VP Marketing at Loxo, the #1 Talent Intelligence Platform and global leader in recruiting software | samkuehnle.com is where I share my learnings along the way
Sequenced ad campaigns don't work It's no longer the buyer's journey, but the buyers' journey It's not one individual buyer going through the process, but a group of people within an organization. And you need to meet them where they're at relative to their: 🧑💻 Role 💰 Responsibilities 🧠 Knowledge (or lack of) something that could be done better Everyone loves a good model. Helps you feel like you have control over multiple variables. And to an extent, we do. Except for one massive one - the individuals on the other side. Many years ago, things were simpler. Less flashy software, less competition, fewer buyer touchpoints available to track. AKA, it seemed like the path to purchase was quite linear. Today, we're constantly vying for a prospect's attention and we are tracking EVERY touchpoint they have with our brand. The result? The path to purchase is not as linear as we thought. - Gated content leads us to believe someone wants to have a conversation with sales. - Webinar attendance, regardless of the content, is viewed as an intent-signal. - A certain amount of web visits or time spent on your site + meeting specific demographic criteria in a given timeframe indicates you want to learn more. The reality? - 95% of users who hit your gated content never fill out the form, so with there being fewer (5%) people who do, you mistake them for being sales-ready when they really just want to review the content. - Someone attends your webinar with a prominent thought leader because they enjoy learning from them at the macro level and aren't even aware of what your product does. - Your website is hard to navigate and has too many sections, leading to more clicks + longer time on site as the user tries to find the info they're looking for. The easy fix? Make content that's good for both customers + people who have never heard of you. Good content doesn't map to a buyer stage. Focus on creating good content, make them available for consumption at any time, and your audience will let you know when they're ready to purchase. #marketing #digitalmarketing #demandgeneration
Amen! Content is still King. Story telling! People love a great story.
Insightful post from Sam Kuehnle on the need to create content that is suitable for the two opposite ends of the buyer journey rather than creating content for overly specific stages. "Make content that's good for both customers + people who have never heard of you. Good content doesn't map to a buyer stage." An additional way I try to look at content creation is to have content written in a way that it is understandable and has benefits for the three levels of sector experience: Beginner Intermediate Expert.
This is why running campaigns that are "always on" and focused on (a)delivering value and (b)creating momentum for the buyer is key. We can't force buyers through a funnel. They are on their own journey!
Just like any other marketing campaign, when you look at it in hindsight, there are some patterns that hold and others do not. But my guess is that 90% of the time that hindsight is looking at ALL BUYERS rather than splitting them into segments to identify the clear patterns of content that get them there. It becomes a math problem of regression applied against variables around content selected and consumed and specific customer segments on the file. You just have to be able to link all of those together. But if you look at your ad sequence through the lens of all buyers instead of different types and segments of buyers, you will see there is no specific pattern. Mine your CRM, it will help you understand buyer journeys at a segment level that will make your ads and content more effective. Hope you are well Sam!
The buyer journey is not linear. For example, case studies are often considered "bottom funnel." However I know myself and many others that look to those first when researching because we want to know what's possible and what a benchmark for success looks like as we start our investigation.
Sam Kuehnle I agree with the message. Do you have evidence for 95% of readers not submitting gated form? Would be useful for me when pushing the demand gen message.
Completely agree with this!
We need to face the fact that not all "leads" are created equal. A content download or a webinar attendee is not a "lead", it's just a person educating themselves. And while we want to continue to engage them, we can't assume they're an actual lead until they express interest in speaking with us. Easier said than done, though!
"Make content that's good for both customers + people who have never heard of you." This right here is what sets category leaders apart from the rest. They understand their ideal customers - both current and those who have never heard of them - and create a brand and content that attracts people before they even know they have a pain point.
B2B Ads Consultant
2yOne thing I learned about the buyer's journey is that you have no control over it whatsoever. It is pointless to pretend that you do by setting up ad sequences, nurturing sequences, gating content, etc. Your best bet is to make all of your content available to everyone at all times, and then the buyer journey tends to sort itself out 😁 Great post!