Why Your Buyer’s Journey Matters

By David Ronald  

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “buyer’s journey.” 

It gets tossed around a lot, sometimes as a buzzword, sometimes as a framework.  

But what does it really mean?  

The buyer’s journey, at its core, is the route that a potential customer takes from the moment they realize they have a need to the point when they make a purchase.  

It’s crucial to understand this route because, equipped with that information you can align your business to guide them along the way.  

In this blog post I examine the concept of the buyer’s journey and why it helps businesses anticipate what a potential customer might need at different points in their decision-making process.  

(You may be interested in reading our blog post Mapping Content to your Buyer’s Journey.) 

Is the Buyer’s Journey Outdated?

Before beginning, however, I want to acknowledge that not everyone is convinced the concept still holds weight.  

Some marketers argue that the buyer’s journey is too neat and linear to reflect the messy, real-world way people make decisions today.  

They point out that modern buyers bounce between channels, get influenced by peers and social media, and may even skip stages altogether. 

In a world of always-on information and instant access to reviews, the idea of a step-by-step journey can feel oversimplified.  

Yet, even if the journey isn’t a perfect straight line, dismissing it entirely misses the point – the buyer’s journey is meant as a framework, not a rigid playbook.  

The reality may be zigzagged and unpredictable, but the stages of awareness, consideration, and decision still provide a useful lens to make sense of buyer behavior.

The Stages of the Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey is broken into three main stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.  

Each stage represents a different mindset, and knowing where someone is in their journey is key to providing the right message at the right time.

Awareness Stage (aka Top of Funnel)

This is where it all begins

The buyer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity. They might not know what the solution looks like yet, but they’re actively researching, asking questions, or just starting to define the challenge.

For example, a business leader noticing declining customer engagement may begin Googling “how to improve customer retention.” 

Consideration Stage (aka Middle of Funnel)

At this point, the buyer has clearly defined their problem and is exploring possible solutions.

They’re comparing approaches, reading reviews, and weighing the pros and cons of different strategies.  

Using our example, the business leader may now be comparing customer feedback platforms, loyalty programs, or CRM upgrades to see which one could best address their retention issue. 

Decision Stage (aka Bottom of Funnel)

Here, the buyer has narrowed down their options and is ready to choose a solution.

They’re looking for proof, such as case studies, ROI calculators, free trials, and validation that their decision will be the right one.

This is where trust becomes critical. 

Our business leader may be choosing between two top CRM vendors and wants reassurance that their investment will pay off.

Why the Buyer’s Journey Matters

The power of the buyer’s journey lies in its ability to create alignment.

Too often, businesses jump straight into pitching their product without considering where the buyer is mentally.

Imagine trying to sell a CRM to someone who doesn’t yet realize their customer engagement problem is costing them revenue – it’s not going to land.

By mapping content, sales strategies, and messaging to each stage, companies can meet buyers where they are and build trust that naturally leads to conversion.

For marketers, this means crafting educational content for the awareness stage, in-depth comparison guides for the consideration stage, and persuasive case studies for the decision stage.

For sales teams, it means listening carefully and tailoring conversations to match the buyer’s current mindset.

And for product teams, it means understanding how features and benefits map to real customer pain points throughout this journey

Beyond the Sale

One important nuance: the buyer’s journey doesn’t stop at purchase.

The best companies see the post-purchase experience, onboarding, support, and customer success, as part of the journey too.

Satisfied customers become repeat buyers and, even better, advocates who influence future buyers. In other words, the journey is cyclical, not linear. 

Conclusion

Businesses that understand and respect the journeys of their buyers put themselves in the best position to guide prospects smoothly from problem recognition to purchase and beyond.

At the end of the day, it’s about empathy: seeing the process through your customer’s eyes and aligning your efforts to make their path as clear and valuable as possible.

Thanks for reading.

I hope you found this post useful. Do you feel that you know enough about your buyer's journey? If not, get in touch with me at david@alphabetworks.com and let's have a conversation.

8 Principles for Achieving Product-Market Fit

By David Ronald

Product-market fit is essential for success.

But what is it exactly?

Product-market fit (PMF) means that you’ve built something that solves a real, pressing problem for a clearly defined group of people, and the value you provide is obvious to them.

Marc Andreessen, who coined the term, described it as “being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.”

Not so long ago I worked for a company that had PMF and it made my role as a product marketer easy – the product almost sold itself.  

Some of the key signs of PMF include: 

• Strong demand – customers are eager to buy, and sales cycles shorten.
• High retention – users stick around because your product becomes part of their workflow or life.
• Organic growth – word-of-mouth and referrals start driving adoption without heavy marketing.
• Clear ROI – customers can easily articulate the value they’re getting.

In this blog post I explore eight principles that every product builder should adopt to turn good ideas into category-defining companies. 

(Note: This blog post was inspired by a post on Bessemer Venture Partners' LinkedIn page – I’ve stayed true to the original eight principles but have adapted and expanded them.) 

1. Start with a Wedge, not a Platform

The temptation to “build the platform” is strong.

Platforms sound visionary and defensible, but in the early days, they’re usually too broad.

Buyers invest in solutions that solve urgent, painful problems, not grand visions.

That’s why the smartest companies start with a wedge: a narrow, high-impact entry point that addresses one clear use case.

A wedge makes it easier to land customers quickly, demonstrate value, and establish credibility.

For example, Slack didn’t begin as a “collaboration platform.” – it began by replacing messy team communication with a tool that made messaging faster and more searchable.

By solving one painful problem well, you gain trust, adoption, and revenue, which is the foundation for later expanding into a broader platform.

Takeaway #1 – Start with a wedge that proves value, then expand once you’ve earned the right. Don’t boil the ocean. 

2. Focus on a Narrowly-Defined ICP

Too many startups believe their product is “for everyone.”

What does that result in?

Diluted messaging, weak positioning, and scattered sales efforts.

A tight ideal customer profile (ICP) is a growth accelerant. It ensures your marketing speaks directly to the right buyers, your sales team knows exactly whom to target, and your product roadmap is aligned to a real customer’s needs.

For startups, a narrowly-defined ICP might be “mid-market financial services firms with lean compliance teams” or “enterprise marketing teams struggling with manual content workflows.”

The tighter the definition, the stronger your initial traction.

Once you’ve nailed one ICP, you can systematically expand into adjacent segments with credibility and proof points.

Takeaway #2 – Focus beats breadth. Define your ICP sharply and resist the urge to chase every shiny opportunity. 

3. Validate Use Cases, Not Only Ideas

A common mistake is mistaking enthusiasm for validation.

Someone saying “that’s a great idea” is not the same as a customer paying for a solution.

Real validation comes from solving a use case in a way that delivers clear, undeniable value.

That’s why the emphasis should be on building a minimum viable product (MVP), not just to test the idea, but to prove the use case.

The MVP should create value almost immediately, so that customers can’t imagine going back to the old way of doing things.

For example, an AI transcription tool that cuts meeting note-taking time from 2 hours to 5 minutes delivers instant proof of value. That kind of measurable impact turns pilots into long-term contracts.

Takeaway #3 – Validation is about outcomes, not opinions. Build an MV that shows undeniable value, fast. 

4. Deliver a Demo that Showcases Value

First impressions are everything in sales.

Too often, product demos spend 20 minutes setting context, clicking through menus, and explaining features before ever showing what makes the product special.

By then, the audience is distracted or, worse, unimpressed.

Great demos cut to the chase.

They showcase the “wow” moment upfront, the moment where a customer sees how their life will be different with your product.

That could be a complex workflow executed in seconds, a report generated instantly, or an integration that works flawlessly.

Once you’ve earned attention with that moment, you can explain how it works under the hood.

The key is flipping the script: lead with impact, not process.

Takeaway #4 – In every demo, surface the “wow” moment as soon as possible. 

5. Ship Fast, Integrate Faster

AI evolves quickly. What’s cutting-edge today may feel outdated in six months. 

Startups that move slowly risk getting leapfrogged by more agile competitors.

The most successful companies ship fast.

They also prioritize integrations, ensuring the product plugs seamlessly into a customer’s existing stack.

For buyers, integration is often the difference between experimentation and adoption.

Takeaway #5 – Build for speed and flexibility. The faster you ship and integrate, the harder it is for competitors to displace you. 

6. Prove ROI, but Appeal to End Users Also

Decision-makers sign the checks, but end users drive adoption.

To win, you must prove value on both fronts.

For executives, that means articulating ROI in clear economic terms: cost savings, time saved, revenue generated.

For end users, it means creating a product that’s intuitive, delightful, and genuinely makes their work easier.

Neglect either side, and growth stalls. A product with great ROI but poor usability will face resistance from teams.

A delightful product with no economic case will never survive procurement.

The winners balance both.

Takeaway #6 – Lead with metrics to win the deal and win hearts to sustain adoption. 

7. Create Urgency via Compelling Messaging

Even the best products struggle if customers don’t feel urgency.

This is where differentiated positioning and compelling messaging comes in.

Educate prospects not just on what your product does, but on the costs of doing nothing.

Highlight inefficiencies, risks, and competitive threats.

Position your product as not just a nice-to-have, but a necessity to future-proof operations.

Takeaway #7 – Urgency accelerates adoption. Use messaging to make inaction the riskiest option. 

8. Unlock Viral Distribution Loops

The most scalable growth doesn’t come from paid ads, but from customers bringing in other customers.

Viral distribution loops are the holy grail for game-changing products.

That might mean features that naturally generate external visibility (eg, watermarked reports, shareable outputs) or collaborative workflows that require inviting teammates.

It could also mean integrations that expose your product to new ecosystems.

When every new user becomes a potential advocate, you create a self-sustaining growth engine.

Not every product will achieve virality, but building with distribution in mind creates leverage that compounds over time.

Takeaway #8 – Design features that make sharing and adoption inevitable. 

Conclusion

Building winning products is not only about having a great idea, but also about exercising discipline, maintaining clarity, and executing flawlessly at every stage.

The eight principles outlined in this blog post provide a practical framework for achieving product-market fit, helping you focus on what truly matters for your customers and your business. 

By applying these principles consistently and thoughtfully, you can turn insights into action, avoid common pitfalls, and position your product to lead in your industry. 

Ultimately, success comes from combining vision with rigor – do the work diligently, and the results will follow.Building winning products is about discipline, clarity, and execution.

Thanks for taking time to read this blog post – I hope you found it helpful.

Are you interested in discussing how you can achieve product-market fit? If so, let’s have a conversation. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you.

Measuring Attribution in Multi-Channel Campaigns

By David Ronald

Marketing has never been more complex.

Or more measurable.

With so many channels available, from search and social to email, events, and programmatic ads, modern campaigns are rarely confined to a single touchpoint.

Yet with opportunity comes complexity: how do you know which channel is driving the most value? 

The answer lies in attribution, which is the process of identifying and assigning credit to the marketing activities that influence customer decisions. 

In this blog post I examine how attribution is becoming more complex and provide some best practice for measuring it.  

Why Attribution Matters

Attribution is more than just an analytics exercise.

It helps marketers understand how customers move along the buying journey, what triggers action, and which investments yield the highest ROI.

Without accurate attribution, you risk misallocating budget, pouring money into channels that look flashy but underperform, while undervaluing those quietly influencing conversions.

In an environment where every marketing dollar is scrutinized, attribution is essential for efficiency and growth. 

Challenges in Multi-Channel Campaigns

The difficulty is that customers don’t follow a straight line.

A prospect might first see a social ad, later read a blog post, receive an email, attend a webinar, and only then request a demo.

Traditional last-click attribution, which credits the final interaction before conversion, ignores the earlier touches that played a critical role. Similarly, first-click attribution overemphasizes awareness and misses the influence of nurturing activities.

The modern buyer journey is non-linear, cross-device, and often spans weeks or months.

This creates challenges in stitching together data from different platforms and applying fair credit to each step.

Add in privacy changes, cookie restrictions, and walled gardens from platforms, and it’s clear why attribution is both vital and difficult.

Common Attribution Models

To navigate these challenges, marketers use several attribution models, each with strengths and limitations: 

• First-click – credits the initial touchpoint. Best for measuring awareness channels.
• Last-click – credits the final touchpoint. Useful for measuring channels that close deals.
• Linear – distributes credit evenly across all touchpoints. Simple but may oversimplify influence.
• Time-decay – gives more weight to interactions closer to conversion. Good for long journeys.
• Position-based (U-shaped) – splits credit between the first and last touches, with some for the middle. Balances awareness and closing.
• Data-driven (algorithmic) – uses machine learning to assign credit based on historical performance. This is the most advanced model but requires significant data volume.

Choosing the right model depends on your goals, data maturity, and the complexity of your customer journey.

Best Practices for Multi-Channel Attribution

To make multi-channel attribution effective, marketers need a structured approach that balances clarity with flexibility.  

So, with that in mind here are some tips: 

1. Define clear goals – start by aligning your team on what you want to measure: leads, opportunities, or revenue.
2. Use integrated tools – platforms like Google Analytics 4, HubSpot, or advanced marketing attribution solutions help unify data across channels.
3. Test multiple models – don’t rely on a single lens. Comparing attribution models provides a more nuanced view.
4. Align with sales – attribution isn’t just about leads—it’s about pipeline and revenue. Work with sales teams to validate which touchpoints truly influence deals.
5. Iterate continuously – buyer behavior evolves. Revisit your attribution approach regularly to ensure accuracy.

Ultimately, successful attribution is less about finding a perfect model and more about building a system that informs smarter decisions and drives continuous improvement. 

Conclusion

Measuring attribution in multi-channel campaigns is both art and science. It requires the right tools, thoughtful model selection, and a willingness to refine as you learn.

What will be the outcome?

The result will be clearer insight into where your marketing dollars deliver the most impact, and the confidence to scale campaigns that truly drive growth.

Thanks for reading.

What did you find useful about this blog post? Reach out and let me know. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you.

A Brief Guide to Competitive Analysis

By David Ronald  

Understanding your competitors is a necessity.  

Competitive analysis enables you to identify market trends, benchmark your performance, uncover customer expectations, and craft strategies that help differentiate you from others.  

It doesn’t matter if you’re a startup seeking product-market fit or an established enterprise fine-tuning your positioning, conducting a structured competitive analysis can be the difference between growth and stagnation.

 

 

In this blog post I explore best practices in competitive analysis, covering what to examine, how to collect and interpret data, and how to translate insights into actionable strategies.

 

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu, Ancient Chinese military strategist, philosopher.   

Why Competitive Analysis Matters

Analyzing your competitors provides a window into how your rivals operate, what they prioritize, and how they communicate value to customers. It answers questions such as:

• What features and services do competitors offer that resonate with customers?
• How do competitors price, package, and deliver their products?
• What messages are they using to position themselves in the market?
• Where are they strong, and where are they vulnerable?

When done well, competitive analysis fuels stronger product roadmaps, sharper marketing campaigns, and more informed sales enablement.

It helps avoid blind spots and ensures you’re not caught off guard by a rival’s move.

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Scope

Before diving into research, it’s critical to clarify your objectives.  

Competitive analysis can serve many functions, so knowing your purpose will shape your approach. For example:

• Product teams may want to understand feature gaps or opportunities to innovate.
• Marketing teams may focus on messaging, positioning, and content strategies.
• Sales teams often want competitive battlecards to counter objections.
• Executives may want insights to assist in strategic planning, pricing, or partnership decisions.

Equally important is deciding on the scope.  

You don’t need to analyze every company tangentially related to your space.  

Instead, categorize competitors into:

• Direct competitors – companies offering similar products to the same target audience.
• Indirect competitors – companies with different solutions that address the same customer pain points.
• Emerging competitors – new entrants or adjacent players who could disrupt the market.

By narrowing focus, you ensure your analysis will be deep, rather than superficial.

Step 2: Gather Data from Diverse Sources

Comprehensive competitive analysis requires both qualitative and quantitative data.  

Here are some of the best sources to explore:  

Public Sources

• Company websites – review product descriptions, pricing pages, case studies, and blogs.
• Press releases and news articles – track new product launches, partnerships, or leadership changes.
• Job postings – hiring patterns can reveal strategic priorities (eg, a surge in AI-related roles suggests new capabilities).

Together, these sources provide a well-rounded view of a competitor’s strategy, priorities, and market positioning. 

Customer-Facing Channels

• Social media – understand brand voice, engagement tactics, and audience sentiment.
• Review sites (Capterra, G2, Trustpilot) – gather unfiltered feedback on strengths and weaknesses.
• Community forums – identify recurring frustrations or unmet needs.

Collectively, these channels reveal how customers truly perceive a brand and where expectations are being met (or missed). 

Financial and Market Data

• Annual reports & earnings calls – for public companies, these provide insight into growth strategies and financial health.
• Market research reports – analyst firms often publish industry benchmarks and forecasts.
• Traffic and SEO data (via tools like SEMrush or Similarweb) – reveal digital reach and content performance.

Taken together, these data points offer a clear picture of a company’s market position, growth trajectory, and competitive strength.

Direct Intelligence

• Customer and prospect conversations – sales and support teams often hear firsthand how competitors are positioned.
• Interviews with former employees or partners – ethical conversations can uncover operational insights.

The key is triangulation, and I recommend that you never rely on a single source – instead, build a composite view from multiple inputs.

Step 3: Organize Findings into a Competitive Framework

Raw data alone won’t yield value  – to extract insights, you need to structure it.  

Some key frameworks that have proven to be valuable include:

SWOT Analysis

Evaluate each competitor’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats – this provides a balanced perspective and helps uncover areas where your business can differentiate.

Feature Comparison Matrix

Create side-by-side charts comparing product features, pricing, and services – this makes it easy to identify gaps and overlaps.

Positioning Map

Plot competitors on axes such as “price vs. quality” or “breadth vs. depth of solution.” – this reveals white space where your company might uniquely compete.

Value Proposition Analysis

Break down how each competitor articulates value to customers – look at taglines, website copy, and messaging pillars to understand how they want to be perceived.

By converting scattered information into structured frameworks, you can identify actionable insights more quickly. 

Step 4: Evaluate Competitors Through the Customer’s Eyes

Competitive intelligence should not be an internal exercise only.

The most valuable perspective comes from understanding how customers perceive competitors. 

Consider asking valuable questions such as: 

• Why do customers choose competitor A over us?
• What frustrations do they have with competitor B?
• Which competitors are seen as “innovators” versus “safe bets”?

Additionally, leverage customer interviews, surveys, and online reviews as much as possible as a means of capturing authentic sentiment.  

This helps avoid internal bias and ensures you’re focusing on the aspects that matter most to buyers, not just what excites your team. 

Step 5: Translate Insights into Strategy

Collecting and organizing competitor data is only half the battle – the real impact comes from using insights to shape strategy.  

Here are a few common applications: 

Product Roadmap Prioritization

If competitors dominate in certain features but lack depth in others, you can prioritize enhancements that fill those gaps or focus on unique differentiators. 

Messaging and Positioning

If every competitor claims “ease of use,” perhaps your brand should highlight “enterprise-grade scalability.” Insights help you stand apart rather than blend in. 

Pricing and Packaging

Competitor analysis may reveal opportunities to introduce new tiers, bundle features, or simplify pricing to gain an edge. 

Sales Enablement

Battlecards and other quick-reference sheets that summarize competitor strengths, weaknesses, and objection-handling tactics are invaluable in equipping sales teams to win competitive deals. 

Strategic Partnerships

Spotting gaps in your solution may suggest opportunities for integrations or alliances that enhance value to customers.

The best strategies balance differentiation with credibility – you want to highlight what truly sets you apart, not just chase competitors’ moves. 

Step 6: Keep It Continuous, Not One-Off

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is treating competitive analysis as a one-time project. Markets evolve, competitors shift strategies, and new entrants emerge constantly. 

A best practice is to establish a continuous monitoring process: 

• Subscribe to Google Alerts for competitor mentions.
• Regularly track competitor websites for changes.
• Update battlecards and comparison matrices quarterly.
• Schedule periodic “competitive intel” reviews with cross-functional stakeholders.

By institutionalizing competitive analysis, you ensure that your organization stays agile and informed. 

Best Practices to Maximize Impact

Here are guiding principles, beyond step-by-step processes, to make your competitive analysis more impactful: 

1. Embrace Technology

Use competitive intelligence tools (e.g., Crayon, Klue, Kompyte) to automate monitoring and reduce manual effort. Technology ensures you spend more time interpreting insights than collecting data. 

2. Focus on Actionability

Distill findings into concise recommendations tied to business decisions instead of overwhelming stakeholders with 100-page reports. 

3. Collaborate Across Teams

Competitive insights are most powerful when shared – create centralized repositories (wikis, dashboards) and encourage contributions from sales, marketing, product, and customer success. 

4. Avoid Over-Fixation

While competitor insights are critical, don’t let them dictate your entire strategy. Balance outward analysis with inward focus on your company’s vision and strengths. 

5. Stay Ethical

Avoid crossing ethical or legal lines, such as misrepresenting yourself to gain insider information. Stick to publicly available data and transparent customer conversations. Integrity matters.  

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even experienced teams can stumble in competitive analysis.  

Some common traps to watch out for include: 

• Confirmation bias – seeking only data that validates your assumptions.
• Information overload – collecting so much data that analysis becomes paralyzing.
• Copycat strategies – reactively mirroring competitors instead of innovating.
• Static analysis – treating competitive intelligence as a one-off snapshot rather than a living discipline.

Recognizing these pitfalls helps you keep your analysis sharp and impactful. 

The Path Forward for Competitive Analysis

The discipline of competitive analysis is evolving as markets change.

A few trends shaping its future include: 

• AI-powered intelligence tools – automating data collection and surfacing patterns humans might miss.
• Real-time monitoring – shifting from quarterly updates to continuous intelligence streams.
• Customer-led insights – leveraging customer sentiment data (social listening, review mining) for faster signals of competitive shifts.
• Integration with revenue teams – embedding competitive insights directly into CRM systems so sales can act in the moment.

Companies that invest in modernizing their approach will stay ahead of disruption rather than scrambling to catch up. 

Conclusion

Competitive analysis is both a science and an art.

It requires systematic data collection, structured frameworks, and thoughtful interpretation – and also creativity in spotting patterns and envisioning opportunities.

When done correctly it helps organizations anticipate market moves, differentiate effectively, and make smarter strategic bets.

The best practices described in this blog post, including defining goals, sourcing diverse data, structuring insights, focusing on the customer perspective, translating findings into action, and maintaining continuous monitoring, will provide you with a foundation for success.

In the end, the goal is to know your customers better than your competitors do, and to use that understanding to deliver unique, lasting value. 

This was one of our longest blog posts - thanks for making time to read all the way to the end

Are you interested in improving the effectiveness of your competitive analysis? If so, let’s have a conversation. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you.