Change is a constant in the IT industry. Despite the constant evolution of technology itself, it can be argued that the biggest change in the IT landscape is not a technology or set of technologies but the evolution of the buyer’s journey. It is more pronounced within the SMBs than any other segment.

The AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) model is rapidly becoming archaic. And four stages of discover, learn, try and buy are being used interchangeably with learn, solve, compare and purchase. But each of these SMB buying journeys’ has one or more disconnects from reality. For example, Techaisle’s SMB buyer’s journey research finds little use of “push” media. This is not to say that IT decision makers (ITDMs) and business decision makers (BDMs) are not actively engaged in learning – but it does highlight the fact that SMB buyers do not react to content that is sent to them. Instead, they tend to treat information as a “pull” resource, accessed in response to specific needs. Techaisle’s SMB buyers’ journey research subscription service outlines the new SMB buying process, buyer persona and the marketing mix that works. Not only the SMB and midmarket buying journey but the formats and channels change by job responsibility, by stage in the journey and by the technology/solution that is being considered.