How to create a content strategy aligned with the modern B2B buying journey
Nowadays, making large-scale sales in B2B can feel like a slog. Yet some businesses are growing strong, increasing their MRR by millions. Why is that?
If you’re a founder, marketer, or sales professional who needs to generate more revenue there's one thing you probably aren’t doing: Aligning to the modern B2B buying journey.
Traditional, company-centric sales approaches no longer resonate with the nuanced and complex buying processes of today’s B2B buyers. So you must adapt your strategies to align with how buyers actually want to buy.
If you ignore this fact, you not only force potential buyers down the funnel prematurely but also risk damaging your brand, burning leads, and losing valuable deals.
And nobody wants that.
The reality of the B2B buying process
B2B buyers don’t follow a linear journey; instead, they loop through various stages, revisiting previous ones as they gather information and build consensus within their organisations. A bit like in this illustration:
All of this looping around and bouncing from one job to another means that buyers value suppliers that make it easier for them to navigate the purchase process.
In fact, Gartner research found that customers who perceived the information they received from suppliers to be helpful in advancing across their buying jobs were 2.8 times more likely to experience a high degree of purchase ease, and three times more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret.
The problem is, most B2B organisations are still trying to sell and market to buyers the old way. Instead of providing all the information buyers need to self-serve, they force buyers to talk to sales - who act as gatekeepers of valuable information.
And this is why that’s a problem…
The pitfalls of a company-centric sales approach
When your business takes a company-centric sales approach there are a lot of pitfalls:
📈Premature funnel movement: Forcing buyers through the sales funnel before they are ready can lead to frustration and disengagement. Buyers need time to explore their problems and consider potential solutions without feeling pressured.
🔀Misalignment with buyer preferences: Modern buyers prefer to self-educate and conduct thorough research before engaging with sales teams. A company-centric approach often fails to provide the necessary information and touchpoints that buyers seek.
📉Brand damage: Pushing for a sale too early or being overly aggressive can harm your brand's reputation and burn through leads that might have bought from you in the future. Buyers value transparency and authenticity, and a hard-sell approach can erode trust.
💸Lost deals: Ultimately, if your approach doesn’t align with the buyer’s journey, you risk losing deals. Buyers will gravitate towards competitors who better understand and cater to their needs.
So if these are the pitfalls, what’s the solution?
Aligning your content strategy with the B2B buyer journey
To align with the way that B2B buyers want to buy today, you need to deliver value through multiple touchpoints and give buyers the time they need to make informed decisions.
Let’s break down how to achieve this alignment at each stage of the buyer journey.
Step 1: Deliver value through multiple touchpoints
B2B buyers want easy access to the information they need to become problem aware, solution aware, and ready to buy the best solution that meets their needs. Each touchpoint or piece of content should be designed to deliver value, addressing the specific needs and concerns of the buyer at that stage.
This tends to be a combination of:
Educational content: Provide helpful guides, whitepapers, and articles that educate buyers about their problems and provide guidance for potential solutions.
Thought leadership: Share insights and perspectives on industry trends and best practices to establish your brand as a trusted advisor.
Engaging media formats: Use well-formatted blog posts, LinkedIn posts, flipbooks, podcasts, and videos to create interactive and engaging touchpoints that capture and hold buyer interest.
Step 2: Give people the time they need to make buying decisions
B2B buyers take time to progress through their buying journey. Your content strategy should be structured to support buyers at each stage, from becoming problem aware to making a purchase decision.
Here are the different stages of the B2B buyer journey and some ideas for content themes to support each stage:
1. Becoming problem aware 🔎
Content themes: The old way vs the new way, The evolution of [X topic], How to navigate [X industry] disruptions
Help buyers recognise inefficiencies or risks they might not have considered in their current way of doing things
Highlight the evolution of the old way of doing things and why change is needed.
Start to introduce modern solutions that address these problems effectively.
2. Prioritising solving this problem ✍️
Content themes: Best practices and benchmarking, maturity models, lessons from industry disruptors
Demonstrate the urgency and benefits of addressing specific issues, helping buyers to prioritise them.
Share insights from case studies and success stories that demonstrate the benefits of addressing the problem.
Provide benchmarking insights to help buyers assess their current situation.
3. Becoming solution aware 🔎
Content themes: Technology and innovation Insights, future trends and predictions, emerging technologies, the future of [X topic], example use cases
Help buyers understand what solutions exist and how they address specific problems
Educate buyers on the different categories of solutions available.
Compare various technologies and their applications in solving the identified problem.
4. Ensuring the buying committee is on board 🤝
Content themes: Business case and management guidance, how to build a business case for [X solution]
Provide strategies for gaining internal support and navigating the decision-making process.
Offer resources that help internal champions build a case for the solution.
Provide tools and templates for presenting to the buying committee.
5. Allocating a budget to solve the problem 💰
Content themes: ROI and real-life results, building a resilient [x business], adapting to change, integration [x solution] into business processes, buyers guide
Help buyers understand the financial benefits of allocating budget to these solutions.
Discuss the ROI and cost-benefit analysis of implementing the solution.
Offer guidance on budgeting and financing options.
6. Choosing a supplier & buying ✅
Content themes: Vendor comparisons and decision-making guides
Provide detailed comparisons of your solution versus competitors.
Help buyers choose the right software based on their needs.
Address concerns about compatibility and data migration etc.
Share customer testimonials and case studies that highlight successful implementations.
💡Pro tip: At Roo and Eve, we advocate for creating a content plan which aligns to buyer needs first, and keywords last. So, after you have created a bunch of topic ideas for content within each stage of the buyer journey above (⬆️), you can then map this back to your keywords and content clusters.
Step 3: Understand how buyers prioritise problems, and research & evaluate solutions
Once you have a solid content strategy aligned to the buyer journey, it’s super useful to stay as close to your ideal customers as you can. This will help you to continue to refine strategies and stay aligned with their needs.
Here are a few ways to do this:
📞Customer research: Ideally, you want to regularly conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups to gather insights into buyer preferences, challenges, and decision-making processes. We appreciate this can be tricky though. So another way to get similar information is to ask your sales teams and customer service reps for their insights.
📊Data analytics: Use data to track behaviour, identifying which content and touchpoints are most effective at each stage of the journey. We get it. This can be tricky with content - depending on what CMS and CRM you use. But it is well worth it, if you can track user journeys.
👔Personalisation: This one's a bit obvious. But where you can, make sure you also tailor your content and outreach efforts based on the specific needs and preferences of different buyer personas. If you know what content your audience is reading it makes this stage even more impactful.
Step 4: Create a go-to-market strategy that attracts your ideal customer
Once you have a deep understanding of your buyers and have aligned your content strategy, it’s time to adapt your go-to-market (GTM) strategy.
Here’s how:
Integrated marketing campaigns: Develop campaigns that integrate various content types and channels to create a cohesive buyer experience. Ensure that each touchpoint builds on the previous ones, guiding the buyer through their journey. *However*, also provide options. Don’t assume you know which stage the buyer is at.
Sales and marketing alignment: This one is key! Make sure you have close collaboration between your sales and marketing teams. Ensure that both teams have a clear understanding of the buyer journey and are equipped with the tools and content needed to support buyers at each stage. Create a feedback loop to make sure nothing is missed.
Continuous optimisation: Regularly review and optimise your content strategy based on performance data and buyer feedback. Stay agile and be ready to adapt to changing buyer needs and market conditions.
Align content to the B2B buyer journey and reap the rewards
By delivering value and giving buyers the time they need to make informed decisions you can build a strategy that resonates with your target audience and gets results.
This buyer-centric approach enhances your brand reputation and drives better engagement, higher conversion rates, and ultimately, more closed deals. 🫰🤑
Want to build a content strategy aligned with your organisation’s B2B buyer needs? Roo and Eve are ready to get to work. Get in touch to find out more.