We all know that things have changed -- buyers, not companies, are in charge and marketers are on the hook to play to customers' terms. And the terms that customers dictate require marketers to be prepared for being helpful with inbound inquiries to satisfy and persuade their prospects. That requires not only things like online search engine marketing to be found when customers are looking. It also requires multichannel customer analytics and intelligent systems to present the next best (i.e. relevant) offers on the spot while customers are inquiring by phone or still browsing the web site.
For example, within two weeks of moving to California, my family and I made a plethora of purchases to make ourselves at home. Yet, in our case, the telemarketers that were haunting our new phone number as soon as it got connected missed out on the opportunity of selling to us. From the moment when our Internet connection became live, we went researching online to make our buying decisions. At that point, the dialog was in our hands and any ads that we saw were relevant to our search and we were likely to click on them. As long as we believed that it was our own idea to do so, we were highly motivated, for example, to examine car financing options.
Although buyers are not listening when you talk, they have become more information hungry than ever in their research for buying decisions. This constitutes a great opportunity for those marketers who know how to be at the ready with the right information at the right time.
Another interesting shift is that while markets are increasingly concerned with their multi-channel strategies (as they should be), they also need to be aware that buyers do not think in terms of channel, rather the convenient way of accomplishing our goal. After all the product research my family did online during our shopping spree, we left most websites without completing a purchase.
For example, after narrowing down our choice of car make and model, the exact car and financing option that we picked was still sold to us the old-fashioned way—namely offline, and by a friendly sales person at the dealership. Of course, the opposite happened too. When we found products of interest in stores, we used comparison-shopping engines to find better prices online.
Marketers should take advantage of all inbound interactions to deliver the best offer, rather than just outbound messaging. If an offer doesn't work, they should have that next best (i.e. relevant) offer ready to present, regardless of which channel the interaction came through. And, most of all, because the buyer is in charge, marketers not only should, but need to focus on being helpful, not just on selling.
Akin Arikan is director of internet marketing at Unica Corp. and author of the recently published book, "Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and Methods for On and Offline Success."blog comments powered by Disqus
Curata by HiveFire, Inc. helps marketers more effectively manage content curation, the process of finding, organizing and sharing online content. By combining these tasks in one easy-to-use platform, marketers save time on content marketing while simultaneously increasing brand visibility, boosting SEO, nurturing leads and establishing thought leadership.
The State of Demand Generation 2012 is a complimentary download that features trending insight and forecasts from nearly a dozen experts in the field. The report highlights demand generation trends on deck for 2012, including socializing the salesforce, connecting marketing to the C-Suite and mobile marketing, as well as strategies to create killer content and demonstrate clear value propositions.
By Debbie Qaqish, Principal Partner & Chief Revenue Marketing Officer, The Pedowitz Group
During a recent presentation at the CMO University on the topic of B2B Revenue Marketing, I was pleasantly surprised to see the executive level of interest in – “What are the key skills required to build a successful Revenue Marketing team for the B2B organization?”
In today’s buyer-empowered selling market, progressive B2B organizations have realized that the traditional approach to marketing products and services requires a ramp-up in value add and buyer insight.
Content marketing is helping B2B companies better demonstrate their value proposition by demonstrating thought leadership and a strong understanding of prospective buyers’ needs, objectives and industry challenges.
DemandGen Report is hosting an educational conference exclusively for the B2B marketers aspiring to navigate for the sea of content.
When: Tuesday, April 24 2012.
Where: The Time Center - 242 West 41st Street, New York, NY 10036
We all know that things have changed -- buyers, not companies, are in charge and marketers are on the hook to play to customers' terms. And the terms that customers dictate require marketers to be prepared for being helpful with inbound inquiries to satisfy and persuade their prospects. That requires not only things like online search engine marketing to be found when customers are looking. It also requires multichannel customer analytics and intelligent systems to present the next best (i.e. relevant) offers on the spot while customers are inquiring by phone or still browsing the web site.
By Debbie Qaqish, Principal Partner & Chief Revenue Marketing Officer,