I’m going to go out on a limb here to say that even if you’ve never been on a blind date, you know how it works. You sit down at a semi-formal restaurant, your order is taken, and you start with small talk.
Typically, the purpose of that small talk is to get to know someone better. What are their interests, likes/dislikes, etc. This is the foundation of getting to know someone. It’s how you begin a relationship, how you determine whether you want to continue to see each other and how you decide whether you are an “ideal” match. Once you’ve identified that they’re right for you, you want them to feel the same way.
Tying this back to marketing, once you’ve identified your ideal buyer, it’s important to ensure you’re connecting with them effectively. To help you ensure you’re talking to your clients the way they want to be talked to, we’ve outlined the WWWWWH of how to connect with your B2B audience.
Whoย Are You Talking To?
There’s no such thing as “marketing to everyone.” If you believe your business offers the perfect solution to every other business out there, that’s just not realistic. Even companies like Google and Microsoft have businesses they aren’t marketing to.
So, what’s important to keep in mind at the foundational level? We need to identify your buyer groups. Most B2B marketing isn’t about convincing a single individual; you have to understand the full buyer group you want to reach.
Your buyer groups are those that you would call your “ideal client.” Remember, an ideal client or target audience isn’t just an age, geographic area, or occupation. Although these demographics may come into play for your types of clients, you need to go deeper into understanding the people. You may interact with only one person from the company, but they will likely also need to convince their CEO, VP of Operations, IT leader, and others that your solution is right for them.
Review your current top clients, understand why they chose you, and outline the demographics and firmographics that made them ideal clients.
Whenย Are You Talking to Them?
When you talk to a prospective client could be the most important note to remember. This is why inbound marketing is paramount within most successful marketing campaigns.
There’s something so powerful in being available at the right time. Think about when a good friend texted you to see how you were doing when you were going through a tough time. The moment you get that text, you may feel heard and sometimes even understood.
In business, getting the solution to a problem or the answer to a pain point right when you need it carries just as much weight as the proper messaging. What’s important about talking to your ideal client is that the ideal time may be different for each of them, which leads us to the buyer’s journey.
Whereย They Are and Why You’re Relevant
The buyers’ journey describes the three phases a prospective client may be in. Those phases are Awareness, Consideration and Decision. Each of these phases poses unique opportunities to connect with different types of clients in different ways.
Awareness: In this phase, your goal should be to address the top-of-mind question or pain point for the prospective client. Why should a buyer be interested in a solution? And not necessarily your solution, but the solution in general. They are noticing a symptom from a problem that’s creating a pain point and starting to diagnose where their pain is coming from.
Consideration: In the consideration phase, the potential “ideal client” is looking for answers. Now that they have identified the pain point, they want to know how to solve it efficiently and effectively. In this research phase, they are looking to understand the many options available to solve their problem.
If you have relevant free content, now’s the time to share it! This is one of the best moments to capture a lead by being willing to help them solve their problem.
On a side note, if someone is willing to give you their email address in exchange for a content offer, be sure to create a campaign to continue nurturing that prospective client.
Decision: After moving through the consideration phase, they will enter the decision phase. At this point, they are evaluating which business or product best supports their cause. There are plenty of factors to consider in this process, so be mindful of keeping it easy for these potential clients as they search for additional information about your business and how you can help.
Whatย Will You Say?
Since we know who we are talking to and where they are in their buyer’s journey, weย need to determine what to discuss. Whenย building a content strategy,ย there are a myriad of places to find topics. A great place to go is your sales and account management team. Are there common questions that could be explained in a short blog or infographic? Do they have a winning story to write a case study on?
Another source is through SEO research. Commonly, you can find what your audience is looking to solve through keyword research โ along with how they ask about a specific topic and other ways they are searching for those topics.
Finally, look at what your competitors offer. How are they talking to their audience? If they’re one of your competitors, chances are that you’re talking to the same people. See which topics they’re covering and pull out the ones that could be relevant to your content plan.
Howย Are You Going to Reach Them?
Practically speaking, there are many ways to reach your buyer groups, which brings us back to the reminder that no two clients are the same. However, if you’ve taken the time to develop your buyer personas, you’ve built campaigns that address the pain points at the right time within the buyer journey, then you can see success within many different marketing avenues, especially if you know how to bring them together with a multi-channel approach. Here are a few ideas to get started:
Blog
Having a blog is practically a must for most businesses. One of the best ways to grow your business organically is to drive leads to your website through relevant topics people want to learn about. Using your blog content across other marketing channels, such as social media and email, gives prospects the opportunity to engage with your website and potentially generate more leads.
Social Media
If you’ve heard of theย rule of seven,ย then you’ll understand the importance of repetition. Social media has a way of keeping things simple and relational. It’s a nice blend with your other marketing avenues to keep the same campaign or brand message, but with a different feel than a paid ad or email.
Paid Advertising
Paid ads are a great option on their own because you see quick, direct results for your money. But if you couple paid advertising with an effective organic marketing campaign, you can achieve both short- and long-term results. The key is to ensure you maximize the purpose of each marketing channel while keeping the message, branding, and overall goal consistent across them.
Whyย Does This Matter?ย ย
To add a little more to theย whyย part of this, making a strategic effort to connect with your audience in a meaningful way will show your prospects that you understand them and their unique business.
To summarize this for you, here’s how to be intentional and win prospective clients:
- Know your prospectsย โ Remember the idea of going on that blind date? You need to understand the intentions, wants, and pain points of your different types of clients before you can deliver a message that resonates with them.
- Deliver the message at the right timeย โ It’s no use to dig into subject matter if the prospect is still figuring out their own pain point. Create content for all stages of the buyer’s journey.
- Be purposefulย โ Make sure your content isย creative, timely, and personalย for each of your buyer groups.
