It’s no secret that content marketing has proven itself a core strategy for driving business revenue. But now, brands are taking their integrated marketing approaches to the next level—as they should be—by creating content roadmaps that cater to the position of the buyer in his or her journey, according to a new survey from Marketing Land.
Marketers are starting to see that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to content marketing no longer cuts it—a strategy that was hard to abandon for many companies touting only a handful of marketing employees with little time to dedicate to crafting original, customer-oriented copy. However, the average marketing department is quickly growing in size, flinging the doors wide open for content marketing agendas to be incorporated and cater to the buyer’s journey.
The buyer’s journey encapsulates the consumer’s progression from the initial research stage to the consideration phase to the actual purchase phase. Understanding this process is critical for content marketers, whose primary objective is to craft custom, relevant copy that engages consumers and will leave them wanting to know more.
Let’s take a look at the highlights of the survey, which polled nearly 200 marketing executives across both B2B and B2C companies:
- Eighty-seven percent of marketers have (or plan to have) content that maps to the buyer’s journey: The majority of content marketers have, or are planning to create, content that assists buyers through the purchasing “funnel,” as Marketing Land calls it. This is a wise move indeed as research shows that the average consumer digests at least 10 pieces of online information before making a purchasing decision.
- Ninety-two percent agree measurement of progression through the buyer’s journey is important: In other words, it’s crucial that marketers understand how and why customers are progressing through the buying journey to better target content. For example, what kind of research are consumers doing before picking up the phone to contact a sales representative? Or, did a consumer make a purchase because of a social-exclusive promotion or sale? According to research from Nielsen, “wanting to be notified of special offers or promotions” is the second biggest reason why customers follow brands on Twitter.
Crafting custom, relevant copy that engages readers and entices them to share is the ultimate aim of content marketing, but remember that readers are looking to engage with content that assists them along their buying journey. After all, the consumer wouldn’t be reading about your company if he or she wasn’t considering buying something in the first place. Keep this in mind when looking to take your blog strategy, eNewsletter method or lead generation campaign to the next level.
Tell us: Does your company’s content marketing strategy take into account the buyer’s journey?
