Over the past few weeks I'm mentioned the changes in search technology from Google (Hummingbird) and how it will affect both B2B media and marketing. I've also touched on google's concept of the Zero Moment of Decision (ZMOD), the moment when a customer actually decides to Google a company or product to make a purchase decision (which is actually long after the decision has been made).
Today, however, I sat down with a good friend by the name of Douglas Alexander, who told me a very interesting story about his product search and selection process. You may recognize Douglas's name from reading EBN, Electronic Purchasing Strategies or any number of component engineering and design publications. He's currently writing what may become the definitive educational book on component engineering.
I published the audio from the discussion on my Spreaker page, linked below, but let me give you a brief overview:
Douglas rarely goes to a company website or does a Google search for companies or products. His purchase decision has very little to do with SEO and everything to do with concepts and questions. This is not a new way of doing things. If you are a marketer in the technology field, you need to understand that all the marketing collateral, white papers and web advertising is doing very little for your company to gain new customers. The content that matters is not about you. It's about the problems your customers are trying to solve.