Step 2:
Tracking the customer journey
Once you understand each of your target accounts, you can focus on their customer journey and look for opportunities to connect with them with precisely the right information at the right time — forming the basis for your content roadmap.
Prospects can usually be grouped into one of three categories: “Awareness,” “Education,” and “Selection,” representing each of the three stages of the customer journey.
As you share information and begin to build a relationship with them, you can move your prospect along this funnel toward purchase as they work to identify the best way to solve their business problem. The key is to maintain their interest with digestible, bespoke content that captures and holds their attention along the way.
Awareness
The “Awareness” prospect may have a great profile as a potential customer, but may not even be familiar with your company. Your job is to provide general content that helps them understand and solve their problem, introducing your brand in the process.
The best channels to use to generate awareness and attract potential customers may include blog posts, social media, industry reports and eBooks, and search engine marketing.
Education
Your “Education” prospect has a vague idea of what your company does and wants to learn more. They know that you may be able to solve their problem and are eager to know more of the what and how.
Here, you should demonstrate your expertise in their specific domain and its associated problems, and help them to picture how your solution might make their lives easier.
Selection
When the prospect reaches the “Selection” phase, they know more or less what they need and have narrowed down their vendor list. Your mission is to provide compelling, bespoke content that gets them to choose you over other options.
Often, the best way to do this is by providing proof of value through relevant case studies, tailored spec sheets, ROI calculators, and live product demonstrations.
