Creating an engaging customer journey helps your brand stand out while educating your prospects in a dynamic way that increases interest. The right journey also provides your audience with an experience that meets them where they are most comfortable, establishes trust, and drives further interactions.
But a rich customer journey is so much more than just the copy on your website. Content comes in many different forms and exists on many different platforms. It can be used to educate, inform, and entertain. Here are some creative ways to utilize content to create a successful journey for your prospects and clients.
Educate your audience
Blog posts and other types of recurring content allow you to continue to position your brand as a thought leader and an authority people seek out for information and education on issues and news in your industry. This type of content also allows you to constantly update your audience and create new content for your website, which can help you rank for more keywords and improve your search rankings over time. Engaging content also serves to educate your audience further.
Newsletters
Newsletters are an additional way to connect with your clients or prospects. It is another touchpoint where you can share new products or offerings, educate your existing clients on best practices, and invite them to events or to follow you on social media. (Funnel steps: Awareness, Interest)
Informational rewards and white papers
Typically a deeper dive into a subject related to a specific problem or solution, these types of papers help you earn additional trust and build credibility with your target audience. White papers and informational rewards are longer than a standard blog post and offer additional knowledge and information to a reader on tackling a problem they face or the best practices of a specific solution. They’re also a great way to capture leads. (Funnel steps: Awareness, Interest, Consideration)
Go visual
Not all content is words on a page. 65% of the population are visual learners, and visuals on your website play an integral part in creating a successful customer journey. Content with visuals receives 94% more views than text-only content, so it also helps drive engagement. Visitors to your site are ten times more likely to engage with your video content than they are with the copy on your page. Adding a video to a landing page increases conversions by up to 80%.
Using images or video on a page helps boost engagement and provides you with the opportunity to quickly educate a prospect on an aspect of your solution or share more information about your brand. It can help a prospect quickly understand how your product or service works.
Images
Graphics, from images to photographs, are one of the easiest ways to improve your visitor’s experience. Incorporating images into content gives the eye a place to rest. And it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Using consistent imagery based on your branding is also one of the best ways to create and increase brand recognition and show your personality. (Funnel steps: Awareness, Interest, Consideration)
Videos
Video gives you the chance to quickly and effectively tell your story, share something unique about your brand, or even let your happy clients speak directly to your prospects about their experiences with your brand. Visitors to your site are ten times more likely to engage with your video content than they are with the copy on your page. (Funnel steps: Awareness, Interest)
Infographics
Infographics help educate your audience further. They are easily shareable, creating the opportunity for backlinks to the content. Providing data visually makes it easy for your audience to understand and easy for them to share it with others. (Funnel steps: Interest, Consideration)
Build Trust
Building trust and reducing risk are essential to converting a prospect. One of the best ways to do that is by using the stories of your successful clients. 80% of people trust recommendations from other people. But your prospects are also looking for proof that your solution or product works for people like them and organizations like theirs. Adding in case studies and testimonials at strategic points in the customer journey on your website can also help drive further engagement and increase conversion.
Case studies
Case studies are one of the most powerful ways to provide that proof to your prospects. Case studies do a deeper dive into a client’s success story, providing information on the problems they faced, the solutions used, and the data to back everything and demonstrate that you did what you said you could do. They allow prospects to see businesses like themselves and learn more about how your solution works. (Funnel steps: Interest, Consideration, Conversion)
Testimonials
Testimonials from happy clients are another way to provide social proof. Sharing testimonials on your website and other content channels demonstrates that not only are your clients happy, but they’re willing to put their reputations on the line to share that with the world. (Funnel steps: Interest, Consideration, Conversion)
Invite interaction
We are social creatures and we enjoy interacting with people and brands. One of the most powerful ways to engage your audience is by inviting them to interact with you. Interactions can happen in many different formats and many different platforms:
Roundtables & webinars
Roundtables and webinars allow you to meet digitally with your audience of clients and prospects. Webinars provide the opportunity to share information and insights with your audience and are usually a bit more sales-focused or educational. Roundtables benefit from including your audience in the discussion, which allows everyone to hear different perspectives and unique solutions. Both of them are great ways to interact with and learn from your audience while also strengthening your relationship with them. (Funnel steps: Interest, Consideration, Conversion)
Podcasts
Whether they’re on a run, in the car, or cooking dinner in their kitchen, a podcast provides your audience with the opportunity to settle in and listen to you. They are a time-efficient way to share your thought leadership and make the information and interaction feel more personal. Since they’re also portable and available on-demand, that means they are always available to educate your audience at any time and in any place. (Funnel steps: Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Conversion)
Social media
Making regular posts to social media channels that make sense for your industry is one of the most effective ways to generate and cultivate new leads. Sharing insights on problems your industry faces or snippets from other content you’ve created for your journey are great ways to make connections that you can drive to your website. (Funnel steps: Awareness, Interest)
Surveys
Features like surveys or interactive product configurators allow your visitors to interact directly with your content, share their opinions, discover what product is best for them, or even customize their solutions. (Funnel steps: Interest, Consideration, Advocacy, Retention)
Engage your audience
Engaging your audience is vital to driving conversions. But everyone has preferences for platforms and types of content. Ensure you’re reaching out to your audience in the places they want and in the formats they prefer. That could mean that your customer journey exists in part on multiple platforms and with different types of content, from blog posts and emails to infographics, videos, and podcasts.
Whatever type of content you are using, it should make sense in the context of the customer journey both on and off your website. Ensure it serves your overall message and provides prospects with the information they need to drive further engagement and conversion.
