When you are selling something, anything, it pays to know a little about the 'Buying Cycle' for that particular product. The buying cycle is best defined as the what happens between when someone decides that they want something to the time that they go and buy it.
As you can imagine, this cycle can be very short; 'I'm thirsty, I think I'll buy a Coke' to long ones like 'I need a new TV, but I just don't know what type to get'. These cycles can thus last for seconds or months, some requiring detailed research, others none at all.
The producers of drinks or TV's could (and do) of course get involved with the customer even before they are actually looking, and that of course is the reason for many adverts on the TV. They want to put their brand in front of you for the time you are thirsty or looking for that TV. Branding is another reason why people write blogs or Tweet, it is all to do with raising one's profile.
When to get Involved?
However on the web, when it comes to a particular site selling a TV, the question is 'When should they get involved in that buying cycle?' Let us take TV's as the example. We can assume that the manufacturers will have been blasting out the reasons why people should pick a Sony or a Panasonic, all this being aimed at those who are either not in or have just started the process of getting a new TV, so that area is covered by the 'big boys'.
But what about you, the TV retailer, when do you start trying to catch the attention of that TV buyer? You also have to decide the means you are going to use, will you provide reviews and comparisons, will you set up a forum where people can get advice, or will you set up a Blog so that people can ask your advice directly and where you post this and that all about TV's. Or will you just wait until that last minute, when the buyer has decided on the model they want and then bounce and try to win the deal with the best price?
Some sites use both, and some don't sell on price at all, instead relying on the goodwill they have generated by providing the reviews and advice to the consumer.
As you can imagine, the process of capturing the eye of the customer early on is a time consuming and costly one. All those reviews and articles and the time taken to give advice are not going to be cheap to provide. When it comes to Adwords, the difference is vast too, as in one instance you are buying the word 'hd televisions' and in the other 'Sony XV4000'. As you can imagine the cost per click for one is a hell of a lot higher than the other...
As mentioned above, those sites wanting to wait until the end of the cycle, will, more than likely be using Adwords as the capturing mechanism. The reason for this is simple as it is very easy to 'buy' the keywords covering all the model numbers needed (rather than have your site tuned so finely that they appear in the Organic listings), and of course you are virtually guaranteed to be spotted (if you bid enough) by anyone looking.
Thus, if you have a good advert (and in many case a good price) you can more than likely get a sale from someone you have had no dealings with in the past at all. In a way you are 'stealing' that sale from those who (may) have helped that buyer come to the decision to by 'x' but that is, many would say 'business'.
Cheap is Not Always Cheerful
All you, as a site owner can do to counter this threat is to be as helpful as possible during the buying cycle and hope that this and the solid reputation you will have built up in the process will steer the buyer to purchase from you, even if you are that little bit more expensive. After all, cheap is not always cheerful at the end of that proverbial day.
More next week
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