B2C Marketers Tend to Start Too Late

By the time purchase processes start, most buyers already have clear preferences, which means that performance tactics often struggle to influence decisions, according to anew Forrester Research report.

The research found that 41 percent of buyers already have a single vendor in mind at that point, and 92 percent already have compiled a shortlist of preferred vendors. The research suggests a rebalancing of marketing strategies to include “preference marketing,” which focuses on influencing buyers earlier in their decision-making process. This shift can drive long-term growth, improve return on investment, and ensure a place on buyers’ shortlists.

“B2B sales and marketing leaders must engage with buyers and prospects earlier, position themselves sooner, and build compelling arguments for inclusion on the vendor selection shortlist,” says Ian Bruce, a Forrester vice president and principal analyst.

To compete in such an environment, marketers need to do the following:

Understand when buying group vendors select vendors. Most B2B marketers don’t know this, Bruce says. Instead, campaigns tend to focus resources and energy narrowly on buyers that are in-market and show clear intent signals. However, very often, this effort is too little, too late to influence the large and growing group of decisive buyers who
pick a single vendor prior to even starting a purchasing process.

As part of this, marketers need to understand the differences between B2C and B2B buyers, according to Bruce. Individuals are the buyers in B2C transactions. However, B2B transactions typically involve a buying group that is a collection of subject matter experts put together to make one or more purchases. The complexity of the buying group has
to be taken into account.

Instead, too many marketers are focused on “the last mile,” rather than the early engagement necessary to win
business. Companies instead need to play the long game to drive marketing effectiveness, according to Bruce. “Most marketing teams are driven to fulfill short-term lead-generation objectives to the exclusion of all else. This approach, at best, attracts less decisive buyers or engages in selection bias by focusing on those buyers that were already predisposed to buy from you.

“Worse, this means vendors engage with decisive buyers too late, leading to scenarios where the provider is added to the purchase process only to aid in negotiations with the preferred vendor—truly an unenviable place to be. Instead, savvy marketers know that playing the long game is the way to win the vendor shortlisting process, with the key objective to place their company in the buyer pole position.”

Recognize and avoid the “tabula rasa” fallacy. B2B marketing teams often treat buyers as “blank slates” with no formed ideas or preconceptions, according to Bruce.

However, business buyers are sophisticated, informed, opinionated, and constantly engaged in their professional world. So marketers must approach buyers from the buyer’s perspective and not their vendor vantage point.

Use preference as a key performance indicator. “The first job for marketers is to focus on preference marketing,” Bruce says. “That means the marketing team needs to drive strong preference for the company. They need to be top of mind with the vendors that they want to work with.”

Run thought leadership programs. The focus should be on developing thought leadership that results in the company being perceived as an industry expert. That will help drive engagement and ultimately preference, according to Bruce.

B2B buyers typically pursue a purchase in the context of a category, Bruce adds. Buyers decide their companies could benefit from a specific product or service and then try to understand which options are available and which providers best suit their needs.

Decisive buyers are more likely to select a category leader, while other buyers are more likely to include a category leader into their consideration set, Bruce adds. “But category leadership isn’t a function of market share or awarded by analysts. Marketers can earn category leadership and preference by demonstrating innovation and leading the discussion about the evolution of the category.

Maintain top-of-mind awareness. Paid advertising helps drive awareness among prospects about the company’s products and services.