I Just Moved to Spain and Here’s What I Accidently Learned About Buyer Journey Content
My grandpa is a retired Industrial Arts teacher and hobby lumberjack with an incorrigible eye for a nice tree. No matter where he goes, he is constantly sizing up the trees around him—birch, maple, cherry, and that one kauri that got away in New Zealand.
Wandering into a forest or even a city park, he is already imagining how this one could be cut down, planed, sanded, and become a dining room table. Or a live edge desk. A turned vase. Wherever he goes, no matter what types of trees he finds, all he sees are golden opportunities for wood projects.
Well, I’m the same, but with buyer journey tools and resources. Yes, I am a shameless content nerd ;) And moving to Spain about two months was no exception.
If you’ve ever immigrated, you know that there’s no shortage of details to wrangle, government offices to harass for information, new lawyers, accountants, doctors to find and—cross fingers—TRUST with your life and business. Not to mention a new language and culture to adjust to.
Anyways, throughout this entire process, all I see are golden opportunities for content marketing. For my lawyer. My real estate agent. My driving school. My accountant. My Spanish teacher. The electricity company. The banks. The airlines. The grocery store!
So today, I’m going to run you through a handful of buying tools/ resources ideas that I WISH had been handed to me to help me through various hurdles in my move-to-Spain journey. Because I think that each one shares a valuable lesson that you can apply to your buyer journey content strategy.
Buckle up!
Hurdle #1: How do I move my belongings from Canada to Spain?
I moved around a lot in my twenties, so I avoided accumulating too much baggage (physical goods, that is). As such, I didn’t have too much to move with me to Spain; 4 extra-large suitcases and a bike box.
Image credit: Caroline Selfors, Unsplash.
So after a bit of research, I figured that my options were to:
Fly with a few oversized, unwieldy pieces of luggage plus a bike box.
Pay an exorbitant fee to a shipping company to send my stuff to Spain, while waiting 6-8 weeks. Then I would have to drive to the closest port city and pick it up, in a car I don’t yet own with a license I haven’t yet passed. If I had had more stuff, this would have been way more cost-effective. But since I was only shipping a few pieces, the cargo ship rate was overkill.
For simplicity, I ended up going with option #1 and flew Toronto-London with a Canadian airline with a reasonable baggage rate. But then flew with a low-cost European airline from London-Malaga and got gouged for excess weight, since they had tighter restrictions around luggage size and weight.
Not the end of the world, but here’s how it could have gone better.
My Dream Buying Tools/Resources:
The airline (or even Expedia or Google Flights) could create a tool that helps fliers compare baggage charges and regulations for different airlines, depending on how many pieces of luggage they are traveling with.
The idea is to help travelers with lots of baggage understand which airline offers the most cost-effective rate. And at what point it may make more sense to upgrade to a premium ticket to allow for more baggage allowance. Or pay more for a non-stop ticket to avoid being charged multiple times for baggage on connecting flights.
In the best context, this would exist as an extension of the “bags” toggle on Google Flights or Expedia. But this could also be created as a standalone dynamic spreadsheet.
A bonus tool would be a reference sheet to compare baggage allowance and luggage weight charges by airline.
The Buyer Journey Questions You Should Ask:
What are my buyers’ requirements?
What are the top 3-4 alternatives are we being compared against, and how can we help our buyers fairly and honestly compare their options?*
Does it make sense to create an ROI calculator to help them compare at what point it makes sense to do X or X?
A common tech example of this would be a Buy vs Build calculator.
BONUS: Do your buyers find themselves in an awkward middle ground between providers or services available on the market?
This might be a good indicator to iterate on your product or service to tailor it more closely to their needs. If they are a priority buyer, it might be well worth your while to develop a niche offering for them.
For example, if there had been a concierge luggage shipping service specifically designed for yuppie digital nomads—which would have allowed me to avoid awkwardly hauling my life’s belongings around Gatwick airport to connect with my second flight—you bet your bottom I would have paid top dollar for it.
*Remember: This could include any alternative courses of action they may be considering that may not be direct competitors, but just a different route to solve the same problem. For me, this was the cargo shipping company.
Hurdle #2: Which Spanish business bank account is best for freelancers?
More and more international freelance workers have relocated to Spain, and especially since the pandemic. And so I’m certain I’m not the only solopreneur with clients all over the world, who has gone through the slow, boring process of figuring out which Spanish business banking option is the best for my needs.
Image credit: Dan Senior, Unsplash.
My requirements:
An account that accepts transfers in multiple currencies
Reasonable international rates for outgoing transfers
Great online banking UX
English-speaking telephone customer service
Option to get an interim credit or debit card before getting residency papers (this is a sticking point with most banks here--you won’t be issued a card until you have residency papers, which can take months)
After a lengthy research and comparison process...I still haven’t found a single option that covers it all. So I’ve gone with a mash-up of a great cross-borders currency exchange service and a mediocre credit union at the moment.
My Dream Buying Tools/Resources:
A bank could write a blog post about the common requirements of freelancers, and feature reviews or testimonials that corroborate the benefits of their services in customer language.
A bank could create a comparison chart, highlighting how their account stacks up against others, based on the features that matter the most to me.
A side note: Will your boss freak out if you propose creating “neutral” buying content? Yeah, mine did too, a few years back. Here’s how I navigated the conversation:
Of course, you want to show your offering in a positive light, ait nd may feel like honestly comparing your product or service against competitor solutions or alternatives will hurt your chances of winning business. But I would argue that if you do it the right way, it will increase your chances of attracting better-fit prospects, aka higher quality leads.
Including other vendors in a comparison chart doesn’t need to lead to a final black or white answer on which option is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Rather, it can focus on helping buyers figure out which vendor or option is the best fit for their needs. Or the other way around...get really clear about which type of buyer is the best fit for your offering.
This works as long as it’s not your business strategy to be all things to all people, in which case, let me refer you to April Dunford and the concept of market niching.
The Buyer Journey Questions You Should Ask:
What features or requirements matter the most to our best buyers?
What types of content can you create to:
Show our buyers that you understand what matters to them
Assure them that you have clients just like them
Help them understand for what types of buyers you are the best option
Of course, a big part of this is getting to know the needs or requirements of your buyers and designing products and services that fit them like a glove.
Adopting a buyer enablement mindset means that you’re looking at your offering through the discerning eyes of your buyer. Make it as easy as possible to understand what you offer, and how it meets the needs that matter most to them.
Hurdle #3: Should I incorporate my freelance business in Spain?
I know how all of this works in Canada, but as you can probably imagine, the costs of incorporating and maintaining an S.L (Sociedad Limitada) in Spain are a bit different.
For my situation, this question had multiple dimensions.
At what income bracket does it make sense for me to incorporate my business in Spain?
Should I incorporate before or after I purchase a home?
What are the costs of incorporating?
Image credit: Andrew Neel, Unsplash.
The first accountant I asked these questions told me “no it doesn’t make sense to incorporate” without explaining why not, like I was a precocious little girl asking grown-up questions. Eye roll.
Needless to say, I proceeded to find another more thorough (and respectful) accountant who took an hour out of his day to explain the costs, process, and benefits of incorporating and if it would make sense for my unique situation. I ended up partnering with him.
Still, it was a conceptual conversation without any facts and figures written down.
My Dream Buying Tools/Resources:
My accountant could share an editable spreadsheet/one-pager that would illustrate at what income bracket it makes sense to incorporate freelance businesses, which would clarify things like:
The costs of incorporation, both one-time and ongoing
The difference in their accounting fees for freelance vs incorporated
Common situations that may affect when you choose to incorporate (purchasing a home, etc)
The Buyer Journey Questions You Should Ask:
Are you looking for opportunities to help buyers build a business case for buying your *thing*? These opportunities should inform the types of content you create.
For example, if your buyer is navigating a cost/benefit analysis, is there an opportunity to help them model the numbers with a partially pre-filled spreadsheet?
Hurdle #4: How do I avoid a crazy high electricity bill?
I moved to Spain at the tail end of the summer when those of us who are lucky enough to have air conditioners are using them as much as we *think* we can afford. I was familiar with electricity bills from when I lived in Spain prior to the pandemic, and although my previous house didn’t have A/C, I was fairly confident I wasn’t breaking the bank.
Image credit: Giorgio Tomassetti, Unsplash.
And yet. With the arrival of my first luz bill last week came a surprise. In my absence, the Spanish government had instituted electricity rate raises at different times of the days and week.
As it turned out, my 10am-2pm A/C habit turned out to coincide with the most expensive rate. Cringe.
My Dream Buying Tools/Resources:
The electricity company could send a very simple rate card to all new contract holders, including:
Different rates as they apply to days and times
Which appliances tend to consume the most electricity
The Buyer Journey Questions You Should Ask:
Is there knowledge you hold in your organization that, if shared, could EASILY help buyers or clients:
Avoid no-brainer, frustrating mistakes?
Be more efficient in how they spend their time or resources?
If so, SHARE IT! Make an easy reference one-pager, write the blog post, make sure it gets into the hands of all the buyers or prospects that would benefit from it.
Practice empathy+Look out for your buyers’ needs=Buyer trust
Winding it up
To arrive at the right decision around buying a product or service, your buyers are going through A LOT of research, information-accumulating, mulling, and probably a bit of stress. Why? Most of them will be feeling intense cognitive responsibility to do the right thing for their company. At the least, their reputation could be on the line and at the most, their job.
When you consider this context, imagine how good it feels for them when you, as a vendor, can show empathy and think through their challenges as they attempt to make a complex purchase decision. Developing a strong buyer enablement content strategy is one of the best ways to empower your buyers to make better, bigger B2B decisions with less regret.
The Buyer Journey Questions You Should Ask:
Why not ask a few of your closed-won buyers:
What were the most useful resources you found or created to help navigate this buying decision?
If they don’t already exist, describe your dream buying tools or resources.
What advice would you give to other buyers navigating this buying decision?
P.S. I love many things about Spain, including its beloved “manaña” approach to life. Believe it or not, it forces one to slow down and relax expectations which makes for a much more relaxing pace than I’m used to. As such, it was not my intention to rage against Spanish vendors and their services and products but rather illustrate the opportunities for us all to consider how to better enable buyers.