How to Meet Customer Expectations with Content?

Nobody randomly decides and says, “I’m going to buy this,” and then goes ahead and does it. Usually, consumers go through a process called the buyer's journey where they research the product or service they want and then evaluate before concluding to buy.  

Because modern consumers are more informed and empowered than ever before, their expectations have also increased. So, it’s crucial to provide them with the information they need to help them move smoothly across each stage until they reach a final purchase decision.  

But, how exactly can you keep your target audience moving along each stage while positioning yourself as an authority in your niche?  

By providing high-quality, engaging content that's optimized for SEO in West Palm Beach!

Then again, understanding what content to create at each stage of the buyer’s journey is no walk in the park. You must first figure out how your ideal customers think and behave.  

Once you fully understand their buying habits and decisions, that’s when you can build a content strategy that allows you to present the right content that can fulfill their specific needs at every stage.  

In this article, we are going to share everything there is to know about creating better content that meets customer expectations. Let’s begin!

Building a Content Strategy That Meets Customer Expectation

1. Create Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are semi-fictional characters that accurately represent your ideal customers. Their purpose is to inform you who to attract and delight with your content.  

They provide information about the challenges and pain points that your target audience is faced with at each stage of the buyer's journey, as well as insights on what your business should be doing to address these needs.  

Basically, buyer personas are what help you identify what content you need to create, which channel to publish it on, and how to improve your presence online.  

If you already have one, make sure they're up to date and provide thorough details of your target customers. Having precise buyer personas enables you to further segment your audience. As a result, you can serve more targeted, personalized, and relevant content that engage your ideal customers in a time of information overload.  

If you can’t provide your target audience with such content at each stage of the buyer’s journey, how else can you gain their trust and interest?

2. Identify Which Marketing Channels to Use

There’s really no point in creating high-quality content if it won’t reach your intended audience. The only way for your articles, videos, and infographics can bring value is if your prospects are truly engaged with them.

This is why it’s critical to identify which channels your target audience is searching for information at every stage of the buyer's journey so you can meet them there.  

There are three goals you want to achieve with your content:

• Attract leads

• Engage prospects
• Delight customers

Finding out which channels are your best choices to publish your content may be an issue, but the good news is, there are set marketing channels available for each of your goals.

Attract Stage

During the awareness stage, your ideal customers realize they have a problem and are trying to gain information about it. This is where you come in to provide them with educational and helpful content.  

You can do this through:

• Blogging: Blog posts can be incredibly helpful to consumers, especially during the early stage of the buying process. According to Deman Gen Report, 60% of consumers read blogs to gain information about the products they want to buy or problems they want to solve.  
• Social media marketing: Millions of people today search on social media channels, particularly on Facebook and Instagram. In fact, more than 74% of people use Facebook to discover products or brands online, while 50% of consumers use Instagram as a discovery tool.  
• Search engine marketing: When it comes to search engines, over 90% of searches are conducted on Google, making it your safest bet to attract your target audience while they’re still at the awareness stage.  

Engage Stage

The consideration stage is where your ideal customers are looking for solutions and evaluating their options. Your task here is to give them content suggesting why your products or services make the best fit.

The ideal channels to use during this stage are:

• Email marketing: The best way to nurture leads via email is to automate them. Triggered emails keep your prospects moving along the sales funnel by sending them highly personalized content that will encourage them to convert. For example, if they visited your website and added to their cart but never really checked out, you can send them an email notifying them that a certain item on their cart is about to run out of stock.  
• Remarketing: Sometimes, all your prospects need is that final nudge to finally get them to buy. Remarket relevant content to those who previously showed interest in your products so you can convince them to make a purchase.  

• Social media: Consumers seek recommendations and reviews before buying and most of them go to social media for that. Use it to your advantage by featuring customer testimonials, reviews, and encouraging your customer to leave one on your page. That way, you can boost the credibility of your business and build trust.  

Delight Stage

Even if your prospects are aware that you offer the best solutions to their problems and have bought from you, you should continue to entice them.  

Continuously engage them by creating onboarding content and demonstrating various ways to use your products, as well as giving away special discounts and exclusive access to new product features.

The more you delight your customers, the more likely they’ll recommend you to their friends and family, and the more likely they’ll remain loyal to you.  

Providing a seamless and frictionless customer experience post-purchase can be an easy task when you’re using any of these channels:

• Email marketing: Send your customers a thank you email and shipment update following a purchase, promotional emails every now and then, and exclusive coupons during their birthdays.
• Loyalty programs: Giving your customers amazing perks – such as rewards, discounts, free items, and exclusive offers - lowers their chances of switching to your competition. “
• Live chat or self-service channels: Although modern consumers do their research before buying something, they’ll still have more questions to ask once they do have them. Offering live chat customer support or self-service channels makes it easier for them to troubleshoot issues and get answers almost immediately.

• Retargeting: By cultivating a relationship with your customers even after they've purchased from you, you can increase their customer lifetime value. Post the right content to urge them to take your desired action – whether it’s to buy again, upgrade, or get a complimentary product.  

3. Answer the Right Questions

Consumers will have different sets of questions at each stage of the buyer’s journey. So, find out what questions they’re asking Google and try to create content around them.  

The most common questions during this stage involve what, how, why, and where.  

For example, if a prospect is experiencing hair fall problems, they will most likely type in “what are the common causes of hair fall?”  

Based on your audience’s questions and your products or services, you can develop keywords to use in your content.  

Also, see to it that you optimize your content for SEO in West Palm Beach. Include all the relevant keywords to increase your odds of appearing on the top search results.  

4. Identify Content Gaps

Your next move is to focus on the questions that don’t have any answers.  

Conduct a content gap analysis, which examines and identifies any missed opportunities in your content strategy.  

Another strategy is by visiting your competitor’s website and identifying which topics they have yet to tackle. By analyzing your existing content and that of your competitors, you get to see which areas you missed to cover that could potentially guide your prospects to the point of purchase.  

Content Ideas for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Awareness Stage

Keep in mind that during the awareness stage, consumers are experiencing symptoms of a certain problem and are trying to figure out what’s going on and what to do about it.  

Your job is to provide your intended audience with information that will help them understand their problem and how they can fix it. Here’s how:

• Provide value without requiring commitment from them as much as possible.  
• Show your audience that there are always solutions to their problems.  

• Present your business as one of the possible solutions to their problems.  
• Post content that reflects who you are as a brand and what you believe in.  
• Demonstrate “your expertise in your field and establish yourself as an expert in your niche.  

Awareness Stage Content Ideas

• Blog Post  

• Social Media Post
• Checklist  
• How-to Video
• Ebook
• Webinar

Consideration Stage

Your content should aim to help potential buyers see that your products or services are potential solutions to their problems. A surefire way to achieve this is by proving that you’re credible and trustworthy.

Modern consumers aren’t willing to put their money on businesses they’re not familiar with. They prefer to buy from someone they know or trust.  

So, craft content that establishes your brand as reliable to convince prospects to add you to their shortlist of choices. Below are several tips:  

• Make your content as informative as possible and make sure that it’s centered around solving your prospect’s problems.

• Highlight the benefits of your products and services without exaggerating the facts.  
• Position your products as one of the options they can use to solve their problems.  
• Never push your brand to your ideal customers.  
• Identify content gaps and create topics that aim to fill those gaps.
• Optimize your content for SEO in West Palm Beach.  

Consideration Stage Content Ideas

• Comparison guides
• Case studies
• Free samples
• Product videos

• Cost calculators
• Podcasts and webinars

Decision Stage

During this stage, your prospects are comparing your products with other similar products from different brands. They're also comparing prices, services, and company reputation.  

Your goal is to provide content that will bring your prospects even closer to buying your products or services. Connect with your ideal customers by offering the following:

• Free consultations  
• Targeted offers
• Demos
• Free trials or downloads
• Case studies”

• Product literature
• Product and vendor comparisons
• Testimonials

If they’ve already bought from you, provide them content that will continue to engage them post-purchase, such as:

• Onboarding guidelines for product assembly, setup, or installations.  

• Tutorials for product maintenance.  
• Product hacks and tips.  
• Inspiring content such as style guides.

Can Your Content Meet Customer Expectations?

The first step towards creating content that meets customer expectations at every stage of the buyer's journey is to create buyer personas that accurately represent who you want to attract and delight with your content.  

The next step is to choose marketing channels that will ensure you reach them. Then, start answering key questions and fill in gaps with your content. And, last but not the least, make sure you optimize them for SEO in West Palm Beach to boost their visibility in search.

At Digital Resource, our team of SEO specialists and content marketing experts will tailor a custom content strategy that will not only meet your target audience's expectations, but also convert them into paying customers.  

Contact us today if you want the secret to creating content that converts!

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