This blog looks at understanding your prospective buyers\u2019 journey<\/a> and tactics that ensure a positive experience like:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll learn to craft exceptional experiences for prospective industrial buyers through various online channels. Let\u2019s get started!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The traditional buyer\u2019s journey can be simplified with the following stages: <\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of industrial buyers, the journey is long<\/a> and requires more research and decision-makers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here we are focusing on stages one and two, and thinking about how your efforts create the awareness and consideration to get your company to those decision stage discussions. These two stages make up over half the buyer\u2019s journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, put yourself in the prospective buyer\u2019s shoes as you evaluate the experience of each touchpoint. You can evaluate your competitors in the same way to fully understand a buyer\u2019s decision. For example, evaluate the trade show experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many industrial buyers look to understand what the marketplace has to offer when going to a trade show, and these events offer your business a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with new customers. The way your trade show booth or space looks is critical to your return on investment, especially the messaging featured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Does your experience address: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your trade show experience should showcase more than a welcoming environment, logos, and taglines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These should include some of the same B-SMART<\/a> keywords you use on your website that fulfill their intent. In fact, the content between trade shows or any channel experiences should be consistent. Why? After that prospective buyer has a great experience at the trade show, the next step in their journey is likely your website<\/a> for more detailed information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the same with SEO<\/a> or PPC<\/a>\u2014a search query leads to link options, which lead to your website<\/a>. This exercise in walking in a prospect\u2019s shoes mirrors our Four Steps<\/a> exercise used to evaluate KPIs. The first step is looking at what the customers see when searching online. The way you show up in the search landscape should match your website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With so many channels, both on and offline, where is the best place to start building consistency? When thinking of this journey, your website reveals itself as the central hub.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your website should be the destination for all online and offline channels, its what marketers refer to as \u201cdrive-to\u201d. Your website and its landing pages should be connected to your: <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why your message needs to be consistent as it leads prospective buyers to the specific details of your products and services, lead forms, and phone numbers. The optimization done for your digital marketing lays the foundation for your channels, which should also state clearly your product and service offerings, as well as the scope of projects you can handle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, keep things focused. When you set up your SEO and PPC strategies, you match your content up with user intent. The same should be done for other channels. You don\u2019t want to inundate people with a list of value adds right away. Focus on fulfilling intent first to guarantee a better user experience. Once fulfilled, then those value adds can be differentiators in the consideration and decision stages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What happens when someone enters your site? Try it yourself and think about how a customer would navigate through your content: <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the right keyword content strategy for digital marketing and now the right user experience to drive to, you can think outside of the website. What other online channels should you leverage to create a great experience for prospective buyers?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a lot of channels marketers can utilize, but it’s important to narrow in on what industrial buyers rely on when undergoing the research needed for the upfront stages in the buyers\u2019 journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What happens when someone does a branded search after meeting you in person? Can they find your business and the information they need like the website, phone number, and address? This is why Google My Business<\/a> is a critical channel that should be updated and reviewed to make sure ratings are from legit customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to social channels, LinkedIn is the most likely to be used by an industrial buyer and can help differentiate your business with company information and posts on your products and services. LinkedIn can help: <\/p>\n\n\n\n What type of content should I be putting on LinkedIn?<\/a> Consider: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Online directories like The Fabricator<\/a> still make sense for many industrial businesses and often free listings will have a great impact on your awareness efforts. Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of the channels selected, they should be working in tandem and share the same messaging prevalent on your website. This can also include email, display ads, and sales collateral. Additionally, make sure your Sales Team is aligned<\/a> on this messaging so that they can continue the consistency when in contact with leads.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can validate the prospective buyers’ experience with your online channels using TopSpot\u2019s LOOP Analytics<\/a> and CallRail<\/a> to help Teams create data-driven marketing. By learning what is and isn\u2019t creating leads can inform your marketing budget and resources, plus narrow in on keywords that resonate with buyers to inform content across all channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tips for utilizing data include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Understanding your prospective buyers\u2019 journey<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Aligning touchpoints to your website<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Maintaining consistent messaging and extending your online presence<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Google My Business\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
LinkedIn<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Directories<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Tools to Validate Prospective Buyers\u2019 Online Experience<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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