects when they find the they need, but how can B2B marketers predict the their prospects are looking for before they even hit the search bar? BrightTALK rates high on quality and relevance to business and career. Marketers should put themselves in the shoes of their potential buyers and focus on addressing the following: Are they trying to solve existing business problems? What might they want to learn about your new products, services or industry trends? Are they looking to drive innovation or productivity? What best practices might they need to help them with their jobs? Is there an expectation to achieve? What might they want to consume or share, or do they want to network? No matter the s purpose (i.e., to acquire or convert prospects), it must provide value to their business and career to encourage them to re-engage with your company. Exhibit B- Content and services rating criteria: Content quality and relevance to business and career are most important 49% 48% 74% 48% 57% 63% 67% 73% 75% 18% 11% 11% Developing and innovating new products and services on the site relevant to my business The value of the to my business The value of the to my career The overall quality of the Customer service provided Non- Active Users Less Active Users More Active Users Base: Non-active Users (n=193), Less Active Users (n=430) More Active Users (n=394) All rights reserved 2016 Frost & Sullivan 3
Nurture Prospects throughout the Buyer s Journey: Marketer s must provide tailored, relevant Lack of relevance is the key reason for unwillingness to re-engage. Marketers have to deliver information that captivates prospects at the appropriate level and makes the audience want to come back for more. Here are some actionable takeaways to nurture your audience, no matter where they are in the buying cycle. Utilize distinct communities and channels. For example, when selling wearable technology, marketers should consider communities for different user groups, with designed for each one. A field services community may need information on using sensor data to diagnose and repair machines in the field; meanwhile, the healthcare industry is interested in using the wearable technology to monitor patient information in real time and alerting practitioners to critical information on the fly. Offer the right mix of throughout the buyer s journey. The statistics provided in Exhibit A above demonstrate that prospects want to consume top-of-funnel information, such as reviews, analysis and best practices, when they are self-educating or researching to meet a business need. In subsequent phases in the researching process, prospects are looking for more specific information that satisfies their unique requirements. Therefore, they seek types of and forums that allow them to collaborate (ask questions, communicate with peers, rate/review products and services, etc.). Successfully nurturing prospects throughout the buyer s journey requires marketers to step into their prospects shoes and recognize what they are trying to achieve at each stage. Before they share, ask questions and contribute, prospects are seeking to learn and consume information. Content must contain relevant subject matter, be tailored to encourage the appropriate level of interaction at each stage, and include clear calls to action to guide prospects to the desired next step in the sales process. 4 All rights reserved 2016 Frost & Sullivan
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