Before a marketer sits down to plan out monthly or quarterly content a few steps need to be taken. Here are some key questions to ask your marketing team before getting started with content marketing planning for a B2B buyer’s journey.
- Do you have a mapped-out buyer’s journey?
- Do you have content mapped out along the buyer’s journey?
- When sitting down for regular content planning sessions do you map it out according to the journey?
What Is A Buyer’s Journey
HubSpot does a great job of explaining what a buyer’s journey entails.
The buyer’s journey describes a buyer’s path to purchase. In other words, buyers don’t wake up and decide to buy on a whim. They go through a process to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service.
HubSpot
You’ll also see it described as three phases that include awareness, consideration and decision. In this article, HubSpot lists them as attract, engage and delight. I’ve also planned out content based on problem education, solution research and solution selection. You’ll also have to include usage and service support as the fourth and fifth stages depending on the product or service being sold.
How Is A B2B Buyer’s Journey Different?
Similar to a consumer journey a potential customer may or may not be looking for a product or service. So the awareness or problem education phase may be someone actively seeking a solution to a problem that they have. Or they become aware of the problem due to consuming specific content highlighting that a problem even exists.
However, a B2B buyer’s journey differs from a consumer’s journey in that there is often more than one person involved in the buying process. This includes key stakeholders, the decision-maker(s), the end-user and influencers. So content needs to keep in mind the different buyer personas that could engage with your company along the buyer’s journey.
How To Plan Content For A Buyer’s Journey
Almost 20 years ago, Bill Gates exclaim “content is king” while watching the ushering of the world wide web and a new way that consumers and clients would consume information. And while many, would like to argue that content is no longer king you’d be remiss to NOT see content marketing as a part of a robust marketing strategy. So while context needs to be taken into consideration especially when it comes to the B2B buyer’s journey, content is still king.
This brings us to the importance of planning content while keeping the buyer’s journey in mind. Can you meet your potential customers along their decision making process to provide answers they are seeking?
Mapping Content To The Buyer’s Journey
In each of the buyer’s journey phases list out the best marketing channels to reach your potential customer or client.
Here are some examples of marketing channels or tactics that can be used in each phase.
Awareness: Social Media, Blogs, Search Engine Marketing, Digital Advertising
Consideration: Website, Social Media, Retargeting, Outbound Sales, Email
Decision: Email, Retargeting, and Demo or Discovery Calls
In each of these phases, the types of content created for these marketing channels is the next important thing. Here are some examples of content formats and how they serve the potential customer in each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Awareness / Problem Education: How-to video on how your SaaS product solves a current business problem
Consideration / Solution Research: A case study on results you’ve created for other customers
Decision / Solution Selection: demo or discovery call walking through the potential customer’s business problems and then showcasing the solution for them
Check out this comprehensive blog post on creating content for every stage.
The next step in this phase of planning is to list out all the things a customer might ask in each stage. These questions will be easy to map out if you have a robust voice of the customer program set up. From there match the content that already exists that will answer the question and then list out how a potential customer might find it. I’ll use my fractional CMO services as an example.
| Buyer Persona | Customer Questions | Existing Content | Where Does It Live? How Is It Discovered? |
| CEO | What is a Fractional CMO? | Website Homepage Copy | Website Homepage | SEO, LinkedIn |
How To Incorporate The Buyer’s Journey Into Regular Content Planning
Once the previous step is complete, you can then start to map out new content to be created. During monthly or quarterly content planning meetings (depending on your cadence timing for planning), you can refer to your list of content to be created and map it out with your team.
| Customer Questions | Existing Content | Where Does It Live? How Is It Discovered? | Content To Be Created |
| What is a Fractional CMO? | Website Homepage Copy | Website Homepage | SEO, LinkedIn | In-depth Blog Post |
How I Can Help
I can audit your content across your buyer’s journey or create a content plan and buyer’s journey map for your organization. Let’s book a time to chat about your company’s needs.
