Engaging Dental Customers in Today’s Interactive Buying Journey
The consumer-buying journey has evolved significantly, and it’s impacting the way companies interact with prospects. While the now classic funnel model where prospects gradually narrow down their options until they purchase from one company has some merit, a more nuanced approach to the buyer’s journey can offer even better outcomes.
Consumers in the dental industry, or really any sector, no longer walk a straight line from consideration to purchase. Instead, the buying process is more of a “roundabout” in which consumers (like a motorist on a roadway) enter and exit at various access points as they progress on their journey. To reach this consumer, you need to employ marketing with an awareness approach that continuously engages and guides prospects at all points along the process.
So, how do you promote your product or technology to dental professionals in this new marketing age when there are so many voices competing for business—and so many media platforms uniquely providing information to curious buyers?
First, you have to understand the touch points in today’s buying journey, and there are many: email campaigns, videos, enewsletters, online reviews, and product comparisons. That’s why effective marketing efforts are both diverse and integrated. This means they should bring cohesive messaging across the multiple media channels that buyers interface with in their daily lives.
These messages should speak to prospects at the various stages of their journey. There is a right message and best way to “talk” to a consumer for every touch point in the buying process. Content is king, but context rules the kingdom. In other words, savvy marketers will put out the right message at the right time—to the right audience. Here are some tips on how to tune your marketing strategies to deliver those on time and on target messages.
Don’t Get Stuck in the Old Funnel
The traditional marketing/sales concept of a funnel suggests that buyers systematically move from awareness to consideration and eventually a purchase. In the beginning, the funnel is larger with lots of brands competing for the buyer’s business. By the end of the journey, the customer has whittled down the options to a single choice, and conversely in the beginning there is a large pool of prospects to connect with but that pool grows smaller as they move through the funnel.
Those days are over. While the idea of a funnel still applies in terms of steps/large concepts that outline a buying process, today’s decision journey is more alive and interactive. It’s not linear. Prospects may enter the process in the middle of the “funnel” after already ruling out competitors because they’ve done their research online by reading articles or reviews. Buyers may skip stages in the process entirely, or start and stop multiple times on the way to a decision. Rather than prospects being guided by companies through the process, they’re blazing their own trails and setting the pace.
So, in essence, the funnel is not shaped like a funnel at all. It’s more like a loop or circle, which overtime, can be entered or exited at any given point in their journey.
At Dentalcompare, we identify dentists’ buying journeys with the traditional 4 steps of 1) Awareness; 2) Exploration; 3) Evaluation; and 4) Decision. However, after the decision step—when the prospect has become a customer—the journey continues with a new approach to gaining awareness of what it’s like to be a customer and then sharing that experience with others.
What helps drive and repeat the cycle is their experience along the way. This determines brand loyalty and preference. This experience-bolstered loyalty drives whether or not the cycle gets repeated for a particular product or service.
The Marketing Circle
Engagement and experience redefine the old funnel into today’s 3-D modern approach to immerse potential customers in the buying journey. Generic information no longer resonates with buyers, who want information that answers their questions. Being ready with these answers requires companies to understand what customers want and when they want it. Then content with these answers needs to be readily available, so it is right where your prospect is looking.
So, how exactly do you align content with the touch points dentists experience as they move from evaluation to final decision? Dentalcompare has more than 9 years of experience interacting and serving dentists who buy from companies like yours. Here are some fundamental tips for optimizing your marketing efforts to better attract and engage buyers through the purchasing journey.
#1 Answer Questions. According to our research, during the awareness and exploration phases, dentists consume articles and webinars on technologies and products as well as videos that show how they work. They’re learning about what makes your offerings stand out above the competitors. Investing in automation that will allow you to personalize the experience and provide deeper answers as they consume this content will help ensure they continue to engage with you.
#2 Help Them Drill Down. Once they have identified a need for a product, dentists continually seek and crave details and supporting data. Your messaging during this stage should include links to product reviews and evaluations that offer, third party validation and usage of your product. Comparison data is also key during this phase, so any information you can provide that compares the features and benefits of your product or service versus your competition will be most impactful. This detailed information assists dental professionals to move forward in the decision-making process.
#3 Provide Practical Tips & Protocols. During this final phase of the purchasing process, dental professionals have gathered and understand the features and potential benefits you have shared about your products. They now want to experience and determine how their practice will excel with your product. Providing guidance, tips and workflows enables them to truly see how your product can fit in as an essential part of their practice. This can be a tipping point to their adoption and purchase of your product or technology. It also can be a great first step in building customer loyalty, which is key for any business growth strategy.
Brian Solis (www.briansolis.com), digital analyst, anthropologist and author of the best-selling book, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design
Revamp Your Marketing
In today’s buying journey, successful integrated marketing campaigns involve getting close to customers through engagement during every phase of the decision-making process.
We all struggle to continually engage and educate researchers through the various phases of the buying journey. Utilizing the tips described above, here are some actionable solutions to employ if you experience a drop-off of your customers through the different steps of the purchasing journey.
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Phase
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Actionable Solution
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Awareness to Exploration
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Provide more information via marketing-articles, videos or webinars
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Evaluation
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Increase consideration with product reviews, clinical techniques and interactive tutorials
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Evaluation to Decision making
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Focus on product comparisons and also share detailed protocols and practical tips to strengthen their confidence in the technology and to build loyalty.
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We know dental professionals are more likely to want to interact during the buying process when they find answers on their own rather then when they receive overt marketing messages from companies. There’s a shift away from one-way marketing to consumers to two-way conversations, so give customers an opportunity to respond and share.
The best news, you don’t have to do all of this alone!
Dentalcompare is the leading resource for up-to-date product information, product reviews, and new technologies for dentists. We are focused on what your customers really want because we know the dental industry in and out.
We understand what type of information customers in your field need at every stage of the buying cycle so you can usher them toward a sale and retain them for the long-term.
Our team is ready to help guide you through the process. To learn how Dentalcompare can help you along every step of the journey, contact us at [email protected]
Suggested Reading
http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-new-consumer-decision-journey
http://ariad.ca/2014/12/04/its-not-a-purchase-funnel-its-a-consideration-path/