The Best Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey — And How to Deliver It
There’s one question that frequently comes up when I’m doing webinars or in-person presentations:
What kind of content belongs in each stage of the buyer’s journey?
So, today I want to talk about what kind of content you should use through each stage of the buyer’s journey and how to deliver it from a tactical perspective. This will ultimately help you achieve that goal of creating a new customer.
Using Content Throughout the Buyer’s Journey
When you’re planning an inbound campaign, you need to consider the types of content you’ll offer your buyer persona.
These might include an e-book, a webinar, a podcast, or a checklist.
Whatever it is, the content should align with what your persona will find valuable.
We know that the best content is usually educational and helpful. But it’s definitely not a sales pitch.
Another tip is to use content at all stages of your buyer’s journey.
These components will be used together to nurture someone towards your ultimate goal of creating a new customer.
So, let’s start with Awareness and talk about what content you can use at this stage of the journey.
Content for the Awareness Stage
In the Awareness stage your buyer persona has realized and expressed symptoms of a potential problem or an opportunity.
For example, someone in the Awareness stage might identify that they have a sore throat, a fever, and aches all over.
So, the best kind of content for the Awareness stage contains research that’s focused on vendor-neutral, third party information around identifying problems or symptoms.
At a Tactical Level: In content terms, this might be presented as analyst reports, research reports, e-guides, e-books, editorial or expert content, white papers, blog articles, or any other kind of educational content.
Next Up: The Consideration Stage
After Awareness comes Consideration.
At this time your buyer persona has clearly defined and named their problem or opportunity.
So, if we refer back to our friend with the sore throat, fever, and aches, by now, this person has researched enough to understand they probably have strep throat.
Now their attention is focused on options for relieving, and even curing, those symptoms.
The best kind of content for the Consideration stage helps your persona research and understand all of the available approaches or methods to solving their newly defined problem or opportunity.
At a Tactical Level: Consideration content is usually delivered as comparison white papers, expert guides, live interactions, webinars, podcasts, and videos.
Finally, your buyer enters the Decision stage.
Last Stop: The Decision Stage
Now your buyer persona has defined their solution, their strategy, and their method or approach.
Let’s think about our friend who has strep throat one more time.
Their options might be to see their primary care doctor, visit an urgent care clinic, or even go to the ER.
While urgent care or the ER will end up being more expensive, our friend knows that they’re going to get in to see a doctor more quickly if they choose one of those options.
The best kind of content for the Decision stage contains research with supporting documentation, data, benchmarks, and endorsements to help our buyer make or recommend a final decision.
This Decision stage content is best delivered as vendor comparisons, product comparisons, case studies, free trials, detailed product literature, and even live, personalized demonstrations.
So, there you go.
We’ve covered what kind of content belongs in each stage of the buyer journey and how to deliver that content from a tactical perspective.
Tweet me or SmartBug about your journey at @jenspenceror @smartbugmedia.
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Originally published at www.smartbugmedia.com.
