What’s the percentage being thrown around again?
Is it that 97% of buyers are not in-market?
That was the premise for the “create demand” movement…
“Why are you only capturing demand from the 3% of buyers that are in-market? You should market to the other 97% too. Create demand!”
Got it. So where does the website fit into this scenario? Does the typical B2B website cater more to in-market buyers or the other 97%?
As marketers, we’d love to think the answer is both, right? But that’s just not real.
How many times have we tricked ourselves into believing buyers are really going to the Resource section of our site and carefully consuming our excellent content pieces one by one until they’re fully educated?
Oh we wish!
The truth is that the typical B2B website largely ends up catering to in-market buyers.
Sure, there’s some value in browsing it if you’re not ready to buy yet too, but most website content ends up pitching the product more than reframing the situation for future buyers.
And that’s the lost opportunity.
When we’re pitching, 9/10 messages are about how great our stuff is. Even when we think we’re “telling a story” or “delivering value” or whatever we wanna call it.
But we’re typically not reframing the buyer’s predicament. Unless we’ve done an excellent job with our narrative AND we’re leading with that prominently on the homepage of our website.
But even then we’re only dedicating a few lines of copy to that narrative.
So what’s the solution?
We believe it’s a “Start Here” page.
A page dedicated to spelling out the full narrative around the business.
The most impactful version of how you reframe your buyer’s reality in the context of your business.
Placed prominently in the navigation…
And used as a landing page for real “create demand” ad campaigns.
When executed correctly, it’s the most cost-effective way to actually start moving folks from the 97% towards buying.
So what makes a good Start Here page?
Feel free to fast track to two free template here and here if you’d like, but here we go:
First of all, the Start Here page is ideally created on the back of a strong brand narrative, which is developed as part of the ongoing messaging work all B2B companies must embrace.
But, if you haven’t been able to get through the brand narrative exercise quite yet, building a Start Here page can go a long way on its own.
The key is to reframe your buyers’ situation in a way that establishes why acting now is better than tomorrow. But NOT based on your product. Based on the new way customers are winning.
Drift did an excellent job of this a few years back.
Another source of inspiration: OpenView’s breakdown of product-led growth
Back in the day, you would sometimes see the About Us page trying to tell a story to hook buyers that aren’t yet in-market, but it didn’t quite hit until Andy Raskin started talking about narrative.
Also, the Why [company name] page tends to speak more to in-market buyers about why they should pick this particular company – as opposed to explain why buyers should think differently about winning.
Just think about it:
If you’re not quite ready to buy something and you land on a website for a product or service that will likely be relevant to you at some point…
Wouldn’t clicking Start Here kinda make sense?
Two final points:
1. About your freedom as a marketer
Getting the entire leadership team to buy into a new narrative for the company takes a lot of time, energy and typically compromise.
But firing up a new webpage that can be updated at any point is something you can do much more easily as a marketer.
It’s part of building your own momentum. It’s offense. And it’s going to help the business.
2. About the foundation you build
When you have a Start Here page, you’ll realize how many other parts of your marketing work can be connected to this foundation.
- You’ll drive buyers to it
- You’ll pull messaging from it
- You’ll empower Sales to use it
- You’ll create new content from it
- You’ll update it slightly and learn more
Building a Start Here page might just be one of the most ROI positive initiatives you can drive as a marketing leader.
It’s such a strong way to differentiate now that every industry is more competitive than ever.
Again, grab that free templates here and here have at it.
Any questions? We’re here. And when the page is built, we’d love to take a look!
- Your partners in growth at Elevate Demand