Posts Tagged ‘buying process’
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
Kristin Knipp offers great advice in a post previewing Hubspot’s talk at the upcoming meeting on inbound marketing for Medical Device companies. She recommends starting with defining a unique value proposition and then building a content factory to attract humans and search engines.
Value is in the eye of the beholder
Although not stated explicitly, it is essential that marketers define the value proposition with the target audience’s perspective in mind–and that the content directly contributes to the delivery of that value proposition.
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Inbound marketing starts with deep customer insights
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Read the full post (499 words, 4 images, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)
Tags: buying process, buying stage, consistent communications, content, inbound marketing, target audience, value proposition
Posted in health care, Marketing strategy, value propositions | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 31st, 2010
Recently, I lost my crystal ball. So, I won’t be adding to the posts about predictions for the new year. Instead, I took a look backward to see whether previous year end posts still apply. I think they do.
Learn from the past, capitalize on success
At the end of 2008, in Shorten the sales cycle next year: Year end marketing planning, I advocated taking stock of what worked and what didn’t—so that you can capitalize on your successes and avoid repeating what turned out to be mistakes. In particular, I suggested focusing on buyers’ perceptions in four areas: the desirability of the solutions, the reputation of the vendor, the effectiveness of the communications, and the responsiveness of the individuals leading the sales or business development effort.
Tags: buyer personas, buyers' perceptions, buying process, customer development, customer insights, customer research, demand generation, lead gen, market planning, online communities, sales cycle, sales enablement, web analytics
Posted in Internet marketing, market intelligence, Marketing communications programs, Marketing strategy, social media, social media marketing, Uncategorized, value propositions | No Comments »
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Today, everyone is all a-twitter about the importance of being relevant. As they should be.
According to Marketo’s Andrew Spoeth, the average B2B buyer receives 20+ campaign touches per week. What this means is that prospects will only pay attention to that information they deem highly relevant to their situations.
Know prospects’ priorities
If we want to capture prospects’ attention, engage their interest, and ultimately win their business we need to speak directly to our prospects’ highest priorities. What that means is that we need a way of determining what these highest priorities are.
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Wondering what content your prospects find most relevant? Ask them.
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Read the full post (396 words, 4 images, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)
Tags: buying process, customer feedback, qualified prospect priorities, relevant content, win loss
Posted in market intelligence, Marketing strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, October 25th, 2010
In a recent post, Laura Ramos observed that business-to-business marketers have long struggled to reach decision makers and measure marketing results. She observed that they may encounter difficulties because they don’t spend enough time understanding who their best customers are and what distinguishes them–noting that understanding buyer behavior is much more than conducting customer satisfaction surveys or publishing success stories.
I found her post timely. I’ve been struggling with articulating the very concepts that she relayed so fluently as I revise own website.
Shorter sales cycles depend on deep customer insights
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B2B marketers struggle to reach decision makers and measure marketing results
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Read the full post (704 words, 4 images, estimated 2:49 mins reading time)
Tags: attract business, B2B marketers, behavioral data, business-to-business marketers, buyer behavior, buying criteria, buying process, customer research, customer satisfaction surveys, high-tech marketing, increase revenues, lead generation campaigns, marketing collateral, marketing processes, marketing systems, product managers, product marketing managers, professional services marketing, web analytics
Posted in market intelligence, Marketing strategy, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
This morning, a colleague called to brainstorm ideas on how to promote an upcoming program on “reaping the benefits of a diverse workforce”. Her concern was that the small business owners she was targeting had opted not to attend other programs on diversity.
To address her concern, I immediately donned my strategic marketing hat. Some would say that when you have a hammer, everything is a nail…
Helping prospects recognize they need what you have to offer
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When you’re a marketing strategy consultant, everything comes down to marketing strategy
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Read the full post (932 words, 5 images, estimated 3:44 mins reading time)
Tags: buying process, Marketing strategy, marketing strategy consultant, small business owners, small businesses
Posted in Buying process model, Marketing strategy | No Comments »
Monday, February 16th, 2009
Sports teams watch video replays to learn from experience and see how they can improve upon their game. In so doing, they examine what worked—for them and the competition—at various points in the game. They also study their performance under various playing conditions.
More than win or lose–it’s how you play the game
The goal is not so much as to see what cost the game, but to note specific behaviors that contributed to the win or loss—at crucial points in the competition. Only that way, can they reduce future vulnerabilities and replicate success.
Tags: buying process, close deals, close more deals, complex solutions, loss, professional services, replicate success, revenues, sales cycle, win, wins and losses
Posted in Marketing strategy | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
What’s the financial impact of winning one more account per quarter? What would it take to do so? If you don’t know, now may be the time to find out so you can improve the top line next year.
Capitalize on success, avoid repeating mistakes
As the year ends, it can be helpful to take stock of what worked and what didn’t—so that you can capitalize on your successes and avoid repeating what turned out to be mistakes. Our clients find that one of the best ways to do this is to go straight to the horse’s mouth—the customers that bought and those that didn’t.
This is a preview of
Shorten the sales cycle next year: Year end marketing planning
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Read the full post (600 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)
Tags: buying process, loss, lost, marketing investments, marketing message, marketing planning, reallocate resources, relationships, sales process, shorten the sales cycle, win, win/loss analyses, won
Posted in Other marketing programs | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
So you’ve got the attention of your prospective buyers. The good news is that they now know of the existence of your business. The bad news is that they know far less than you think they know about your company. That’s because most of us are so busy, that we only have the capacity to think about our most pressing concerns.
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Shorten the sales cycle: one marketing message at a time
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Read the full post (790 words, 1 image, estimated 3:10 mins reading time)
Tags: brand, buying process, case study, clinician marketing, drip campaign, email marketing, email newsletter, marketing messages, physician practice marketing, sales cycle
Posted in Buying process model, How to, Marketing communications programs, Marketing strategy | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 4th, 2008
This diagram describes the buying process. I contend that before anyone buys anything, they need to go through these nine steps. This is true for any purchase.
The higher the risk, the longer the sales cycle…
For low risk, inexpensive purchases like a candy bar, buyers whip through all nine steps in a matter of seconds. When it comes to major purchases, the buying process often takes months and sometimes years. For example, think back to the time it took your own business to decide to put up—or even redo—your website…
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Making the sale depends on addressing an urgent need
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Read the full post (551 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)
Tags: buying process, qualified prospects, sales cycle
Posted in Buying process model | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Last week, we discussed the importance of reducing the cost of sales—which I defined as the time it takes to prospect for new clients and close new business. This week, I’d like to discuss how to get started.
Step one is recognizing that for the most part, we can’t convince anyone to buy something from us that they don’t want. When it comes to shortening the sales cycle—as with other forms of behavior change, the thing to remember is that it’s all about attraction and motivation—rather than persuasion and pursuit.
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Shortening the sales cycle starts with getting into buyers’ minds
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Read the full post (320 words, 1 image, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)
Tags: buying behavior, buying process, cost of sales, marketing research, sales cycle
Posted in Buying process model | No Comments »
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