This series looks at the digital marketplace from a SME’s perspective. The objective is to provide some context to the convoluted digital marketplace by mapping your customer’s buying process, identifying the touchpoints where they are likely to interact, and creating educational experiences which build a relationship of trust with your prospective customers and/or clients.
In the previous post on the human face of digital I explored how staying focussed on the people behind the digital profiles and data, highlighting how remaining empathetic to their needs can answer a lot of your questions that arise when starting to build a digital marketing strategy. This post focuses on finding the beginning of the buying process for your market, company and ideal customer.
Meet the Modern Consumer
In the last post I spoke about the people behind the profiles. Although much of the digital data is pretty mind boggling, it is important to put it into perspective. So Facebook has 800+ million users, MySpace is now getting an additional 42K user per day, Twitter is set to break 500 million, and Google receives a gazillion search queries daily. OK, so what?
Although this is essential to global brands who deal with everyday products which directly address the everyday needs of 800 million people worldwide, the chances are that your product or service is only relevant for a microscopic percentage of these usership data. Hence reminding yourself of the humans behind the data and asking questions, like ‘why would someone be interested in my product or service’, lays the groundwork for your digital strategy.
Although your brand is exciting to you, the modern marketplace is a deluge of messages, to the point where we cannot take any more. We are officially drowning in context! This is why the attention span of modern internet users is a matter of seconds – at best. So the objective is to identify what is ‘in it’ for your customers, in as short a time as possible. Not only this, but an effective digital strategy will do this at various points within the buying process.
The best way to do this is to put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes, ask questions and try to locate the beginning of your buying process.
Finding the Beginning
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, every market and company are unique! Working with the Virgin Media Pioneers has exposed me to the broad spectrum of exciting and dynamic business models out there. If you have a unique product or service, then shouldn’t your digital strategy be just as innovative and unique?
Based on many of the unique and exciting VM Pioneers business models, the beginning of the buying process starts way before your traditional products and services. So for example, if you are a local plumber then people are already aware of your service. Most people know what a plumber is and their needs in relation to this service, so the buying process begins at the ‘research’ stage of the buying process. So the question to answer is ‘why your plumbing service’ not ‘why do I need a plumbing service?’
With most unique products or services, you need to engage your customers and educate them on why they need it. Geoffrey A. Moore’s ‘Crossing the Chasm’, examines the introduction of a new tech product to market, think about this in relation to your product or service:
Do people know what your product/service is and the value it has to them?
If they do not, then you can follow marketing best practice until the cows come home and you will not succeed. I hark back to the human face of digital, have you put yourself in their situation and asked ‘what is in it for my customers?’ This is the key to finding the beginning to your unique buying process.
Most of you do not have the budget to keep beating consumers over the head with interruption messages, and it would be resources wasted. The idea is to make contact and engage them in dialogue.
The Sales Process is both ITERATIVE and EDUCATIONAL
This means that the sales [or buying] process is iterative, customers go from not being aware of your product/service, to choosing your product or service. During this process they educate themselves by researching their options. You can interact with your customers by providing an educational experience at these points in the buying process.
Ask yourself questions:
- How do I make money?
- Who are my ideal customers?
- What are their needs in relation to my product/service?
- Where do they gather online?
- Are they aware of my product/service?
- Who are my competitors?
- What are they doing?
This gets more rigid as your business operations and marketing activities develop, here are some key business questions if you are already at the stage of planning your marketing activities. For those of you still in the infancy of building a digital strategy with little or no resources, then you can answer the fundamental questions above and use the answers to locate the beginning of your unique buying process.
If we use an example where you have a product that is unknown to your customers and market, then the beginning of the buying process is informing them that they need this type of product.
If you focus on your customers needs at each stage, put yourself in their position, and answer the questions at each stage of the buying process, you can create fantastic engagement opportunities – in many cases just using your own hard work!
So if the beginning to your buying process is answering the question, ‘why do I need this product’ then you need to do some outbound marketing activity; as if customers are not aware then they will not be out looking for your product. If you have budget then it would be advisable to invest here, but ensure you seek advice.
There are certain outbound activities you can do off your own back, get a press release together, send out to local newspapers, magazines, trade publications. If your product is innovative and relevant to them, then your interests are aligned and they will consider running something on it.
Use your networks and affiliations, engage with every handshake! Each time you shake someone’s hand, educate them through content and engagement ‘why they need this product’. Get them into your social network; keep them updated regarding your progress and get interested in theirs. Even if they are not a direct prospect, they may well be an ‘influencer’, so keep them interested. Make sure it is a two way dialogue by taking an interest in what they are doing.
Get excited! If you are not excited about your product/service then how can you expect others to be. You have to work harder than anyone else to make this work, it is too tough out there these days. If you are passionate then the hard work is a pleasure. Many of the specific marketing activities I will be adhering to later in the series will be based on your blood, sweat and tears, so being excited is a must!
The next post starts to get down to the specific marketing activities you can do yourself, by building micro-processes at different stages of the buying process. If you have questions or comments then please get in touch, or you can contact us for more information on our services.
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