In the B2B world, sales to order cycles can run from a few weeks to several months. Due to this prolonged time frame, engaging decision makers and influencers becomes even more important. Many marketers rely on advertising to keep prospects interested during the order process. While this serves to reinforce brand recognition and the feature/benefits of the product, it is limited in providing detailed information to different parties that influence the purchase decision.
For example, say you manufacture a specialty chemical used for treating silicon wafers. The final decision maker may be in the c-suite but the influencers are in engineering, purchasing, and research and development. Each of the influencer audience has their own set of purchasing criteria that need to be addressed in order to complete the sale.
Relying on advertising to address these wide-ranging criteria may not be the most efficient or effective use of marketing funds.
This is where your “owned” media properties become very important. Whether through your corporate website, a micro site, a video posted to your You Tube channel, or an e-newsletter, all of these “owned” media outlets provide the ability for you to engage the audience with selected information that influences their decision. In addition to creating an environment for one-to-one dialogue, these properties also provide marketing ROI via analytics.
