Where is your next customer going to come from?
They don’t wake up one day and decide that today is the day they’ll walk through your doors, take two of whatever you’re selling, and hand over their credit card. The journey that led them to you is a little more complex than that.
Although, thankfully, not too complex – Customers go through what can be defined as a three-part process;
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Awareness:
Becoming aware of what they need or your business that can help them with what they might need,
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Consideration:
Developing interest and consideration of what your business has the solution or product for they want
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Conversion:
Making a decision that leads to an action or even a transaction.
Not everyone who enters the buyer’s journey will complete it or become your customer. The number of people who become aware and even consider your business is not the same as the number of people who end up buying from you. That’s why the framework for the buyer’s journey is set out like a funnel, collecting lots of prospects with a much smaller output.
But all hope is not lost because someone has left the buyer’s journey; you can mark the checkpoint, collect the data for future marketing strategies, and focus on guiding the remaining prospects onward to a decision.
Customer Discretion
Today’s customers want to be sure they’re getting the best value; they’re not afraid to do their research before deciding to spend. And it is their right to do so. The truth is that customer discretion creates an environment for businesses to aim for higher service delivery standards.
Even if this means high competition within your industry, it also means that the customer’s journey from awareness through consideration and conversion can be tracked. Gives you the opportunity to meet potential customers at each stage of their decision-making process.
Guiding Prospects Through The Buyers Journey
Imagine you had the power to read your customer’s minds. That might simplify things for your business. For starters, it would streamline your marketing strategies so that you and your team can focus on delivering excellent customer service instead. But you aren’t a mind reader, you’re a business owner, and by walking in your customer’s shoes, you’ll come as close to mind reading as it gets.
By understanding how your customers think and what affects their decision-making processes, you can meet their needs or expectations every step of the way. You’ll gain better insight into how to attract prospects and guide them through their buying journey.
Creating Awareness
At the beginning of their buyer’s journey, your potential customers are unaware of two things:
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The fact that your business exists
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and/or the fact that you have something they need, or perhaps they don’t realise they even have a need at this stage.
For all of your prospects at this stage in the buyer’s journey, you are creating awareness, focussing more on their needs/pain points/ problems than just pitching how great your business is.
WHY?
According to research, 71% of B2B researchers and 72% of B2C buyers turn to Google and begin their journey with a generic search rather than searching for a particular business. (HubSpot)
At this point, your potential customers start their research by using Google or ask a friend to assist them in better identifying their needs, challenges, problems or areas of opportunity. You’ll need to create valuable content in the form of blog posts, eBooks, articles, or social media content aimed at educating and raising awareness.
My Top Tip:
Strategic social media paid ad campaigns with comprehensively targeted SEO and keyword strategies in place – will do wonders for building awareness. Remember – if you provide valuable content using your social media platforms and your SEO is on point, your customers can become aware of you, even when they are looking specifically for your competitors.
Delivering Points For Consideration
As your prospects walk through their buyer’s journey, they take every step with more consideration and research. They are now aware of their problems and what they might need.
By now, you can expect that they will be aware of a couple of businesses offering a solution to their problem; they’ll begin prioritising which ones best meet their needs. They will eliminate options that do not seem to meet the functionality or service they want, focusing their attention on just a few competing options.
Your customer is considering: Who can give me the best value for money?
At this point in their journey, you need to establish your brand authority, to show how much you understand your customer’s needs and why you have the right solutions for their problem.
WHY?
According to the State of Demand Generation survey by Pardot – 70% of customers return to Google at least 2-3 times throughout their research. Here they will start identifying each business’s specific offerings.
Your marketing efforts targeted at these customers at this stage of their journey should not be overly sales-driven but provide value with a call to action. You can introduce brand awareness in campaigns targeting clients considering what you have to offer.
You’ll do this with value-filled content that your competitors might not provide: Free eBooks, How-to articles and videos, webinars, blogs, guides, case studies and social media infographics etc.
My Top Tip:
A Strategic lead nurturing campaign is valuable here. Paid social ad campaigns that call for subscriptions, free trials, discovery calls, or request a quote with automated and personalised re-engagement and remarketing will make sure you are ahead of your competition.
Closing The Deal At The Conversion Making Stage
Anyone who arrives at your business website or social pages should be given a reason to stay. All of the content you put forward should be presented in the way that best represents your business.
For your marketing efforts aimed at this stage of the buyer’s journey – It’s finally time to get brand-specific and sales driven. Remove all obstacles that stand in the way of purchase.
You can offer specials, promotions, and limited-time offers to sway their decision making.
My Top Tip:
The most valuable marketing material for this kind of customer is in the form of testimonials! Product reviews and positive customer experiences.
WHY:
95% of consumers read online reviews before deciding to transact with a business. (Learning Hub)
Remember that the decision phase doesn’t mean the decision to support your business.
It also means that they made a commitment to reach the end of the buyer’s journey by opting out, and that might mean buying at a later stage. This is a precious retargeting audience for future campaigns. Don’t give up on them so soon.
With strategic SEO and a well thought out retargeting campaign, you’ll be able to market to the audience in this category, even if they have transacted with your competitors.
What Happens Now?
Once the buyer’s journey has concluded, you now have a customer. But it does not mean that your marketing efforts end here. Now you need to focus on brand loyalty and advocacy.
- Loyalty: The most authentic way to foster a sense of customer loyalty is with excellent service delivery. But your marketing strategy can focus on loyalty rewards programs and advertising campaigns centred around keeping your brand top of mind.
My Top Tip:
Email marketing to segmented lists of former buyers is a practical approach to generating repeat business.
WHY:
It is five times more costly to attract a brand new customer than to retain an existing one. (Forbes)
- Advocacy: Once a client has had a good experience, they are very likely to promote and refer you to others. Excellent customer service will speak for itself, but your marketing can incentivise referrals and reviews and target loyal customers when you have new offers or promotions.
The Bottom Line
Did you know that 70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before a consumer reaches out to sales? Marketing Blender).
That just shows that you cannot simply sit and wait for your prospects to walk through your door; your marketing efforts must speak to them at every stage of the buyer’s journey to guide them in the right direction.
The buyer journey is the foundation for your marketing plan, enabling you to map your content at each step. Guiding customers from one step to the next might be challenging, but a well-thought marketing strategy can simplify it for you. Inbound marketing at all buyer journey stages is critical for building a prosperous buyer-brand connection, enabling you to reach your business goals.
Which stage of the buyer’s journey should your next ad campaign focus on? Let me know what you think in the comments below.