Buyer Journey Content Mapping: Content for Each Stage
Consumers go through a purchase cycle of distinct deliberations, decisions, and actions. Savvy marketers deliver content throughout this cycle to build familiarity and brand trust. Understanding what types of content and how to use them at each stage is core to a buyer journey content mapping strategy.
As a potential customer goes through their buying process, you want your content to help them to the next stage. Every purchase cycle consists of at least four basic stages:
- Awareness of a need or desire and interest in its solutions
- Consideration of options and alternatives
- Decision or purchase of a product or service
- Post-purchase loyalty to the product or brand
This cycle starts with triggers — external events or internal desires that signal the inclination to buy. For example, if your computer starts making funny noises or overheating while performing simple tasks, you’ll likely start thinking about a new one. That’s an external trigger.
An internal trigger can be as simple as remembering the pitcher your grandma used to serve ice-cold lemonade on hot summer afternoons. By knowing your customer’s triggers and the stages of the purchase cycle, you can plan your content strategically across the buyer journey.
Hitting All the Right Touchpoints
Before the rise of internet shopping, the consumer buying cycle was driven by “push” factors. Push factors use media-based marketing and sales content that make passive consumers aware of a need and convince them that their brand’s product meets that need.
Today’s consumers are active participants who require between one and 50 touchpoints before a sale. They have almost complete control over the content they read or hear. Therefore, their knowledge of a product and how that product will solve their problem or meet their need comes from what they “pull” from the content.
Understanding the buyer’s journey is important for an effective, customer-centric strategy. By mapping the path your customers tread, from initial spark to loyal advocate, you can lead them through a buying experience that resonates, converts, and cultivates lasting relationships.
Here are five benefits of buyer journey content mapping.
- Deliver the right message. By clearly grasping each stage, your marketing efforts become laser-focused, delivering the right message for each stage.
- Meet your customers where they are. By anticipating needs and addressing concerns, you create a personalized and attentive journey that fosters trust and loyalty.
- Grease the sales funnel. A well-mapped content journey guides propsects from curiosity to conversion.
- Achieve next-level lead nurturing. Understanding the buyer journey allows for sophisticated lead nurturing, providing value at every touchpoint.
- Improve marketing ROI. When every marketing effort aligns with the buyer’s journey, you invest in relationships that yield tangible returns.
A content marketing approach based on the customer buying journey nurtures leads by creating a satisfying, personalized experience of your brand.
The Process of Buyer Journey Content Mapping
Your content map lays out the various pathways your buyers take, from curiosity to commitment. It allows you to align your marketing arsenal with shoppers’ evolving needs.
At its essence, buyer journey content mapping is about precision and relevance. By understanding a prospect’s questions at each stage, you can craft content that feels more like a conversation than a sales pitch. From informational blog posts that help shoppers find answers to in-depth product comparisons that tip the scales, each piece of content nurtures the customer relationship.
Effective content mapping also considers the medium of the message. A visually striking infographic might communicate a key message in the early stages. At the same time, a detailed case study could be the clincher for a prospect on the brink of a decision. By tailoring substance and style to the buyer’s stage, your content is engaging, compelling, and relevant.
You can also use the entire buyer’s journey funnel to capture leads for your newsletter and drive conversions appropriate to each stage with your content.
Here are those four basic stages of the buyer’s journey with ideal content types and use cases:
Awareness: The Spark of Interest
The awareness stage begins the buyer’s journey, where potential customers first recognize a need or problem. At this point, they may not even be aware that solutions exist. You need to position your brand as a helpful resource while gradually nurturing their interest.
Content for the awareness stage educates and informs. It answers the questions that come to mind as potential customers realize their problem and begin the search for a solution. Mapping out the awareness stage for your brand requires taking a step back. As a marketer, you are working from a perspective inside your brand and the solutions it offers.
The potential customer at the awareness stage is several steps away from understanding how your products or services solve their problem. They may not even know the terminology you use every day. Meet them where they are by focusing on their challenges or pain points rather than your offerings. Create engaging, value-driven content that educates, informs, and sparks curiosity.
Effective content types for the awareness stage include blog posts, email newsletters, white papers, social media content, infographics, and short videos. Educational webinars and podcasts can also be powerful tools for establishing thought leadership and capturing interest.
Example: Improving Post-Discharge Healthcare
A hospital administrator is browsing her professional association’s newsletter when an article title catches her eye: “Preventable Readmissions: The Silent Drain on Hospital Resources.” Intrigued, she clicks through to read the full piece on a healthcare consulting firm’s website.
The article presents compelling statistics and real-world examples of how inefficient post-discharge care coordination impacts patient outcomes and hospital finances. As she reads the content, she recognizes similar patterns in her institution. This prompts her to explore the consulting firm’s other resources, including a downloadable white paper on innovative patient care transition models.
Consideration: Weighing the Options
As prospects move into the consideration stage, they understand their problem or need and are actively researching potential solutions. Consideration-stage content guides a prospect through their evaluation process by providing detailed, solution-focused information. Content doesn’t just inform; it compares and contrasts while illuminating the path forward.
Content types that shines in the consideration stage includes in-depth blog posts, comparative buying guides, expert webinars, and detailed case studies. These formats allow for a deeper exploration of solutions, helping prospects evaluate options and narrow their choices. Like a trusted advisor, you provide the tools and insights necessary for shoppers to make informed decisions while highlighting the unique benefits of your solutions.
Example: Evaluating Sustainable Packaging Solutions
An operations manager at a mid-sized food manufacturing company is tasked with finding more eco-friendly packaging options. She’s completed her initial research and is actively considering solutions. Next, she discovers a series of in-depth blog posts on a packaging supplier’s website detailing various sustainable materials and their applications in the food industry.
While on the website, she explores case studies about how other food manufacturers successfully integrated sustainable packaging into their operations. Through this content journey, she becomes increasingly confident in her ability to make an informed decision about sustainable packaging solutions for her company.
The Decision: The Moment of Choice
In the decision stage, prospects have thoroughly researched their options and are poised to make a purchase. They are ready for the sales pitch. Decision-stage content provides the reassurance and validation prospects need to commit. By offering concrete evidence of value and real-world success stories, you can tip the scales in favor of your solution.
Effective content types for the decision stage include detailed product comparisons, customer testimonials, free trials or demos, and ROI calculators. These formats provide concrete evidence of value and help prospects envision the positive impact of their choice.
Example: Upgrading Patient Management System
A hospital administrator is ready to upgrade their patient management system. She’s narrowed her options to two providers and is reviewing a comprehensive feature comparison chart on one company’s website. This side-by-side analysis highlights the unique benefits of their system.
She then reads several in-depth case studies from similarly sized hospitals, detailing improvements in patient care and operational efficiency after implementing this solution. These real-world success stories significantly influence her final decision.
Post-Purchase Loyalty: Nurturing the Relationship
The buyer’s journey doesn’t end at the point of sale. More than three out of four consumers worldwide say they can find reasons to be loyal to a brand after the first purchase.
In this stage, you want to shift your focus from acquisition to retention to provide ongoing value and foster a sense of community. Like a trusted partner invested in the customer’s success, you continue to provide resources and insights.
Content that excels in the post-purchase loyalty stage includes how-to guides, customer success stories, exclusive insider content, loyalty programs, educational resources, community forums, and personalized product update newsletters. These formats serve to enhance the customer’s experience, provide ongoing value, and strengthen the relationship.
Example: Onboarding New Customers
A marketing agency that recently adopted AI detection software receives a series of targeted email newsletters. Each offers tips for improving content creation, showcases success stories from similar agencies, and provides previews to new features in development.
High-Quality Content at Scale
Content is the lifeblood of modern marketing. From the first spark of awareness to the ongoing nurturing of customer loyalty, strategically crafted content informs, nurtures, and converts.
The first step toward effective buyer journey content mapping is thoroughly understanding your customers. Who are they? What motivates them? What do they fear and desire? Once you’ve gained this insight, the next step is to deliver content that resonates with their needs at every stage.
Executing this strategy requires a substantial amount of high-quality, targeted content, from attention-grabbing blog posts and insightful white papers to engaging case studies and personalized newsletters. Fortunately, you don’t have to manage all of it in-house. At ContentWriters, our specialized team of experienced writers can create the high-quality content you need at scale.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you craft the content that builds relationships online, guiding prospects from curious onlookers to loyal brand advocates.
An earlier version of this post was published in June, 2018 by Thomas G.
Joan Weisman’s strong research skills, SEO knowledge, adaptability of style and voice, and passion for staying current make her an asset for freelance web content, SEO, and copywriting.
