Statistics show that more than 70% of modern buyers are using search engines to start their buying process. Majority of these buyers intend to buy or hire a service. However, qualified buyers do not exceed 50%. According to Gleanster Research, lead nurturing through website content marketing has the potential to generate a response rate that is higher by up to 10 times that of email marketing.
As such, up to 93% of B2B marketers are using content marketing as a strategy for attracting potential customers or clients, generating leads, and closing sales. But, only 9% of the marketers consider their marketing efforts as very effective. 33% of them see their marketing efforts as being merely effective.
Cause of the Gap
What causes a gap between marketing efforts and the achieved results is alignment of the content with different steps of the buying cycle. Most companies and businesses focus content on the buying stage only. Thus, they do not create website content that engages prospects throughout the steps of the buying cycle. Basically, most marketers fail to tailor content for websites for different buyer cycle’s steps.
Buying Cycle Explained
The buying cycle of every consumer has the following steps or stages:
- Awareness- At this stage, your lead recognizes the need that requires fulfillment or they become aware that your service or product exists.
- Evaluation- This is the step where leads become aware that you have a service or product that can meet their needs. They start evaluating what you have to offer to determine if it’s their best choice.
- Purchase- At this stage, leads are ready to purchase your service or product.
- Retention & Advocacy- Once a purchase has been made, you have to retain the customer and make them feel satisfied so that they can advocate for your products to other prospects.
Map Website Content to Suit Buyer Cycle Steps
It’s not easy to determine the right content for every buying cycle step. Nevertheless, there are things that can guide you when creating content. Follow these tips to align the content of your website with different steps of the buying cycle.
- Create a clear content strategy- Untargeted and random efforts won’t deliver the results you desire. Therefore, start with a clear strategy that includes different facets like buying cycle stages, differentiation points, and messaging.
- Come up with questions- Come up with a list of the questions that your sales team is asked by prospects regarding your service or product. Find ways of creating content that answers those questions at different stages of the buying cycle.
In addition to mapping the content of your website to suit different buying cycle steps, it’s important that you optimize it for the search engines. This will make your content appropriate for both readers and search engines. Properly optimized content will also be easier for your prospects to find online.
Bishop Writers drafts content that is aligned with different steps of the buying cycle and properly optimized for search engines. Email us via bishopwriters@gmail.com to discuss your website content needs or to order content right away!
