When it comes to any business avenue, understanding the buyer’s journey is crucial to building and maintaining your clientele.
Your approach through communication and marketing to potential customers has the ability to sway a potential buyer one way or another. This is why we believe in the value for the consciousness and understanding of the buyer’s journey.
What is the Buyer’s Journey?
The buyer’s journey is the process a potential buyer goes through leading up to their purchase. It follows them throughout the stages they endure when considering making a potential purchase. Here we have broken down the 4 Stages of the Buyer’s Journey:
- Future Buyers – Are not yet thinking about “it.” They have not taken into account the service or product that you offer but have the potential to be a future customer.
- Soon Buyers – Come to realization that they need or want “it.” Future buyers realize that they have a need or want for what you have to offer (ex. potential solution that you can offer to solve their problem).
- Now Buyers – They are ready to buy, they just have to decide which “it” they will buy. (Your options, or one from your competitor.)
- Paying Customers – Finally, the customer has decided to make their purchase.
When considering the buyer’s journey strategic and tactical marketing must be factored in. Tactical marketing is targeted toward who are ready to make their purchase right now this is the 1% to 3%. The goal of this is to get the customer to purchase your product or service over someone else’s.
For the other 99% of potential buyers who are not yet ready to make the buying decision, strategic marketing comes into play. This is geared toward potential and future customers.
Caution: Tactical marketing is a mistake for 99% of your potential customers! They don’t yet know you, appreciate how you can add value to them or solve their problem. You have not earned their trust, and throwing a “BUY NOW” deal at them is a waste of time.
Here’s To Do in Your Marketing
Focus on building a relationship with the 99% of your potential customers who don’t yet know you. Strategic marketing means providing education and value, now (before they are a customer). You want them to get to know your brand on a personal level as being super helpful. Stand out from your competitors who are just trying to entice them to buy with a catchy incentive, and improve their businesses with real advice and ideas they can implement today.
Strategic marketing is a pivotal step into transitioning potential customers to current customers.
You Have Now Turned a Potential Customer into a Customer: Now What?
You have utilized your knowledge of the buyer’s journey and applied strategic marketing to add value to and then obtain a new customer (maybe with tactical marketing at the end of the process).
Now what? It doesn’t end there you have to continuously deliver on their expectations moving forward. Continue to hold up your end of the deal and the promises that you made in your initial pitch. Keep adding value, beyond what they are paying you for. This will build trust and loyalty between you and your customers.
Key Takeaways
Taking the time to get to know your buyer’s is one of the most valuable assets to have within your business. Now that we have gone into the process of the buyer’s journey here are some key takeaways.
- Know your buyers – their desires and biggest problems
- Take the time to understand each step of the buyer’s journey – at first they don’t know you or that what you offer is even something they should consider – help them to understand why your solution matters to them
- Utilize strategic marketing first and help them fall in love with you
- ONLY when they are ready to buy, you can use some tactical marketing to get them to commit
- Continue to deliver the expectation
- Do not give up at any point – remember, 97-99% of your future buyers are not at the point when they’re ready to make a decision. Keep providing value to them and help them get closer to deciding on you and your solution.
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