The challenge for B2B marketers, Albee says, is to "define triggers that are consistently indicative of specific shifts, not one-off behaviors that produce differing results."
She offers four types of triggers that can indicate progressive shifts in prospect interest levels:
- Buying-stage transition. This trigger occurs "when a prospect who's only viewing early-stage educational content makes the shift to view best-practices content, for example," Albee explains. The indication here may be that solving a problem "is becoming more urgent" for the prospect.
- Attention jump. If the average time a prospect spends with your content suddenly jumps, this is a trigger that her interest has grown, Albee says. Other attention jumps: When a customer attends your one-hour webinar, or clicks through an email to your site but stays to view other info.
- Pro-active visits. A prospect who visits your website only when prompted by email begins to visit on his own in search of more information.
- Dialogue initiation. "This trigger is about the prospect making the effort to do something other than read," Albee explains. "This can be leaving a comment on a blog post, asking a question on Twitter, replying to an email you sent, submitting an inquiry on your website or even picking up the phone."
The Po!nt: Some triggers are indicators. Different people will react differently to your content-marketing program, but their actions can serve as indicators of their interest levels. Consider classic trigger types like these to pinpoint a prospect's progression through the B2B sales cycle.
Source: Marketing Interactions. Read the full post.
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