For all brands hoping to carve out a digital footprint and capture their corner of the market, creating engaging content for customers is crucial. However, this can be tricky when customers are at different stages of their buying journey.
Each stage requires different types of content to engage and add value to your audience. And adding value can be the Achilles heel of an otherwise well-planned content strategy.
So, what content do you need to engage with prospects that have different mindsets? And how do you add value when creating this content?
Firstly, you need to wrap your head around the marketing funnel:
Understanding the Marketing Funnel
The marketing funnel is a model that illustrates the journey customers go through from becoming aware of a brand to making a purchase and beyond.
It has evolved over time to be divided into five stages: Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, Loyalty, and Advocacy.
Each stage represents a different phase in the customer’s decision-making process and requires tailored content to meet their specific needs.
- Awareness: At this stage, potential customers become aware of your brand. They might not yet know they have a problem or need a solution.
- Consideration: Here, customers recognise their problem and start looking for solutions, likely comparing different options.
- Conversion: In this stage, customers are ready to make a purchase decision. They need content that helps them choose your product or service.
- Loyalty: After the purchase, the focus shifts to ensuring customer satisfaction and building long-term loyalty.
- Advocacy: Satisfied customers become advocates for your brand, sharing their positive experiences and referring others.
By aligning your content strategy with each stage of the funnel, you can effectively guide potential customers or clients through their journey, ultimately converting them from prospects into loyal advocates.
Most businesses forget to cater to at least one of these stages, leaving their prospects open to the influence of competitors that provide a warmer hand to hold during that stage of their buying journey.
To give you the tools to protect your customers Let’s explore the various stages of the marketing funnel in more detail and some examples of content that excels at each stage.
1. Awareness Stage
The awareness stage is where potential customers first learn about your brand. At this point, they might not even know they have a problem that needs solving. The end goal here is to attract their attention and create brand or product awareness.
Top tip: During the awareness stage, bear in mind the value of your product or proposition will often determine the amount of time a prospect is willing to take investigating awareness stage content. Don’t expect someone to watch a 10-minute video about a potato peeler, and likewise no one buys a Ferrari based on a funny gif.
Types of Content that raise awareness:
- Blog Posts: Informative articles that address common problems and offer initial insights.
- Social Media Posts: Engaging posts that introduce your brand and its values, most commonly utilising hashtags or trending topics to tie in your brand.
- Infographics: Visually appealing (ideally animated) graphics that simplify complex information in a concise and interesting way.
- Educational Videos: Short videos that explain concepts relevant to your industry.
What you’re really trying to do at this stage is present the problem, get the prospect to think “now you mention it, that is something I want solving”, and then present the solution.
In copywriting, this is referred to as The PAS Framework, but the same concept works for all kinds of content.
An in-practice example of this would be using a search engine optimised blog article titled “Why physiotherapists recommend at least two meringues a day” when you’re selling portable smart egg whisks… Because at this stage, no one is specifically looking for portable smart egg whisks.
Here’s a great example of showing off a product – in this case, the My Babiie MB160 Pushchair – through an educational video to create brand awareness.
2. Consideration Stage
In the consideration stage, potential customers are aware of their problem and are actively seeking solutions. Your content should provide deeper insights and help them evaluate their options; but this will also be the time they are most likely to seek out competitors.
Types of Content:
- Lead Magnets: Engage at this stage by providing a taste of what you can offer. A quiz, industry report, or interactive tool can work wonders so long as it adds value.
- Whitepapers: Authoritative reports that provide detailed analysis and data.
- Case Studies: Real-life examples of how your product or service has solved similar problems in the past.
- Comparison Guides: Side-by-side comparisons of different solutions. There is no harm in this coming from you if you truly believe in your USPs.
- Webinars: Live or recorded sessions that delve into specific topics.
At this point you should be looking to demonstrate authority, expertise and previous customer satisfaction.
Truth is, most customers will figure out the pros and cons of different products, so the best course of action is to demonstrate why their overall experience will be better with you.
CRMs and software companies tend to navigate the consideration stage very well because they know how fierce the competition can be. Take a look at how Productive.io present “Top 13 CRMs for Agencies” and think about how confident they have to be in their product to provide their prospects with their 12 top competitors.
It can seem like a massive pitfall, but being transparent about alternative market choices can help your brand be perceived as knowledgeable, confident, and – probably most importantly – a great source of industry-specific information.
3. Conversion Stage
At the conversion stage, potential customers are ready to make a decision. Your content should facilitate the final decision-making stage and convince them to choose your product or service over a competitor’s.
Types of Content:
- Product Demos: Videos – or for higher value purchases interactive sessions with a representative – that highlight your product’s features, benefits, and ideally retention rates.
- Customer Testimonials: Reviews and stories from satisfied customers.
- Discounts/Offers: Carefully considered discounts and offers, presented at the right time, can turn a maybe customer into a sale. This is often left until they’ve already made up their mind to buy from someone though and shouldn’t be confused with a blanket company-wide promotion.
- Return on Investment Guides or Calculators: Clear and transparent pricing information accompanied by a tool that lets the buyer know when they’ll see a return on their spend.
We helped Agon Systems, an industry-leading retail security provider, effectively demonstrate the impact of their flagship product to assist with the conversion stage. By creating an ROI savings calculator, we showcased how quickly clients could realistically see a return on their investment. Helping them make their clients feel more at ease when investing large sums of money.
4. Loyalty Stage
Once customers have made a purchase, the goal shifts to ensuring their satisfaction and encouraging loyalty. Content at this stage should help customers get the most out of their purchase and foster a long-term relationship.
Loyal customers help your business increase profits and can provide value beyond one-off purchases. Therefore, it’s vital that loyalty is taken seriously. Unfortunately, due to the time investment and resources required to maintain a relationship with customers, this is a part of the funnel that is too often overlooked.
Types of Content:
- Onboarding Materials: Guides and tutorials that help customers use your product or service.
- Exclusive community platforms: Forums, marketplaces, rewards portals.
- Customer Support Resources: FAQs, help articles, and contact information.
- Feedback Surveys: Tools for gathering customer feedback and improving your offerings.
To get started with creating customer loyalty, try to put yourself in the shoes of a customer that is buying from you for the first time. Consider what they would need to get the most out of your product/service, pre-empt any initial challenges or learning curves they might face, and produce genuinely useful content.
Top Tip: Don’t be afraid to lean on other brands within the space to provide additional value to your customers: Referrals can be a great way to build trust and authority. For example, if you’re a dog food brand, providing customers with links to dog behaviorists, nutritionists, or accessories can be a great way to foster brand loyalty.
5. Advocacy Stage
Finally, we arrive at the advocacy stage. The goal at this point is for your loyal customers to become brand advocates and ambassadors. The content here should empower them to easily share their positive experiences and refer others to your brand.
Early adopters and brand ambassadors should be treated like royalty. This firstly sets a precedent that you treat your best customers well, but secondly, they will propel the business forward via word of mouth and unbiasedly increase your engagement rates (and hopefully sales).
Types of Content:
- Customer Success Stories: Highlighting how customers have benefited from the product.
- Referral Programs: Incentives for customers to refer friends and family.
- User-Generated Content: Encouraging customers to share their own content featuring your brand.
- Community Building: Engage with customers as part of a 2-way conversation on social media platforms and review sites.
D2C brands tend to focus on advocacy as they’re often marketing to a very small audience – of usually one person at a time. This makes it expensive to create buzz around a product through advertising, making advocacy a fundamental pillar in increasing market share.
Think about how many times you’ve been asked to refer a friend to your subscription box. These rewards for referrers are often uncapped, and for good reason… They work.
A prime example that most people are aware of is Sky TV.
Aligning your content marketing strategy with the different stages of the buying journey is essential for engaging and satisfying your customers.
By creating the right content at each stage, you can guide potential customers through the funnel and turn them from prospects into loyal advocates. Take the time to evaluate your current content strategy and make the necessary adjustments to ensure you’re meeting your customer’s needs at every stage.
If you feel you’re missing some of the content you need, or need help developing a content strategy altogether, get in touch for a chat about how we can work with you to please your customers, while also increasing profits.