How to create and align content with the buyer’s journey

Content marketing is only possible if you understand your customers' needs. These insights are key to Content Marketing's biggest trend: We need to create content for every stage of the buyer journey.

This often means that there are significant gaps between the middle and early stages. A few companies don't have enough product content. However, almost all companies have gaps in the early stages.

Some content is not only for lead generation. More influence can be had on buyer decisions if content is relevant to all stages of the customer's life cycle. Marketing is about influencing buyer decisions.

This article will examine some B2B marketing data in order to identify the most important trends. It all comes down to the customer. Businesses that deliver customer value by mapping content to each stage are more likely to achieve better business results.

Quick Takeaways

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  Moving towards a buyer-centric content strategy is the biggest trend in content marketing.
  
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  We must put customer insight ahead of internal demands to achieve this.
  
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  Next, brands must map content to each stage in the buyer journey and fill in the gaps.
  
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  This is the final step.
  

The State of B2B Content marketing

Let's take a look at the reasons that most B2B businesses use content marketing. It is easy to assume that B2B companies are all about content marketing. This is a popular tactic. Digital content marketing is highly popular. Nearly 88% of B2B companies use content marketing.

The main reason most companies use content marketing is because it works.

A recent survey of buyers revealed that my MarketingCharts:

• 68% said they chose a vendor because they understood their needs.
• 62% because they produce better-quality content
• 59% of them have knowledge of the industry

These terms are either about content marketing directly or the impact of content marketing.

However, many companies are not at an advanced level of content marketing. Consider:

• Only 26% feel that they are succeeding in their endeavors at B2B companies.
• Only 58% of the reports were even moderately successful.
• 16% of respondents say they are not very successful in their B2B content marketing campaigns.

These data points show that high adoption and effectiveness don't always have to be relative. Use doesn't equal success. It's more complicated than that. How do you get there? What does this mean for your customer journey?

The solution is Content marketers who are successful map their content to the buyer's journey.

We must start reframing our B2B content marketing strategy in a buyer-centric way.

Becoming Buyer-Centric: Why it Matters

It is easy to lose sight of the details of your content-marketing strategy. This is a common mistake made by many companies. This is the biggest lesson. You shouldn't be the star of your content strategy. Your buyers should be the star of your content strategy.

This is a crucial point that I cannot stress enough. Engaging buyers before they buy is not enough to make content. Content also helps to build loyalty, retention, as well as adoption. It's also valuable to communicate with them after they have bought.

You'll see that content covers the entire customer life cycle if you take a look at B2B marketers using it. It should be relevant to the customer's journey. It is of little value if it doesn't. This doesn't necessarily mean that the content is poor. It is just not relevant.

A survey of decision-makers revealed that there was a lot of concern about the relevance of the content they received. Nearly 35% said that it doesn't personalize to their stage. Another 41% stated it wasn't relevant for their company.

Relevance is not something you can't achieve. This could be due to a disconnect between your content marketing strategy, and the audience's needs. This is easily fixable.

Map More Content to All Buyer Journeys

Since years, we have advocated that B2B companies should reject the choice between quality or quantity of content. Your audience is increasingly searching for and consuming content. They need your help. The number of members in the buying committee is increasing. The new entrants to the market are not experts. The biggest gap is in basic, foundational and educational content.

In B2B Content Marketing, it is crucial to keep the publishing engine running. Your audience should find it compelling. This is possible by getting to know your audience. You must understand their needs, motives and demands before you can influence what they write.

This thought process will help you transform. Your strategy will become audience-centric.

How to Make Your Strategy Audience-Centric

There are many factors that can impact your content strategy. The customer must always be your priority. These steps will help you improve your strategy.

1. Search intent can be understood

When searching, define the buyer stage and "intent". Understanding the reason someone searched for something is called search intent. It is the question behind the query.

It could be transactional, informational, commercial, or task-oriented. Informational searches are for answers. Transactional refers to typing in a brand. Commercial is the use of buying language. Task-oriented refers to a specific action.

2. Analyze audience behavior

Data is important! Analyze how customers interact with content to personalize it. These insights will help you choose the most relevant topics. You will also learn about the formats they prefer.

3. Focus on the buyer

My belief has been that people are great, but they can be a pain in the rear. They are a waste of time if they don't help you with your content strategy. What are the questions your buyers want to know? Next, map your content to their stages of the purchase journey.

Get to know your personas. Get to know their world and what is important to them. Limit it as much as you can. It is okay to be niche. FreshBooks is one example. They offer small business accounting software. They can tell if a buyer has arrived at their site.

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4. Listen for buyer signals

Pay attention to your customers' current problems. Marketing tools can help you do this. One option is social listening. Another option is to create Google alerts for keywords. Pay attention to industry news. This can be done by subscribing Reddit threads or industry group blogs.

5. Keep up with your competitors

You can learn a lot from competitor analysis. It's a lot. Take a look at what content is performing well for them. Look for opportunities to use the same topics, but do it better!

Here are some things to consider before you start mapping buyer journeys

Before you can map, you will need to do some preparation work. This should be done together with your audience-centric strategy. These exercises will help you plan the next steps.

• Collaboration across the company: All customers-facing roles should participate in the conversation. They can provide valuable information. Learn from them.
• Segmenting can be defined in many ways. There is no one "right" way. It all depends on your content marketing goals. It might help to be role-specific. Perhaps your audience is healthcare. That's broad. There are many segments. You can be more specific and have a stronger voice.
• Do your research. Interview customers and buyers to further your research. This gives you a 360-degree view on decision-makers.
• Discuss the key points. Get your team together to discuss audience engagement. This includes both marketing and non-marketing touchpoints. To understand interactions, you need to peel back layers. You can become more strategic when you do.
• Setting goals is key: Without objectives, customer journey mapping will not work. Describe the actions that you want buyers to take throughout their life cycle.

Building your Buyer Journey

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Customer journeys are unique. This should be unique to your brand and your customers. This is not a generic exercise. You may have multiple buyer journeys in today's digital age. That's normal. You don't have to choose one.

We will start with a framework.

Framework for the B2B Buyer Journey

The buyer's perspective should be reflected in the customer journey. Important point! This framework will help you create content that is relevant to customer journeys. The four stages of the conversion funnel will be discussed. We'll also be looking at the post-conversion journey.

Awareness

• The buyer recognizes the need.
• This stage has the most content.
• Create solutions and concepts.
• SEO is important because buyers search extensively.

Take into account

• Your funnel is shrinking as you lose potential buyers.
• Concentrate on solving the problems of your customers.
• Your offerings are more visible to buyers.

Intention

• Buyers compare options and decide which product they want to purchase.
• This bucket should contain persuasive content.
• All objections must be overcome by brands
• Here, peer recommendations are crucial.

Conversion

• Buyers recognize the value of the solution, and weigh any risks.
• Comfort is an important factor in a purchase decision.
• Facilitate conversion by removing all friction and barriers (e.g. making checkout simpler).

Advocacy and retention

After conversion, your content efforts don't stop. A sale is not enough to make a customer loyal. They should also continue learning. Learning is not about just training. Keep learning. To do this, use thought leadership content.

The most important step in the post-conversion process is onboarding. You can streamline the process and communicate more. All your hard work and effort will go sour if onboarding fails. This can be achieved by working with onboarding teams.

To retain, upsell and engage customers, you must continue to support them. Don't forget your existing customers. It is much more costly to replace an existing customer than to attract one. Keep in touch with them. Continue to build a relationship.

Marketing Analytics Helps Customer Journey Tracking

Are you able to identify your audience's location in the life cycle? This is not an easy task. Marketing analytics can be a great help. After a buyer becomes a customer, you can learn more about them. All their interactions can be tracked. But what about when they convert? What can you do to monitor them?

Monitoring:

Quelle est-elle?

How did you get the inbound lead? Different sources can mean different things. If a buyer completes a form for an awareness level ebook, they are information-gathering. A demo form completed by a buyer is a step further down the funnel.

Which content did they consume?

You can track their progress using cookies and scoring. These insights can be very valuable. These insights can be used to create content for customer journeys. Learn what makes customers act. You will also learn the formats they prefer.

How often do you engage?

Visitors who visit frequently could be more welcoming. They might be ready to sell. Track engagement across channels. This allows you to understand key touch points.

What are the most important indicators?

In your marketing analytics, look for signals. A signal is an action that causes funnel movement. A high volume of traffic to new content is an indicator that it's popular. Popular means relevant. Take a look at what happens when they finish reading it. Are they asking for pricing? Or request a demo? These are funnel movers.

What are your scoring leads?

You can score visitors on marketing platforms. Scoring will help you distinguish between a marketing inquiry and a lead. You can assign points to actions. After a certain point, the buyer can move from inquiry to lead. The sales team can then take control.

Alignment of Customer Journey and Content Strategy

Your content strategy is your marketing bible. It is designed to help you share content throughout the journey. Its goals and guidelines will guide you in building content. Therefore, content strategy and customer journey must align.

The most content is usually found in awareness. CMI estimates that nearly half of all efforts are directed towards early-stage content. This is a good thing. This content must be well-written to get attention.

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Early-stage content (awareness)

Content in the early stages plays many roles. It builds credibility. This is where you present your case. This stage is not where you shout your own message. Instead, you are creating connections. Your content speaks to their needs.

It must also inspire action. It should also generate leads. It must be valuable. Buyers will share their information if it has value. Once you have their email address, you can start to communicate with them.

SEO is also important in the early stages of content. Buyers are searching for answers. These buyers are looking for answers. Optimize your content. Visibility is gained through high organic rankings.

Content for middle-stage (consideration, intention)

The party goes on at the middle stage. Buyers know. They know about you and your competitors. It should be more personal. This content should be unique.

Congratulations! Now, it's time for deeper connections. You should focus on the positive impact your product will have on a buyer's lives. Tell them what success looks like.

Consider case studies and explainer video. Here you should address particular decision-makers. These can change over time. It is time to nurture. You can do this with great content.

Conversion of late-stage content

Buyers are more inclined to purchase late-stage content. The buyer should be able to see the benefits of the purchase. A ROI calculator (return on investment), is one example. You can also empower your internal champion. This person is affirming yes. This person is willing to share their custom content with others.

Content after conversion

This content is focused on adoption and onboarding. These are the first topics. These topics are the first. This content can include tutorials, how-to guides and guides about the process.

Keep the relationship strong with useful content. Loyalty, advocacy, retention are all important. You can use topics such as new features, challenges, and upselling. This is also a chance to include your customer in your content. Ask them questions. Praise them for their efforts. Tell their story. Your customers should be part of the conversation to advocate for your cause.

Content for the Customer Journey: Use It With Content Experts

Are you ready to increase traffic to your website with high quality content that is consistently published? Our Content Builder Service is available. Get in touch with me for a quick consultation and I'll send you a PDF copy of one of my books.