Bend your marketing around how buyers really buy

Before we move past the AIDA funnel and derivative buyer journeys (yes, we really must), let’s take a moment. We’ve lived by these frameworks for years, expecting buyers to go in one end and customers to come out the other.

And we’ve stuck to them like gum on a shoe, because they aligned to the sales-led metrics of B2B marketing. But these rigid frameworks don’t reflect changing people and businesses. They were made for brands, not buyers – and the impact of that is now being felt.

So, how exactly do we leave this safe ledge when there’s nothing to step onto? How do we structure our GTM plans around the unstructured buyer? There are many questions, yet fewer answers on how to shape marketing around the twists and turns of the modern B2B buying process.

It’s a mindset as much as a model

As a strategic agency, we wanted to make this daunting step feel more achievable for B2B brands. Now, having done the research, challenged common practices, and chewed a few pens, I’d like to introduce you to our new framework, the Wheel of Consideration.

Yes, it’s a wheel – and a different mindset for B2B marketers. It revolves around the considerations that buyers go through to develop a shortlist of options. And maybe reach enough of a consensus internally to become a customer.

Let’s give it a spin, starting with the Polo mint around the outside. 

Relate to what’s going on around them

We know most buyers are not actively in market at any one time, so imagine your inactive prospects are at the centre of this circle. You want to revolve around them, so they know your brand exists for when they’re in market. This is your potential pipeline of future customers, so it’s important to earn their attention at the earliest opportunity. They’re not interested in what you’re selling, but you need to become a mental shortcut for them later on. 

Actions to take:

• Memory generation is the real starting point of today’s buying process.
• This is best served by ongoing brand building that’s imaginative, impactful and distinctive to increase your chances of being remembered.
  

Scout for something of interest

The four wedges represent potential milestones for different buyers. There’s no set entry point, journey or timeline, so brands can only influence this process – not control it. The Scout wedge is for inactive buyers who are simply keeping an eye out for something new.

Actions to take:

• Capture their interest with a fresh angle on their world – be it the market, industry or business type.
• Spark their curiosity with valuable opinion pieces and observations around growth possibilities or disruptors. 
  

Delve into a problem

The Delve wedge covers the barely active prospects that are investigating a challenge or pain point. They may be uncertain about what to do next, so are independently researching around the subject to improve their understanding for current or future conversations.

Actions to take:

• Share self-guidance content and stand well back.
• Use your field of expertise to address the business challenges they care about – openly giving (not gating) useful advice, rather than promoting solutions, so you can help them to be more decisive.
  

Prove their approach

Those in the Prove wedge are looking to validate possible approaches that could solve their challenge/s. They must verify their thinking on how to progress – most likely for the buying group’s consideration. As active prospects, these buyers are primed to enter a buying motion, but could easily backtrack if things don’t go to plan.

Actions to take:

• Give them the validation they seek with high value, personalised content that they can take to wider stakeholders.
• Help drive internal decisions with demos and resources that support how they can reach their most wanted business outcomes.
  

Choose to act

If buyers believe they have a strong shortlist of suppliers / solutions, they may enter into active buying mode. Brands can no longer influence the choice being made, so if your name’s not on the list, you’re probably not coming in. However, buyers may still resort to inertia or choose to start over.

Actions to take:

• Support the due diligence they’re doing on their shortlist.
• Meet any last mile criteria by considering what else the buying group might need to know to finalise a decision.
• Personalise your approach, show how you compare to the competition, and be as open as possible about the short and longer-term gains they can expect to see with you. 
  

Progress as a customer 

Let’s not forget about the buyers that go on to become customers. You need to keep pushing this button to make them feel valued – and always on their terms and timeline. Handled well, it’s a huge opportunity to expand relationships and extend customer lifetime value.

Actions to take:

• Customers are hard to win and even harder to win over, so deliver on promises made, celebrate milestones, reward their advocacy, and proactively address their individual needs.
• Use your knowledge of them to personalise all communications and continually learn from these interactions. 
  

It’s perhaps not as simple as the AIDA funnel. But then, life isn’t simple – and neither is business buying today. Meeting these markers is a much more realistic approach for B2B marketing, so I really hope you found this a useful starting point.