The Collaborative Efforts Involved in Today’s B2B Purchasing Decisions

Marketing to today’s harried business professional no longer involves randomly placing an advertisement in an industry-trade publication or magazine. It’s no longer just a matter of making an appearance at a trade show, conference or exhibit and hoping that the number of leads generated surpasses the previous year’s totals. Instead, it requires a different strategy altogether, and a willingness to understand what drives consumer behavior online.

Today’s business-to-business (B2B) markets are stationary. They are constantly evolving and the roles of key decision makers are evolving as well. Your company must embrace this change so that it’s always able to provide a new message tailored to your ever-changing audience. So, how has the decision making process changed for today’s buyers and what can you do to better market your company to this constantly changing marketplace?

Collaboration is Key

Today’s major purchases aren’t made solely by one individual. Instead, decisions are made collaboratively. Social media is driving this collaboration by making it easier to bring like-minded individuals together. This is critical in decision making as it allows people to benefit from different viewpoints in real-time. This means your marketing message must appeal to multiple influencers and decision makers within the buying process.

Buyers Need Clear Messages

Today’s buyers are inundated with redundant and time-consuming messaging and content. The marketing strategies of the past were predicated on continually providing new and engaging content. However, today’s buyers want focused content. They want shorter messages that clearly convey your value proposition without forcing them to read some non-descript and elongated text.

Companies Want Creation Partners 

Today’s companies want partners, ones who can help design and co-create new products. They want to be able to share in the costs of those new product designs, and the marketing costs associated with product introductions. Finally, they want partners who can not only help sell those products, but ones who can provide excellent after-sales service and support. It’s about offering a complete and all-encompassing solution and having a marketing message that appeals to that type of audience.

Buyers Want a Personal Touch

In today’s digital age, it appears as if every company is trying to reach the same target audience with the same strategies. As such, it’s common for companies to use what they see as non-intrusive customer contact approaches. Unfortunately, it does nothing to create trust. 

Companies jumped on board the marketing automation bandwagon as a means of pushing contacts along the process to an eventual purchase. However, buyers see right past the smoke and mirrors of today’s marketing automation platforms. They long for the day when companies took the time to talk about their solutions and they value those that clearly define their approaches. 

A Complete Turnkey Solution

Today’s buyers need help. They don’t want to be inundated with the responsibilities that come from having to approve multiple vendors. In fact, vendor consolidation is critical in today’s markets. It reduces costs, simplifies purchasing decisions and frees up valuable time. Today’s buyers want full-service turnkey providers, ones who are capable of offering a complete solution. 

Your marketing message must be tailored to this new dynamic. Ultimately, today’s buyers need partners, ones capable of providing simple and straightforward solutions that help make their all-important purchasing decisions easier. All of these aforementioned variables are critical in terms of what drives consumer behaviour online.