Tag Archive for: attraction marketing

A Guide to the Consideration Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Once you’ve managed to draw new leads to your brand by presenting content that helps consumers navigate their problems through the awareness stage, you’ll want to make sure that you have content living on your site (and on other channels, such as social media and email as well) that addresses the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey.

What Is The Consideration Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey?

The consideration stage of the buyer’s journey follows directly after the awareness stage. Once a consumer has a better understanding of what their pain point is as well as of what the potential causes of their problem are, they will begin searching for solutions. It’s during the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey that they will begin to explore their purchasing options.

At this point, you will want to explain what types of solutions will help with their specific problems as well as what their options are and present your products and services as a potential solution.

Let’s say the consumer has decided that they need to replace their current computer, which keeps freezing. They already know that they need to replace their computer and why they need to replace it. If you’re selling brand new computers, then you’ll want to present content that helps provide information that will help guide them to making the right purchase. They may have questions that include:

  • How much do new computers cost?
  • What kind of computer do I need?Image result for buyer's journey
  • Should I buy a new or used computer?
  • What brand is the best brand?

Content that addresses these questions is going to help consumers make a more informed decision about their purchase, thereby helping to get them closer to making a purchase.

How do you create great content with the help of the buyer’s journey?

Creating Content For The Consideration Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

You will want content on your site that specifically addresses the consideration stage for consumers who have been doing research on your site from the beginning of their buyer’s journey. However, this content will also help attract consumers out there who already know what their problem is and are performing research for potential solutions from the get-go.

While you’ll want to present your products and services as a solution, you’ll want to make sure that your content is still on the informative side and not the promotional side. The more helpful your content is in explaining what the consumer’s options are, the more they will trust your brand’s authority, which will help make them more likely to choose your solution.

You’ll want to create a variety of content, including short-form and long-form articles, videos, case studies, demo videos and more. Topics you may explore that help inform consumers looking for a new computer could include:

  • The Pros and Cons of Used vs. New Computers
  • Mac vs. PC vs. Chromebook
  • Buying a New Computer on a Budget
  • What to Look For in a New Computer

Other forms of content to consider creating include product webinars and FAQs that consumers can explore to see what your company has to offer in terms of solutions to their problems.

During the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey, you’ll want to provide content that provides consumers with information about potential solutions to their problems while also introducing them to your specific products and services. The idea is to give them enough information so that they will feel comfortable making an informed purchase.

Decision Stage

A Guide to the Decision Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

After helping consumers learn about their problem and how they can solve it, you will want to present your product or service as the best option for that specific solution. It’s at this point that consumers are in the decision stage of the buyer’s journey.

What Is The Decision Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey?

The decision stage of the buyer’s journey is the last stage, the stage in which you close the sale. However, there’s still work to be done. Although the consumer has decided on a solution by this stage, they have yet to decide on a product or service or the vendor that they will purchase from.

During the decision stage, they will be doing research into the products and services that they are considering as a solution to their pain point.  They will also research vendors that provide those products and services to determine if they are trustworthy. For example, if the consumer has decided to purchase a new computer, they may be looking to answer the following:

  • The pros and cons of different brand computers
  • The type of warranties offered by different computer vendors
  • The expected lifespan of different computer models
  • The different features of different computer models
  • Customer reviews of different computer vendors

Creating Content For The Decision Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

You’ve done a massive amount of work to help nurture your leads through the first two stages of the buyer’s journey. You’ve done so by publishing a variety of different types of content addressing the awareness and consideration stages. At this point, you’re trying to get your leads over the finish line. This is why you need to have content that presents your brand as a trustworthy and reliable vendor and your product or service as the best option for their specific needs.

How do you drive website conversions throughout the buyer’s journey?

While this means that some of the content you’ll want to have available on various channels (from your website to social media to your emails) will need to be promotional, you can still provide more informative content as well. Types of content you’ll want to offer during this stage include downloadable white papers, case studies, use cases, which show off the benefits of your products or services. You’ll also want detailed product or service videos that include video demonstrations if possible.

Also, you will want to showcase exactly why they should choose to purchase from your business. This should be done by publishing customer reviews on your website and by encouraging reviews on social. You should consider creating customer testimonials as well–video testimonials tend to be extremely effective during this stage.

Creating Reasons to Choose Your Company

Last, but not least, give consumers a reason to choose your product or service over another brand. You can do so by offering a free trial of your product or service or a free consultation. This way they will get in touch with you. Services like Netflix and Amazon offer free 30-day trials. People jump on the chance to take advantage of such services for free and often end up purchasing the service in full at the end of their trial as a result.

The decision stage of the buyer’s journey is the third and last stage. You’ll want to encourage consumers to choose your company’s product or service by not only promoting your products and services, but also by informing the consumer about your products and services as well as about your company. The goal is to convince them that they can trust your brand. It’s also to show them that your product or service will meet their specific needs more so than any other option out there.

Download Our White Paper Guide To Learn How To Perfect Buyer Personas For Your Business
attraction marketing

5 Questions On Attraction Marketing Strategies To Consider

As any business owner knows, marketing is essential if you have any ambition for growing your company. Without effective marketing, your ability to attract new leads and increase sales is going to be limited, which means that there’s a good chance that your business won’t last very long.

However, when it comes to marketing, there are two routes to choose between — prospective marketing and attraction marketing. Essentially, prospective marketing involves finding prospects and then marketing your services or products towards them, whereas with attraction marketing, you allow the prospects to find you — hence the term “attraction.” The following are five common questions that you might have about attraction marketing, along with strategies to consider for executing this type of marketing:

1. How Do You “Attract” Leads?

The idea is to put yourself in the position to be found. This is done by optimizing your website for SEO using high-quality keywords your prospects are likely to use when searching for similar products and services. You then provide content on your website that helps inform your leads about your brand and presents your brand as a valid solution to their problems or needs. Other strategies, such as the use of social media, also helps to increase brand awareness, thereby bringing more prospects to your brand.

Read more on How To Develop Content To Build Customer Loyalty

2. Why Is Attraction Marketing More Effective?

Prospective marketing requires that you force your marketing onto a prospect without knowing their interest in your brand. For example, cold calling is a popular prospective marketing technique.

With attraction marketing, you’re not forcing yourself on the prospect. Instead, you’re simply putting yourself in the position to be found by them. The prospects that find you will be more interested in your products or services, which makes them more stronger candidates as potential customers. Additionally, the lack of pressure means that they can do their own research on your brand on their own time, making them more likely to convert.

3. How Does Attraction Marketing Lead to Sales?

One of the strategies involved in attracting leads is to establish yourself as an authority within your industry via your content. When your website visitors educate themselves about your brand by reading through content that’s informative and relevant to their needs, they’re more likely to trust you. This trust makes it easier to capture your leads, giving you the opportunity to nurture them through the sales funnel and eventually, not only closing sales, but creating long-term customers.

Attraction marketing

4. Will You Begin Attracting Leads Right Away?

Unlike prospective marketing, attraction marketing takes a bit longer to implement. As a short-term strategy, attraction marketing isn’t going to seem very effective. However, long-term results are going to be much more impactful than short-term results, which is why attraction marketing is considered more effective than prospective marketing.

5. Once You’re Done, Will You Keep Attracting Leads?

Since attraction marketing is all about long-term results, it’s important to understand that it requires a long-term strategy. You can’t just set up a website and put up some content and then call it a day. For it to be effective, you have to continually create new content, continually engage with followers on social media, and continually adjust your strategy based on various analytics that you should be monitoring. If you do this, you’ll continue attracting leads.

Prospective marketing is a very short-term strategy based on closing sales immediately — and it’s one that’s generally not very effective unless you have a massive advertising budget. Attraction marketing is a more cost-efficient strategy that focuses more on attracting high-quality leads that you can develop relationships with, thereby creating long-term customers well into the future.

Inbound marketing will help you grow your business by attracting website visitors, converting them into leads and closing leads into customers

fostering a better client-agency relationship

Your Brand Reputation and Public Relations

Public relations (PR) traditionally consisted of press releases and news conferences, and very little else. However, these days, PR has taken on greater importance, especially when it comes to your marketing strategy. After all, you’re now able to engage directly with consumers across many different online channels. As such, digital public relations are essential for improving and maintaining your brand reputation.

What’s The Difference Between Digital PR And Digitial Marketing?

At first glance, it might appear that there is some overlap in terms of what can be defined as PR and what can be defined as inbound marketing. After all, content creation is a vital component of inbound marketing strategies. Yet, press releases are a form of content. Additionally, the content you create as part of your inbound strategy does impact your brand authority – and, therefore, its reputation. The main difference between digital PR and inbound marketing is in the goal. The goal of inbound Brand Reputationmarketing is to generate leads and eventually to close sales. This is not the goal of digital PR. Instead, the goal of digital PR is to improve the perception of your business. Although different, in achieving the goal of PR, you contribute to the success of your inbound marketing efforts.

The Benefits Of Digital Public Relations

The following are some of the reasons why digital PR can be beneficial to your brand:

  • Improve credibility – A good digital PR strategy can help you secure more media coverage. For instance, sending out press releases to various online media outlets. As a result, when consumers are doing research into your brand, they’ll discover a wealth of coverage from reputable sources, which will lend your business credibility. Such credibility helps boost brand trust and makes it easier to generate leads.
  • Generate more brand awareness – The more coverage you obtain from online media outlets, the more brand awareness you generate. On top of that, PR-related content that you publish online, whether on your website or on social media, can be shared. When such content is shared, it can boost awareness even further.
  • Increase organic traffic – First of all, any press releases or PR-related content that you write, you can optimize for SEO. This will help boost traffic to your website. Secondly, any media coverage you get can boost traffic as well. Not only can readers who were unaware of your business do a search based on press coverage, but many online media outlets will link their coverage of your brand to your site.
  • Maintain a positive reputation – Digital PR also involves addressing negative comments on review sites and on social media. Trying to resolve issues that customers had with their experience online (in view of the public) can actually boost your reputation. Ignoring negative comments will only hurt your reputation.

Learn More About Public Relations

Examples Of Digital Public Relations Strategies

There are many different things that you can do to improve your PR efforts online. The following are just a few examples of digital PR tactics that you could implement:

  • Press announcements on social issues – When you make changes within your company to improve corporate and social responsibility, you should announce them to the world. For instance, if you’re making a switch to a more sustainable manufacturing process to become more environmentally friendly. Even just announcing your support for a social movement or cause can help increase the reputation of your brand.
  • Video content of community involvement – Showcase how your business gets involved in your community by filming it. For instance, if you encourage employees to do community service, or if higher-level employees regularly participate in community-related events, then you should film it and post those videos online, whether on your website or on social media.
  • Social media engagementSocial media allows you to connect with your audience directly. As such, you can leverage social media to talk to your customers and show them that you’re present and that you care. Ask questions about their experience with your brand. You should also address negative comments in an attempt to turn negative customer experiences into positive ones. Not only can this help you from losing a customer, but it will also show the world that you care.
  • Company interviews – Set up interviews with experts within our company. For instance, let them speak to influencers within your industry for an interview published on a website, for a video, or for a podcast. Doing so helps to generate awareness of your brand and can boost your brand authority as well. Not to mention that putting a face on your brand will make your business more relatable to your audience.

Implement A Digital PR Strategy Today

Public relations is critical to maintaining and improving the perception of your brand. The stronger your brand reputation is, the better your chances are of being able to successfully market your business. As such, it’s vital that you implement a digital PR strategy.

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Awareness Stage

A Guide to the Awareness Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

When it comes to addressing the buyer’s journey, making sure that you have content available that addresses the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey is vital if you expect to draw in potential customers. If you try to skip this stage, you will end up losing a substantial number of potential leads.  These leads are still looking for basic information and aren’t ready to make a purchase yet.

What Is The Awareness Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey?

Before you can start presenting one of your products or services as a solution, the consumer needs to know what their problem is. Otherwise, they’ll have no need for your solution. During the awareness stage, consumers know they have a problem but they don’t necessarily understand. They will likely be doing very general searches on Google and other search engines. They are attempt ing to learn more about the problem that they are dealing with.

For example, a consumer might notice that their current computer isn’t running properly or is having obvious problems. They are likely going to begin doing some basic research. For example, maybe their computer keeps freezing up. They may look up things like:

  • Why is my computer freezing?
  • Image result for awareness stageDoes my computer need repairs?
  • How to fix my computer?
  • Do I need to replace my computer?

[Read about how to use the buyer’s journey to create great content]

They’ll explore content online that addresses such questions. This is so they can figure out exactly what their problem is by reading about examples of their problem. This can also help identify the cause of their problem. Only once they have gotten through the awareness stage and have managed to become more informed about their problem will they begin seeking out potential solutions.

Creating Content For The Awareness Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey

You will want to make sure you create a range of content that addresses the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey. This content should be optimized for SEO using keywords that your audience will use in their searches during the awareness stage. Keep in mind that during this stage of the buyer’s journey, you’re not attempting to sell anything. Rather, you are merely trying to attract potential customers. You can do so by providing content that is helpful, informative, and relevant to their needs. By providing content that helps your audience to identify what their problem is, you’ll be in a better position to recommend a solution.

Short-form blog content that’s highly focused on identifying the problem will be particularly helpful since it will be easy for consumers to scan. For example, if you were to create content addressing a consumer’s issue with a freezing computer, you might publish blog articles such as:

  • 5 Reasons Your Computer is Freezing
  • How to Prevent Your Computer From Freezing
  • 5 Signs Your Computer Needs Repairs
  • 5 Signs You Need to Replace Your Computer

Video content works well too, especially for mobile users. In the case of this example, it would be particularly beneficial for mobile users since their computers are on the fritz. In addition to short-form content, you’ll want to offer long-form content. This includes eBooks and white papers, which goes into greater detail that consumers can download in return for joining your email list. If your content is good enough, they’ll be more trusting of your brand and will continue doing research on your site.

The awareness stage of the buyer’s journey is where you attract new leads to your brand and provide helpful content.  This content can help inform them about their pain points. It’s only once you’ve addressed the awareness stage that you can begin to present potential solutions to your audience, which is where the consideration stage comes in.

Learn To Use Social Media To Find New Leads