Consumers these days have a ton of information available at their fingertips. Before they make purchases, they’re using these resources to make educated decisions about the products and services they’re searching for. While people may not realize that what they’re doing is actually a known process, they’re actively participating in their own buyers’ journeys. During these stages, buyers become aware of, consider, and decide on the new products or services they wish to purchase.
Of course, like many things in marketing, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. That’s why as a digital marketer, you need to understand each stage of the buyer’s journey to maximize your strategies and target customers wherever they may be in this process.
What Is the Buyer’s Journey?
The buyer’s journey essentially involves all of the research and thinking consumers do before they hand their money over to businesses. It describes the processes people go through to become conscious of a problem, consider and evaluate solutions, and decide to buy a new product or service.
Stages of the Buyer’s Journey
Although there are different models for the buyer’s journey, it generally comprises three different stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. By understanding where your customers are within this path, you can better target them with messaging that helps facilitate purchases.
Awareness Stage
At the awareness stage, the customer is experiencing a problem that needs to be resolved. They don’t yet know who you are because they’re still shuffling around online trying to figure out their issue and how a product or service can fix it.
ZGM Pro Tip: To market to potential buyers who are in the early stage of their journey, you have to address their pain points and build brand awareness into your messaging. Strategic use of keywords can make a big difference at this step because they’ll help optimize your online presence.
Consideration Stage
As consumers enter into the consideration stage, they’ve identified their problem and have given it a name. They’re committed to researching and understanding any methods that are available to help them resolve their issues. This is the stage at which people will really dive into their research to collect information that allows them to compare and contrast the best possible solutions to their problems.
ZGM Pro Tip: As a marketer, you should be focused on providing the solution to consumers’ issues. You want to position your brand as the expert who knows how to resolve your buyers’ problems. Consider creating content such as webinars, podcasts, and videos to help potential leads understand how your brand can be the answer to their needs.
Decision Stage
By this point, buyers have now decided which strategy will best resolve their issues. In the decision stage, consumers compile a long list of possible vendors, products, and services to make their problems go away. They’re doing a bunch of research to whittle down the long list into a shorter, more digestible one so they can ultimately make a final decision.
ZGM Pro Tip: Here, you’re now being pitted directly against your competition, so you have to find ways to stand out. If you’ve already successfully marketed to prospects during the other stages of their journeys, you’re more likely to continue your victory at the decision stage. Here are some ideas for content that works well at the decision stage:
- eBooks
- Guides
- Tip sheets
- Checklists
- Slideshares & PowerPoint presentations
- Comparison videos
- Live demos
Pitch your product as strongly as you can with great content and let people know why they should use you.
Why Is It Important to Understand the Buyer’s Journey?
The answer to this question is simple: By providing value and solutions at every stage, you’re able to nurture customers toward making a decision. If you do this correctly, they’ll choose your brand. With the buyer’s journey, you have the opportunity to create targeted ads and marketing materials that speak to your consumers within their respective stages, thereby garnering more attention to your brand and optimizing your chances of winning over new customers.
Want to learn more about the buyer’s journey? Reach out to Zero Gravity Marketing (ZGM) today!
