Content marketing is all the rage now. The big questions are, what content, where, and at what stage of the customer buying funnel? So I came up with a Content Marketing and Customer Journey Funnel infographic to help clients and content producers know the content marketing roadmap to success.
Here’s my strategy for creating an Editorial Calendar and producing content for every stage that a customer may find themselves:
- Awareness Stage
- Interest – Desire
- Action (Conversion) Stage
- Retention and Brand Advocacy
I’ve found this Content Marketing and Customer Journey Funnel works with all customer types: B2C, B2B, B2Govt. Develop your Vertical and Horizontal Buyer Persona’s and apply the funnel to each to attract and convert customers in an organized way.
Awareness Stage
At the top of the funnel, during the Awareness Stage, customers are attracted by industry news and feature stories. Video teasers (Reels, Shorts); YouTube ads; and social media posts, boosts, and ads will attract customers that are interested in that particular content. You may see some likes, follows, and shares on social media at this stage. This content just gets your prospects to your website, but rarely converts. For conversion, you need a sales staff and/or content for the next part down the funnel.
Interest – Desire Stage
In the Interest – Desire Stage of the Top-of-Funnel content, customer success stories, product reviews, how-to videos, long-form feature stories, case studies, webinars, benefit videos, and content in social media groups will support the customers interest more. More engagement on social media is the goal for this content. Potential prospects will comment and share your content. Responding to their comments with meaningful and helpful comments of your own will move them further down the funnel. The sales staff should be listening and warming up these leads.
Action Stage
Next, to get customers to act in the Mid-of-Funnel Action Stage, provide product or service reviews, customer reviews, use cases, blogs, and webinars. Video interviews with industry influencers and customers are top candidates for helpful content in this stage. The goal here is to get the prospect to buy.
Remember that the decision to buy is mostly an emotional one. Yes, logic is part of the deal, but the final decision comes down to emotion. Use creative nonfiction, imagery, and emotional content to get the prospect emotionally engaged with your product or service. Your prospect will likely have to convince or justify to themselves and others that your offering is the BEST decision.
Retention and Advocacy Stage
Finally, the easiest customers to get are your existing ones. The Retention and Advocacy Stage is the most important. Feed them with helpful FREE content. Helpful posts, in-depth webinars, job aids, product update posts. Company news and announcements and press releases will help your paying customers become advocates to inform their colleagues and friends.
Please note that a content marketing program is not for the impatient. It works, just not overnight. You’ll have to create a lot of content with an emphasis on helpful information. Make sure you produce all of it for each stage of the customer journey and you’ll have success.
If you need help, contact Mike at Mike@RMichaelBrown
To see more helpful videos, go to R. Michael Brown LLC on YouTube
