The B2B buyer journey is rarely a linear experience. Often times, the process is full of starts and stops because looking for that next big solution, even when it is absolutely necessary, is rarely the only activity a buyer is performing at any given time. So instead of a straight pathway with a simple start and finish, most buyers find themselves walking a labyrinth. So email marketing, whether automated drip campaigns or occasional touches, needs to be supported by dynamic on-page content for personalized nurturing.
Most automation platforms today go far beyond even the simple email marketing. Through advanced segmentation and behavior triggers, marketers can now create highly targeted communications in every channel. But email marketing, regardless of how targeted it is, rarely aligns with equally targeted website content.
Think of it this way: Is it more powerful when a busy buyer receives an email, doesn’t have time to read it and visits your website a day later only to see the same static pages as everyone else? Or is it better when they receive and skip reading an email only to find that same targeted offer appear on your site when they next visit? From your own buying experiences only, I’m sure you recognize that the latter is what works best.
In order to take full advantage of personalized content and targeted emails, on-page content and emails can be mapped together.
For example:
This ensures the prospect only sees an offer that moves him or her to the next stage in the lead nurturing process.
Even better, this personalized content ensures that the buyer, even when he or she is not ready to buy, has a reason to keep coming back to your website. Gravity last year reported sites that used their personalization services saw pageviews increase more than 40 percent. These advanced websites provide more than a simple brochure experience, or even a regularly updated blog, which incentives continued engagement, something that is at the heart of lead nurturing efforts.
Well, the truth is you are going to need more content than you may have previously offered. Whether it’s making more videos or developing top-of-the-funnel downloads that can convert visitors to leads, the need for content increases with B2B personalization efforts. And as dynamic on-page nurturing becomes more sophisticated, it can mean creating webpages with content specifically targeting a type of buyer. This content investment, however, means that you have an opportunity to convert more of those 50 percent of website visitors who aren’t ready to buy—and keep them engaged until they become sales ready leads.
photo credit: Kevin H.
Dan Stasiewski is an Enterprise Data Consultant at Kuno. When he's not talking about marketing data and trends, he's probably in a movie theater... or randomly breaking into song. You can connect with Dan via Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus.
