New data from Forrester shows that COVID has significantly impacted the number of touchpoints it takes for someone to make a buying decision in B2B. Buying decisions have jumped from 17 in 2019 to 27 in 2021.
Forrester attributes this significant jump to a new level of attention and due diligence that companies are taking. Since certain decisions impact such a large percentage of the company, it is also believed that these more enormous impacts more significant are causing companies to take a longer, and more detailed looked at purchase decisions?
What does this mean for marketing strategies?
We are now seeing that 60% of purchases have 4+ people involved. Whether you are taking an ABM approach or something similar, you will now want to ensure you:
- Plan out marketing campaigns with enough touchpoints, impressions, and relevant media options to provide the right amount of impressions & influence throughout the selling process.
- Consider all decision-makers in your sales outreach and messaging strategy.
- Alignment of sales & marketing channels becomes even more critical as the B2B buying process becomes more complex. It requires a more unified approach to a more significant number of decision-makers.
The other key metric to understand is that, depending on the study, at least 60-65% of the buyer’s journey has been completed before a salesperson is reached. This certainly varies by company and industry, but it’s likely accurate.
One way to ensure you are having a positive and coordinated impact on the sales journey is:
- Ensuring you are targeting the correct, precise audience with your marketing efforts. Being efficient; only focusing on your target market and limiting messaging to those outside that accurate target.
- Focusing on many creative ad formats – TV, radio, audio, video, display, native, etc.
- Coordinating the message in a tiered way – you are leading the buyer down a precise and logical path. Ensure your messaging strategy is systematic and follows a rational approach.
Programmatic is the perfect approach for precision and efficiency.
Questions? We are happy to discuss how programmatic can have a part in your marketing strategy.
Reference: Cision PR release regarding the Forrester study