When you first visit a business page, do you normally purchase something?
Probably not.
More likely, you search the site to learn about the company.
You want to see how much consumers trust the business and how its offerings help them reach their goals.
This experience is created by content mapping. Highly targeted, personalized content guides prospects through every stage of the buyer’s journey. This content encourages prospects to make a purchase decision.
Content mapping provides a personalized, cohesive customer experience. Because prospects look for different information during the buyer’s journey, the content serves different purposes at different stages.
To effectively generate leads, the content must cover information that prospects look for during the buyer’s journey. Keeping the target audience in mind helps develop a strategy.
So, how can you begin content mapping for your own business?
Create a content map
A content map lets you deliver the right content to the right prospects at the right time. This process focuses on the lifecycle stage and the characteristics of the individual consuming the content. Using this information lets the content more effectively meet the individual’s needs.
Develop a buyer persona
- This general representation of your targeted customers lets you better understand your audience.
- Use market research and insights from your customer surveys and interviews to create your buyer persona.
- Customize your content in line with the persona’s needs, behaviors and concerns.
Consider the persona’s path to purchase
- Focus on where your buyer persona is in the buying cycle. You could think of the cycle in three stages: awareness, consideration and decision.
- In the awareness stage, the prospect expresses a problem or opportunity.
- In the consideration stage, the prospect defines their problem or opportunity and wants a solution.
- In the decision stage, the prospect defines their solution strategy and searches for a provider.
Develop questions the persona has in the awareness stage
- Consider how your content can inform prospects about their problem and move toward a purchase decision.
- What may be the problem and underlying causes?
- Which information can help identify the problem that your product or service can solve?
- How can you build trust and provide more value than your competitors?
Create content for the awareness stage
- Use your persona’s questions to address relevant topics.
- Create content that addresses your prospect’s current needs.
- Content examples include blog posts, webinars, e-books and social media posts.
- Provide information on how your product or service fills these needs.
Position your solution for the consideration stage
- Move your prospects closer to a purchasing decision.
- Your prospect has enough information about their problem and how it can be solved.
- Consider content that can increase interest in your offering.
Develop content for the consideration stage
- Share how your product or service can solve prospects’ problems.
- Show how your offering provides the best solution and most value.
- Content examples include whitepapers and videos comparing and contrasting offerings.
Consider potential objections to purchasing
- Encourage prospects to buy from you rather than a competitor.
- A competitor’s offering may be more affordable or popular in the market.
- Show you provide greater value than your competition.
Develop content for the decision stage
- Market your product or service.
- Prospects are ready to make a purchasing decision.
- Provide customer testimonials, case studies and/or product demos to show success with using your offering.
Make your content work together
Map your ideas in a way that brings prospects through the buying stages.
Need help developing your content mapping strategy?
If you have questions or need help with any part of the process, contact BARQAR’s marketing experts today!
