How To Use The Consumer Journey To Plan Your Marketing Strategy

Rarely do customers make impulse decisions when it comes to a purchase, unless it’s as small as a pack of gum or a candy bar.

But even when choosing to buy a candy bar while waiting in the grocery line, the decision has been influenced by the consumer journey. Past experiences, interactions with the brand, and decision-making have all led to the choice of one candy bar over another.

The consumer journey from awareness to loyal customer is rarely a straight path, but each journey goes through the same stages. Understanding the journey your customers are on and the digital marketing tools that align with each stage will help you successfully reach your audience.

THE FIVE STAGES OF THE CONSUMER JOURNEY

The consumer journey typically consists of five key stages:

1. Awareness Stage: When consumers first learn about your brand, products, or services.
2. Research Stage: When consumers actively gather information about potential solutions.
3. Consideration Stage: When consumers evaluate different options before making a decision.
4. Conversion Stage: When consumers make the final decision to purchase.
5. Re-Purchase Stage: When consumers become repeat customers and brand advocates.

Let’s explore each of these stages in detail and the best digital strategies you can implement at each step.

AWARENESS

When consumers enter the awareness stage, they’re just starting to learn about your brand, products, and services. You shouldn’t expect a consumer in this stage to be ready to make a purchase.

Instead, your goal should be to inform and engage with an audience. This helps you introduce yourself, begin to build trust, and form the pillars of a long-term relationship. That way, when your customers are ready to make a purchase, you’re at the top of their minds!

Display Advertising: Eye-catching display ads strategically placed across websites your target audience visits can significantly boost brand recognition. Creating visually appealing banners that communicate your brand’s value proposition helps introduce your business to potential customers.

OTT/CTV: Video is a powerful medium for storytelling, making OTT/CTV one of the best ways to introduce yourself to new customers! Not only that, viewers of CTV are engaged 71% of the time, meaning your ads are going to get paid attention to!

Blogs: Creating informative blog content that addresses common questions or challenges your audience faces positions your brand as a helpful resource. This type of content builds credibility and trust right from the start.

Social Media Content: Tapping into the power of social media is a simple and effective way for businesses to make people aware of their brand. Social media creates communities and helps build trust between brands and audiences. Consumers are spending more of their time online, and they’re expecting brands to do the same — 93% of respondents to a recent Sprout Social survey say they think it’s important for brands to stay on top of Internet culture.

RESEARCH

When consumers enter the research phase of the consumer journey, they’re getting more serious about making a purchase. This is a critical point for your brand to stand out as an expert and the go-to source for the products and services your customers need. Businesses that provide educational content that solves problems for consumers stand a great chance of turning them into loyal customers.

Display Advertising: As customers dig deeper into their research, display ads can be tailored to highlight specific features and benefits that address their needs. These more detailed ads can direct users to landing pages with comprehensive information about your products or services.

Video/OTT/CTV: Detailed video content demonstrating your products in action or explaining your services helps customers visualize the solutions you offer. Educational video content that answers common questions builds trust during this crucial research phase.

Content Marketing: Blogs on your website are a great way to provide entertainment and educational value to your potential audience. Publishing content that addresses your audience’s pain points and shows how your products and services can solve their problems positions you as an authority they can trust when they’re ready to make a purchase.

Social Media Content: Creating engaging tips, FAQs, and infographics, and sharing real-life customer stories are great ways to catch your customers’ attention during the research phase. If you’ve done a good job cultivating a relationship during the awareness phase, this is when your efforts on social media start to shine!

CONSIDERATION

In the consideration stage, consumers have done their research and decided on a product or service that suits their needs, and they’re making their final decisions before a purchase. This is the point where you want to differentiate yourself from the competition and keep your audience engaged on your site.

Display Ads: Stay top of mind with your customers by serving them relevant ads after they leave your website. Retargeting ads can help reinforce your brand in their mind so they think of you when they’re going about their day. By keeping your brand visible, you help guide potential customers back to you and remind them why your business is the solution to their problem.

Addressable Geofencing: Both Display and Video/OTT can be enhanced through addressable geofencing campaigns that target consumers based on their home address, interests, and keyword searches. This powerful solution tracks when targeted consumers enter your store location or conversion zone, providing measurable proof of campaign effectiveness. By combining digital targeting with physical location data, you can create highly personalized marketing experiences that bridge the online-offline gap.

Customer Reviews: The social proof of customer reviews can be an absolute game-changer when customers are considering your product. Think about the last time you made a purchase. Did you just buy the first thing you saw in the store? Or are you like the vast majority of people who carefully read reviews to see what other people thought of the product? Cultivating reviews and posting them for your customers to see is advantageous for every business and is an essential part of building trust during the consideration stage.

CONVERSION

By the time your customer reaches the conversion stage, they are incredibly close to making a purchase, but they haven’t quite gone all the way. This is your opportunity to convince them that you’re the only solution to their problem.

SEM and SEO: When customers are ready to make a purchase, you want your business to be found. Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization tactics are critical to making sure this happens. Ensure you’re regularly checking on your keywords during reporting to stay on top of trends and to pivot when necessary.

SEM is paid advertising and has an immediate impact for businesses, while SEO is organic and takes longer to see results.

Additionally, make sure the landing pages you’re directing your customers to are clean, easy to navigate, and capture their attention. You want to make it as simple as possible for someone to purchase your products or services!

RE-PURCHASE

Your work doesn’t end simply because you make a sale! During the re-purchase stage, you put everything you’ve learned together to continue building lasting relationships with your customers. It’s your opportunity to turn a sale into a brand advocate!

Branding: This stage is all about returning to the roots and focusing on branding and relationship building. This can be done with many digital marketing tactics, but is especially important on social media.

Continue actively engaging with your customers on social media and sharing helpful information with them through blogs. Soon after the sale, encourage your customers to leave a review, which you can then utilize with future customers during the consideration stage.

During the conversion stage, make sure to collect information like their email address and simple demographic info to build your first-party database. This can help you with targeting ads and emails later on down the road.

If you’re struggling to connect with your customers during any phase of the consumer journey, Federated Digital Solutions can help! Our team of experts has all the knowledge to help you navigate the complicated world of digital marketing. Contact us today to learn more.

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