Findability + Web Presence + Social: Attracting the “Customer as Buyer”, Part 2

By Julie Hunt (@juliebhunt) Jul 8, 2010

In Part 1 of this two part article, we talked about the need for a strong and well-crafted web presence for connecting with potential customers or with the “Customer as Buyer”. OK – Buyers have found the software vendor’s website…

SMB / Mid-Market buyers of B2B software generally want a wide variety of information about the products and solutions, input from communities and forums, clear pricing and other information that will guide them to making a buying decision.

Content Sought Out by Software Solution Buyers

Anything provided on the vendor website should be authentic, high quality content that answers real buyer questions. “Real” content engages buyers, so invest in subject matter experts who can write relevant, sharp and interesting documents, articles and posts. Vendors should provide links to industry writers, influencer blogs and communities and to analysts who contribute insight regarding the vendor’s solution space and the competitive landscape.

When significant negative content is published about the vendor, it’s smart to deal with it head-on through a vendor blog, as well as through any external social sites that are relevant — be honest and focused, always responding with the buyer’s POV in mind.

Content that buyers would like to see on the vendor website

Products and Solutions Information

White papers providing orientations for both technical and business problems
Product and solution datasheets
Technical specifications
Best practices / company approach to solving problems with the vendor solutions (lots of details)
Case studies with real meat

Social Media

Incorporating social media in the vendor website further provides the opportunity to create a more personalized customer experience. The website should provide vendor-sponsored social media sites and links to external social sites. Buyer-friendly social media include: communities, blogs, wikis, forums, RSS, self-serve webcasts and podcasts, video sharing sites, social networking sites.

As with findability and usability, social media requires real commitment, constant nurturing and responsiveness to anyone participating in the vendor’s social sites. Social media offers a fantastic venue for building relationships with “customers as buyers”, for collaborating with them on the future direction of the vendor’s offerings, and to respond quickly to questions and issues.

External Content from Influencers – Which Include Current Customers

Communities, forums, blogs – the ones external to vendor website
Coverage, reviews by industry writers and influencer blogs
Analyst coverage – especially from analysts that specialize in software for SMB / Mid-Market

Pricing

For SMB / Mid-Market buyers, pricing should be published on the website, should be straight-forward, and always up-to-date. These buyers are not interested in drawn out sales cycles – they will simply move on to another vendor if the clock has been ticking too long.

Many buyers would like to make most software purchases via the website, whenever possible. SaaS, cloud, OSS software options are changing how SMB / Mid-Market buyers expect to purchase software, or software services.

RFP Q&A – Standardized Answers

The more likely initiators of RFP requests are the upper tiers of the Mid-Market, rather than “classic SMB”. Most RFP/RFI documents follow a basic format widely used in software industry, with a large majority of questions repeating from buyer to buyer. So it might be a good idea to build out an engaging presentation of RFP Q&A on the website, utilizing newer media including podcasts and video.