{"id":42640,"date":"2017-06-22T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/resources\/content-types-aligning-with-buyer-journey-stages\/"},"modified":"2024-11-04T11:53:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T18:53:50","slug":"content-types-aligning-with-buyer-journey-stages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/resources\/content-types-aligning-with-buyer-journey-stages\/","title":{"rendered":"Content Types: Aligning What You Create With What Your Buyer Wants"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, what are we missing here? We\u2019re creating a healthy amount of content, going with quality over quantity. We built buyer personas already and we\u2019re keeping CEO Charles and Marketing Mary in mind for every blog post. We have a content strategy, a content vision, a content…<\/p>\n

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Source: Content Marketing Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But \u2014 forgive us, this is a big \u201cbut\u201d here so let\u2019s try that again \u2014 BUT… we\u2019re not covering content types in relation to buying stages.<\/p>\n

Before you start creating content, remember the question you are looking to answer. When in doubt, think of your buyer looking at that content and asking the classic: What\u2019s in it for me?\u00a0<\/em>If your content doesn\u2019t answer that one question, it won\u2019t be valuable enough to pique their interest. And, they will move on to someone who can give them the answer they\u2019re searching for.<\/p>\n

According to Content Marketing Institute<\/a>, only 53% of B2B marketers are frequently crafting content based on the buyer’s journey. We know different types of content allow us to target different audiences. We\u2019ve already mapped out content based on buyer personas, and now it\u2019s time to zero in on the buyer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n

Buyers are self-sufficient and methodical<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not a news flash that today\u2019s buyers are self-educating before they even think about talking to a salesperson. You know… because you\u2019re a buyer too. Whether a purchase is personal or professional, buyers are methodical with their research.<\/p>\n

That research involved checking out the company\u2019s website, reading a blog, retweeting an interesting article they shared on social media, returning to their website to read a case study, comparing and contrasting different services or products with reviews on a third party website\u2026until finally deciding to schedule a demo and ask for pricing.<\/p>\n

Some buyers will need to be educated on a problem they don\u2019t even know they have yet, to make your solution or service the answer. Others know their problem all too well, and they need to be educated on why your solution or service is the answer over another. The remaining are done searching for a solution, so they make a choice \u2014 what they hope is the right answer \u2014 and they want validation.<\/p>\n

How structure aligns our content with buyer expectations<\/h2>\n

The reality is this: The buying stages just aren\u2019t a focus for a lot of content marketers, especially outside the B2B world. The brand is absolutely important, but so is the business.<\/p>\n

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Source: Content Marketing Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Creating content for the sake of content is what got us in trouble back in the day \u2014 and called a cost center to boot. A modern marketing department is<\/em> a profit center, because it lends an important hand in revenue generation.<\/p>\n

No longer is marketing running off to their corner to create cool content that \u201cmight\u201d go over well, while sales is in the other corner doing random cold calls because they have no leads. The lines have become blurred, and the classic love-hate relationship between sales and marketing has morphed into a tolerable marriage.<\/p>\n

We need to avoid the fluff with that whole “if you build it, they will come\u201d mantra, because we all know this is definitely not how content marketing works. We need to figure out exactly what types of content<\/a> we should be posting and how various types of content generate leads.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take that even further with a mindset switch to help you really get the most out of the content you create…<\/p>\n