B2B Web Strategy Blog - eMagine

Dealing with the complex challenges of B2B search marketing

February 2nd, 2010 Posted by: Bill Gadless

Anyone involved with B2B search marketing is well aware that it’s just not easy.  After all, you’re dealing with prospects who are very intelligent, well placed in their firms, who are going to spend substantial time considering your solution (along with those of your competitors).  Gimmicks just aren’t going to work in this scenario.

What’s worse, B2B purchase transactions tend to follow a myriad of paths to completion, and attempts to force them into academic stages like Awareness / Consideration / Negotiation / Purchase are likely to prove misleading or frustrating at best.

Posting in B2B Online Marketing, S. Ryan DeShazer takes note of these facts and, thankfully, offers a few helpful pointers…

Aim for micro-conversions, and the sale will eventually follow (if it’s going to), at its own pace.  As Ryan says, “Introduce a call-to-action that focuses just on the ultimate transaction and you will lose 95% of your potential audience.”  Instead, try offers or points of engagement that map to particular stages of the prospect’s decision cycle …for example, a white paper for those in early-stage research mode; an ROI calculator for those nearing a purchase decision.

Don’t overlook navigational search.  These are search terms that are queried specifically to navigate directly to a particular brand’s website;  they usually come to predominate over the life of a given prospect’s sales cycle, as a brand preference emerges.  Clearly you want to treat prospects who’re leaning your way very differently from those that aren’t.

Analyze, draw conclusions, hypothesize, test.  No, marketing is not formulaic, nor even close to an exact science;  but that doesn’t make it wise to proceed on nothing but gut feel.  The data is there for you, and it will speak volumes to those who make an attempt to understand what lies behind it.

These tips will help your search programs become more comprehensive and relevant to B2B audiences.  Ultimately, you’ll be engaging and converting more search-referred prospects than ever before.

Entry Filed under: B2B Web Strategy, Search Engine Marketing