The Nonlinear Buyer's Journey: Leveraging Content for B2B Success

The Nonlinear Buyer’s Journey: Leveraging Content for B2B Success

Monique de Maio is the founder and CMO of OnDemandCMO, a marketing agency specializing in B2B companies in the tech, professional, and financial services industries.

In this interview, Monique discusses the importance of understanding the non-linear nature of the buyer’s journey in B2B marketing. She emphasizes the need for B2B companies to create content that meets the needs of buyers at every stage of their journey rather than relying on a linear funnel approach. Monique also highlights the importance of consistent messaging, providing value in advance, and making content about the customer rather than the company.

Monique de Maio, Founder & CMO at OnDemandCMO – Follow Monique on LinkedIn

“Your buyer’s journey is not linear anymore. So you can’t predict how and where, and what assets they’re going to be consuming in what order.” – Monique de Maio

Key Takeaways:

The buyer’s journey is no longer linear; it’s circuitous and nonlinear. B2B buyers have already done extensive research online before a sales call.
Content needs to be ready to catch the buyer at every stage of their journey. You can’t predict what assets they’ll consume in what order. Be prepared to give them the content they want.
Make your content in all shapes and sizes to cater to different preferences. Don’t assume how your prospects want to consume content. Be ready to provide it in various formats.
Content should be 80% about the customer’s needs and problems and 20% about the company.

Monique gives practical examples and recommendations for marketing in the world of non-linear buyer journeys.

Listen to the full podcast or watch it on YouTube.

Introduction to Monique de Maio

Steve MacDonald: Welcome, everyone. We have a very special opportunity to have Monique de Maio back on our podcast. And if you caught the first episode – if you haven’t, you need to – it’s all about the importance of content, the strategic importance of how you create content, what kind of content you need, and why it is a linchpin to the success of an organization, whether you’re a startup, a mid-market or enterprise.

The second part that Monique is going to talk about today – and Monique has been, she’s the founder and the CMO of onsemandCMO for 25 years, working with B2B companies. So Monique has a few points of view on this whole subject matter that I think we’re going to want to hear. Monique, maybe just refresh us a little bit about who you are and your background.

And then let’s get right into what you think about what’s important that B2B companies need to know to leverage the content that they create.

Monique de Maio: So thank you, Steve. Pleasure being here again. It’s lovely to be asked back. And so I’ve been in marketing for more years than I care to remember because, obviously, OnDemandCMO is years old so everyone can do the math.

And we’ve been playing in the B2B space for that long. We specialize in, I’ll say, brands that are complicated to sell or buy. So that means tech services, professional services, financial services, and things like that. They’re complicated. We don’t do CPG.

You know, we’re not interested in doing toothpaste and lipstick. Even though I love toothpaste and lipstick, that’s not my jam. So content from the perspective of either a regulated industry or an industry that is difficult or has a different kind of sales cycle. A long sales cycle.

Typically we work with large mid-market companies. Usually, they’re privately held, and some of them come to us to prepare themselves to be sold or acquired, and that works out really, really well for them because we leverage content strategies for that.

Then the enterprise clients that we support on a day-to-day basis or use us for our content strategy.

The sales cycle is not linear

Steve MacDonald: Fantastic. So here’s the key question. We all want to believe that the buyer’s journey is very, very simple. Very linear. It’s a funnel. It goes down like this.

And so it’s easy to understand. It’s easy to create content if you just put the plan together. But you’ve got a little different point of view on that.

Monique de Maio: Yeah. I think that that’s actually some of the challenges that we have with some of our clients. We have to educate them a little bit that the buyer’s journey is no longer as linear as we’d like to believe or that their automation systems have them use.

So let me share my screen real quick. and share with you.

Can you see my purchase funnel?

Steve MacDonald: Yes, we can. And for those listening on audio, you’re showing the traditional funnel of awareness, familiarity, consideration, purchase, and loyalty. It starts big at the top and gets small at the bottom.

Monique de Maio: Right. So in the old – not old days. I’m talking even five years ago, seven years ago, you had automation systems that were built around these stages, and they sound really good on paper when you buy the SaaS product, but in reality, this is not exactly as linear as people are buying these days, especially not B2B.

Remember the statistic that somewhere, depending on the statistic that you believe, somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of your B2B buyers have already done extensive research online before you even walk through the door for a sales call.

So you’re already half either in the bag or out of the bag, depending on where you sit and how much you have to ask this prospect what they’ve done. So that’s the traditional purchase funnel. Typically, we were taught as marketers that blog posts, press releases, education emails, case studies, and articles are so good in the early stages.

Where content fits in a nonlinear buying cycle

Monique de Maio: And then you have webinars and executive guides and videos. And then, as you further down the research consideration, you’re going to do white papers, research, reports, and eBooks. Well, this is today’s purchase funnel. What I’m showing people who are listening and not watching is that awareness, evaluation, intention, and purchase have a circuitous nonlinear path that could start from an email, that could start from a blog, that could start from a webinar, go into organic search, can go to referrals, can go to looking at your competitors, could go to a sales meeting or whatever, and then back again.

So the point is you don’t know where your buyer is at any particular moment in time unless you’re really prescriptive about asking the questions and catching them where they are. This means it’s almost like throwing spaghetti against the wall because you have no idea whether the person who is reading your blog is at the intention stage, evaluation stage, or they’re ready to pull the trigger because they love all of your blog content and they think you’re the smartest thing since sliced bread and they’re going to buy from you no matter what.

You have no clue. And so I’m here to tell you that you need to be ready to catch that buyer at every stage. What does that mean? Well, you’ve got to put control into the hands of the prospect. You can’t control their buyer’s journey because this is out of your control. So don’t even attempt to think that they’re going to read your first email and then move on to your second email drip campaign to then go to your banner ad and click through and then download your white paper, and then come back and see your third banner ad and then they’re going to love your fourth email blast.

It’s not going to happen like that. You might see that in your marketing plan, and you’ve developed it, but the reality is they’ve already checked out your competitor’s website.

They’ve downloaded your competitor’s white paper. They’ve looked at your competitor’s blog. They have decided whether or not you guys have something interesting to say. They will have judged you up one side, down the other based on your content and where they find it.

Steve MacDonald: And all that happens before they actually get a chance or before they even want to talk to you, like have a sales call.

Monique de Maio: The reality is, what this basically boils down to is that your buyer’s journey is nonlinear, and you have to be prepared to give them the kind of content that they want.

Now, we all know about avatars, and we know about, you know, what is my customer avatar and what’s my persona, and oh boy, oh boy, that’s so exciting. Except, do you have a handle on whether that IT persona is a logically oriented person? Maybe they are, and maybe they’re more emotional that day. And maybe they’ve already read 14 white papers.

So what you have to get them with is some snackable content. Do you have any idea? No, we don’t. Okay. So that means that you have to do it all. So that’s why I rated content on a scale of 1 to 10, a 10.

Steve MacDonald: So what that feels like to me is it feels overwhelming. Totally. It feels like I have no idea. Then when my content’s being produced, how do I try to cascade somebody through my content in order to make a decision?

You’ve kind of thrown up in the airing that I used to know it. So how do we try to then leverage that content in a plan that we understand?

Creative strategist to leverage marketing channels

Monique de Maio: So there are many different strategies we can employ, but several of them are, you have your owned and your earned channels.

And obviously, you need to leverage both. What I mean by owned is your website and your blog. Those were owned. Earned channels are what happens outside of your four walls of your company. And it’s important to have other people other than you say nice things about you. So obviously, there’s a place for PR, and we will deploy a PR component if needed as needed.

We prefer to lead with marketing and content development and just really being smart in the right places at the right times. So you have to leverage things like content indication. You have to leverage third parties to have either or implied endorsements, but also that they are showing up when they’re not looking for you.

That you show up elsewhere, some of the things we’ve done for clients which work really well is to buy URLs that are comparative URLs. This is free advice, people, by the way, and this would cost you a lot of money if you hired me. But you buy a URL that solves a problem for one of your avatars, and you create content that is completely generic, obviously with an angle on your competitive advantages that allows people to find the keywords that they’re looking for to solve the problem they have, and you’re the answer to it.

Steve MacDonald: So that leads to a really interesting question. And that is that most websites today, or the URLs that you’re talking about buying, they’re not structured in the way that B2B buyers want to consume content.

Because of that buyer journey you just showed us, you have no idea what they need at what time, but the website and these URLs you’re talking about need to be self-service in terms of they need to be able to easily find what they’re looking for.

And so, therefore, just simple things like how do I find the industry that I’m looking for content? How do I find, if I’m a CEO versus a CMO versus a CIO, where’s the information for me? Where are the pain points that I have, the problems that I have? Those things get hidden, right? Not intentionally, but just because we don’t have a plan for it.

So would you agree that in that world of the buyer’s journey that goes like this now, making your content super discoverable, not only with the keywords but on those URLs on the website, is something that’s incredibly important?

Monique de Maio: Yeah. I mean, I don’t, we never, we will never do a website without SEO just built into it.

The other thing that we’ll do, we’ll create assessments that are pre-assessments but gated for our clients to go to and get an assessment, a sense of where they are relative to their peer group. So we created one for Iron Mountain where there’s a thing for CITAD.

And CITAD is Certified IT Asset Disposition, right? So you want to get rid of your old equipment. It has to be done securely. There has to be governance around it. There has to be proof of when they destroy something. The destructibility has to be authenticated. You have to be confident that these things are done properly because an investment banking firm, who will remain nameless, was fined several million dollars because somehow a pallet of computers from their organization went missing, and they had no way of knowing until it was found. So Iron Mountain said, okay, well, we want it also.

Feed your sales team and your clients what they need

Monique de Maio: What they needed to solve a problem, they need more leads. But at the same time, they need more qualified leads. And I said, well if you wanted more qualified needs, you need to know more about the customer. So if you can ask, this assessment tool, which we developed, it was a digital assessment tool.

They go online, they put in their answers. Now I know who they are, what they do, what’s concerning them, and where they are in their buyer’s journey. And oh, by the way, at the end of their assessment, which took them all of somewhere between three and six minutes, they get a report. Thank you, Steve, for coming to this assessment. Your score is a big 35.

You have a lot that you might want to consider based on your peer group. You’re doing better than others here, but not so good here, and the industry standard is this, and outcomes new research and all these data points, and now all of a sudden, I’ve provided so much value. You want to talk to me, don’t you?

Yes. There you go. Be smart. Don’t go out there with nonsense and noise. Go out there and educate. Go out there. Give them value for engagement. That assessment found its way into the marketplace through a variety of channels and third-party syndication. It was in newsletters. It was in their blog. It was in partner channels.

It was on LinkedIn. It was everywhere because I didn’t know where you would come in. And I just want to catch you.

Steve MacDonald: What you did is you gave them data they did not have. You gave them reference points they did not have, and this is a massive opportunity for every B2B company, specifically SaaS companies.

We are all digital companies. Now we all have digital assets and information and usually information across our client base, where our clients have only the information about their business.

Monique de Maio: Right, right. Do you want to see this? Watch. I’ll share with you. It’s actually, so this can be deployed as a marketing lesson for all of us in a sense because what is your ICA score?

I come here, and I want to know where I’m at now. The URL is https://ironmountainitad.bestpracticesiq.com/.

So this is great. You answer the question.

How many countries are you in? So if you answer these two, this takes you down a funnel. That’s for an SMB customer. I already have those segregated into their Salesforce in a different manner. But if you answer 16 plus, I know you’re an enterprise. Terrific. So that goes to the enterprise team and elite. How many total locations do you have?

Okay, so you’re going to have 10 to 15 countries, and I have 16 plus locations. I go in, and basically, I answer this thing, which is about 10, 12 questions. And I know from how you answer what my salesperson needs to tell you.

Steve MacDonald: Yes, absolutely.

Monique de Maio: Right? I don’t know. Now, here is the pop-up of the research. So, 50% of them, you should know or do know. 33% of them indicate that it’s decentralized. This is a problem, decentralization.

Steve MacDonald: So as they’re answering the questions, you’re giving the industry…

Correct. So they’re learning as they actually take the survey. And then when they get their report, all of this industry data that comes from IDG and Forrester and Gartner and other sources and primary research and their own research is coming to them as value add.

This is brilliant, right? So now you’re going through this, and you’re like, okay, what do I do? I don’t know. Well, this is what I do. How about you? Many organizations are still struggling with securing disposition and looking at the data. So now I don’t feel so bad that I’m in this spot, but I know that I have to do something about it.

And so now, if you’re talking about now, you’re asking me my objectives. Well, I’ve got IDG. I’ve got ESG. I’ve got compliance problems. I need to have accountability and transparency, and I need security. Well, that sounds like my peers are working on that too. So at the end of it, long story short, I’ll just make this really simple.

You have some sort of report. And then, oh my god, really? 446 million records were exposed, and 1244 data breaches were done. Oh, my goodness. So this is the kind of thing where you’re providing value, getting a score, a report, and whatever. So there you go. Now, I’ve got to fill in the form.

Because if I want my score, I need to give you that. And now I’ve got a CAPTCHA, and now I can submit, and there you are.

Steve MacDonald: Many things are brilliant about this, but what I think is most brilliant about this is you’re collecting information that sales needs to know in order to properly identify the problems and the needs of the customer, but you’re doing it in a way that’s educating that customer at the same time and positioning you as the company, as the expert and the authority.

Did I get that right?

Monique de Maio: You got it. And so we wrote a white paper to support that. You have to create an ecosystem around your education of that marketplace because if you want to be a thought leader, you don’t know how or where I’m going to consume that, but you better have it ready for me.

Steve MacDonald: So I’m going to ask you the same question that I asked at the end of our first episode that we did together. And that question was this: if you could sum up for us here, like we’re having a glass of wine, and I’m saying, okay, I need higher quality content that educates, that positions me as an expert, that leverages the data that I have. What is it should be my takeaway from this?

Key takeaway: Meet the customer where they are

Steve MacDonald: What’s the most important thing from this episode that I should be remembering?

Monique de Maio: Okay. So a couple of things. One is that your buyer’s journey is not linear anymore. So you can’t predict how and where, and what assets they’re going to be consuming in what order. That’s no longer relevant. You need to understand that the complexity and consistency of your message and your value proposition, your key attribute messaging has to be consistent in all of what you put out.

Don’t sound one way – approachable, funny, cute, and whatever, whimsical in one asset and then serious corporate in another. You want to have a consistent persona, personality if you will. A DNA that you have. The brand needs to be consistent.

You want to add value in advance. Don’t ask me to register for something when I don’t even know that I want to engage with you. And be authentic. You can’t slap a white paper label on a brochure.

So if you want it to be about you, you’ve missed the boat. The whole point about creating really smart and relevant content is that it has to be 80% about your customer or a client and 20% about you. Don’t reverse the order. Make it about them, not you. Nobody cares about us. We have to solve problems as solution providers.

So make it about solving that problem in your solution set, whether that’s in person or online. You have to make that consistently. And when you’re creating content, make it in all shapes and sizes so that you don’t incorrectly predict how your prospect wants to consume it and in what format they want to consume it.

And that’s what I would say. That would be my takeaways.

Steve MacDonald: When you say, make it 80% about them, 20% about you. Right. Make it about them. Most B2B buyers make decisions based on the company’s risk factors but also for them. It’s their careers. Like the old adage, right?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You buy IBM, right? Yeah. Totally. So, in fact, it’s another study shows that 56% of the buying decision is an emotionally based decision. Totally. When you talk about how it’s 80% about them, its value add content. How much of that content is geared towards helping them reduce the risk of buying with you?

Monique de Maio: Yeah, that’s it. So remember that it’s like this personal and professional is now interwoven in a way that’s never been before. Why? Because I’m not only concerned about protecting the buyer now. Okay. I’m not only concerned about buying and reducing risk for my company. I’m buying to reduce the risk for myself. So I don’t get canned in three months because I made the wrong decision or I deployed the wrong technology or anything above.

So I will speak to you in ways that touch you emotionally and intellectually. I’m going to get a rational nod, and I’m going to get an emotional nod because you have trust that my technology and my people together will protect you and your brand.

Steve MacDonald: Fantastic. Again, I feel like we could go on for hours here, Monique, but I think these were the words of wisdom that we want to leave everybody with. And if they want to get a hold of you, what’s the best place to do that? Find you on LinkedIn?

Monique de Maio: Certainly, you can find me on LinkedIn. I think it’s easy, and OnDemandCMO.com is our website, and my email is Monique@ondemandCMO.com. So LinkedIn, website, my email. I’m pretty findable.

Steve MacDonald: All right. Well, thank you very much for sharing all of this wisdom you’ve had and your success. It’s going to make a big difference for a lot of folks here.

Monique de Maio: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. It was great being on.

Next Steps

Monique talks about how content for B2B buyers needs to be 80% about the buyer and 20% about you as a company, thus more thought leadership content. To elevate your content’s ROI and revenue impact, don’t miss the opportunity to CLICK HERE and schedule a 20-minute strategy session with Steve MacDonald, founder of ConstentStrategies.io.

ELEVATING CONTENT MARKETING STANDARDS RAISES A CRUCIAL QUESTION:
Why shouldn’t the very act of creating thought leadership content also spark new conversations with in-pipeline deals, top prospects, and high-priority customers for revenue expansion? Or serve as the cornerstone for learning and applying voice-of-customer strategies? That’s the power of ABM Podcasting—engaging B2B buyers and customers in meaningful conversations that uncover essential go-to-market insights, support long sales cycles, reinforce your market perspective, build peer-level trust, and dismantle objections that kill deals.

Steven MacDonald

Steven MacDonald is the founder of Content Strategies, CEO of a MarTech SaaS Company, fractional CMO consulting with leading B2B companies and former Director of Strategy and Client Service at top ten digital marketing agencies.

Follow Steve on LinkedIn.

Steven MacDonald

Follow Steve on LinkedIn.