B2B Marketers: Understanding Buyers to Drive Success

For B2B marketers, the ultimate goal is to understand the buyer and build strategies that resonate with their needs. Many marketers only address one part of the buyer’s journey, often stopping at why buyers make a purchase. However, this is just the beginning. To truly excel, you need to dive deeper into what they are buying and how they are making those purchases.

In this guide, we’ll explore three essential questions B2B marketers must ask to unlock insights into their buyers' motivations, choices, and purchasing behaviors. These answers will enable you to better understand your audience, create a relevant marketing strategy, and adjust your positioning for maximum impact.

Why Are They Making This Purchase?

Understanding the reason behind a buyer's decision is critical in crafting messages that resonate. It goes beyond identifying general pain points or goals. You need to dig into the buyer's motivations at a deeper level.

1. Solving a Problem (Pain Point)

One of the most common triggers for a purchase decision is the need to solve a problem. Whether it’s a technical issue, a process bottleneck, or an operational gap, buyers often seek solutions to make their businesses more efficient.

As a marketer, identifying and addressing the pain points your buyers are facing will help you position your products or services as the ideal solution. A good approach is to speak directly to these issues in your messaging.

2. Accessing a Gain

In addition to fixing problems, buyers are often looking to achieve specific benefits. Whether it’s increasing efficiency, cutting costs, or boosting productivity, they want to gain an edge over competitors. Highlighting these potential gains in your content can make your offering more appealing.

3. Starting a New Project

Buyers might be launching new initiatives or expanding into new markets. When this happens, they’re often in search of tools, services, or partnerships to help them succeed. Marketing to this audience means emphasizing innovation, growth, and scalability.

Understanding the motivations that drive your buyers is just the first step. Once you know why they’re buying, you need to understand what they’re buying.

What Are They Buying?

B2B buyers are faced with an overwhelming number of options when it comes to solving their problems or meeting their needs. The key to effective marketing is understanding what they’re really looking for in a solution.

4. Are They Buying a Capability?

Sometimes buyers are not just purchasing a product or service; they are buying a capability that will enable them to solve a problem or improve a specific part of their business. This could be a software tool that helps with automation, a consulting service that provides expert advice, or a platform that enables better customer engagement.

When marketing to these buyers, it’s important to highlight the capabilities your solution brings to the table. Focus on how your offering empowers them to meet their objectives.

5. Do They Need a Technical Feature?

In certain industries, buyers may be looking for specific technical features that address their needs. For example, a cloud service might be purchased for its data security features, while a marketing automation platform might be selected for its customizable workflows.

Understanding the technical aspects your buyers are interested in allows you to highlight these in your marketing efforts, showing how your solution meets their exact requirements.

6. Are They Looking for Specific Benefits?

Beyond capabilities and features, buyers often seek specific benefits that will help their business thrive. These benefits could range from increased efficiency and lower costs to better customer experiences or improved compliance with regulations.

By understanding what benefits your buyers are prioritizing, you can tailor your messaging to speak directly to their interests and demonstrate how your product or service delivers on these promises.

Now that we’ve covered the why and what, let’s move on to the how buyers make their purchasing decisions.

How Are They Buying?

Many marketers overlook the importance of understanding the buying process within organizations. It’s not enough to know why and what buyers want; you must also understand how they go about making the decision to purchase.

7. What Is in Their Buying Checklist?

Every organization has a unique buying process. Typically, they will follow a buying checklist that outlines the key criteria they are looking for in a product or service. These criteria can include price, functionality, vendor reputation, scalability, and after-sales support.

Understanding what’s on your buyers’ checklist allows you to craft marketing materials that directly address these priorities. For example, if a common item on the checklist is vendor support, make sure you highlight your excellent customer service and technical support in your messaging.

8. When Do They Buy, and How Long Does the Process Take?

The timing of purchases can vary greatly between different organizations. Some might make quick decisions, while others have a longer, more drawn-out process that involves multiple stages of approval. It’s important to know how long the process typically takes and when buyers are most likely to make their purchase decisions.

This information helps you plan your marketing efforts around the buyer's timeline. For instance, if you know that buyers typically make decisions at the end of the fiscal year, you can ramp up your marketing efforts to align with that time frame.

9. Who Is in Charge of the Decision?

In many cases, the person who initially discovers a solution is not the same person who makes the final purchasing decision. There could be several layers of approval required, with input from different departments such as IT, finance, or operations.

Identifying the key decision-makers or champions in the buying process is crucial. This allows you to tailor your messaging to different stakeholders, ensuring that each person involved in the decision has the information they need to advocate for your solution.

The Importance of Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Now that we’ve covered the three essential questions (why, what, and how), it’s crucial to remember that these insights are only useful if they’re applied to a specific ideal customer profile (ICP).

10. Why Broad Targeting Fails

Trying to target everyone is a recipe for failure. If your marketing is too broad, you’ll end up with vague and generic messaging that doesn’t resonate with anyone. You might find yourself writing headlines like “10x Your Revenue with Our Product” — a platitude that lacks substance.

11. Specific ICPs Lead to Specific Answers

By defining your ideal customer profile clearly, you can develop highly targeted messaging and strategies that speak directly to their unique needs and challenges. This, in turn, helps you attract high-quality leads who are more likely to convert.

Specific ICPs lead to specific positioning, specific messaging, and ultimately, greater success in your marketing efforts.

Conclusion: How to Turn Insights into Action

Understanding why buyers make purchases, what they’re buying, and how they go about making their decisions is the foundation of successful B2B marketing. By answering these questions for a clearly defined ideal customer profile, you can create relevant, targeted messaging that resonates with your audience and drives higher engagement.

Don’t stop at the first question. Dig deeper into the buyer's motivations, understand their needs, and study their buying process. Doing so will allow you to develop marketing strategies that truly meet their expectations and position your solution as the right choice.