The evolution of how people consume content has also influenced how today’s consumers discover and purchase products. Shoppers are drawn to understand and research more before making a purchase because of their increased awareness of several solutions to the same concerns. Targetting shoppers in each of the three stages of the buyer’s journey creates more opportunities to attract and retain customers.
The buyer’s journey is the process every customer goes through before making a purchase best suited to their needs. Forming a marketing strategy around the buyer’s journey requires knowledge of your business’s buyer persona. Buyer personas are representations of your ideal customer that include their lifestyles and shopping behaviors. Recognizing your buyer persona allows you to make better-targetted decisions on how to reach potential buyers.
Why is understanding the buyer’s journey important?
The buyer’s journey is highly relevant to content marketing, engaging your audience with online content to market your services. Content marketing has become increasingly important for generating leads and increasing conversions. But not all content is created equally or with the same marketing goals.
The three stages of the buyer’s journey provide insight into customer behavior and reveal their specific points of pain or concerns they need to resolve. At that point, marketers can create content targeted to meet customers where they are in their decision-making process.
Unlike traditional marketing, content marketing with the buyer’s journey in mind means shoppers find the right information in the right channels to inform their decision. Quality content establishes credibility for businesses and influences customers to make purchases they otherwise would be unaware of. Ultimately, customers form relationships with businesses that offer personalized experiences instead of feeling overwhelmed by advertisements and irrelevant information.
These are the three stages of the buyer’s journey and how you can implement them into your content marketing strategy:
- Awareness Stage
- Consideration Stage
- Decision Stage
1. Awareness Stage
In the awareness stage, a person becomes aware of a pain point they are not well-informed on how to solve. However, they are not ready to make a purchase. First, they are looking to understand what their problem is and where it is coming from. At this stage, people also choose to either find a way to solve the problem or handle it on their own.
Businesses should provide educational content to potential customers looking for credible answers to their questions. Blog posts are a popular way for customers to organically search for information. Social media posts can also be used to inform users and address them directly. Calls to action during the awareness stage should not be directly selling them your product or service. Instead, encourage consumers to follow your pages and engage with your content to receive more similar information.
2. Consideration Stage
After the awareness stage, consumers have identified their concerns and are dedicated to resolving the issue. So in the consideration stage, the same consumers are considering different approaches and providers of the same solution. Of the three stages of the buyer’s journey, this is the ideal time to present your solution and why it is better than your competitors. Marketers need to determine how their buyer persona conducts research and prioritizes recommendations from different sources.
Content in the consideration stage should inform customers of the pros and cons of particular solutions they have for their specific problems. A way for potential buyers to gain more information about your product is to publish case studies about the effectiveness of your product or service. Case studies can also be used in the decision stage to demonstrate the highlights of your services with an influential video or story.
3. Decision Stage
The decision stage might be the most straightforward of the three stages of the buyer’s journey. It is the stage when the customer narrows down what solution will resolve their problem and decide which business will provide them with the best service.
Offer customers a better understanding of your product and your business using the power of video. According to Lemonlight, 72% of consumers were influenced by a product demonstration video to make a purchasing decision at least once. Loyalty marketing techniques can make the difference between a customer choosing your business over a competitor. Personalized discounts can also be the tipping point for a customer looking for the best deals. Sending discounts via email will also ensure customers stay connected with your business and are notified of future promotions.
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