Content is the universal remote when it comes to marketing. It can be shaped and produced to fit any need, any audience type, and any strategy. In this blog, we’re focusing on how creating tailored content for every stage of the sales funnel can help to move your leads through, converting them from prospect to customer. Each stage has its unique goals and ideal content formats, which work together to entice, inform, and convince your prospects as they enter each stage.
Awareness Stage
The awareness stage is the first stage of the sales funnel, where the main goal is to produce content that attracts potential customers. This content should cover relevant topics in your industry so that it educates your readers and draws them in, building brand awareness and helping to increase web traffic. Possible topics can include:
- Solutions to pain points your customers are experiencing
- Explanation of your product/ services and how it can help them
- Industry news and trends
The best content forms for this stage include blog posts, infographics, social media posts, videos, and ebooks. Creating content that is engaging is crucial for this stage of the sales funnel, because if it’s not, then the lead could drop off and not become a sale.
Evaluation Stage
Once your prospect has moved past the awareness stage and into the evaluation stage, your content can take a deeper dive into your business, and the products and services you provide. Your content goal for this stage should be to create content that will help to build trust with your target audience and prove your credibility within the industry. For this stage, content topics can include:
- An overview of a product and how it can help them
- How your company edges out other industry competitors
- Solutions that your company offers
Just like content topics, the best content formats have also shifted towards mediums that better suit this stage of the sales funnel. Formats like case studies, emails, webinars, and podcasts provide an outlet where you can cover these topics in-depth to help move your lead one step closer to becoming a sale.
Purchase Stage
If your lead has progressed as far as the purchase stage, then things are looking pretty good, so your content needs to be at its most convincing in order to tip them over into a sale. Content for this stage should:
- Establish your key value proposition
- Showcase that your product or service is the solution that they need
- Help your prospects understand why buying from you is the right choice
- Illustrate how others are benefitting from your company
The content formats for this stage really need to convince your audience to convert by, and the way to do this is to showcase how real-life customers have had successes with your product/service. The best ways to do this are through case studies, reviews, and testimonials, professional consultations, and if your industry participates in them, trade/event shows.
If you would like to learn more about using content to move leads through your sales funnel, click on the banner below to schedule your free 30-minute consultation with us today!
