How Modern Buyers Buy

In partnership with

In Today's Episode:

• Things Just Ain’t Like They Used To Be

• How Modern Buyers Work

• Ready To Learn AI With Rundown AI

• Positioning Is Now Distribution

• How To Fire Up Your Distribution Engine

  • Distribution is a TEAM Sport

• Meet YOUR Modern Buyer Where They Are

• Some Content From Around The Interwebz

• Laugh of the Day

• Thanks To Our Sponsor - Neurons

Things Just Ain’t Like They Used To Be

A million years ago (1999-2001) I worked for a search engine (not GOOG - we actually laughed about them - selling ads in search - that would NEVER work!). My job often entailed flying to whatever city a partner prospect was in, having a meeting, maybe buying the prospect a stupid expensive dinner and closing a deal.

That isn’t the way things work anymore.

Today, buyers (of whatever you are selling) have WAAAAAAY more access to options. There is generally very little need fly somewhere to show people what cool stuff you do. The interwebs do such an amazing job at delivering messaging to prospects, that by the time you get to a meeting with a prospect, you are already on their short list.

How Modern Buyers Work

Today, buyers, especially more sophisticated buyers, are involved in a filtering process rather than a “searching” process. They typically have some idea of what the symptoms of their problems are and start the discovering the solution this way:

1. Ask Their Network: Often then will ask on LinkedIn or X or wherever for recommendations. This is the primary visibility zone. Many times, this is as far as a prospect needs to go - they get 2-3 recommendations and pick from one of those.

2. The Baader–Meinhof Phenomenon: Once they start thinking about solutions, suddenly they will see solution providers everywhere. Sometimes called “frequency illusion”, this phenomena of suddenly seeing the thing you are looking for everywhere is where the secondary visibility zone. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN GRAB WINS.

3. Outbound: When you aren’t in the primary or secondary visibility zones, doing outbound (cold outreach, etc), is a terrific way to give yourself an opportunity to get into the secondary visibility zone OR if timing is right, you skip right into a sales process.

4. Your Website: This is at the END of most buyer journeys. Most buyers never get to your website because they didn’t find you in the other three zones of visibility. This is THE LOWEST ZONE of visibility.

Buyers aren’t waiting to learn about your service or technology from you in a demo or a call. They are forming an opinion about you and including you in the consideration set (or not) before you even know they exist.

Ready To Learn AI With Rundown AI

sponsored

Learn how to make AI work for you

AI won’t take your job, but a person using AI might. That’s why 1,000,000+ professionals read The Rundown AI – the free newsletter that keeps you updated on the latest AI news and teaches you how to use it in just 5 minutes a day.

Sign up to start learning.

Positioning Is Now Distribution

Positioning used to be a strategic exercise that helped you craft exquisitely crafted messages that spurred interest in your target market. Positioning was deliberate & careful.

Since buyers rarely get to your gorgeously sculpted home page or your precious “pillar content” designed to accelerate the buying decision, the impact of that high-value, sharply-positioned content is hidden away behind social media, newsletters, podcasts, YouTube videos, ChatGPT, influencers & more.

More than ever, your positioning needs to live where your buyers are filling up their brains with opinions and insights. Distribution is no longer discrete marketing campaigns. Distribution is now a multi-threaded, multi-modal organism that thrives on the energy of your team.

Positioning without distribution is useless.

Your entire team, from CEO to your summer intern, is your new distribution engine. Creating & sharing content that carries your positioning inside of authentic content is they way that you own the Baader–Meinhof visibility layer (and being part of that awareness layer gives you the opportunity to become a network recommendation.

How To Fire Up Your Distribution Engine

This is a two step process.

Step 1: Forget about your positioning for a moment, and think like a buyer. What does the buyer need to know in order to find you compelling? This isn’t a short list of items - it’s pretty big, but let’s get you started with a few:

• Do you address the problems they have?

• Do you understand their business?

• Do you have experience or insight that sets you apart?

• Do you understand how whatever you do helps their entire business?

• Do you have the requisite technical/process/team infrastructure to handle the buyer’s need?

• Do you have a secret sauce that disrupts?

Step 2: Create and repurpose content that is relevant and appropriate for the source. Your executives ought to create executive-level content. You can repurpose a 3 minute video answer into a social short, LinkedIn content, a blog post, an email series, a podcast snippet, etc. Your account managers need to create & repurpose content that is relevant and appropriate for their points of contact. Maybe it is the same points as your executives, but likely its more in the weeds, more process and less proclamation and prognostication. Your sales team needs to do the same. Your dev staff needs to do the same.

Distribution is a TEAM Sport

Meet YOUR Modern Buyer Where They Are

You don’t win visibility by being perfect.

You win by being present…in the feed, in the group chat, in the newsletter, in the top-of-mind moment when someone says, “Hey, do you know anyone who can help with…?”

If your positioning isn’t where the conversation is happening, then it isn’t positioning—it’s just a text you sent to yourself.

So fire up the engine. Your buyers are already filtering you out - don’t make that easy on ‘em. 😉

Some Content From Around The Interwebz

1. Podcast: Let’s Talk About the ‘New’ Customer Buying Journey – B2B Marketing Podcast: This episode features Alison Dodd and Chris Scott from Revere discussing how digital behaviors have transformed B2B buyer journeys. They emphasize that buyers now make decisions before visiting websites, highlighting the importance of early-stage content.

2. Blog: Content Marketing for Different Stages of the Buyer’s Journey – Forecom Solutions: This article provides practical tips on tailoring content to each phase of the buyer’s journey. It underscores the necessity of addressing buyer questions proactively, rather than relying solely on website content.

3. Podcast: Mapping Your Content to Buyer Journey – The SaaS Sprints Podcast: Adam Turinas discusses how to align content with the buyer’s journey using intent data. He offers insights into creating content that resonates with buyers at each stage, ensuring your messaging reaches them before they initiate contact.

Laugh of the Day

The Blue Origin sub-orbital flight that happened recently, starring Katie Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Gayle King & some other folks went over like a lead balloon. The Daily Beast had the GREATEST HEADLINE I HAVE EVER READ:

So I had no choice but to ask my dear friend ChatGPT to make me a suitable image….

Thanks To Our Sponsor - Neurons

Turn Creative Briefs into Revenue

With Neurons AI, agencies can fast-track everything from creative development to client sign-off.

Neurons AI indicates how campaign assets will perform—before launch—so you can deliver smarter, faster, and with confidence.

Get instant insights on attention, engagement, and memorability, along with AI-powered recommendations to refine assets before clients even see them.

No more endless feedback loops. No more debating design choices. Just clear, data-backed reasoning that helps you present and sell creative work with ease.

Using Neurons AI, Teads helped their client improve brand awareness by 64% and ad recall by 29%.

Get Your Neurons Demo

Our sponsorships are ads (obviously). But some of the companies or services linked in our content may pay us a minimal commission if you buy something from them. Potential payment is never a factor in what we link to, and we have direct experience with every company or service we mention in our content.