<img height="1" width="1" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1807441876190667&amp;ev=PageView &amp;noscript=1">

Is Your Marketing Strategy Protected Against Changing Buyer Behavior?

Posted by: Shachi Kaul Date: Feb 14, 2017 1:30:00 PM

Is-Your-Marketing-Strategy-Protected-Against-Changing-Buyer-Behavior?.jpg

Tech startups don't have a lot of room for miscalculating buyer behaviors. Here's what you need to know to be able to anticipate, identify and satisfy changing buyer behaviors for the sake of creating an effective marketing strategy.

The buyer you engage with today won't be the buyer you engage with tomorrow. The reality is that the fast-paced, whirlwind nature of the tech landscape means that the needs of buyers are changing at a rapid pace. What are some of the things that can drive the fickle natures of buyers? Most people are influenced by two factors:

  • Rising expectations
  • Mobile obsessions

The reality is that a B2B company needs to be able to rise to the challenge when the expectations of buyers change. The goal should be to meet demands without shattering the core of what you offer. This can often be achieved by tweaking the way you deliver a product or engage with buyers instead of actually overhauling your product completely. Survival in the competitive B2B marketplace all comes down to creating a buyer-led marketing strategy.

Keeping Your Finger on the Pulse of Your Target Audience

It's very important to create a buyer persona early in the game if your B2B company is attempting to create a targeted and tight marketing initiative. However, what many startup leaders fail to realize is that creating an initial buyer persona is only the first step in what should be a very long and consistent process. It's vital that you make sure the buyer persona you're basing your marketing plans on doesn't become an outdated relic that causes you to create a strategy that's out of step. Here is the proper process for creating and maintaining a relevant buyer persona:

  • Step 1: Use data to compile a primary buyer persona
  • Step 2: Build a campaign targeting that persona
  • Step 3: Measure the campaign's success and engagement level following a launch
  • Step 4: Measure the campaign's success over time
  • Step 5: Utilize surveys from current and past clients to gauge buyer changes
  • Step 6: Tweak your buyer persona


Understanding the Habits and Motivations of Buyers

It's important to craft and study your B2B personas using a variety of metrics across various social channels. Some of the data regarding prospects that you must collect and assess includes:

  • Habits
  • Interests
  • Pain points
  • Interaction levels


Why Some Behaviors Matter More Than Others?

Marketers can sometimes become alarmed when they discover changes in buyer behavior. However, not all changes are equal. What are the changes that are important? Here are the top changes in buyer wants that a B2B company cannot afford to ignore:

  • A need for more collaboration between the buyer and the source
  • A desire for more streamlined content and communication
  • A desire for one-on-one attention
  • A need for more flexibility in terms of committing to an integrated product or system
  • A need for personalized solutions over ready-made solutions
  • A desire to bring either more or fewer people into the decision-making process
  • A need to stretch out buying cycles


How to Respond to Changes in Behavior from Buyers

Some changes in buyer habits are quite easy to spot. The changes that are easy to spot should be used as thermometers that can gauge the interest and engagement of buyers before they completely change course. One of the biggest indicators that something is changing among buyers is a sudden decrease in the open rates and click-through rates on emails. If you notice that customers are ignoring more emails than before, it may time to change your communication strategy. The reality is that today's consumers are being flooded with more digital content than ever before. Every brand is trying to get in front of your buyers. The reality is that some of them may be doing a better job than you are at engaging your audience. How can you adjust your marketing strategy to fix the problem of ignored emails? Some steps to follow include:

  • Create more personalized content
  • Send less content to avoid flooding inboxes and creating information fatigue
  • Focus on creating better content
  • Try to shift some of your content delivery to social media


The Role of Impatience in Shifting Buyer Behaviors

Impatience is actually one of the buyer behaviors that is proving to be the most challenging for marketers to adjust to. Our mobile world has caused every second we wait for something to feel like an excruciating eternity. The 85 billion mobile searches that happen each year exceed the amount of desktop searches that take place. Most buyers want the ease of accessing information and taking action using mobile devices. However, they also want secure and highly responsive interactions. It can be extremely hard to put together elegant mobile resources that are also safe and user-friendly. This means that marketers have to work around the beast that is contradiction. Why is it important to deliver when it comes to mobile? The fact that three out of four mobile searches lead to action should be enough to inspire B2B companies to be willing to cater to contradictory desires. This is especially important when you consider that up to 80 percent of users simply abandon a mobile site if they encounter a bad or inconvenient experience. Attracting leads and pleasing current clients comes down to having a mobile presence that captures these two qualities:

  • Easy to navigate
  • Personalized


Adaptive and Agile Marketing Is the Answer

B2B marketing needs to be more adaptive and agile than ever before. Buyer behaviors will only continue to splinter in more directions as improving technology increases the demand for instant access to information and lightning-fast responses. There is really only one constant when it comes to giving buyers what they need. Your B2B company must be able to offer the solution to the problem your buyers are trying to solve. This is admittedly not an easy thing to do. The only way to achieve this in today's crowded marketplace is to create customer-centric content that establishes your brand's value, trustworthiness and ability to deliver. While the technology and platforms you use to get your message across may be sophisticated, your actions should be hinged on the simple philosophy of connecting by offering to help.

Need help with creating an effective marketing strategy according to the changing buyer's behavior?

Get Free Consultation

Topics: B2B Marketing, Buyer Persona, Tech Startups