In my spare time I love baking, so as I was making a cake recently I was thinking about aligning baking and the customer journey. The customer journey is the process that individuals go through before making a purchase. It consists of five stages. Your prospective customer isn’t going through this journey and move from one stage to the next just because.
Your prospective customers won’t wake up one day and miraculously land on your product or service and feel certain that you’re the answer to all their problems. If you’re lucky, this might happen for some businesses. But you can’t just rely on luck, can you? We need a plan.
Our job is to guide our prospective customers through the various stages of the customer’s journey. The way to do that is to produce scroll-stopping content for each of the 5 phases. The thing is we don’t know where they are on the journey, so we need to ensure we have ALL types of content in our schedule.
STAGE 1 - Unaware: At this stage, the person is unaware that they want to make a cake. They might not even realize they have a craving or a special occasion coming up. They are blissfully unaware of their desire or need for a cake. When someone is unaware of their problem, they won’t search for it. So, creating content for people when they’re unaware is challenging. If you’re selling a product or service to people unaware of their problem, you may need ads or an awareness campaign to make people realise they need a cake (or whatever!).
Let’s start with the ‘awareness’ stage because it’s where your customers will look into their problem and how to fix it.
STAGE 2 - Awareness: In this phase, the person becomes aware that they want to make a cake. They recognize that they have a craving or a special occasion and that a cake would be a suitable solution. However, they may not know how to proceed or what type of cake to make.
The type of content the potential customer needs here are: -
a. How-to content: Teach people how to solve their problem.
b. Problem identification and solution: Create content that addresses the problem and offers potential solutions.
c. Guides: Provide comprehensive guides on how to overcome specific challenges.
d. Example-led content: Share real-life examples of people solving similar problems.
STAGE 3 - Consideration: At this stage, the person starts exploring different cake recipes or options. They might consider various flavours, designs, or types of cakes like chocolate, vanilla, or a themed cake. They gather information and evaluate different solutions to fulfil their cake-making desire.
The type of content the potential customer needs here are: -
a. Comparison content: Compare different solutions to help individuals make informed decisions.
b. Case studies: Showcase how your solution has worked for others.
c. Myth-busting content: Address common misconceptions or myths about your industry or solution.
d. Outlining the best solutions: Help individuals choose the best solution for their specific needs.
STAGE 4 - Decision: In the product-aware stage, the person narrows down their options and becomes aware of specific ingredients, baking tools, or ready-made cake mixes they need to make the cake. They compare brands, quality, and prices to determine the best products that suit their requirements.
The type of content the potential customer needs here are: -
a. Direct product comparisons: Compare your product or service with competitors'.
b. Content addressing objections: Address common objections or concerns people may have about your offering.
c. Content on pricing and features: Provide detailed information about your product or service, including pricing and features.
d. Content to repel unsuitable prospects: Clearly state who might not be a good fit for your business to save time and avoid difficult clients.
STAGE 5 - Loyalty: Finally, in the loyalty stage, the person has all the necessary ingredients, tools, and knowledge to make the cake. They are ready to proceed with the baking process and confidently create their desired cake.
The type of content the potential customer needs here are: -
a. Content on price increases: Explain why prices are being raised and give customers a chance to buy at the current price before the increase.
b. In-depth product/service information: Create comprehensive content that covers all the details and answers potential questions.
c. Testimonials and reviews: Share testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers to build trust and confidence.
d. At the Most Aware stage having an email list is very important which is why I always recommend you have a way for people to subscribe.
By producing content tailored to each stage of the buyer's journey, you can effectively guide and engage customers, ultimately leading them to make a purchasing decision.
So how do you put all this together? How can you make sure you have content that covers all the various stages of the customer’s journey?
Here’s my 5 step plan!
1. Write down each service or product you offer.
2. Imagine what questions someone will have at each stage.
Unless you’re launching a brand-new business, product, or service, this should be straightforward. You may already have a list of questions people ask you all the time (during discovery calls, on social media, or via email enquiries). So, collate them and categorise them by the five stages of the buyer’s journey.
3. Write it all down and build a picture of the content you’ll need.
Once you’ve got a list of all the questions, you can start looking at what type of content you already have against the various stages and what’s still missing.
4. Do some keyword research.
Now that you’ve decided what type of content you need to create, it’s time to do some keyword research. Why? Because you want your content to be SEO-friendly or optimised for search (i.e. so people can find it on Google!)
5. Create your content plan. And finally, create your content plan and get writing!
Then measure what works best and repeat that.
All this (and more!) is covered in my Social Media Strategy Masterclass. It’s an online course that you can cover at your own speed, and it takes you through step by step to creating your content strategy. Find out more: https://onlinemediaworks.co.uk/b/1NeOx It’s only £24.99 and it’s yours to keep forever.