The Buyer’s Journey: A Map to Success

If you have ever made a purchase, no matter how big or small, you have gone through the buyer’s journey. At its core, the buyer’s journey is the process by which potential customers go through different stages before paying for a product or service. Our job as digital marketers is to understand this process and use it to develop successful strategies that resonate with our target audience.

Breaking It Down

The stages in the buyer’s journey include potential customers becoming aware of a need or problem, considering the options that would fulfill that need, and eventually deciding on a solution. During the awareness stage, the buyer begins to comprehend that they have a problem that must be solved and what they might need to do to solve it.

This brings the potential buyer to the consideration stage. During this stage, a buyer will evaluate the different problem-solving options. Comparing things like accessibility, price, convenience, and even specific products and brands to get a complete grasp of the solution that would benefit them most. Finally, the decision-making stage is just that. The potential customer chooses based on the information gathered and becomes a purchasing customer.

Tailoring Our Strategies

When marketers know and comprehend the different steps in the buyer’s journey, they are more equipped to create effective strategies that cater to their target audience’s needs. Digital marketers, in particular, can create content and campaigns that zero in on the specific pain points of their potential buyer’s journey.

For example, as a digital marketer, you can create content that educates potential buyers on the problem they’re encountering and offer a particular product or service as the solution targeting their awareness stage. Perhaps you can generate product comparison content to help buyers make an informed decision during the consideration stage. During their decision stage, you can employ marketing techniques with promotional discounts that will help incentivize the buyer to make a specific purchase.

Understanding is Key

Digital marketers are incredibly positioned to use knowledge to impact the public and provide solutions that address customer frustrations, all while building trust and encouraging potential buyers to purchase. But to do this well, we must understand what customers want and what they need. This includes getting to know your ideal customer persona and then harnessing that knowledge toward building marketing strategies that will drive up sales and generate brand loyalty in the long run.