B2B marketers know the value of a new customer is typically very high, and so are transaction values. Once a strong connection has been forged, the business relationship’s lifetime value can range from the hundreds to even millions of dollars.
Recent data from Google highlights how important search is in the B2B buying cycle. 89 percent of B2B researchers use the internet to identify prospects, vendors, and suppliers. B2B “influencers” (those with a role in recommending/purchasing) do an average of 12 searches prior to making a decision.
Search has become such a critical part of many B2B marketing managers’ overall marketing plans because prospects – irrespective of where they are in the buying cycle — are likely researching:
- Product specifications
- Usage practices
- Support policies
- Supplier/distributor locations
- Manufacturer reputation
- Reliability issues
- Costs (including costs of ownership and maintenance)
- Liability issues
- Substitutability (with other products or services)
- Testimonials, case studies, and other 3rd-party endorsements
B2B visitor behavior
A well-crafted paid search and organic search marketing plan makes sure the site’s content meets the needs of visitors seeking this type of information. Ideally, this content should be constructed to exactly match the informational needs and expectations of each B2B searcher at each stage of the buying cycle.
B2B searchers in earlier phases of the buying cycle may download white papers, look up specifications, use configuration wizards, or take any number of similar actions on your site. Some actions (e.g. registrations – which typically involve the exchange of an e-mail address) allow the identity of the visitor may be captured. Other actions (e.g. browsing “services” or “locations” pages) may be anonymous but still reveal something about that visitor’s value.
By assigning each post-click behavior a relative value based on your business, your campaign can be optimized to take into account the true value of these visitors. For example, a steam turbine manufacturer has a long sales cycle that usually involves several influencers and decision makers. A rep from a power plant might search on “100,000 kW steam turbine” and leave after viewing or downloading a specifications sheet for the “SST-040 Series Steam Turbine.” A purchasing manager might subsequently use the phrase “SST-040 Series Steam Turbine” as a search term, find the site, then fill out a quote request.
Both visitors are important to the B2B marketer. If the first phrase happened to be omitted from the campaign because specifications viewing wasn’t considered to be a valuable activity, the rep would never have downloaded the specifications sheet and told the purchasing manager to “check the SST-040 Series Steam Turbine. I think we need one in the CHP plant.”
Tune your copy and destination pages
Copy in B2B listings plays a critical role in terms of attracting searchers in a particular phase of the buying cycle, so tune it appropriately. In many B2B niches, keywords may be shared among business-oriented and consumer-oriented searchers. For example, the keyword “lumber” is likely to be used both by businesses and consumers, whereas the terms “lumber kiln” or “hardwood lumber molding” are far more likely to be included in business-related searches.
Hone, test, and re-test landing pages to assure a good fit with the creative and search term, as well as with the expected needs of B2B searchers. A landing page that performs for one phrase may not work well for others.
Think about your business, your sales cycle, and the way visitors to your site interact with its content. Think carefully about the calls to action you’ve built into each page. It’s often helpful to construct “personas” (fictional but realistic portraits of the people you’re trying to reach) to make your site assets as appealing – and as compelling – as possible for these high-value searchers.
Tune content to today’s (younger) B2B audience
Also, keep in mind that B2B landing pages don’t have to be – and probably should never be – boring or unintentionally old-fashioned looking. Google’s data on B2B searchers reveals an interesting fact: B2B searchers are getting younger:
Over the past two years, there’s been a dramatic shift in the B2B researcher demographic. Back in 2012, there was a pretty even mix across age groups. In 2014, however, 18- to 34-year-olds accounted for almost half of all researchers, an increase of 70%.
These younger folks are, of course, “digital natives” who are as comfortable watching a video as poring over an old-style white paper or case study. In fact, B2B video usage is one of the hottest B2B content areas right now. According to Google,
Seventy percent of B2B buyers and researchers are watching videos throughout their path to purchase. That’s a 52% jump in only two years. And it’s not just light viewing. According to U.S. YouTube data, over 895K hours of some of the top B2B videos from brands were watched in 2014. Nearly half of these researchers are viewing 30 minutes or more of B2B-related videos during their research process, and almost one in five watch over an hour of content.
- 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Using QR Codes for Marketing - September 20, 2023
- Kevin Lee on How AI Changes the SEO Landscape - August 31, 2023
- The Power of Compound Marketing: Kevin Lee Presents @ 1MediaWorld 2023 Global Conference - March 7, 2023
