If you’re reading this, chances are you’re working to market your content to all sorts of potential customers, overall boosting your sales and growth opportunities. I’m sure you’re wondering, “How could I possibly market to all of my intended demographics with the same content?” In short, you can’t. But you can market to people that are in different stages of the buying journey with specific strategies that will reach all your demographics and pockets of potential customers.

To start, boil your customers down to the three main phases of the buying journey: awareness, consideration, and selection. While each of these stages will have additional layers and needs, by classifying personas to these different stages first, you can boost your sales, meeting buyers right where they are in their own journey of business discovery. Now that we‘ve broken that down, let’s consider how to use these stages to create the content needed to make the sale and create a new customer.

In the awareness stage…

Your potential customer is facing a problem or challenge that they are seeking to solve. They’re likely researching options and learning more about what has caused their problem and the different options for fixing it. They’re in education mode, learning as much as they can about the ways they can resolve their issues and overcome the barriers they face. Thus, the awareness stage is not time to “sell” or “promote” your products or services. It’s time to be an educator, advisor and thought leader. This is a valuable opportunity to be seen as a trusted resource. By offering insight and education, you will elevate your brand to expert status that can eventually guide the prospect to a resolution. Remember that prospects in the awareness stage are not necessarily ready to buy, but are seeking insight and informing themselves on steps they can take to address their challenges. Build trust with buyers at this stage by offering a valuable resource, such as an eBook, checklist, educational webinar or other information-packed assets. This will help your brand stand out as an expert as well as a helpful enabler. This will further your prospects through their journey with increased trust in your products and services.

In the consideration stage…

You’ve built trust and gained your potential customer’s attention. Now, as they consider their options, they are likely evaluating working with your business, among others. During this consideration stage you need to showcase why they should choose your business over your competition – you need to set your products and services apart. At this stage, it is valuable to show off third party credibility builders, such as product reviews and case studies. Use a voice outside of your own to validate your solution and share the benefits of selecting your product or service. Customer testimonials and other credible stakeholders, such as media or analysts, can play a strong role in underscoring your value. During this phase, it’s also wise to create content that tells some sort of story. Make a memorable campaign that entertains one or more of the big three – their logic, their morals (ethics), or their emotions. They are still weighing their options and need to feel reassured in their choices. By developing memorable content, you can help move them along into the final stage.

In the selection stage…

Congrats! You’re close to making a sale and you’ve been chosen as a top choice. Use this time to reinforce their selection with additional assets that show off your solutions’ benefits and advantages. Show them that choosing you was the right thing to do. And then, once they have adopted your product or solution, offer additional content that will keep them around in the future or increase their investment in your offerings. Remember, gaining one new customer is nice, but it’s even better if they become a part of your regular clientele and advocate for you with their own contacts. During this stage don’t be too quick to just call it a win and then be done with your marketing. This would be a massive opportunity missed. At the end of this stage, you can use content and communication to turn a customer into a loyal ambassador for you. Offer them something to keep coming back (at least at first). Use marketing and social media to your advantage and make it easy for this customer to help spread further awareness for your brand.

While these considerations mainly focus on product-driven businesses, the same ideas work for services and experiences. There are quite literally millions of options for every purchase out there, so you should put some time, energy, and strategy into your marketing plan for every stage of the buyer’s journey. It won’t always be a straightforward or easy process, but you should still focus on developing content that appeals to customers and meets them right where they already are. The same content that would work to draw in a new customer might not have as much of an impact on a returning customer. By developing content and strategies that specifically appeal to each stage, you can prepare your business for new growth and better customer relations and experiences. Contact Avista PR & Marketing today to discuss how we can help you reach your marketing goals, and provide the strategies to make your business succeed.