Making Buyer Connections
October 14, 2014
By William Russell
You have a product, service or solution that people want, need or desire. The buyers are out in the market, but how do you reach them? How do they know about your offering? It often boils down to being known in your market with an easy way for buyers to connect with you. Becoming known within your targeted market segments is the key.
Do you exist in your buyer’s mind?
Reaching a potential buyer and transitioning them into a customer requires awareness, education and credibility. This means you have to gain market visibility in order for potential customers to know you exist. Simply being visible usually isn’t enough. Your business needs to demonstrate why it is the best choice for a buyer. Show them why your offering is superior to others and why no other options need to be considered.
To be known and trusted
Give them proof to your claims to establish credibility and to begin building trust. People typically make buying decisions based on who they know and trust – and often who they like. Even though some shop purely based on price, most buying decisions are made with consideration to a level of trust because this helps mitigate their buying risk.
Get in the bull’s-eye
Your goal is to be within the bull’s-eye of a buyer’s purchasing target. When you visualize a target, there are rings that surround the center point or bulls eye. Think of the target in this way: the outer rings represent companies that the buyer knows very little about. Even if these companies have the perfect solution, but the buyer doesn’t know about them, has never heard of them or doesn’t know they exist, then these companies will likely always remain distant and unknown to the buyer.
The high-risk purchase
Companies that are somewhat or fairly well known are those the buyer has heard of, but may only have limited information on their offerings. Usually this means a buyer will consider companies like this to be a higher risk because not enough information is known about them to make a conscious purchasing decision. Although the actual risk may be small, the perception that any risk exists is a reality which makes it seem higher. In the buyer’s mind, other options are likely going to look more attractive which is not what you want. Through a strategic marketing approach, you can attain a preferred position and meet the buyer in the sweet spot.
Get in the sweet spot
The closer you are to the bull’s-eye, the better. When your company is well-known and is consistently ‘top of mind’ for a buyer, you are in the buyer’s purchasing sweet spot. This is where you want to be and a position that you will always want to occupy. Being in the sweet spot gives you a competitive advantage because fewer options exist in the bull’s eye. The buyer recognizes your brand offering and knows that a buying decision with your company will come with the least amount of risk, but with full assurance of expectations.
Bridge the gap
How do you reach the sweet spot or bull’s-eye? You have to identify your connecting points and determine how to bridge the gap between your offering and your intended buying market. The gap is often bridged through strategically and effectively implemented communication vehicles. This will include a balanced mix of public relations efforts, email marketing campaigns, cultivating prospect relationships, coordinating social media, maintaining a dynamic web presence and similar marketing activity. Your goal is to create awareness and recognition, provide education and establish credibility within your market. Once you accomplish that objective, you should have favorable market positioning for that much desired sweet spot.
Making effective buyer connections requires a strategic marketing approach based on the type offering you have and your targets. Your strategic approach provides a profile of who buys from you, why, when, where and how. It also includes the tactical execution components necessary to reach them. All of this should be defined in your marketing roadmap. Becoming known in your market and preferred by buyers will take some effort, but will make your marketing more effective and increase your revenue-generating potential.
