Marketing has become synonymous with Customer Journey Management – especially when connecting with B2B Business Decision Makers (BDMs). In B2B Media and Marketing, one of the core challenges we face is that there is no single purchase decision maker. In B2B purchase decisions, vendor selection is by the committee and often spans multiple functional areas. So it is vital that we fundamentally understand the individual roles involved, their needs and where they choose to consume and engage with content. Bringing all this together means aligning messaging and channel to specific roles in the process -understanding which departments and which roles come into the process and at what point is key to ad management and optimizing media performance.
We typically see three types of B2B purchase committee members from multiple departments—Finance, IT, Operations, and Marketing
1. The Researchers.
Buying committee members who take part in initial research and identifying solution criteria for inclusion in RFP. Researchers tend to be younger, earlier on in their career and involved in the early stages of the purchase process.
2. The Influencers.
Influencers are those who are involved in developing a short list of vendor candidates and has a high degree of influence in the ultimate purchase decision. These individuals are likely to be engaged throughout the purchase process.
3. The Decision Maker.
The Decision Maker is she/he who first articulates the business need and ultimately signs off on the vendor – albeit after the committee has evaluated vendors and voiced their input. While not typically involved during the mid-stages of the purchase process, the Decision Maker is critical to influence in the closing stages.
A typical breakout of connections is as follows:
Develop messaging to connect with the Decision Maker early and late in the overall campaign with messaging designed to drive awareness and ultimately tip the scales to conversion.
Deliver engaging content to the Influencer throughout the process, providing timely information across channels and with content that aligns to the phase of the process the committee is in – from Awareness to Consideration to Evaluation and Conversion.
Connect the Researchers with short-form, snackable content that is easily shared with others in the process and which makes both the Researcher look good as well as uplevel the brand in consideration.
Taking it a step further, to effectively optimize ad delivery and inspire action, we focus on engaging BDMs where they are natively throughout the day. This naturally entails leveraging both online and offline channels to tell a consistent story. As both online and offline media are increasingly powered by digital/programmatic advertising, the future of ad management is powered by personalized, customized and ever-present content that connects with consumers as they travel through their daily journeys. Connected TV, Mobile, Social, Video and Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) represent the emerging platforms and channels that we align to provide a frictionless customer experience.
Ad management is undergoing a revolution and is continuing to evolve at a lightning pace. According to eMarketer, Social video ad spending in the US will reach $14.89 billion in 2021, growing 44% from 2019. On top of that dynamic, video ads are converting at the highest benchmark click-through-rate among lower funnel digital media at 1.84%. That is where DOOH media comes into play as it enables us to continue that connection with audiences programmatically via in-office elevators and outdoor digital signage during the workday when business and consumer purchase decisions are made. It is when we combine the benefits of mobile with DOOH, delivered in video format, that we see exponential improvement throughout the funnel in awareness, consideration, and conversion.
Success is ultimately driven through leveraging the right tools at the right time to telling a cogent, cohesive and actionable story – and being able to do so within a very short window of opportunity before consumers are off and scrolling down to the next screen and onto the next story.