Content marketing throughout the customer journey

Effective content marketing is a key factor in enhancing a brand’s visibility online and engaging customers directly. A well-planned content strategy focuses on the customer journey, transforming content marketing from mere content creation and distribution into a powerful tool to connect with your audience, understand their needs, and guide their purchase decisions.

By offering valuable content at each stage of the journey, companies can engage potential customers, turn them into buyers, and build lasting loyalty. High-quality content is instrumental in guiding customers from one phase of the journey to the next, creating a smooth and impactful customer experience (CX).

To deliver relevant content, it is of course essential to clearly define your target audience. Trying to appeal to a broad, diverse group can lessen your impact, so we recommend developing detailed buyer personas. The more directly your content speaks to a specific audience, the greater your chances of reaching qualified users and potential customers.

In content marketing, the focus isn’t on your product – it’s always on the user and their needs. This is especially true if you’re using content as part of a D2C strategy; your company’s entire approach should be centered on understanding and meeting customer needs.

Even though the ultimate goal might be sales, avoid producing content as if it’s just a billboard for your products or solutions. Instead, think about your content from a "help-first" perspective, aiming to provide what Google calls helpful content in its guidelines.

Take a data-driven approach

Avoid relying on assumptions or guesswork – whether you’re developing buyer personas, choosing content topics, or planning distribution. Successful content marketing is always data-driven.

Use market research, gather insights from user surveys, conduct A/B testing, and leverage tools like Mouseflow and Google Analytics. Content creation should also be grounded in thorough SEO keyword research, but remember to consider the search intention behind those keywords to truly align with what users are seeking.

Today, many customer journeys begin with a search query. That’s why it’s essential to optimize content not just for relevant keywords but also for the search intent of your target audience. However, increasing visibility on search engines alone isn’t sufficient if the traffic isn’t meaningfully engaged on your site.

Search Experience Optimization (SXO) focuses on delivering relevant answers, solutions, or inspiration that users can easily find in search engines, thereby providing clear value along the way. This seamless flow from search results to engaging, high-quality content helps build trust and boosts user engagement with your brand.

For a positive user experience, your site should also offer smooth, efficient navigation. Responsive design and accessibility are key factors in ensuring an efficient journey, and both should be standardized across your design systems for a consistent brand experience.

On an ideal journey, a user with a specific problem searches on Google for a solution and lands on a well-tailored article that directly addresses their question. The content then naturally guides them, providing insights and helpful information along the way. As they engage with the article, they discover a link to a product perfectly suited to their needs, allowing them to easily complete their purchase through the connected online store.

In reality, a customer’s journey is far less linear and predictable. Users encounter a brand through a variety of touchpoints, and not every search is driven by a purchase intent. Often, potential customers return to a journey they began earlier, perhaps after initially discovering the brand through a different interaction.

To make content marketing truly effective across the customer journey, we need models that realistically reflect these varied paths. Such models help brands strategically plan content that aligns with where users are in their journey, fostering more meaningful connections and engagement.

To deliver content marketing effectively along the customer journey, you need to understand your customers' path. Customer journey maps can help with this, allowing you to trace the journey in detail and improve the customer experience based on these insights.

AIDA model

One of the most recognized customer journey models is the AIDA model. This formula has been a staple in marketing for over a century, and it remains popular due to its straightforwardness. AIDA stands for:

1. Attention: The first phase focuses on grabbing the attention of potential customers. This involves using eye-catching advertising messages to differentiate your brand from the competition.
2. Interest: After capturing their attention, the next step is to spark and sustain their interest. This involves offering additional information that emphasizes the needs and preferences of potential customers.
3. Desire: This phase seeks to establish a personal connection, evoking emotions while also logically demonstrating why the offered product is the perfect solution for their specific problem.
4. Action: Finally, the process culminates in a call to action, encouraging the customer to make a purchase.

While the AIDA model has its advantages due to its simplicity, its roots in traditional marketing are quite evident. The model is primarily product-focused.

Additionally, the AIDA model overlooks customer loyalty after the purchase. It emphasizes the purchase decision without addressing the ongoing relationship between the brand and the customer. This means we encounter limitations when trying to apply this model for content marketing throughout the entire customer journey.

Content marketing funnel

The content marketing funnel operates similarly to the classic sales funnel, adapting it specifically for content marketing. This model visualizes how content is used to attract potential customers, convert them into qualified leads, and ultimately persuade them to make a purchase.

Top of the Funnel (TOFU): This phase closely aligns with the Attention stage of the AIDA model. Users are looking for information and becoming aware of your brand. In this context, how-to content is especially effective in capturing their interest.

Middle of the funnel (MOFU): At this stage, users are actively considering a purchase and should be nurtured into qualified leads. Here, the focus should be on creating product-oriented content that highlights the benefits and features of your offerings.

Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU): This is the buying phase where potential customers transition into actual buyers. In this phase, content like customer success stories, genuine comparisons, or user-generated reviews are ideal for instilling trust and encouraging conversions.

5-phase model

The 5-phase model is especially effective for leveraging content marketing throughout the customer journey. This framework can be further broken down into more detailed phases if necessary, and it notably includes the after-sales phase, which is often overlooked in other models. You’ll find this model presented in various forms and with different phase names, but in our project work, the following breakdown has proven effective for integrating content touchpoints along the journey:

Below, we provide a brief overview of effective content formats you can utilize in your content marketing throughout the customer journey. This overview is based on the 5-phase model of the customer journey presented above, which has proven effective in practice:

Awareness:

• How-to and guide articles
• Video tutorials
• Social media posts
• Podcasts
• Free e-books/white papers
• Infographics

Consideration:

• Product comparisons
• Test reports
• Expert interviews
• Case studies
• Demo videos

Conversion:

• Landing pages
• User reviews
• Success stories
• (Interactive) product guides
• Feature lists
• FAQs

Retention:

• Personalized email campaigns
• Exclusive offers for existing customers
• Loyalty programs
• Customer surveys
• Upselling and cross-selling communications
• Checklists

Advocacy:

• Webinars
• Workshops
• Online communities
• Thank-you messages
• User-generated content

The variety of available content formats along the customer journey opens up opportunities for creating individualized and positive customer experiences – when used effectively.

By strategically deploying content at various touchpoints and addressing your audience appropriately, you can capture attention, build trust, and increase conversions. Clearly defining your target audience and adopting a user-centered approach are essential for identifying your customers' needs and fostering long-term relationships.