These days, with sales, very few people make impulse purchases anymore, preferring rather to do a bit of research (window shopping). This is also referred to as the sales funnel – the different stages a customer will go through before they make a purchase. From visiting your website for the first time, to subscribing to your emails, to asking questions and finally making a purchase. At any one time, you’ll have customers who are at different points in their buying journey. This is where there’s an opportunity to give them more information to keep them moving through the funnel.
Through content marketing, this process has become easier, but it’s still tricky to ensure you get the right content in front of the right people at the right time, for it to be effective. It’s vital to understand your audience, so you can come up with a content marketing strategy that addresses the varying needs through the buying cycle.
The buying process is three-phase:
- Top of the funnel – when people are looking for options, answers, opinions, insights
- Middle of the funnel – when people are determining if your product or service is a good fit
- Bottom of the funnel – deciding whether or not to become a customer
Price, obviously is a big factor. The higher the price, the more time it takes for people to get to the bottom of the funnel. Creating content for each stage is a strategic way to engage your followers and help them in their journey. Here are some examples of the type of content you could develop for each stage:
Top stage: blog posts, eBooks, white papers, reports, videos, educational content
Middle stage: expert guides, webinars, live interactions, white papers, competitor comparisons
Bottom stage: case studies, trial offers, demos, product information, testimonials
Every business should have their own unique sales funnel, designed around their ideal customer’s journey. Having it laid down in a formal content marketing strategy helps to keep the focus on creating relevant content for each stage.
If you’d like to formulate a content marketing strategy specifically geared at your customers’ buying cycle, contact us. We have loads of experience in this field and many other online areas, so together we can craft a solution that works for your business.