Today, nearly 80% or more of customers’ journeys towards buying anything are preferred to be done in a self-service mode than without the aid of sellers.
Brand marketers have no choice but to help customers indirectly with their content mapped perfectly to match the buyer journey stages.
People didn’t want intrusive or aggressive advertising blaring at them anymore, so they migrated to online browsing of information and buying at their own pace.
As a brand marketer, you must respect your potential customers’ need for a largely self-driven buying journey.
You can truly help your customer by offering lots of high-value content to support decision-making and progress at every stage of the buying journey. How do you match (or map) your content to every critical buyer journey stage? Read on.
This post is part of a cluster posts series related to “Content Strategy: The Practical Guide For Brand Owners.”
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The buyer journey, also known as the customer journey, refers to the series of steps that a potential customer goes through before making a purchase.
Think about your purchase of any product online. Did you not go through some stages of information gathering, sifting, comparing, trying, buying, and experiencing …?
The buyer journey is important to brands because it provides a roadmap for understanding and engaging with customers throughout the purchasing process. By analyzing the different stages of the buyer journey, brands can gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points at each stage and develop appropriate content to engage and nudge the buyer to the next steps.
The buyer journey typically consists of several stages, each of which represents a different phase of the customer’s purchasing process. While the exact number of stages may vary depending on the model used, most buyer journey frameworks include some variation of the following stages:
The acronym AIDA is often used to describe this 4-stage buyer journey model.
Since I belonged to the advertising industry before coming into content strategy, I have always been taught that there are eight buyer journey stages. This method of breaking down finer nuances of the buyer journey allows us to closely analyze each inflection point on the journey and create content suitable to nudging customers stuck for progress at these stages.
Here is the 8-stage buyer journey I have always followed.
Some people refer to the buyer journey as a Sales or Purchase Funnel. The reason it’s a “funnel” is because it’s expected that more interested visitors will enter at the top.
Yet, many will leak away from you during their journeys, leaving a smaller number converted as your customers by the time the journeys culminate.
But as we all know, buyer journeys are not as straightforward as that … because people may take many twists and turns or leave or return to their journeys with you at will.
So the funnel is no longer 100% representative of the buying journey, although it has some truth to it still.
As you can see from the diagram above, the top two stages of the buyer journey are clubbed together as the Top Of The Funnel (TOFU). The following two stages are clubbed together as Middle Of The Funnel (MOFU). And the third two stages are clubbed together as the Bottom Of The Funnel BOFU).
The last two stages come after a casual visitor becomes a buying customer. It’s about what marketers can do with their customers after they demonstrate loyalty to our brands. So these last two stages are clubbed together as the LOYALTY stages.
"The buyer's journey describes a buyer's path to purchase. In other words, buyers don't wake up and decide to buy on a whim. They go through a process to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service. By understanding the buyer's journey, the pains and problems they experience along that journey, and the influencing factors that shape their thinking, content marketers can better empathize with the buyer and position their content along that path."
"A major problem with traditional marketing is that it wasn’t designed to help people. Outbound marketing uses tactics that shout for attention and tell people what they need. It doesn’t provide value by educating people, as inbound marketing does. The buyer’s journey is a vital aspect of this evolved form of marketing because it enables businesses to help their customers, by providing informative content to enable them to understand their problem and their options for solving it."
We’re going to walk through this whole article using a single example. Let’s say you are a brand marketer dealing in running shoes for women. Your potential customers are amateur women runners.
How do you look at your target audience? As women who want running shoes? That’s where most brand marketers go wrong because they don’t think of audiences at a much earlier stage of the buyer journey (as they should).
For example, your typical customer may not be even thinking about running shoes. Maybe the customer is a regular amateur runner developing a painful foot problem. Perhaps the customer has developed hard callouses or even foot arch injuries.
This is the early stage when a customer is aware of a problem but is nowhere near the solution. The customer, in other words, is TRIGGERED to start searching for some answers to the problem faced. The customer may, at best, be looking for answers on why foot problems such as painful callouses or foot arch injuries occur – and how to help prevent them.
“Empathy” is the most reassuring brand reaction a customer wants to come across at the TRIGGER Stage. Your content for this stage has to show understanding and compassion.
Here are some tips for writing empathetic content:
When a customer is TRIGGERED by a problem, the types of content offered could include:
Let’s assume the customer has read a good blog post from you, seen a video, or browsed through a case study showing how other people have had the same foot problems.
The idea is then to culminate the discussion on the foot pain points and nudge the customer to become aware of how it can be solved (running shoes).
Therefore, your content for the TRIGGER Stage needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the CONSIDER Stage, where you can offer content that discusses solutions.
Let’s continue with the same example of the customer –the woman runner with a foot problem.
Your customer may perhaps have read your blog post on why foot problems like callouses and foot arch injuries occur. The customer may also have been tempted to download your free ebook (from the CTA) on running shoes … since your blog post has led to it as a possible solution to the customer’s pain point.
As the customer reads through the ebook, the CONSIDER Stage kicks in. The customer gets wiser through the education the book offers on the many features of running shoes in general – as well as your branded running shoes in particular.
“Education” is the most reassuring brand reaction a customer wants to come across at the CONSIDER Stage. Your content for this stage has to offer a lot of knowledge.
Here are some tips for writing educative content:
Use a clear and concise writing style: Write in a manner that is easy to read and understand. Avoid using jargon or technical language that may be unfamiliar to the customer.
Provide detailed guidance: Offer clear and concise education. Use bullet points or numbered lists to break the information into manageable steps.
Use visuals: Use diagrams or screenshots to help illustrate the solution and make the content more engaging.
Anticipate questions or concerns: Address any potential questions or concerns the customer may have about the solution. This can help to build trust and confidence in the solution.
Offer additional resources: Provide links to other resources such as videos, tutorials, or support forums. This can help ensure the customer has access to all the information needed.
When a customer is CONSIDERING solutions, the types of content offered could include:
Let’s assume the customer has read your ebook, attended your webinar, or watched a video tutorial showing how running shoes (especially yours) can solve the foot problems faced.
The idea is to culminate the discussion on the variety of solutions and nudge the customer to narrow down to your running shoes as the shortlisted #1 option.
Your content for the CONSIDER Stage, therefore, needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the CHOOSE Stage, where you can offer comparison charts with other brands, reviews by influencers, or other choice-clincher content.
In the previous stage, let’s say your customer – the amateur woman runner with foot problems – has read your ebook on considering changing running shoes. You have also exposed the customer to your brand of running shoes.
You now need to nudge the customer towards shortlisting your running shoes as the #1 option – or the only option.
This is the stage where CONSIDER changes to CHOOSE for the customer. What usually helps customers make firm decisions on a particular brand? It could be comparison charts with top brands and your brand stacked against one another, good product reviews … or better still, the compelling words of relevant influencers.
“Influencing” is often the most reassuring brand reaction a customer wants to come across at the CHOOSE Stage. When creating influential content, picking the right influencer for your target audience is essential.
Here are some tips for creating influencer-led content:
Research influencers: Research influencers who align with your brand values and target audience. Look for influencers with a strong following and engagement on their social media channels.
Create content that aligns with their brand: Once you have identified the influencers you want to work with, create content that aligns with their brand and style. This will increase the likelihood that they will use and promote your content.
Make it easy for them to use: Provide influencers with clear guidelines on using your content and any necessary hashtags or tags to include. Consider creating custom graphics or videos they can easily share on their channels.
Create high-quality content: Your content should be well-written, informative, and visually appealing. Use high-quality images and videos to enhance your content and make it more engaging.
Promote your content: Once you have created content, promote it through various channels, such as social media and email marketing. This will help you reach a wider audience and increase the chances of your content being shared and talked about.
When a customer is about to CHOOSE your product as a solution, the types of content offered via influencers could include:
Sponsored posts: Sponsored posts are one of the most common types of content used in influencer marketing. This involves paying an influencer to create and share content that promotes your brand or product.
Product reviews: Product reviews are a great way to build trust and credibility with your audience. You can provide influencers with your product or service and ask them to share their honest opinion with their followers.
Giveaways and contests: Giveaways and contests can help increase brand awareness and engagement. You can work with influencers to create a giveaway or contest that promotes your brand and encourages user-generated content.
Tutorials and how-to guides: Tutorials and how-to guides can be a valuable resource for your audience and establish your brand as an authority in your industry. You can work with influencers to create instructional content that showcases your product or service.
Social media takeovers: Social media takeovers involve giving an influencer control of your brand’s social media account for a day or a week. This can help increase engagement and followers and provide a unique perspective on your brand.
Let’s assume the customer has read a great social post from an influencer who matters about the quality and value of your brand of running shoes.
The idea is to end the discussion on the choice and nudge the customer to give your product a TRY.
Therefore, your content for the CHOOSE Stage needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the TRY Stage, where you can offer free-product-trial deals to woo the customer.
If you’ve got the customer to bite your deal of a free trial offer for your running shoe brand, your content must support the customer at this stage. The customer must be made to feel that the trial is a positive experience and the brand has left no objections or queries unanswered by the end of the trial.
This is the stage when a customer first begins to lean a little on the brand marketer for help with trying on the right shoes to see if the experience feels perfect. The brand marketer must offer just the advice asked for and no more. Be careful about that.
The TRY Stage is thus interactive, and the content created has to match what the customer wants to know, with the seller still staying a bit distant – and not looking like getting too pushy for speedy purchase confirmation.
“Responsiveness” is the most reassuring brand reaction a customer wants to come across at the TRY Stage. When creating responsive content, it’s essential to answer the customer’s doubts without seeming sales-y.
Here are some tips for creating responsive content:
Respond promptly: Customers expect a quick response when contacting your brand online. Aim to respond to inquiries within a few hours or less, especially on social media.
Personalize your response: Address customers by name and use a friendly and professional tone. This helps to create a positive customer experience and builds trust.
Be helpful: Focus on providing useful and accurate information in your responses. If you cannot answer a question, let the customer know you are looking into it and will follow up as soon as possible.
Provide additional resources: If relevant, provide other resources to help the customer find the necessary information. This could include links to relevant blog posts, user guides, or FAQs.
Follow up: Follow up with customers to ensure their query has been resolved satisfactorily. This helps to build customer loyalty and can lead to positive reviews and recommendations.
When a customer is at the TRY Stage, the types of content offered via influencers could include:
The classic mistake most marketers make at the TRY stage is to assume the trial will end satisfactorily and the customer can then be billed at the originally stated price. But there are many reasons why a customer may decide not to buy at the end of the trial period. It isn’t enough to merely ask for feedback on why the trial was not satisfactory. Instead, a deal sweetener price-off (or an add-on accessory) could help clinch the buying.
Your content for the TRY stage therefore needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the BUY stage, where the transaction is completed.
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Congratulations … if you’ve made the customer ready to buy your product, you’ve done a great job, haven’t you? But notice how we still have a long way to go before our marketing job ends.
After the BUY Stage, the customer becomes highly vulnerable to what is popularly called “buyer remorse.” This mindset makes the customer wonder if the purchase was worth it. All kinds of doubts assail the customer’s mind because the adrenalin-high of buying gives way to a low of wondering if a big mistake has been made.
“Buyer remorse” is a psychologically proven concept, so the seller must be extra careful in making the buyer feel self-confident and validated in the purchase. How do we do that?
“Validation” is the most reassuring brand response a customer wants to come across at the BUY Stage. When creating validating content, it’s essential to give the reader opportunities to experience and exhibit high-flying pride and joy.
Here are some tips for writing validating content:
Here are some types of content that can be offered to a customer immediately after BUYING:
Let’s assume the customer has bought your running shoes. You need to create content that pats the customer on the back, encourages the feeling of pride in the purchase, and creates a need to share it with others explicitly (to avoid falling into the pit of “buyer remorse.”)
At the end of the BUYING Stage, the idea is to culminate the discussion on the purchase per se and nudge the customer to using and experiencing the product a lot. Many customers buy things they hardly use after purchase. As sellers and content marketers, we cannot let that happen. We have to encourage the customer to continue on the buyer journey.
Therefore, your content for the BUY Stage needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the EXPERIENCE Stage, where you can offer content that encourages high usage and experience of the product.
We’ve got our customer to buy our brand of running shoes and even urged the customer to download a high-product-usage beginner’s running regimen to keep the momentum going.
We must keep going with content full of running incentives to encourage a whole and positive product experience.
We can easily do this follow-up encouragement via a sequence of personalized emails, through a Facebook Group, or even through a separate Beginner’s Program that amateur runners can enroll in for free – to get our daily tips for improving their running.
“Encouragement” is the most reassuring brand response a customer wants to come across at the EXPERIENCE Stage.
Here are some ideas to encourage customers to have a heightened experience with a product after buying:
When a customer is at the EXPERIENCE stage, the types of content offered could include:
Before-and-after photos: Show before-and-after photos that demonstrate the transformative effects of the product, providing a powerful visual representation of its impact.
Podcasts: Create a podcast series that features interviews with satisfied customers who can share their experiences and provide insights and advice for other users.
Let’s assume the customer has had a heightened experience with the purchased product –and you have done your best to make the post-purchase experience lively, upbeat, and contagious.
The idea is to culminate the discussion on the experience and nudge the customer to become aware of options to add to a great runner’s repertoire of gadgets and other aids.
Therefore, your content for the EXPERIENCE Stage needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the REPURCHASE Stage, where you can offer content that discusses how to add to personal performance.
The customer has now bought our product – the running shoes – and experienced using it. All looks good at this stage to get the customer to repurchase more items related to the original product.
This is the stage when upselling or cross-selling can take place. Upsell is when you sell an upgrade of the first product to the customer. For example, the customer who is an amateur runner can be told that the pro version of the same running shoes would be even better – and there’s a deal going on it. Cross-selling would be to sell add-ons to the original product … for example, our previous CTA suggested a Super Runner Kit (maybe with a smartwatch, a fitness tracker, a timer, a running chart, etc.)
The clever thing here would be to make our content sound like we’re inspiring our customers to upgrade themselves now that they’ve done the prelims. Our content should not sound like we are selling add-on products or product upgrades to our original product.
“Aspiration” is the most reassuring brand response a customer wants to come across at the REPURCHASE Stage. When creating aspirational content, it’s essential to set challenges for customers that encourage them to stretch themselves.
Here are some tips for writing aspirational content:
Celebrate success: Celebrate customers who complete the challenge and share their success stories with others. This can help inspire and motivate others to participate in future challenges.
When a customer is at the REPURCHASE Stage, the types of content offered could include opportunities to rub shoulders with experts:
Let’s assume the customer has attended your webinar and discussed running kits and gadgets in great detail with several top-grade experts.
The idea after that is to culminate the discussion on more add-on items to purchase and nudge the customer to advocate your product, having been one of your repeat buyers.
Therefore, your content for the REPURCHASE Stage needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the ADVOCACY stage they can earn by enrolling as your affiliates.
You have done well so far. You have made the customer buy your product and then go on to also repurchase several product add-ons from you. You have created a reasonable degree of loyalty in the customer.
A loyal customer is worth more than any new customer you can get, because a repeat buyer costs six times less to market to than a new customer. So the more you use the loyal customer to benefit your brand, the better.
You can not only keep the repeat buyer in your loop to buy even more of what you have to offer, but it’s a brilliant thing to do to convert a loyal customer into one who advocates your brand – and brings in more customers. In short, you could create an affiliate program whereby loyal customers can earn by referring new customers.
“Earn With Us” is the most reassuring brand response a customer wants to come across at the Advocacy Stage. Customer like becoming affiliates of reputed brands they trust and believe in, because they feel if they have bought from this brand, so will many others.
Here are some tips for writing “earn with us” content:
Highlight Your Brand Trust: Explain that your brand has a strong reputation in the market, which makes it easier for potential affiliates to earn from your affiliate program.
Point Out Your Credibility: Affiliates are more likely to promote products of a brand they trust and have confidence in. Remind affiliates of why they liked your brand and trusted its credibility.
Emphasize Your Product Quality: Reinforce the idea that your brand will always stand for high-quality products or services, which make it easier for affiliates to advocate your brand.
Mention your competitive commission rates: Show your potential affiliates how they caneasily earn back the money they spent on your brand by becoming an referral partner.
Reaffirm your support: Offer affiliates the reassurance of your support in the form of training, promotional material, and other resources to help them succeed in the advocacy program.
When a customer is to be attracted to try ADVOCACY, the types of content offered could include:
Create a separate portal for affiliates: In this portal, you can allow affiliates to share success stories, showcasing how they’ve earned commissions, increased their income, or grown their own business through your affiliate program.
Affiliate Tools: Offer potential affiliates a suite of tools to promote your products, including promotional banners, email templates, and other marketing materials.
Commission Rates: Clearly outline the commission rates, payout thresholds, and any performance-based incentives or bonuses. Offer more commission rates to customers-turned-affiliates.
Product Reviews: Provide potential affiliates with detailed product reviews and demos, showcasing your products’ benefits and unique selling points.
Training and Support: Offer training and support to help potential affiliates get started and succeed in your program. This could include webinars, tutorials, and a dedicated support team to answer questions and provide assistance.
Let’s assume your customer has now gotten attracted to enroll as your affiliate.
The next idea is to culminate the discussion on simple advocacy and nudge the customer to become more than just a referral partner earning small commissions.
Therefore, your content for the ADVOCACY stage needs to end with a Call-To-Action (CTA) that nudges the reader to get to the next stage of the buyer journey – the BRAND AMBASSADOR stage, where you can convert an affiliate into a powerful influencer.
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Some of the most commonly asked questions on content mapping to the buyer journey are listed below … with their quick answers. These are good extra angles from which to understand the concept and build your content strategy.
Buyer journey mapping focuses on understanding the customer’s experience and emotions as they progress through each stage of the buying process. This includes identifying touchpoints and pain points, and developing strategies to address them. On the other hand, process mapping is a more general approach that focuses on visualizing and improving the operational processes within a business, such as manufacturing or customer service.
Buyer journey mapping focuses on understanding the customer’s experience and emotions as they progress through each stage of the buying process. It helps identify pain points and develop strategies to address them. On the other hand, user story mapping is a technique used to plan and design software development projects. It involves breaking down user requirements into individual stories and organizing them into a logical sequence.
All stages of the buyer journey are important, but the most critical part is often the consideration stage where the buyer has identified a need and is actively researching and evaluating potential solutions. During this stage, the buyer is looking for information to help them make an informed decision, and may be comparing your product or service to your competitors. By providing helpful and informative content, and building trust and credibility, you can increase your chances of converting them into a customer.
First, don’t focus solely on promoting your product or service … instead, focus on providing helpful and informative content that provides value. Second, consider the different stages of the buyer journey and tailor your content appropriately to each stage. Finally, don’t assume all buyers will follow the same journey or have the same needs. Be flexible and responsive to individual needs and preferences.
B2B buyers typically have a longer and more complex decision-making process, involving multiple stakeholders and more significant investments. As a result, B2B content mapping often involves more in-depth and technical content, such as whitepapers, case studies, and product demos. Also, B2B buyers often have different pain points and goals, such as improving efficiency or reducing costs. Finally, it’s important to build trust and credibility through thought leadership and expertise.
1. Mapping content to the customer buying journey is important because customers prefer self-paced self-service online rather than having intrusive sellers pushing them along the way.
2. At every stage of the buyer journey, content needs to be created for that part of the journey (with the appropriate emotional or logical tug) … but the Call-To-Action at the end of any content piece has to nudge people to take the next step on the journey.
3. Remember, the right content at the right time to the right customer is the simple mantra to 10X your content marketing success. Also, always let customers feel the decision to take the following steps is under their control. This sense of empowerment is vital to today’s online customers.
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Give yourself truly big benefits.
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Get a free download of my 93-page eBook “BRANDSPEAK” … on how to deploy content marketing for total brand domination.
Just fill in the form to join my community … we have big and small brands for company. You’ll stay on the speedway to growth.
