Gartner has long described the B2B buying journey (opens in a new tab) as anything but a straight line: buyers loop back and forth between tasks until they are confident enough to decide. One thing is certain. Buyers don’t sit in their offices waiting for a salesperson to call and tell them what’s new.
While they move through the buying process, they get their information somewhere else. So the question is: how many of the places your buyers visit do you actually know?
Your website is a touchpoint, not a business card
The touchpoints depend on your industry. Buyers of office IT move in very different places online than buyers in banking.
One touchpoint every company has is its own website. Yet most B2B websites are still built like a business card: the front page proudly presents who we are and what our product does. Take a fresh look at your own site. What is your first impression?
The opposite mistake is just as common. A slick, modern front page that asks visitors to “book a demo” before it has said anything of value. From a sales point of view, that site jumps straight to phase three or four of the buying process and skips the phases where the buyer actually is.
The other touchpoints
- Social media. Depending on your audience, a mix of LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Before you think “our buyers are serious people, they’re not on Instagram”: they are. Decision makers are people with private lives, and they use these channels too.
- AI assistants and search. More and more buyers start their research by asking an AI tool. If your expertise isn’t published anywhere, it can’t show up in the answer.
- Industry and peer forums. Vertical communities, CEO clubs, CFO networks.
- Events. Both inside and outside your own industry.
- Webinars.
Go where the market is
If you sell fish, you don’t stay on the small island where your boat is moored. You set up a stall at the local market, get to know the chefs in the restaurants and pop up at the big food fairs.
It’s about being where your buyers spend their time, and being visible there. A simple test: search for the main value you bring your customers. Do you show up at the top of the results?