The Value of VisiTor idenTificaTion Selling to Buyer 2.0 in the Information Age

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I. SummaryCentral to the challenges facing modern B2B organizations is the emer-

gence of what industry experts have christened Buyer 2.0 which, in B2B

parlance, actually is a team of individuals tasked with using Internet-

inspired technologies and tools to conduct research into the products,

services, and reputations of the companies in which their own organiza-

tions are interested.

How to best identify, engage and influence buyers they cannot see?

The clandestine, self-guided tactics of Buyer 2.0 has many

if not most B2B marketing and sales organizations on their

heels. How best to identify, engage, and influence buyers

they cannot see? Which of their website visitors is most likely

to become a customer (e.g. where to invest scarce resourc-

es)? What do these buyers most need/want from the B2B and

when?

But rather than cause for alarm or consternation, we believe

the evolution of Buyer 2.0 should be welcomed as an oppor-

tunity to retire the resource-intensive, hit-or-miss sales and

marketing models of old and replace them with the kinds of

proactive, precision-guided engagement efforts upon which

Buyer 2.0 depends.

Or as forward-looking B2B organizations are coming to

recognize: By planning for and embracing the same tech-

nologies that power Buyer 2.0’s journey, they are able to

glean enormous amounts of information about who these

buyers are, what they are doing, why they are doing it,

where they’ve been and where they’re going and, most

importantly, how best to engage and influence them at ev-

ery stage of their journey.

The Value of VisiTor idenTificaTion Selling to Buyer 2.0 in the Information Age

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In this paper we will demonstrate how B2B organizations can

couple well-known industry best practices with an array of

online visitor identification and analytical technologies, not

merely to shadow Buyer 2.0’s journey, but to anticipate and

thereby lead that buyer directly into the B2B’s marketing and

sales sweet spot.

II. The RIse of The BuyeR 2.0 ReseaRch Team

To understand why the early identification of Buyer 2.0 can be

of immense benefit to the modern B2B organization requires

us to briefly consider why this new breed of buyer emerged in

the first place.

In a nutshell, the explosion in interconnectivity, and the speed

of dissemination of information rocking the world of B2B sell-

ers is having a similar impact on their buyers. Intense global

competition, reduced barriers to entry, and an increasingly

rapid pace of change all have conspired to force companies

to be:

• engaged. 24/7 monitoring of and participation in indus-

try analyses, peer group networking, competitive threats,

etc., is no longer optional.

• Informed. The rapid pace of change forces companies to

remain abreast of any and all information relevant to their

business.

• cautious. Self-education and peer group knowledge-

sharing enables companies to mitigate against risky buy-

ing decisions.

• Vigilant. Companies are constantly watching for new

products, services, and industry developments that can

give them an edge.

Picture, then, Buyer 2.0 as a disparate collection of inter- and

intra-organizational professionals who routinely employ

corporate websites, industry blogs, social media sites, fo-

rums, peer networks, white papers, conferences, newsletters,

search tools and more not merely as part of a sales process

but as a routine part of their jobs.

The new time commitments associated with these roles com-

bined with ready access to enormous volumes of information

make it easy – and preferable – for Buyer 2.0 to remain in the

digital background, quietly collecting data, sharing informa-

tion, building brand impressions, forming opinions and, only

much later in the process, seeking direct engagement or es-

tablishing short lists of preferred vendors.

As a result many B2B organizations find themselves in some-

thing of a reactive mode of engagement, using “spray and

pray” content marketing tactics in the vague (and vain) hope

that they’ll reach the right buyers at the right time. (Forrester,

for example, claims modern buyers will find “three pieces of

content about a vendor for every one piece [the B2B] can de-

liver.”1)

More often than not, however, such tactics fail and Buyer 2.0

is left underwhelmed by the B2B’s old approach to meeting

its information needs. “What gets my goat more than any-

thing,” one B2B buyer told Tony Zambito of Sales Benchmark

Index, “is that after I do all the research and such, I finally get

to talking to a sales rep and what happens? They just regur-

gitate all the stuff I found online. They are not telling me any-

thing new – just telling me what I already know.”2

A second and not altogether unrelated mistake made by

far too many B2B organizations is unduly focusing on web-

1 “Buyer Behavior Helps B2B Marketers Guide the Buyer’s Journey,” Lori Wizdo, Forrester Research, Oct. 4, 20122 “Five Ways New Buyer Behaviors are Impacting B2B Sales,” Social Media Today, Jan. 10. 2012

The Value of VisiTor idenTificaTion Selling to Buyer 2.0 in the Information Age

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site visitors who convert – say, via a white paper download.

Without understanding whether such visitors are qualified or

even interested in buying, the B2B risks wasting valuable re-

sources in unproductive pursuits.

Fortunately, the lack of information contributing to such mis-

takes can be overcome through the use of visitor identifica-

tion technologies. After all, Buyer 2.0 has been leaving clues

every step of the way which, when properly recognized and

analyzed, can enable the B2B to:

• Learn more and more about visitors regardless of

whether they ‘convert’

• Identify the content visitors already have viewed dur-

ing previous visits and thereby tailor future content of-

ferings to deepen the engagement

• Identify and engage those visitors most likely to buy

based on previous buying and engagement histories

III. B2B WeBsITe: TRaILhead To The saLes JouRney

You’ve likely heard it said that the corporate website is the

public face of today’s corporation – its virtual storefront, if

you will. Social media channels and a host of other marketing

touch points are, of course, important ancillary pieces to the

corporate brand, but the company website will always be the

logical destination for any self-educating buyer.

In fact, a recent B2B survey demonstrates that upward of 80%

of buyers listed the B2B website as an integral part of their

educational and decision-making processes.3

Which means that, from time to time, various members of

that elusive Buyer 2.0 team will – often without the knowl-

edge of other team members – visit the B2B website via ac-

tive search, social links, advertisements, and so on, as part of

their role in investigating new product and service offerings,

to read the company blog, see what’s new, and so on.

As noted, we think this is cause for celebration. After all, these

prospective buyers are coming to you.

But key to that interpretation is the B2B’s capacity to effec-

tively recognize – in real-time – the companies these buyers

are coming from and tailor their online experiences to their

unique investigative needs.

After all, those visitors aren’t apt to form a good opinion of

a B2B seller – or even necessarily return to their website, for

that matter – if they don’t find what they need. Or as Left-

“80%

of buyers listed the B2B

website as an integral part

of their educational and de-

cision making processes.

3 “B2B Buyer Survey Reveals Impact of Social Media on Vendor Selection Process,” DemandGen Report, Sept. 11, 2012

The Value of VisiTor idenTificaTion Selling to Buyer 2.0 in the Information Age

brain DGA’s Julie Kirby points out: “Even the greatest piece

of marketing content does nothing to support the buying

process if is delivered to a prospect too early or too late in

their journey.”4

IV. VIsIToR IdenTIfIcaTIon (and anTIcIpaTIon)

From films or perhaps first-hand experience, most of us are

familiar with the VIP receiving line. A long line of individuals

waits their turn to be greeted by the VIP who, remarkably

enough, seems intimately aware of each person’s name,

professional background, even a personal anecdote or two.

The secret to this knowledge is, of course, the aide with the

dossier whispering into the VIP’s ear as each individual ar-

rives.

Viewed from one perspective, our VIP is about to be am-

bushed by one anonymous engagement after another. But

when empowered by real-time identification coupled with

background/historical data about each visitor, the power

dynamic swings back to the VIP, who tailors his greeting to

make the visitor feel like a personal friend whose arrival has

been eagerly anticipated.

To some degree the process of online visitor identification

works much the same way. In this case, the aide with the

dossier is played by the part of a sophisticated technology

suite comprised of real-time IP lookup and performance an-

alytics (no need for unreliable cookies or logins) that collec-

tively recognize a visitor’s company, industry, revenue size,

previous on-site browsing history and much more.

4 “Demand Generation Strategies: How to Nurture Buyer 2.0,” Leftbrain DGA, April 13, 20125

Revenue begins with identification

1. Identify the companies that are engaged on your website

2. cross reference these engaged companies with your target lists as you determine the companies most likely to become customers

3. push contacts and leads from those compa-nies to the top of the lead scoring queue and prioritize them for further qualification and telephone development/email nurturing

4. Remarket/retarget these same companies to drive more visits from them in order to acceler-ate engagement and eventual conversion

5. personalize the web experience for these companies, presenting the content you antici-pate will help move them through the funnel -- watch as more buyers from these companies raise their hands and request to be contacted

6. streamline the conversion process with intel-ligent forms that are optimized to convert visitors from your target audience, verify their corporate identity while they convert

7. proactively reach out to them with live chat requests when these specific companies are on your site

8. Repeat

The Value of VisiTor idenTificaTion Selling to Buyer 2.0 in the Information Age

When combined with in-house CRM systems, third-party

data solutions, and marketing automation tools, visitor iden-

tification supercharges this process by enabling the B2B to

spotlight – and nurture through a targeted, personalized on-

line experience – those visitors who fall squarely into its sales

sweet spot. And it does all of this behind the scenes, a subtle

but powerfully effective concession to Buyer 2.0’s desire for

anonymity.

Picture, for example, an online visitor whose previous visits

have led her from generic product broadsheets to detailed

specifications to most recently, the pricing page; or the on-

line arrival of the sixth different individual from the same For-

tune 100 company; or visits from an account that you know

recently purchased a product suite not only complementary

to your products or services, but that usually suggests an im-

minent sale of your own.

In each such instance, the visitor identification platform pro-

actively enables the B2B to:

• Recognizeaccounts that are ideally suited to become

customers;

• Facilitateeachstage of the sales journey with content

expressly designed to nurture and drive the account for-

ward;

• Deliver richer offerings aimed at eliminating any re-

maining sales obstacles;

• Accelerate conversion with intelligent landing/offer

page forms with formats that change depending on the

company of the visitor

• Improve leadmanagement, distribution and scoring

accuracy with visitor data that has been validated for

truth rather than simply appended with third party data

• Immediately reachout to highly qualified visitors via

real-time chat, direct sales alerts, etc.; and

• Reengagedormantaccounts through targeted remar-

keting efforts based on historical activity.

Like our fictitious VIP, the B2B is leveraging real-time and his-

torical data to make the very most of visitors who – by dint

of their presence on the website – already have done a lot of

the company’s initial marketing legwork and demonstrated

an interest in its products or services.

Now contrast this with studies that suggest many B2B orga-

nizations are still spending nine times as much driving traf-

fic to their websites as they are engaging the traffic they’ve

already got, a peculiar and ultimately self-defeating statistic

given the inexorable rise of the Buyer 2.0 phenomenon.

“The B2B sales profession is in denial,” writes Bob Thomp-

son, CEO of CustomerThink Corp. “That’s the overwhelming

conclusion I’ve reached after watching the painfully slow re-

sponse of B2B sellers to the rise of customer power. Instead

of truly engaging as buyers expect, sellers – the combined

marketing and sales organizations – are tweaking 50-year-

old selling approaches and loading up on technology to op-

timize internal processes. This inside-out approach is a recipe

for failure.”5

6

...make the visitor feel like a personal friend whose arrival has been eagerly

anticipated.

5 “B2B Sellers Wake Up! Adopt Buyer Experience Management, or Get a Pink Slip from Customer 2.0,” CustomerThink, Oct. 21, 2012

The Value of VisiTor idenTificaTion Selling to Buyer 2.0 in the Information Age

Visitor identification, on the other hand, is precisely engi-

neered to meet those Buyer 2.0 team members in ways that

meet their informational needs, respects the process, all

while enabling the B2B to identify and engage those sweet

spot accounts most apt to become customers.

V. concLusIon

Technology – specifically the Internet and its great litany of

digital progeny – has changed everything. As a result com-

panies of all sizes and shapes have evolved into more sophis-

ticated buyers who leverage those same paradigm-changing

technologies to research products and services in a never-

ending quest for a competitive edge.

It is incumbent on the B2B organizations that wish to serve

these businesses that they too adopt cutting-edge technolo-

gies – technologies that don’t merely follow the tracks made

by these organizations on their modern-day buyer’s journey;

but that anticipate and meet their needs every step of the

way.

It is these B2Bs that will jump out front of the pack and make

that all-important good first impression; that will clearly iden-

tify the right sales prospects for their own organization; and

that will have the means in place to lead those prospects

across the finish line. Rather than force Buyer 2.0 to forage for

what she wants or convert before he is ready, these compa-

nies will have what they need, when they need it.

And when the time comes to choose the vendor that will

help them with that last leg of the journey, who do you

imagine Buyer 2.0 will choose?

7

demandbase is a Real-time Targeting and Personalization plat-

form for B2B. Demandbase works by identifying the companies

that are visiting a website, and then by making that insight

actionable in your existing Marketing and Sales programs and

technologies. Real-time identification means you can make tar-

geting decisions as well as personalize the content or web expe-

rience based on otherwise unavailable attributes of the visitor,

such as specific company, company size, number of employees,

industry, or 1st party attributes such as customer or pipeline

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Demandbase is where Digital Presence and Account-Based mar-

keting intersect, allowing B2B marketers to target their most

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gagements more effective and more measurable. For more in-

formation, visit http://www.demandbase.com.

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