GlobalSpec Provides Strategies to Align Marketing with the Industrial “Buy Cycle”

March 4, 2010; 02:32 AM

Troy, NY -- 3/4/2010 - GlobalSpec (www.globalspec.com), the leading specialized search engine, information resource, e-publishing and online events company for the engineering, industrial and technical communities, today announced the availability of its newest white paper, “Understanding the Industrial Buy Cycle: How to Align Your Marketing with Your Customers’ Buying Process.”

Developed specifically for companies within the industrial sector, the white paper explores the four stages of the industrial buy cycle: Needs Awareness, Research, Consideration & Comparison and Procurement, and the implications of how the prevalent use of online methods for gathering and comparing information has come to dominate each of these stages.

The white paper features the results of a comprehensive survey of engineering, technical, manufacturing and industrial professionals who have influence on their company’s processes for buying products and services. Highlights include the length of the buy cycle, sources buyers use to obtain information, the amount of content buyers review before making a purchase decision, how various factors influence purchasing decisions, and the number of suppliers evaluated before making a purchase decision.

One of the key concepts addressed in the white paper is the “last click” reporting standard, where credit for conversion is given exclusively to the final ad seen or acted upon by a prospect before purchase, leading marketers to making flawed decisions on where to focus their efforts. The white paper drives attention to this marketing mistake, encouraging organizations to examine the role that every marketing program plays in bringing buyers to a company, versus focusing solely on the last click.

“The survey results reinforce the need for industrial marketers to utilize a comprehensive online marketing program to reach customers and prospects through the entire buy cycle,” said Angela Hribar, chief sales and marketing officer for GlobalSpec. “It further advises marketers of the downside of the ‘last click’ concept where credit for a conversion is exclusively given to the last ad a prospect acts upon.”

For a copy of “Understanding the Industrial Buy Cycle: How to Align Your Marketing with Your Customer’ Buying Process”, visit www.globalspec.com/wp/WP_BuyCycle_media

About GlobalSpec, Inc.
GlobalSpec, Inc. is the leading specialized vertical search, information services and e-publishing company serving the engineering, technical and industrial communities. GlobalSpec users benefit from domain-expert search engines, a broad range of proprietary and aggregated Web-based content, 40 e-events and more than 60 e-newsletters - helping them search for and locate products and services, learn about suppliers and access comprehensive technical content. SpecSearch^®, GlobalSpec's trademarked search technology, allows users to search by specification more than 186,000,000 parts in 2,300,000 product families from more than 23,000 supplier catalogs. For suppliers, GlobalSpec offers highly filtered sales and marketing opportunities, product promotion and brand advertising platforms, including the GlobalSpec Industrial Ad Network, and a wide range of e-media advertising and marketing solutions.

GlobalSpec, SpecSearch, The Engineering Search Engine and The Engineering Web are registered trademarks of GlobalSpec, Inc.