So you know why buyer personas are important and you understand the awareness stage and how to provide potential customers with the educational information that they need. But what happens next? Once I teach my visitors about their problem how do I go about fixing it and becoming a trusted thought leader?
This is most important during the second stage of the buyer's journey, the consideration stage. At this stage visitors have now clearly defined their problem or an opportunity that they are looking to take advantage of. Hopefully you can say that "my prospects defined their problems due to my content," but if not, you still have the chance to capture prospects' trust by teaching them about the solution to their problem.
Remember, visitors in the consideration stage are still not ready to buy, they are researching their options and are not yet ready for prices or contacts. Take advantage of this opportunity to convince prospects that you know what you are doing and how to solve their problem without being too pushy.
An example: Responsive Inbound Marketing is here to help our customers with their inbound marketing needs. In the awareness stage potential buyers might ask "How to I get my website seen more?" But in the consideration stage they have already decided that inbound marketing is a possible solution, and are therefore asking questions more like "What are the steps of inbound marketing?"
You might be in the consideration stage right now. What are you looking for? A conversation with our sales team or a great eBook about turning site visitors into customers? The eBook, you say? That's what I thought.
When creating content for buyers in the consideration stage, focus on comparison white papers, expert guides, live interactions, and webcasts, podcasts, or videos.
Below you can find an eBook about lead generation tips, to help you turn those visitors into leads. By collecting customer information in the downloading process I collect leads and create a relationship of education and trust, so that when prospects make a decision I will be at the front of their minds. But more on the decision stage in the last installment of our buyer persona blog series, first check out our lead generation tips so you can continue your research!
