Since the three distinct stages of the buyer lifecycle have different objectives, they also require specific strategies. With the awareness stage, you are essentially trying to create awareness for your brand or product. Short of shouting from the rooftops, you need to perfect an awareness stage strategy. Before you get to the awareness stage you need to generate leads! If you are having trouble generating these leads we have the solution.
Stages and Personas
To get potential buyers from awareness to consideration to decision, you need content. But how do you know what type of content they are interested in? Through buyer personas. Buyer personas are closely intertwined with the buyer’s journey; personas guide the content you develop for buyers in the various stages of their journey.
Buyers in the awareness stage are just beginning to research information; they are nowhere near ready to make a purchase decision. “In the awareness stage, a person has realized and expressed symptoms of a potential problem or opportunity” (HubSpot).
Developing Content
So, if buyers in the awareness stage—who aren’t actually buyers yet—are conducting educational research, you must develop content directed at them.
Even if you have a product or service that can help solve their problem, it is too soon to hit them with a sales pitch; you must cultivate them more. Do this by offering resources like white papers, case studies, templates, e-books, even videos.
Focus on pain points—you want to provide information and insight on the issue or concern they are researching. It is beneficial to present yourself as a thought leader on the topic of interest; quality content encourages readers to return for more.
Narrowing the Field
When you think about the awareness stage strategy, think of it as the educational stage—you are providing information to help illuminate an issue or concern related to a specific persona.
We recommend selecting one persona at a time to focus on and developing a content-filled strategy. Whichever persona you select to start with is up to you, but it is important that you have developed detailed personas. Before you begin developing content or a strategy, take a look at your personas and see if you need to freshen them up—outdated personas will not be an accurate reflection of your target audience.
If You Build It, They Will Come
Since the awareness stage begins with potential buyers conducting online research, make sure they can find you. According to Pardot, 72 percent of consumers turn to Google for their reach, which means you need a strong SEO strategy, social media presence, and relevant backlinks to help you land on the first page. Remember, keywords help you discover what people are searching for, which, in turn, helps inform your content. With inbound marketing, everything is connected.
If you need help revamping your buyer personas as discussed above, download this free customizable template.
