MAIN INSIGHT 07
Lior Zaidner
HEAD OF MARKETING
What is your opinion on the role human beings play when it comes to customer acquisition in a digital buyer journey?
In the B2B world it’s easy to get lost in titles and positions within an organisation and to forget that there is a real person on the other side. Even in a digital buyer journey, you have to take that into consideration if you want to build an accurate buyer persona. In order to do that, you need more than just the data; you need to create touchpoints to connect on a personal level–the data can tell you what people are doing, but it can’t tell you why.
What are some strategies that can help in creating a successful buyer journey?
Firstly, understanding that every organisation collects data–even if they don’t know it. You just need to know where they store it and how to use it.
Secondly, when you plan a buyer journey, you need to ensure you have as many data collection points as possible throughout the journey. Even if the journey starts offline, you can still start collecting data from the start by using a sign-up process, for example.
Next, while talking to a buyer is important in order to get to the why (qualitative data), researching the buyer is equally important because their behaviour is oftentimes a more reliable guide than what they can report to us in an interview. So, we need to keep in mind the value of that quantitative data as well.
Lastly, marketing and sales need to work together. The sales team needs to be involved in building the buyer persona and in deciding what content and which channels to use because you don’t just want to know what their needs are, you also want to know what the best way to reach them is. For some buyers, the first touchpoint in the buyer journey will be the salesperson. Therefore, you need to make sure that the salesperson has full visibility of the customer and the data, so that their approach can be aligned with the overall approach of the company.
You need to make sure that the salesperson has full visibility of the customer and the data, so that their approach can be aligned with the overall approach of the company.
Gather all the data to gain a clear and accurate idea of our targeted buyer persona. The key here is to focus on what is relevant.
What can organisations do to cultivate their addressable market?
My personal approach is to firstly gather all the data to gain a clear and accurate idea of our targeted buyer persona. The key here is to focus on what is relevant. Your target buyers may love Bridgerton, but that doesn’t help you much if you’re trying to sell them a cyber security solution. In contrast, knowing that they have a subscription to a specific publication would be extremely useful.
Also, we need to keep in mind that acquiring new customers takes longer than monetizing existing ones. So, it's important to not only acquire new customers but to nurture the ones you have and get a better understanding of their buying needs.
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