A recent LinkedIn post by Dale W. Harrison ignited a lively debate about whether marketing can “create demand.” The post has received nearly 500 comments, and there are thoughtful views on both sides of the issue.
These survey results show that events involving the consumption of marketing/sales/news content (shown in red in the table) were ranked near the bottom of the list. This indicates that marketing content alone won’t be sufficient to trigger a buying process in most cases.
The Psychology of B2B Buying Triggers
For an event to act as a trigger, it must produce a particular psychological impact. This impact results from the interplay of three factors – rewards, goals, and motivation.
Humans are programmed to seek rewards. Neuroscience research has shown that the human brain has a “reward center” that is activated when our brain processes information that signals a reward we value. So, for an event to function as a trigger, the decision-maker must perceive that satisfying the need or desire evoked by the event will produce a reward.
If the potential reward is valuable enough, the decision-maker will make satisfying the need or desire a goal, and he or she will be motivated to achieve the goal.
Recent advances in decision science have established that motivation is the primary driving force behind all human behavior, including buying behavior.
The American Psychological Association defines motivation as, “a person’s willingness to exert physical or mental effort in pursuit of a goal or outcome.” The existence of motivation is what causes a decision-maker to begin a process that may result in a purchase. So, what ultimately transforms an event into a buying trigger is its ability to evoke motivation in the mind of the potential buyer.
Implications for B2B Marketers
So, what does this mean for B2B marketers? The key lesson here is that you need to use different marketing messaging with potential buyers who have yet to experience a triggering event.
If you were using messaging to prompt a buying process, you should focus on the “pain” created by the buyer’s issue or challenge and emphasize the need for change. Your objective would be to cause potential buyers to feel the pain of their current state sufficiently to provoke a willingness to consider change.
However, since marketing messaging alone isn’t sufficient to provoke a buying process in most cases, the better strategy with potential buyers who haven’t experienced a triggering event is to use messaging that emphasizes how an issue or challenge can be successfully addressed and describes the benefits such a change will produce for the buyer’s organization and for the individual buyer.
This type of messaging will make it more likely potential buyers will remember your company when they experience a triggering event.
*I’m using the term “decision-maker” to mean anyone who is involved in making or can influence a business purchase decision.
Top image courtesy of Thomas Quine via Flickr.com (CC).