B2B's Digital Revolution (from a study by Google)
Times has changed, customers have changed, and our jobs has changed even more! I speak about the Digital revolution which as a huge wave has modified customers behavior. Let me explain you simply what has changed.
" Today's business buyers do not contact suppliers directly until 57 % of the purchase is complete. The challenge for marketers is to be present in these channels at all times with content that educates buyers and helps guide commercial decisions".
Everything is said in this sentence.
- There is a huge challenge for companies to be present in early stage of consideration, taking the risk not to be taken at all into consideration if they do not have a decent strategy and remarkable content online.
- At the same time, there is a huge opportunity for brands to be found on this stage by some prospects which had never heard about them before.
We are now in the era of constant consideration, which means the customer / prospects wants to be able to get information regarding one generic subject, one service, one brand by himself! And no matter the time, the day, the season, it can be anytime.
This should allow brands take a new strategy regarding the way they used to communicate. You don't try to sell your products anymore because the customer is fed up to be seen as a cash machine only. What he wants is relevant and honest information ideally from a neutral third party which can influence him to take a decision.
To be clear, it means you need to invest much more upstream in the purchasing cycle of the customers. Why is it going to pay back? Because customers are coming to you (pull) and you don't try to force them to buy anything!
What is striking is that study is done on the B to B in the US, which means even if Google try to sell his own soups with these kinds of studies, this is particularly amazing to notice that even the B to B is impacted buy this revolution.
You can access directly to this study here.
