Up to 80% of your customers search for products and services online before making a purchase decision. There was a 20% increase in this last year alone. 60% of people start searching for your product or service with an online search engine like Google and Bing. Google’s own reporting showed that people are 60% through their thought process before they’re ready to talk to someone about a purchase. It is this part of the thought process (during your research phase) where your content should address their needs, questions, and pain.

As digital marketers and content writers, we talk a lot about the customer journey and marketing funnels. Why? As mentioned above, 60% of your customer journey is already completed before they reach out to you. Since a strong inbound sales funnel can boost your bottom line, making any salesperson’s job easier and more productive, nurturing your prospects with content that aligns with their position in the marketing funnel can provide a boost in sales. sales up to 20%.

customer journey

A typical customer journey includes 3 phases. Your content strategy should address each phase with articles and other content designed for each phase. The first stage is awareness. This is where your potential customers look for answers, education, data, and “who” can meet their needs. The evaluation stage is the following. Here your potential customers and clients will be deciding “why” or “if” you fit their needs. Then comes the decision or purchase phase. This is where they are figuring out “how” to become your customers. Therefore, your content must answer the questions: who, why and how.

1. Great content attracts potential customers

As people begin their search for a product or service online, your content can engage them with articles, videos, and social media posts designed to address their pain, answer their questions, and educate them. They become aware of you as an option to solve their problem and begin to trust you and your company has its expert. You become their go-to person for advice and answers to their challenges.

2. Great content converts leads

This is where your content shows potential customers why you’re the best and that you’re the expert they need. Guides, testimonials, FAQs, videos, and white papers are all options at this stage. Here you are building a relationship and establishing trust between the audience and your brand.

3. Great content closes more clients

In the decision stage, people look at how they can become your customers. Your offer and calls to action at this stage can have a huge impact on your conversions. Effective types of content at the purchase stage include case studies, free offers, demos, and product literature.

Each business will have a different sales funnel sculpted by their unique customer journeys. Building an understanding of your customers, then building a digital marketing funnel around your industry and unique buyers and creating content that “fits” their needs at every stage of their journey will attract, convert and close more customers.

Thats not all. The White House Office of Consumer Affairs found that it costs companies six times more to attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. With planned digital follow-up activities and a firm understanding of customer service best practices, you can delight your customers by exceeding their expectations. This is where your best and least expensive advertising begins: referrals and word of mouth.