![\"marketing](\"http:\/\/blog.feedthebeast.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/dwilliams_buyers_decision_process_02.jpg\" "\\"marketing")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe fundamental challenge of marketing is that there are a zillion moving parts, give or take, courtesy of a shape-shifting buyer who makes Jello look like bedrock.\u00a0The buyer’s journey, which is most often defined as an orderly march down a funnel-shaped thing, is more often beset by a range of shiny objects, conflicting egos, power grabs, FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt), budget shifts, priority shifts, urgent and important fires to extinguish, as well as various other threats to goals and timelines that show up daily in our businesses. In short, stuff happens.<\/p>\n
So if that\u2019s all true, if buyers cannot be relied upon to respect the very deliberate path we set out before them, what can we do to improve our conversion rates from prospects to leads and leads to customers? We can start by better understanding the\u00a0Math of the Besieged Buyer<\/em>\u00a0that looks something like this:<\/p>\n The chart above comes from something I call the\u00a0Rule of 30-20-10<\/em>. This rule is a simplified version of several \u201crules\u201d from the world of direct response that have proven very robust over the decades (including current times) when it comes to predicting how buyers behave. (If you want to dig deeper, see\u00a0Rule of 45<\/a>, and the Advertising Research Foundation studies via\u00a0Bob Stone<\/a>.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s a certain instinctive truth to the above chart. Of course, it\u2019s not perfectly predictive, but it does provide good directional information to create some context around this discussion.<\/p>\n So we run a series of campaigns, and what happens? Taking our\u00a0Math of the Besieged Buyer <\/em>one step further, we might get:<\/p>\n If you consider the number of \u201cwins\u201d on the bottom line, you get an eye-opening look at the slippage that can occur in any marketing system. Importantly, it\u2019s not the software you may or may not be using that causes the majority of this slippage. As discussed in an\u00a0earlier post<\/a>, it\u2019s the work that you put in prior to going to market.<\/p>\n I was speaking with a colleague this week who has carved out a very successful marketing automation consultancy. He deals with all sizes of company, up to the very large and, presumably, sophisticated. The common feature that continues to amaze him is how impatient marketing organizations are. \u201cGet it out\u201d consistently trumps \u201cdo it right.” Everyone is looking for shortcuts, and few are putting in the critical thinking that addresses the kinds of slippage observed above.<\/p>\n Precision targeting often falls victim to \u201cbuy a large list and blast it” [note 1 above]. The breakthrough that comes from a well-conceived and tested value proposition is more often lacking than not [note 2 above]. The buyer consideration that results from offers that are constructed from truly compelling content is almost always in severe deficit [note 3 above].<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n