Just like relationships, your marketing is only as strong as your foundation. If you’ve read Dating Your Ideal Client or listened to my Marketing Matchmaker podcast, you know that the first step to creating a really strong marketing strategy is in the introduction phase. And, if you haven’t yet checked out either of those, I strongly encourage you to do so.
The foundation of your marketing strategy drives your success. Once you have a strong foundation, you’re able to grow and scale your business into whatever you imagine.
One essential component of the foundation of your marketing is your Customer Journey.
You may have heard of this process referred to as a sales funnel, marketing funnel, sales pipeline, marketing pipeline, sales process or perhaps something else. Whatever name you give it, your customer journey boils down to the sum of all the interactions a customer goes through in relation to your brand; it’s the path your ideal client takes from their first introduction to your business to purchase and beyond.
Essential to your customer journey is a variety of touch points–emails, social media, texts, and content marketing–which provide opportunities for your ideal client to interact and connect with your business.
And, in your marketing, you use the customer journey to build a relationship with your audience; you date your ideal client.
And, unfortunately, just like in a relationship, if you’re not creating multiple opportunities to engage your audience with valuable content, you will fail to build a solid foundation.
Here are the three main stages of your customer journey and ways to interact with your audience in each stage:
- Top of Funnel
This stage is about awareness and discovery. Your ideal customers are being introduced to your brand and you begin flirting with your audience.
What Potential Customers Experience at this Phase:
- A specific problem that they are researching and learning about.
- This early in their journey, they are identifying their challenge. They may not even have named the problem, and they only recognize it by its symptoms.
- They are trying to verbalize and understand the problem, and, as a result, they are looking for a trusted source of information that can guide them.
- They want to feel educated and confident to be able to talk about their questions when the time comes.
How to Market to Potential Customers in this Phase:
Remember, they are seeking out information at this stage. They want to feel understood and will likely engage with your brand if you can provide content that will help them identify and name their challenge. To do this, provide content that will help them navigate their problem such as blog posts, videos, and even quizzes.
- Middle of Funnel
This stage is about building trust. You are nurturing your potential customers to identify your brand as one who cares, understands their challenge, and offers a possible solution.
What Potential Customers Experience at this Phase:
- In this stage, your audience is aware of the problem and is looking for a solution.
- Their questions are no longer generic. Instead of asking ‘why’ questions, your leads have a greater understanding about their problem and are diving into the solutions that are available to them.
- Rather than evaluating solution providers (such as specific companies and their products), they are looking for types of solutions that could help them solve their problem. For example, they may have not decided whether they’re going to hire a coach or if they’ll continue to DIY.
How to Market to Potential Customers in this Phase:
The content that will connect most with your potential customers in this stage are webinars, 5-day challenges, or a specific training. Through this type of content, you establish yourself as someone with a great understanding of their experience and expertise of how to remedy their challenge. This continues to build trust and move them to the next stage.
- Bottom of Sales Funnel
The goal is to get all customers to this phase where they are making the commitment to solve their problem by purchasing your product, service or solution.
What Potential Customers Experience at this Phase:
- They understand their challenge.
- They know and understand your solution to their problem.
- They need to make a decision about which solution they want to purchase.
How to Market to Potential Customers in this Phase:
Utilize your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to educate your audience about why they should buy from you. They need to know what it is about your product, service or solution that distinguishes you from your competition. Content that ranges from FAQs to case studies provides essential information to help your audience understand what sets you and your product, service or solution apart.
Now, you may be thinking, this all sounds pretty straightforward. But, here’s the thing: Nowadays, it can take 8-12 touches before someone is ready to buy from you. And, that number is really unique to you, your business, and your audience.
In order to create an amazing customer journey for every one of your customers, it is essential to map out and analyze every touchpoint.
Why?
In short, so you know what’s working and what isn’t. When you know what content drives customers forward, you’re able to better understand your audience. With this knowledge, you can identify roadblocks and improve your customer journey to, ultimately, help you reach your goals.
If you’re looking to create a more engaging and successful customer journey, contact me today! Together, we can build a customer journey that not only creates an amazing experience for your customers but also helps you scale your business.
For more about the customer journey and so much more, listen to the Marketing Matchmaker podcast!
Are you ready to grow your business to 6-7 figures? Do you know how to scale your business? If so, I created a quiz just for you! Check it out today to make a difference in your tomorrow!