Considering content marketing for your business? Smart move! According to Demand Metric, inbound marketing generates 3x more leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less! But the same types of content don’t appeal to {and ultimately convert} all visitors to your website. You have to create specific content for people at different stages of the buyer’s journey. Read on to find out how. 

 

3 Different Stages of the Buyer’s Journey; 3 Different Types of Content

 

1. Awareness Stage

At this stage, people are looking for information. They may not know about your business or are only starting to learn about it. Since they don’t know a lot about your brand and its offerings, your content needs to achieve 3 goals:

 

• Create awareness of your business.

• Generate interest in your brand.

• Educate around the problem(s) your business solves.

 

So not only does your content need to include info around basics such as your company history and contact information, it also needs to provide valuable resources, useful answers, and general solutions that they’ll find helpful.

At this stage of their journey, people aren’t looking for types of content aiming to sell. They’re looking for help.

 

Types of Content at the Awareness Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

1. Evergreen content

2. Blogs

3. Newsletters

4. Content downloads like podcasts, checklists, infographics, how-to videos

 

2. Evaluation Stage

At this stage, people know they have a particular problem and are actively searching for the best way to solve it. They’re conducting deeper research and trying to determine if your services and products are the right fit for them. Content for buyers at this stage aims to:

• Build trust and confidence in your business.

• Answer specific questions about your goods and services.

• Demonstrate how your offerings provide a solution. 

 

At this stage, you’re still not actively trying to sell anything. Rather, you’re building trusting relationships with prospects by providing information to help them make an informed decision about your brand.

 

At this stage of their journey, people are looking to answer the question: ‘How Do I Solve This Problem?’

 

Types of Content at the Evaluation Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

1. Case Studies

2. Testimonials

3. Product Demos

4. Samples

 

3. Decision Stage

At this stage of the buyer’s journey, people are aware they have a problem, understand potential solutions, and are ready to make their final purchase decision. Since they’re ready to make a decision, the goal of your content is to:

• Validate their decision to make the purchase.

• Highlight why your product or service is the best solution.

• Make it easy for them to become a customer.

 

This is the point in the process when you’re actively selling and closing the deal. As a result, your content should focus on making it as easy as possible for your prospect to buy from you.

 

At the Decision Stage of buyer’s journey, people are looking to answer the question: ‘Why You?’

 

Types of Content at the Decision Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

1. Quotes/Estimates

2. Trial Offers

3. Testimonials

4. Straightforward & trustworthy processes

 

In Sum

The types of content that are going to appeal to a person visiting your website depends on which of the 3 stages of the buyer’s journey they’re in. In the beginning, people are searching for information about their pain points, while those in the middle stage are actively seeking solutions. It’s not until someone moves into the final decision stage that they’re ready to be directly sold to. Keep that in mind as you’re creating content for your business and you’ll start closing more deals in no time.

 

 

We’d love to hear how you’re using content marketing to attract visitors to your site and convert them to customers! What’s working for you? Let’s keep the conversation going below!