The world of marketing has changed.
In today’s data-driven world, your average consumer has access to huge volumes of information at their fingertips.
This information has empowered the buyer of today’s world and changed the landscape for marketing forever.
With prospective customers better informed than ever before, heavy-handed sales tactics have become less effective. In fact, they can hurt your chances with prospects, who would prefer to conduct their research at their own pace before making their mind up.
This is why content marketing has become such a crucial component for sellers.
Content marketing allows you to reach your buyers throughout their purchasing path in a helpful and informative manner.
This purchasing path is known as the buyer’s journey – a roadmap of the purchasing process.
So let’s look at the buyer’s journey, discover why it’s so important and see how you can use this roadmap to revolutionise your content approach forever.
What Is The Buyer's Journey?
The buyer’s journey describes the process a customer goes through to purchase a product or service.
Think of it as a map. It shows a consumer’s route from identifying their problem to buying their solution.
In its simplest form, it shows the journey of moving between the three key stages.
The 3 Stages:
1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Decision
1/ Awareness
The awareness stage is where the customer becomes aware they have a problem.
Ex: They have pain in their knees after they exercise.
They’re just realising they have a problem so they start researching their problem on the internet.
After researching articles on Google and chatting with their physio, they discover that their footwear is what’s causing their pain.
They have become aware of their problem. Now that they’re aware, they begin to research their problem in more depth.
This is where you need to:
· Create informative content that helps to educate them about their
problem.
· Provide resources that help them understand their issue.
· Seek to inform, not sell.
· Guide them through the consideration phase of the buyer’s journey
Do not come across as sales-driven or your content will lose its value and you’ll lose your customer’s interest.
2/ Consideration
The customer has defined their problem.
Now, they’re considering their options as they seek the right solution.
They go about researching the different solutions available in the marketplace, evaluating them as they go, and trying to find which works best for them.
Ex: They look up different types of shoes online that aid knee support. They come across running shoes, walking boots, insoles etc.
This is where you need to:
· Understand what separates your product from your competitors.
· Consider how the competition is presenting itself on the market.
· Provide your customer with information that shows them their options.
· Showcase what it’s like to use your product or service.
Just like last time, you’re looking to inform rather than sell directly.
However, this is an opportunity to show the value of your product as well as what makes you the best option for the customer’s problem.
Remember, by helping your prospects rather than selling to them, you build trust and enhance your brand’s reputation along with a host of other benefits.
3/ Decision
After discovering the problem and exploring their solution options, your customer is ready to make their purchase.
At this stage, they’re looking at the different options each vendor presents, as they prepare to make the purchasing decision they feel suits them best.
Ex: They have decided on running shoes. So, they’re looking at the options different vendors have- taking into consideration quality, reviews, and price.
This is where you need to:
· Have a unique value proposition that separates you from the competition.
· Show that you can provide value to the buyer.
· Understand their pain points so you can sell your solution.
· Have proof that your product is quality. e.g.: customer testimonials, reviews etc.
The customer wants to see your product works, how it’s helped other people and how they’ll have a positive experience buying from you.
The importance of the buyer’s journey is that if you can meet your customer’s needs at every touchpoint, you can build trust, enhance your reputation and convert sales.
But let’s explore further why it’s so crucial in deciding what content approach you should take.
Why The Buyer's Journey Is So Important
Knowing the buyer’s journey grants you insight into your customer’s thought process.
Having this information is crucial as it will
inform:
· What content do you need to produce.
· When you need to produce it.
· Where you need to produce it.
The right content, positioned in the right place at the right time is what will unlock the potential of content marketing for you.
Additional benefits include:
· Understanding your buyer’s thought process.
· Discover what type of content works at each stage.
· Develop an effective content marketing strategy.
· Engage, nurture and close prospects naturally.
· Produce content that meets customers’ needs.
· Avoid delivering hard sales pitches that deter them.
· Guide them along the purchasing path.
The benefits are clear as day. Understand the buyer’s journey and your content will deliver results.
But how do you wield this map to ultimate effect?
What content should you focus on in each stage?
That’s what we’re going to discover next.
How To Create Content For The Buyer's Journey
The image you see before you is a comprehensive map of the buyer’s journey.
In it, you’ll see the different content needed for different stages of the journey. An in-depth insight is critical to creating the right content that works.
This is why when we break it down even further we can see all the possibilities we have to create content that informs, guides and persuades.
But before we create the content, let’s take a look at the steps we need to follow.
Step 1 – Create Your Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of the person your product/ service is for.
Your buyer persona needs to be built on facts rather than speculation.
Data is crucial for making informed decisions, so:
- Conduct market research.
- Survey your audience
- Speak to consumers – find out what they like, their pain points, their interests, and their responsibilities.
Once you’ve collected a sufficient amount of data, look for the patterns that pop out within.
The patterns that appear the most are your buyer personas.
Step 2- Find Topics That Match Each Step Of The Buyer’s Journey
Let’s analyse what questions arise for our prospects in their buyer’s journey.
This is where the above diagram of the buyer’s journey comes in handy.
You can see the different touch points in the journey, as well as the types of content that are most effective.
Then, you want to answer as many potential questions that could arise for your buyer’s persona as possible.
You can find out these questions in several different ways.
- Use sites like Quora or Reddit, to search for questions asked about your niche.
- Use Google search to find what the most commonly asked questions are. (You can also check the “people also asked” for more ideas.
- Finding out customer pain points and releasing content on how to solve them.
- Ensure your webpage has testimonials to prove the value of your particular solution.
Once you have your questions ready let’s jump to step 3- answering them.
Step 3- Create Content That Answers The Questions
(Image Credit: G2)
Now you need to work on creating content that answers the questions of our buyer persona and that helps guide them along their buyer’s journey.
Your content needs to:
- Match the stage of the buyer’s journey your prospect is on.
- Help guide your prospects through the journey.
- Provide value to your prospects at every stage.
- Be presented in several different formats to reach different audiences.
- Be marketed appropriately on the different channels available.
Once we build an audience for our content and provide value through quality content, we can help reach our own goals through the final step- Calls To Action.
Step 4- Have Relevant Calls To Action In Place
(Image Credit: ProveSource)
Your call to action (C.T.A) is what you want your prospect to do next.
You’ve provided them with useful, informative content, now you can tactfully ask for something in return.
This does not mean you start directly selling to them.
Your C.T.A should:
1/ State the action you want your customer to take.
2/ Provide them with a reason to take the call to action.
If you’re looking to build up your email list, why not try “Enter your email to gain access to our free eBook.”
Or
If you want to move along their buyer’s journey, try “Find this post useful, check out our free additional resources on our Blog for more information!”
Final Word
The importance of the buyer’s journey is huge.
By understanding how it works, we can create content that guides our prospects through their purchasing path.
The next step is to create high-quality content that converts.
If you’re an Irish-based brand that’s looking to create killer content then get in touch with us at The Founder Factory.
We offer everything you need to create top-class content under one roof. Our state-of-the-art studios offer everything you need without paying the huge agency fees.
