Millions of companies are on the internet doing the biggest "no-no" in marketing. They are spending millions of dollars just to get in front of their customer and scream, "BUY FROM ME!" The biggest question most consumers ask is, "Why should I buy from you?" The answer may surprise you, because a lot of businesses still think it's because of low prices.
Businesses competing on price are more likely to go bankrupt than to capture a lasting market segment, so competing on pricing alone is not a path you want to go down. Instead, focus of differentiating your businesses and building your perceived value. Understanding the buyer journey is crucial to doing just that.
The most successful small businesses know the idea of the Buyer's Journey. And those who decide to invest in using the lessons from this are the most consistently successful. So here are five reasons your business should adopt the Buyer's Journey method to sell what you have.
Have you ever really sat down and searched the internet for something? Depending on what it is, the returned from most searches are in the thousands. And buyers are weary of trying to find the best value for their money. Even those of us who market are consumers and get tired of trying to find the best bang for our buck. If you use the Buyer's Journey concept, you set yourself out from the crowd of those who are screaming at your ideal client.
It treats the customer as a discerning individual and it respects their time and gives value, even when it's not needed. Because, your client will need your product or service eventually. Wouldn't you want yours to be the first company they think of when it comes to that? Wouldn't you want it to be a no brainer decision for them? And best of all, wouldn't you love that they would be willing to pay more for your service?
The truth is your customer is more than willing to pay a bit extra if they know you care about them and their needs. That you've shown them you bring far more value than you charge. Using the Buyer's Journey helps you establish that.
How nice would that be? You spend less effort and time, but end up with even more profits than you expected? That's what the Buyer's Journey will do for you. Because you're talking to a very specific group of people and they want to hear what you have to say. You have established yourself as an expert in the field you're in.
Why? Because you've been spending time helping your customers see that you are an expert. You have been sending them tips and free stuff that has value to them. For example, if you are a plumber, you could send out emails to people helping them learn how to check their water heater for mineralization. If you teach people how to build profitable websites, you could send them a link to a domain name suggestion tool to help them find niche specific domains that are available.
These things take little effort and produce huge rewards if you do them consistently. Because your buyer doesn't realize they need you yet. So, by staying on their radar as a helpful part of their life, you've put your brand and business right in the crosshairs when they need you. They'll go to you first because they know you. What's more, ranking for educational terms commonly searched earlier in the buyer journey is generally faster and less resource intensive.
Many of us in business feel this way. Because our prices are higher than say Big Box stores, we can't compete with those prices and therefore we're not valuable. While it's true that some people are looking only for the lowest price, even Big Box stores will try to set up their websites with higher value items before lowest price.
They understand that perceived value is important. You can set yourself apart from the crowd of "Buy Me" screamers by understanding that you have something that none of the others have. You have a unique product even though it looks the same as your competitors. Because you are valuable. Your knowledge of the industry you're in. Your passion for helping the customer have a better life. It's you that brings the value. You could be the web designer who spends an hour with your customer explaining how they can keep their website updated. You could offer three free consultations for the first six months after your interior design project is complete.
The value is you and if you continue to think you're not valuable, then the customer will continue to think that too. Value yourself and your customers will naturally see the value you bring and gladly pay for that extra perceived bonus.
From Nike to Microsoft to Apple, big name companies have used the buyer's journey to make their brands super successful. Take the year Apple introduced the iPod. Digital music became a household name and companies scrambled to catch up.
Apple created value by helping the customer realize they could have just one song at a time and collect only the songs they wanted to hear. Then play them ad nauseam. The price was outrageous, but the company had shown its consumers the value they were getting, and we ate it up like we were toddlers in a cookie factory.
Nike's slogan, Just Do It, is another buyer's journey example. They established that running was cool and athletes, even armchair ones, needed to be kicked in the butt. Nike's sales soared.
The big-name companies understand that the lowest price isn't where you find the most sales. You find them by showing the most value. Once you've got that, any price within reason is a worthy one.
The upper echelons of sales is a small percentage. Most companies are still down in the dregs fighting to be the lowest price. This is a lot of the reason most businesses fail. They just can't keep lowering their prices to compete. It's not a sane business model.
If you choose to start inserting your business in the Buyer's Journey, you'll be automatically raising your business out of the weeds and into the sunshine of sales. You can create competition crushing content that touches the hearts of your customers and by continuing to give them value, long term, you'll be the one they turn to when, not if, they need.
Remember, the end goal of SEO is to attract qualified traffic that ultimately turns into customers. Leveraging an understanding of your buyer's journey will allow you to connect early and often, becoming a trusted source of information and the business they will turn to when it comes time to buy.