How Do You Incorporate the Customer's Journey in Your Content Calendar?

[Langandq]

In creating our content calendar for the year, I'm looking to become a little more strategic in what we put out. I am curious how people address the customer journey - top of funnel, middle of funnel, and bottom of funnel within their content calendar.

Is there a specific ratio you look for or how do you approach incorporating the customer's journey into the content calendar to try and optimize their path?

 

[CarrieHill]

There's a few different ways to look at this for sure. Here are some thoughts I had about it (i adore content calendars - I wish more clients would do them and stick with it)

If there is seasonality at all to your business- it makes this a bit easier. you can look at "what" your customers purchase and "when" they purchase it. Then look at the length of journey. How long before they purchase do they start shopping. For example, a vacation rental cient might have a huge season from February through April - and they know that a majority of that block is booked between thanksgiving and new year. That means that any promotions, new information, new photos, etc needs to be done and uploaded to the site before Thanksgivung - I'd do it before early November just to be sure.

If there's very little seasonality - I'd consider the length of time your customers shop before they buy - start with top of funnel buyers. They're the ones that youneed to "lure" down the funnel. Are they shpping for 2-3 months? that means the content to get them engaged with your brand needs to be published ASAP to get your brand on their radar.

Another strategy may be to look at the customer that ultimately DID NOT buy from you. Can you survey them and ask why? Maybe its a few small fixes that convert more shoppers from middle funnel to conversion - it could be as simple as adding FAQ, posting hours, adding the correct hours to your GMB - outlining what credit cards you take or just adding some trust symbols & more reviews to your website.

Here are some generalities I got from asking Bard about content calendars and TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content - i wasnt sure about Ratios so i thought I'd see what AI had to say.

In general, you should aim to have a mix of TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content in your content calendar. The exact ratio will depend on your specific goals, but a good starting point is to have 60% TOFU content, 20% MOFU content, and 20% BOFU content.

Here are some tips for incorporating the customer journey into your content calendar:

• Start by mapping out the customer journey. This will help you to identify the key steps that your customers take from awareness to purchase.
• Create content for each stage of the customer journey. Make sure that your content is relevant to the stage that the customer is at.
• Use a variety of content formats. This will help you to reach a wider audience and keep your content fresh.
• Promote your content across multiple channels. This will help you to reach more people and increase the visibility of your content.
• Track your results and make adjustments as needed. Use analytics to track the performance of your content and make adjustments to your strategy as needed.
• By following these tips, you can create a content calendar that effectively addresses the customer journey and helps you to achieve your marketing goals.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[Langandq]

There's a few different ways to look at this for sure. Here are some thoughts I had about it (i adore content calendars - I wish more clients would do them and stick with it)

If there is seasonality at all to your business- it makes this a bit easier. you can look at "what" your customers purchase and "when" they purchase it. Then look at the length of journey. How long before they purchase do they start shopping. For example, a vacation rental cient might have a huge season from February through April - and they know that a majority of that block is booked between thanksgiving and new year. That means that any promotions, new information, new photos, etc needs to be done and uploaded to the site before Thanksgivung - I'd do it before early November just to be sure.

If there's very little seasonality - I'd consider the length of time your customers shop before they buy - start with top of funnel buyers. They're the ones that youneed to "lure" down the funnel. Are they shpping for 2-3 months? that means the content to get them engaged with your brand needs to be published ASAP to get your brand on their radar.

Another strategy may be to look at the customer that ultimately DID NOT buy from you. Can you survey them and ask why? Maybe its a few small fixes that convert more shoppers from middle funnel to conversion - it could be as simple as adding FAQ, posting hours, adding the correct hours to your GMB - outlining what credit cards you take or just adding some trust symbols & more reviews to your website.

Here are some generalities I got from asking Bard about content calendars and TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content - i wasnt sure about Ratios so i thought I'd see what AI had to say.

In general, you should aim to have a mix of TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content in your content calendar. The exact ratio will depend on your specific goals, but a good starting point is to have 60% TOFU content, 20% MOFU content, and 20% BOFU content.

Here are some tips for incorporating the customer journey into your content calendar:

• Start by mapping out the customer journey. This will help you to identify the key steps that your customers take from awareness to purchase.
• Create content for each stage of the customer journey. Make sure that your content is relevant to the stage that the customer is at.
• Use a variety of content formats. This will help you to reach a wider audience and keep your content fresh.
• Promote your content across multiple channels. This will help you to reach more people and increase the visibility of your content.
• Track your results and make adjustments as needed. Use analytics to track the performance of your content and make adjustments to your strategy as needed.
• By following these tips, you can create a content calendar that effectively addresses the customer journey and helps you to achieve your marketing goals.

Hope this is helpful!

Carrie,

I'm so sorry for the delayed response; I must have missed this with the holidays. Thank you for the information; this is helpful.

We're in a tricky industry - Financial planning. I'm specifically trying to develop more content for business retirement plans.

I originally started planning to pick one topic each month and then have each new article based on that topic flow through the customer journey consecutively (TOFU-MOFU-BOFU).

But perhaps I should change that to focus more of TOFU and have the process flow TOFU-TOFU-MOFU-BOFU?

Does it matter if the target audience is supposed to be more educated? I'm trying to hit the decision-makers that are supposedly educated on this topic (they aren't always and in some cases believe they are more knowledgable than they are).

There are surveys out there that state why people typically switch, but in my experience, it mostly is because of relationships. Most people aren't searching to change their 401(k) advisors.

I'll have to try the survey route of why people aren't going with us though. We just had an interesting situation where I provided proof their 401(K) plan is atrocious through a third-party report (extremely high fees, low rate of return, and poor participation). However, they still weren't open to a conversation.

Unfortunately, this is more common, so I'm hoping I can develop content that will show why a good plan is important and help minimize these types of barriers.

Thank you for your insights; I really appreciate it!

 

[GoLocal]

If you believe relationships are the cornerstone of conversion for you, then content that drives relationships will win at all 3 stages of your funnel. It's your brand code.

I'm more of a content guru than an SEO guru, I just got done helping a huge company solve this. The tricky part is always stepping out of your shoes and into theirs. It's 100% about their needs.

If you are trying to build strong relationships with strangers seek to emphasize their value and benefits not weaknesses. "They often think they know more than they do" becomes your strength rather than their weakness i.e. "It's critically important for us to get things right when it comes to educating our client partners because there is such a diversity of perspectives, that this often becomes our biggest challenge. But it's important. So we do the work, and we get it right. We find it rewarding to see the clients partners we educate fortifying their financial future through better planning."

"Ve vant to pump YOU up!"
— Hanz und Franz

 

[Langandq]

If you believe relationships are the cornerstone of conversion for you, then content that drives relationships will win at all 3 stages of your funnel. It's your brand code.

I'm more of a content guru than an SEO guru, I just got done helping a huge company solve this. The tricky part is always stepping out of your shoes and into theirs. It's 100% about their needs.

If you are trying to build strong relationships with strangers seek to emphasize their value and benefits not weaknesses. "They often think they know more than they do" becomes your strength rather than their weakness i.e. "It's critically important for us to get things right when it comes to educating our client partners because there is such a diversity of perspectives, that this often becomes our biggest challenge. But it's important. So we do the work, and we get it right. We find it rewarding to see the clients partners we educate fortifying their financial future through better planning."

"Ve vant to pump YOU up!"
— Hanz und Franz

This is very intriguing; thank you for sharing it.

I'm going to reflect on this and see how we can incorporate it into our content. I think starting with a focus group to learn more about our target audiences' needs will be very beneficial in this.

Thinking about content that drives relationships though seems quite challenging. I'll have to reflect more on this as I'm not sure I'm fully grasping the concept enough.

 

[GoLocal]

It's easy stuff. Reciprocation. Here in Calgary we have a business guru Arlene Dickinson. I worked at her agency once. She has a book called "Persuasion" about how to persuade people. In chapter one she talks about reciprocation being the foundation of all persuasion. If you care, you'll figure it out.

Triggers by Joe Sugarman is also a great reference, i.e. on the psychology of getting people to buy what you want them to buy, etc. Godspeed.

 

[Langandq]

It's easy stuff. Reciprocation. Here in Calgary we have a business guru Arlene Dickinson. I worked at her agency once. She has a book called "Persuasion" about how to persuade people. In chapter one she talks about reciprocation being the foundation of all persuasion. If you care, you'll figure it out.

Triggers by Joe Sugarman is also a great reference, i.e. on the psychology of getting people to buy what you want them to buy, etc. Godspeed.

Appreciate the advice and leads! Thank you!