Consumer Behavior & Marketing Strategy: Key Concepts and Buyer Journey

Consumer Behavior

The study of how people think, feel, decide, purchase, use, evaluate, and respond to products, services, brands, and marketing messages.

Buyer Behavior

The decision-making process consumers go through before, during, and after a purchase.

What does Buyer Behavior include?

It includes needs, motivations, attitudes, perception, lifestyle, culture, social influence, and past experience.

Insight

A meaningful understanding of the consumer that explains the "why" behind behavior.

Why does an insight go deeper than a fact or statistic?

Because it reveals motivation, tension, unmet need, or opportunity.

Strategic Implication / Action Item

What the marketer should do because of the insight.

What makes a useful action item?

A useful action item is specific, practical, and connected to a marketing decision.

What does good consumer behavior analysis explain?

Why people behave the way they do.

A strong short-answer response should move from what to what?

Data/Observation → Insight → Action Item

What are the first steps in the Strategic Planning Process?

Identify the client problem and outline objectives.

Why should research and insights guide strategy?

Research and insights should guide positioning, media, and creative decisions.

What is the role of the creative brief?

The bridge between strategy and execution.

Strategic Planning Process

Identify Client Problem & Outline Objectives, Immersion & Discovery, S&P Research, Key Insights - The Consumer, Brand Positioning & Media Planning, Creative Brief Development, Creative Development / Production.

MRI-Simmons USA

A major consumer research source used to understand demographics, psychographics, media habits, product usage, leisure activities, attitudes, and brand behavior.

Trend

A pattern or shift in consumer behavior, attitudes, culture, or category activity that may create a marketing opportunity.

Indexing

A way to compare a target audience to the average population.

What does an index above 100 usually mean?

The target is more likely than average to show that behavior or attitude.

What does an index below 100 usually mean?

Less likely than average.

What does strong analysis connect the findings to?

The consumer mindset.

What consumer mindset questions should marketers ask?

What do they value? What concerns do they have? What products are they open to trying? What channels or messages might reach them?

Buyer Persona

A research-informed profile of a target customer segment.

What does a persona summarize?

Who the customer is, what they need, what motivates them, what challenges they face, and how they prefer to consume information.

What do strong personas include?

Demographics, psychographics, goals, needs, pain points, barriers, attitudes, and preferred content or media channels.

Why do buyer personas help marketers?

Buyer personas help marketers make content, media, and messaging more relevant.

Each target customer's needs

and their preferred way to consume information, are what?, Unique.

Developing a robust target description and profile is what?

A crucial first step.

Gaining insights on our target customer is what?

Vital.

What are their goals and challenges?

Key questions to ask.

What are their needs?

Key questions to ask.

WHERE is the gap in their needs/wants?

Key questions to ask.

What is their preferred way to consume information?

Key questions to ask.

What barriers

problems or hurdles does the prospect face?, Key questions to ask.

What do we have to tell them that is important to them?

Key questions to ask.

Awareness / Problem

The prospect is experiencing symptoms of a problem or opportunity.

Awareness / Problem helpful content examples

Educational content, research reports, analyst reports, e-books, white papers, expert content.

Consideration / Solution

The prospect has clearly defined the problem and is exploring possible solutions.

Consideration / Solution helpful content examples

Expert guides, webinars, podcasts, videos, comparison white papers, live interactions.

Decision / Product-Service

The prospect has chosen a solution approach and is evaluating specific options.

Decision / Product-Service helpful content examples

Vendor comparisons, product comparisons, case studies, trials, demos, product literature.

Why should early-stage content educate rather than hard-sell?

This content helps educate your buyer persona — not on your solution, but on your buyer persona's need or problem.

Decision-stage content helps the consumer do what?

Compare and choose.

The Buyer's Journey and Content: Problem

Awareness.

The Buyer's Journey and Content: Solution

Consideration.

The Buyer's Journey and Content: Product/Service

Decision.

Prospect is experiencing and expressing symptoms of a problem or opportunity

Awareness stage.

Prospect has now clearly defined and given a name to their problem or opportunity

Consideration stage.

Prospect has now decided on their solution strategy

method, or approach, Decision stage.

Awareness stage content formats

Analyst Reports, Research Reports, e-Books, Editorial Content, Expert Content, White Paper, Educational Content.

Consideration stage content formats

Expert Guidelines, Live Interactions, Webcasts, Podcasts, Videos, Comparison White Paper.

Decision stage content formats

Vendor Comparison, Product Comparison, Case Studies, Trial Download, Product Literature, Live Demos.

In the awareness stage

provide what?, Provide educational content to help prospects educate themselves about the overarching issues, root problem, or potential opportunity at hand.

In the decision stage

provide what?, Provide content and resources that help prospects learn more about and choose your best solutions for their problem.

Content Marketing

A strategy of communicating with customers and prospects by delivering valuable, helpful, and relevant information instead of immediately selling.

Strong content does what?

Makes the buyer more informed and builds trust over time.

Content Marketing Defined

"Basically, content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. It is non-interruption marketing."

Instead of pitching your products or services

what are you delivering?, Information that makes your buyer more intelligent.

What is the essence of this content strategy?

The belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.

Content Marketing Long-Term Goal

To position the brand as a trusted resource or subject matter expert, not just a seller of products or services.

Our goal with content marketing is to become more than what?

More than just a solutions provider.

A strong

consistent content strategy will position a brand as what?, A subject matter expert and trusted resource for consumers.

Most companies rely on what to build relationships with their target audience?

Trust.

Content marketing will provide a company with the opportunity to do what?

Engage and educate consumers about relevant topics, not the company's products, while building a trusted relationship.

The trust factor will ultimately lead to what?

Consumer loyalty and long-term branding enrollment lift, customer satisfaction and long-term relationships.

Content Marketing Objectives

Interesting content, Trust, Interest in your brand, Engagement + Loyalty.

Content Process

Analyze → Plan → Create → Distribute → Measure/Refine.

Analyze

Define goals, strategy, personas, buyer journey, and channels.

Plan

Map content to personas and journey stages; create a content calendar.

Create

Make content that educates, informs, entertains, is easy to consume, and is relevant to the persona.

Distribute

Release content through the right channels on a schedule and test/refine performance.

The Content Process

Analyze, Plan, Create, Distribute.

A content strategy needs to be... Relevant

Create Buyer Personas to understand pain points.

A content strategy needs to be... Efficient + Effective

Create / match content to personas.

A content strategy needs to be... Continually Optimized

Test & Refine.

Our content needs to be...

Original, Actionable, Able to provide answers, Accurate, Engaging, Thought provoking, Visual, Concise, Educational... not promotional.

Less is More

Our buyer personas are just as busy as we are.

Make it easy and inviting to do what?

Consume our content.

How we maximize Effectiveness

Map our Content to Our Buyer Personas and where they are in the buyer's journey.

Create content that does what?

Resonates with the reader and suits their needs / problems.

How we maximize Efficiency

Plan the release of content elements according to a schedule.

Why plan the release of content elements according to a schedule?

This will maximize efforts and create a steady stream of information that engages the customer over a long period of time.

It's all about creating what?

Conversations.

Tips for our calendar

Capture all content - be diligent about tracking it.

Tips for our calendar

Color code for convenience.

Tips for our calendar

Include our interactions.

Tips for our calendar

Plan as far in advance as possible.

Tips for our calendar

Always have a backlog.

Inbound Methodology

A method of attracting, converting, closing, and nurturing prospective customers by providing value and building trust.

Inbound Marketing Strategy

A method of attracting, engaging, and nurturing prospective clients to grow a business via providing value and building trust.

Email Marketing Strategy

A plan to reach and engage the target audience on a more personalized basis by building and nurturing relationships in a helpful way.

Email Marketing Strategy

Your approach to reach and engage with your target audience on a 1:1 bases - build relationships nurture relationships in a human and helpful way.

What is Email MKTG?

A digital marketing strategy that uses email to communicate directly with current and potential customers.

Common goals of Email MKTG include what?

Building relationships, nurturing leads, increasing brand loyalty, and driving conversions.

Email marketing is typically distributed via what?

Email platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Klaviyo or HubSpot.

Segmentation

Dividing a broader audience into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, behaviors, needs, or stages so the marketer can send more relevant messages.

What is the formula for effective email/content communication?

Right Content + Right Audience + Right Timing = Success.

How do you send the right email to the right person?

Determine your audience, Segment your contacts database, Send the right email at the right time, Nurture your lead into a customer.

Primarily

You Segment by Your what?, Buyer Personas.

Targeted emails usually perform better than what?

Generic mass emails.

Targeted email sends receive what compared to non-segmented lists?

50% + More clicks.

Geographic Segmentation

IP Address, Region, State, City, Time Zone, Area Code, Zip Code, Address.