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Are you a digital marketer tired of struggling to move prospects through the funnel? You’re not alone. Many marketers not serving  the right message to the right person with the right content, at the right time. 

If you’re new to the term, a buyer journey (or customer journey) is the path (buying process) a potential customer takes before making a purchase. We define the different stages of the buyer journey as:

• Awareness (Top of Funnel),
• Consideration (Middle of Funnel), and
• Decision-Making (Bottom of Funnel)

It’s really important to understand what each funnel stage looks like to your ideal customer persona and describe the pains, needs, and goals they’re experiencing at each stage and where they’re looking for help.

This is key to develop good content that resonates that you can serve them where they’re looking for help, so they’ll find you and begin considering you as a potential solution. It’s also key to attracting the right traffic via search engines like google search with the right keywords.

Without this strategic process, moving leads through the marketing funnel and converting them into paying customers through the right mix of outbound and inbound marketing strategies can be challenging. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how to do a buyer journey exercise and give you actionable tips on optimizing each stage of the journey to increase conversions and drive sales.

The Steps Of The Buyer Journey

By understanding the journey of your buyer personas and mapping marketing outreach and sales process to that journey, your sales team can create a strategy that addresses your customer’s needs at each step and ultimately guides them to a decision to purchase your product or service.

To help you understand each stage better, we’re going to dive into each stage.

Awareness Stage

The first step in the buyer journey is awareness, also known as the top of the funnel. This is where the potential customer realizes they have a problem or need that your product or service can solve.

This is when the ideal customer first recognizes that they have a problem or need to be addressed. It’s important to understand that this stage is about identifying the problem, not the solution.

In this stage, marketers should create a content marketing strategy that includes educational content that helps prospects understand their problem or need and raises awareness about the product or service being offered.

This is the most critical stage for SEO content as well as it’s going to help introduce those that haven’t yet heard of you, as a potential solution to the help they’re searching for.

The following types of content are typically effective for the awareness stage:

1. Blog posts: Write blog posts that provide valuable information and insights related to the problem or need that the product or service addresses.
2. E-books: Create e-books that provide in-depth information and advice on how to solve a specific problem or meet a specific need.
3. Infographics: Use infographics to visually communicate complex information and make it easier to understand.
4. Videos: Create short educational videos that explain the problem or need and how the product or service can help solve it.
5. Webinars: Host webinars to provide live, interactive education on a specific topic related to the product or service.

The goal of content produced during the awareness stage is to educate prospects and build trust with them, setting the stage for further engagement and ultimately a sale.

Consideration Stage

The next step is a consideration. This is where the potential customer expresses interest in learning more about how your product or service can solve their problem or meet their needs. This is the stage where the customer actively seeks solutions to their problem or need. 

They’re researching options. It’s important to understand that during this stage, the customer is not only looking for a solution but also for a vendor they can trust. The right type of content will drive them to the next stage.

During the consideration stage of the buyer journey, B2B marketers should focus on producing content that helps prospects compare and evaluate different solutions to their problem or need.

The following types of content are great for the consideration stage:

1. Case studies/Testimonials: Share real-life examples of how your product or service has helped other companies solve similar problems or meet similar needs.
2. Product demos: Offer prospects the opportunity to see your product or service in action through a demo or a free trial.
3. Comparison guides: Create guides that compare your product or service to others in the market, highlighting the benefits and features that set it apart.
4. Whitepapers: Share authoritative papers that show your proven methods for solving the issues they’re experiencing.
5. Webinars: Host webinars to provide live, interactive demonstrations and discussions of your product or service and how it can help solve a specific problem or meet a specific need.

The goal of content produced during the consideration stage is to help prospects compare and evaluate different solutions, and to position your product or service as the best fit for their needs.

By producing content that highlights the benefits and features of your product or service, B2B marketers can differentiate themselves from the competition and increase the likelihood of a sale.

Decision Stage 

The last step is to make the purchase decision, also known as the bottom of the funnel. This is where the potential customer weighs the options and either becomes a new customer or not.

At this stage of the funnel, the customer has gathered all the information and is ready to make a choice. It’s important to understand that during this stage, the potential buyer is not only looking for the best solution but also the best value.

During the decision stage of the buyer journey, B2B marketers should focus on producing content that helps prospects make a final decision and take action.

The following types of content are typically effective for the decision stage:

1. ROI calculators: Provide prospects with an easy-to-use tool to calculate the potential return on investment (ROI) they can expect from your product or service.
2. Pricing comparisons: Create side-by-side comparisons of the pricing and features of your product or service with those of your competitors.
3. Customer success stories: Share stories of customers who have successfully implemented your product or service and achieved their desired outcomes.
4. Implementation guides: Provide guides and resources to help prospects plan and implement your product or service.
5. Special offers: Offer exclusive deals or promotions to incentivize prospects to take action and visit a landing page to sign up or purchase.

The goal of content produced during the decision stage is to help prospects make a final decision and take action.

By providing clear and compelling reasons to choose your product or service, B2B marketers can increase the likelihood of a sale and ensure that prospects have the information they need to successfully implement and utilize the product or service.

Tips for Creating a Buyer Journey that Optimizes the Sales Funnel

If you’re having trouble mapping different pain points in the awareness stage, consider thinking about it in another way:

• When your prospect has a problem, they’re going need a strategy for solving that problem. That’s an opportunity for you to have content that is “strategic” in nature.
• If they buy into your strategy, then they’re going to want to know how to implement that strategy. Unless there is something extremely proprietary, you should feel comfortable sharing every step of the implementation process. The goal here is to be transparent so that you can establish trust
• Once they buy into your implement process for your strategy, then it’s all about getting them to realize that they can’t implement the process you laid out for them on their own. Instead, they should hire you to do it for them. This gets your prospect to the consideration and decision stages.

Creating a buyer journey that optimizes the sales funnel is crucial for any business looking to increase conversions and drive revenue. Think of it as a roadmap to success.

However, many companies need help understanding their target audience and effectively guiding them through the journey.

So, here are some tips to help you create a buyer journey that genuinely resonates with your audience and drives results and a template you can use to get started:

• Identify your target audience‘s pain points at every stage of the journey: You need to understand what they struggle with at each step in their journey to create content that genuinely resonates with them and helps them move into the next stage of the funnel. Don’t skip out on identifying all of the different pains. 
• Determine where they’re looking for help; what are those trusted sources: Are they searching online? Are they asking a network for references? Are they using social media at this stage? Are they reading certain publications or websites for advice? Bring in your SDRs and AE’s who are having the conversations with your prospects and ask them to provide perspective. You’ll want to have a presence everywhere they’re looking for help so they find you.
• Determine your content gaps: Now that you have an idea of what your target customers are looking for, it’s time to start mapping over what content you already have that will be helpful at that stage, and what’s missing that you need to create. This will help you ensure that you have content at every stage of the funnel designed to bring them closer to a sale.

• Use targeted and personalized marketing efforts to address these needs: Once you understand your target audience, you can tailor your content and marketing efforts to speak directly to them about what they’re feeling, where they’re looking for it. 

• Nurture leads with email marketing that, just like your other content, contains messaging tailored to what they’re experiencing at that stage. This will help guide them through the journey, keep your solution top of mind during the sales cycle, and help encourage them to consider you as a solution.

• Utilize marketing automation and personalization tools to streamline the workflow and provide a seamless experience for the customer: Marketing automation and personalization tools can help you automate repetitive tasks and personalize each customer’s experience, making it more seamless and efficient. 
• Continuously test and optimize the buyer journey to improve its effectiveness: Your buyer journey should always be a work in progress. Continuously test and optimize different metrics to see what works and doesn’t. This will help you identify areas for improvement and make adjustments as needed to ensure that your journey is as effective as possible.

By following these tips, you can create a buyer journey that genuinely resonates with your target audience and drives results.

Remember that the key is putting your prospective customer and ensuring their needs are at the forefront of your strategy. With the right approach, you can create a journey that guides them through the marketing funnel and converts them into loyal customers.

Interrupt Media Can Help You Create a Buyer Journey That Optimizes the Sales Funnel

Do you need help understanding your target audience and their needs? Do you need help guiding potential customers through the buying journey? Look no further. Interrupt Media is here to help.

Our growth marketing experts are here to help you identify your target audience and understand their pain points so we can help you build and execute a personalized and targeted marketing plan to guide potential customers through the buyer journey.

But we don’t just stop there. We also provide training and support for utilizing marketing automation and personalization tools. This ensures that your marketing efforts are not only practical but also efficient.

And the best part? We offer ongoing support and optimization for the buyer journey and sales funnel. This means that as your business evolves, so does your marketing strategy.

Don’t let the stress and uncertainty of creating a buyer journey hold you back any longer. Let Interrupt Media take the reins and guide you to success.

Speak to a strategist today.