2. 2
Topics
Customers are changing
Content & Customers
Personas
The Customer Path - Sales Funnel
Persona Data & Content
Customer Stages & Media Type
Social Media
Sample Customer Path
Sample Data Form
5 Questions to get started
Photo credit: David Marcu
3. Strategy ENC Website Admissions Adult & Graduate Studies Development What’s Next?
3
Each of your
prospective
customers
are unique.
Do you know
how to identify
them in a
crowd?
6. 6
UnderstandHow… They Interact
With Apps
!
They Buy
!
They Use
!
!
They Gather
Information
!
They Interact
With Mobile
!
They Interact
Personally &
Professionally
!
Social Media
10. !
content & customers
10
The content and customer cycle
must keep moving and stay fresh.
Once a brand stops creating
content for their customers, the
brand will not be as visible and
customers will not find them on
the web when they search.
“Customers never stop searching, so brands should
never stop creating content to attract them.”
- YourBrandExposed.com
13. Why are they
14
The more you know
about the prospective customer,
the easier it will be to create
targeted marketing content.
important?
14. 1. Demographic info: Age, Gender, HHI, Ethnicity,
Professional / personal status, basic Info.
!
!
!
Persona Profile
14
* Problem
Most marketing teams stop here and
do not go further to describe personas
Checklist
15. 2. Common questions
3. Describe their problems and pain points
4. Motivations for buying
5. Communication preferences / information search
6. Why would they NOT consider or NOT like
your brand?
7. What other competing brands are they
considering?
!
15
Persona Profile
Checklist
16. !
!
!
!
CREATE content specific to persona profile
EXPOSE your brand so prospects can find you
CONNECT with prospects using relevant content
ATTRACT them into and through the funnel
CONVERT them successfully
!
!
16
Persona Profile
Summary
18. 18
Determine critical customer touch points from the first touch all the
way through to conversion. Lead the prospective customer down
a pre-planned path. Build in content logic that serves relevant
content based on actions of the customer.
!
As the brand, you must understand where the prospective
customer is in the sales funnel in order to create logic-oriented
content that is effective in continuing to lead the customer deeper
into the funnel toward a purchase.
customer
path
the
19. 19
Capturing persona data can be accomplished using
content, offers, CTAs and forms in the sales funnel.
!
It’s important to know each stage of the sales funnel
and the buyer’s mindset in that stage.
!
!
persona data
& content
20. 20
Sales Funnel
The following slides are describing the sales funnel attributes,
stages of the prospective customer, media that can be used
in each stage as well as where to gather data.
!
!
Customerpath
21. 21
The customer path sometimes starts with a
first touch point in the awareness stage
located at the top of the sales funnel.
!
!
[Awareness Stage]
Customer Path
22. 22
The customer path sometimes starts with a
first touch point in the awareness stage
located at the top of the sales funnel.
!
!
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
If a brand’s content marketing is working well and designed to
drive the protective customer deeper into the funnel, the
prospect will end up here in the consideration stage.
!
!
Customer Path
23. 23
The customer path sometimes starts with a
first touch point in the awareness stage
located at the top of the sales funnel.
!
!
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
[Decision Stage]
If a brand’s content marketing is working well and designed to
drive the protective customer deeper into the funnel, the
prospect will end up here in the consideration stage.
!
!
Ultimately a prospective customer who decides to
buy ends up here in the decision stage.
Customer Path
25. 25
Customers do not know
your brand in this stage
[Content tip: tease, educate, big picture]
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
[Decision Stage]
Customer Stages
26. 26
Customer Stages
Customers do not know
your brand in this stage
[Content tip: tease, educate, big picture]
Customers have heard
about your brand and
are comparing it to
other competing brands
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
[Decision Stage]
[Content tip: motivate, compel, deeper relevancy]
27. 27
Customers do not know
your brand in this stage
[Content tip: tease, educate, big picture]
Customers have heard
about your brand and
are comparing it to
other competing brands
Customers are informed
and ready to make
a purchase
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
[Decision Stage]
[Content tip: motivate, compel, deeper relevancy]
[Content tip: welcoming]
Customer Stages
29. 29
Examples of Media Used Per Stage
Social
Media
EmailSearch
Display /
Retargeting
PR
Sponsorships
& Events
Blogs
Articles
Videos
EDU
Website
Advertising
Persona Info & data captured here
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
[Decision Stage]
!
Splash Landing Thank you eBooks Videos Fact Sheets Email Social
Page Page Page Media
!
30. 30
Examples of Media Used Per Stage
Social
Media
EmailSearch
Display /
Retargeting
PR
Sponsorships
& Events
Blogs
Articles
Videos
EDU
Website
Advertising
!
Splash Landing Thank you eBooks Videos Fact Sheets Email Social
Page Page Page Media
!
Persona Info & data captured here
[Awareness Stage]
[Consideration Stage]
[Decision Stage]
Persona data captured is
used for follow-up
32. Social Media
What persona are you posting for?
What is the key message of the post?
What keywords are important to include?
Add a link to your website
Determine a CTA
Attach a photo or video
Do you use a brand # ?
What to think about
before you post
Photo Credit: UnSplash - Timothy Muza
32
33. Social Media
Social content is probably best suited for
Awareness or Consideration stages because
the brand has the opportunity to engage
with the prospective customer in real time.
The goal - drive the customer to a deeper level
funnel conversion.
!
Content
Photo Credit: UnSplash - Timothy Muza
33
34. Social Media
Social media is a great place to gather behavioral
data on prospective customers. Use your social
channels to monitor activity: keywords, phrases,
conversations, tone, readiness to buy, competition,
engagement and brand loyalty.
!
Monitoring = Data
Photo Credit: UnSplash - Timothy Muza
34
35. 35
!
Don’t ignore the sales funnel - it helps define
what media to use and how to produce your
content that reaches the customer effectively.
!
Define the customer data do you want to capture
in the funnel and what types of media your
team use.
!
Takeaways
36. 37
1 4
2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Wireframe
Email
hand-off
to Sales team
Email
Nice to meet you!
The Customer Path
As we mentioned earlier, you must pre-determine customer touch points
within your customer path. In the following pages you will see what a
sample path looks like.
!
The content logic that you build in to your digital ecosystem is critical. A
cause-effect principle occurs. Your content causes the customer to take
action, (watch a video, download a .pdf, go to a landing page, etc… this
means your pre-determined path is being followed and you are capturing
data along the way because the customer is completing a short form to
continue getting the great content they want.
!
Keep in mind, forms are not always the silver bullet solution to capture data,
nor will customers always want to continue filling out forms. You will have to
determine how many pieces of necessary customer data you need to ask
for in a form and do not go further - your customer may get frustrated and
exit the funnel.
!
36
37. 37
1 4
2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Wireframe
Email
hand-off
to Sales team
Email
Nice to meet you!
This example has 4 customer paths (numbers 1-4). Each number
has a different content topic representing a product. Each customer
path serves content based on the topic of that path. Here you may
want to use a form that asks questions. The logic of the form
submission drives them deeper and serves them related content.
!
Example: GAP Retail Store
Path 1: Women’s Casual Summer Attire
Path 2: Women’s Summer footwear
Path 3: Men’s Business Casual Attire
Path 4: Men’s Casual Summer Attire
Awareness Stage is above
the orange dotted-line
Sample
Wireframe
of Customer Path
38. 1 4
2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Wireframe
Email
hand-off
to Sales team
Email
Nice to meet you!
If your content did its job, the customer will go deeper in the funnel
to the Consideration stage. Here, customers will get even more
content which meets their needs. The goal is to continue to stay
relevant and top of mind with great content and calls-to-action.
Remember, you want to drive them to “purchase,” — make it easy
for them to do this.
!
38
39. 37
1 4
2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Wireframe
Email
hand-off
to Sales team
Email
Nice to meet you!
The Consideration stage is as deep as you make it. In this diagram
we are showing follow-up emails, landing pages and thank you
pages - all of which have the goal of nurturing the prospective
customer. When they meet the pre-determined criteria in the
customer path, the customer profile is automatically sent to the
sales team.
!
Benefit:
Marketing content nurtures the customer and pre-qualifies them. This
allows the sales team to only spend time with prospects that want to buy.
Content is timely, fresh and is relevant to what the customer wants.
!
!
39
40. 40
1 4
2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Wireframe
Email
hand-off
to Sales team
Email
Nice to meet you!
Sample
Wireframe
of Customer Path
41. 37
1 4
2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Wireframe
Email
hand-off
to Sales team
Email
Nice to meet you!
Customer Data
What Type of clothing best fits you?
How frequent do you go shopping for clothing?
Data / Forms:
Forms on landing pages are great ways
to capture data from your prospective
customers. Ask just a few questions to
make it easy for them. This gives you
insight and information about your
customer.
!
Think about what data you want to
capture and in what stage you want to
present the form.
!
This form is in the Awareness stage and is
designed to get the customer to watch
the video. It will give the customer more
information about what they want
regarding about the brand, product
or service.
!
This is the Call-to-action (CTA) button.
It is easy to find on the page and is
clearly the only action on the landing
page you want the customer to take.
41
42. First & last name
Email
Buying habits
Type of Product
——
blogs, videos, eBooks,
Downloads,
Landing pages,
Website pages
Time / duration
Search engine
Social insights
Emails opened
!
42
Data Gathered
Tactics and
media used
Photo Credit: Titan!
Jocelyn Gabriel
50. Leads to Customers
Content
Scott MacFarland
How
March | 2015
.com
www.linkedin.com/in/scmacfarland
@scmacfarland
yourbrandexposed@yahoo.com
Photo Credits:
!Scott MacFarland
!UnSplash - David Marcu
!UnSplash - Timothy Muza
!Titan - Jocelyn Gabriel
!UnSplash - Chelsea Francis
!Paul Bica
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dexxus/6747019289/
