How can the buyer's journey solve the demand generation riddle?

Driving demand that results in customers is marketing’s primary mission. Yet chief marketing officers (CMO) struggle to deliver predictable pipelines which has hurt its credibility in the boardroom. Every year, they embark on a quest to solve the same riddle with programmes based on what industry analysts/experts say are effective; past experience of what yielded quality results; and a dose of new ideas to try. In other words, there is a good amount of educated guessing going on.

 

 

The riddle is rooted in social media’s affect on how buyers purchase. In today’s socially-engaged world, over 70% of the buyer's purchase process is completed before a sales person is every contacted. The process is self-directed and leverages the transparency of markets as buyers research their problem, potential solutions and the efficacy of those solutions without needing, or wanting, to talk with a sales person. By the time the buyer engages with a sales person, they have a preferred solution, a list of open questions and a price in mind. Sales, in turn, finds they have limited influence on the buyer’s process. What most B2B marketers overlook is that the experience the buyer wants as a customer is as important in the purchase decision as the capabilities of the product or service. If CMOs want to drive growth, they need to engage with the buyer on their terms.

 

 

Solving the riddle requires a new mindset, one that is rooted in aligning to the buyer's journey. A core principle of the buyer's journey is that everyone is a buyer all the time, even customers. A set of organising principles, the buyer's journey aligns company functions and roles to enable, engage and establish enduring relationships with buyers.

 

 

By adopting the buyer's journey, there is a clear opportunity for B2B CMOs to achieve two significant goals: proactively shape the buyer’s experience and, by doing so, accelerate revenue growth. Since the buyer self-defines their journey, it is marketing's responsibility to intimately understand and enable the buyer by offering the right content and calls to action through the information channels the buyer prefers at each step in the Journey. Done correctly, vendors can achieve the twin goals as well as build the trust and credibility needed to earn preference when the buyer enters the purchase stage.