When it comes to making large-purchase decisions, business-technology buyers are increasingly turning away from traditional information resources such as tradeshows and advertising, reports research firm MarketingSherpa. Now more than ever, buyers are turning to online resources to find the significant information they need to make a sound purchasing decision.
What does this mean to marketers? Today, you need to be found wherever your customers and prospects seek information—and you need to adjust your marketing investments accordingly.
Where Buyers Go for Information
According to the MarketingSherpa data, virtual events and tradeshows are increasingly important information sources for buyers: 30% of those surveyed in May 2009 reported that they are increasing their use of virtual events/tradeshows to gain information that can influence large-purchase ($25,000 or more) decisions. Search engines are equally strong as a tool for finding information, and business, vendor and technology websites are not far behind.
Research analysts and social media sources also show more increase than decrease in buyer preference. Social media, including blogs and social networks, weighs in at a 24% increase in usage, far exceeding traditional sources such as newsletters, email, face-to-face events and advertising.
Where They Don’t Go
With the current state of the economy and cutbacks in business expenses such as travel, it’s not surprising that buyers are shying away from face-to-face events/tradeshows (a 37% decrease) and turning to virtual events instead. The information they receive is valuable to their purchase decisions, but an online event makes more economical sense at this time.
Newsletters, vendor-delivered email and video programming are essentially flat in terms of usage gains and losses as information sources, and advertising shows a substantial decrease (18%). Are you wasting marketing dollars on these declining information channels? Read on …
Business Takeaways
Where should you invest your marketing dollars to make the most impact to your customers and prospects? The most obvious move might be to transfer some of your in-person tradeshow budget to a virtual event that your customers and prospects are likely to attend. Do some research and find online opportunities to replace a traditional industry tradeshow you’ve always attended in the past. Your dollars might extend further so that you make a bigger splash in a virtual show than in a traditional event.
Perhaps the most important move is to create a plan to consistently add content (optimized for search) to your website. With 30% of buyers increasing their use of search and almost that percentage relying on your website for information, you need to make sure they can find you—and find the information they need to make a decision about your products and services.
And finally, if you haven’t already done so, you need to gain a foothold in social media. A blog can serve two purposes—regularly add content to your website and create community around your product and brand through comments and links. Social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can provide you with the means to interact with interested prospects and buyers in a way that builds trust in your company and provides the next-best-thing to a face-to-face meeting.
So, the biggest takeaway is simply this: Be everywhere your customers and prospects seek significant information—providing what they need when they need it can be the most important differentiator for your company.
