Any entrepreneur can tell you that getting a sale is not an easy task, and before customers even reach the point of spending money there are a couple of factors at play. This transition as its known is the "buyer's journey" and this journey is navigated and motivated by your content. The mistake of ignoring the buyer's journey is one that many marketers and entrepreneurs often make, usually resulting in random acts of marketing or as I say throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks.
What is the Buyer's Journey?
The buyer's journey is an cultivation system based on the thought process of individuals progressing towards buying and your content should lead them along this path beginning at awareness and ending with a purchase. The last two items of loyalty and advocacy have more to do with quality of your product/service and your retention process.
Below is each step along the buyer's journey and understanding where your audience sits is key to constructing a sales funnel that will work for your business.
Awareness - concern about and well-informed interest in a particular situation or development
Consideration - careful thought, over a period of time
Decision - a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration
Purchase - the act of buying
Loyalty - a strong feeling of support or allegiance
Advocacy - public support for or recommendation of something
Where Does Content Come in Here?
You should be developing content that addresses each on of these stops on the buyer's journey. Some types of content that you should consider are:
Awareness - Content that makes the customer aware that they have a problem
Consideration - Content that makes them consider your business as the answer to their problem
Decision - Content that makes them decide you are the expert they needed
Purchase - You have content that makes them want to buy from you
This content can then be used as part of your marketing to feed your sales funnel.
Where Do You Start?
Not trying to be funny but if you don't have content that addresses these stops on the buyer's journey you are missing a key step in building your business. The only way to develop content that feeds your sales is to know where your audience lies on their journey so it's time to roll up your sleeves and get busy. Building a lasting business takes time, work and strategy so pull out those buyer personas, that overview of your target audience, and figure out just where each one of them fall. Then consider what content you can create to get them to move up to the next step. This is the true beginning of your Sales Funnel! Have questions? We want to hear from you, join Bubblin' Boss Moves, our private facebook group, or click follow on me on social media @bubblinmarketing or sign up from my What's Bubblin'? weekly newsletter get valuable information like this straight in your inbox.