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The Buyer’s Journey: Match Your Marketing to the Way that People Buy and Generate Leads

Today’s consumers are savvy and skeptical. They’ve seen it all, heard it all, and expect more out of the brand’s they do business with.

They’re tired of the pitch-fest, brand focused advertising that floods the airways and clogs up their social media channels.

Instead, they demand to be wowed. They demand to be informed. They demand a better experience from the first touch-point to the last.

The problem for most business owners and marketers is that the old school marketing education that is perpetuated by the small business institutions is outdated. It’s fluff-filled, brand focused, “look for the next sale” strategies have resulted in dismal high failure rates for small business. 

The fact that 80% of small businesses fail is a problem that these institutions continue to ignore and instead focus on selling their memberships instead of helping businesses truly grow.

Once I left my corporate career as the head of advertising at NASA Kennedy Space Center and started to consult with business owners and other marketers, I started to realize that there was a lot of bad information out there about how to market a business.

So I decided to do something about it.

I set out on a mission to pull back the curtain and shed light on the truth about how to really make your marketing work.

I know that for the Entrepreneurial Spirit to thrive, we need to break the cycle and get real. It’s time to take back the American Dream.

Here’s the big idea: If you want to generate new leads, you must match your marketing to the way that people buy.

Understanding The Buyer’s Journey

The key to generating leads is understanding the Buyer’s Journey. The Buyer’s Journey is a marketing and sales concept that basically begins with the idea that regardless of what you sell and who you sell it to, your customer’s are on a problem solving journey. 

There is a problem they have that they don’t want and a pleasure or outcome they want that they don’t have.

Understanding exactly what the problem is that keeps your customers up at night is the first step in getting your marketing to work on social media or even offline.

You must know what that problem is in your customer’s language.

Without using industry jargon or trade terminology, how would your customer’s describe that problem in their own words?

If you feel like you’re too close to it and don’t really know what words your customer’s would use, here’s a simple hack to getting the answer: ASK THEM!

Conduct five interviews with your ideal, perfect prospects and clients and write down what they say about it. Use those words in your customer focused marketing.

Next, the key to making this work is to understand that only 1% of consumers who see your marketing messages are “Now Buyers” meaning they are ready to buy from you or hire you now. 

The vast majority, 99% of the market isn’t aware of the problem you solve, isn’t convinced they need to solve it, and doesn’t know which vendor to choose.  If you only use Tactical Marketing to market to “Now Buyers” you’re missing out on 99% of the revenue and market potential. 

The key to tapping into the 99% of hidden revenue potential is that marketers should match their marketing to way today’s savvy and skeptical consumers buy and provide information that moves them along the Buyer’s Journey.

How to Generate Leads: Apply the Buyer’s Journey to Social Media 

The key to creating a strategy that matches your marketing to the way that people buy on social media is to create content focused on the three types of buyers:

1. Future Buyer’s
2. Soon-to-Buy Buyer’s
3. Now Buyer’s

Social media content ideas for future buyer’s include:

Live videos that breakdown the hidden costs of not solving a problem

• Video interviews with experts on related topics
• Testimonials from happy customers
• Daily “behind the scenes” posts to your stories
• Update your social media “bumper sticker” (your cover image, profile photo and About Us section”) to focus on your customer’s desired outcome
• Be the guide – post conversation starters on your pages

Social media content ideas for soon-to-buy buyer’s include:

• Live videos that cover frequently asked questions
• Autopost your blog posts to social media
• Announce your next live event
• Give your reader’s a downloadable gift (ex: a Checklist)
• Move your social media fans to your email list
• Reply to comments with open ended questions

Social media content ideas for now buyer’s include:

• “Deal of the Day” offers
• Create default replies so your customer gets an immediate response when they inquire even if you’re busy
• Capture hot leads and send them a personalized message
• Install the Facebook pixel on your landing pages so you can retarget website visitors with ads
• Set up referral links for your strategic partners
• Interact personally on other pages in your niche (neighborhood Facebook groups)

Understanding the Buyer’s Journey and applying it to your social media marketing efforts can take you from an unwelcome pest to a welcome guest in your customer’s social media feed if you match your marketing to the way that people buy.

Create the inspiring, educational, and fun content that will WOW buyers and watch your business grow!

About Jen DeVore Richter

Jen DeVore Richter is the former head of advertising for NASA at Kennedy Space Center recently awarded “Innovator of the Year” for excellence in Business Coaching. She is a professional speaker on the topic of marketing as well as women in leadership. Jen is a Certified Platinum business coach globally recognized for her fluff-free, results oriented approach and mastery of direct response marketing messages.