How the Industrial Buying Cycle Ties into Marketing
The industrial buying cycle is a unique opportunity for marketers. When marketing in the industrial sector, being aware of the buying cycle is very important. This process can be in the works for a long time so engaging the potential buyer at each step of the process is key. Read on to learn just how the industrial buying cycle ties into marketing.
How the Industrial Buying Cycle Ties into Marketing
Generally, there’s four main steps to the industrial buying cycle:
- Need awareness
- Research
- Consideration and comparison
- Purchase
This list could be further divided into any number of steps in the buying journey. However, these four are the generally accepted main topics.
Before these four stages can begin, it’s key to establish your company as a trusted leader in the field. When someone in the field needs information, they should be able to look to you first. This means you should work towards being a thought leader in your industrial field, through venues like LinkedIn and your blog. Curating high-quality content on your site and social media channels also adds to your presence in the field. Building up your base of content and reliability allows potential buyers to know about your company. This also means they’ll trust what your company stands for— which translates into trusting your manufactured product.
1) Need awareness
Before any decision is made, the buyer has to learn that they have a need. This responsibility falls mostly to the marketer. There are a few ways to get information out to the potential buyer.
One way to spread the word about a solution to a problem is through PPC advertising campaigns. There are both benefits and downfalls to PPC advertising. However, for getting exposure on a budget, PPC advertising has results and is highly controllable. PPC advertising gets your content in front of fresh eyes so it’s effective in directly growing your audience.
Email marketing, on the other hand, connects with your existing audience. Email marketing can help your contacts realize how you can meet their current needs. This blog post talks about common email marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. Marketing through email gives information straight to people who already have a relationship with or an interest in your company. It reminds these connections about their needs and how your company can meet them.
2) Research
When buyers are researching their options, how do you know they will come across your company and offerings? Search Engine Optimization helps with this. Keep your website up to date with optimized content through remembering these 5 SEO tips:
- Optimize your site for mobile users.
- Keep your pages updated.
- Remember humans.
- Build internal links thoughtfully.
- Keep voice-searching in mind.
This blog post explains these tips in depth. In addition, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. If your website isn’t easy to use on a phone, buyers who are scrolling through Google results won’t stay on your site.
(For even more information on how to optimize your content, refer to this in-depth guide of 6 essential elements of optimized content.)
3) Consideration and Comparison
In this stage of the buying cycle, the buyer is considering their options. At this point, they’ll have a shortlist of the best options. Once you’re on this list, you’ll need to make sure that they have enough content to make their decision. At this stage, remember buyer personas— not everyone has the same motivation in decision making. Decision-making content can include content like statistics, infographics, and data. Numbers and charts should be available for buyers who are analytic thinkers. For more story-driven thinkers, case studies can help inform their decision making. For visual thinkers, videos and images improves their idea of your company.
4) Purchase
At the purchase stage, make sure you are available and considerate. Contact information should be readily available on your website so buyers can contact you easily. Leaving buyers with a favorable impression is important so that your relationship with them stays strong.
If you’d like to talk with us about these (or other) marketing options you’re considering, give us a call at 262-363-4238 or reach out to us at [email protected]. Our services include branding, marketing, and website development with an emphasis on industrial sector companies. We’d love to talk with you!