What is the Buyer’s Journey?

The inbound marketing Buyer’s Journey consists of three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. And according to HubSpot, it is the active research process a potential buyer goes through leading up to a purchase. Specific content offers are more relevant to buyer’s at specific times during the Buyer’s Journey.

Three stages of a Buyer's Journey:

• Stage 1: Awareness
• Stage 2: Consideration
• Stage 3: Decision

 Stage 1: Awareness (Top-of-the-funnel)

Buyers aren’t looking for solutions at this stage. They have just become aware of a problem and want to research information that relates to the symptoms of the problem. Educational blog posts can focus on attracting buyers in the awareness stage and should offer a call-to-action to more valuable content, like white papers and ebooks, in exchange for their contact information.

Issue/Opportunity Keywords:

• Diagnose
• Identify
• Improve
• Issue
• Learn
• Optimize
• Prevent
• Resolve
• Risks
• Troubleshoot
• Upgrade

Stage 2: Consideration (Middle-of-the-funnel)
Buyers have now identified the problem and will want to find out how to solve it. They will be searching for multiple options across multiple vendors on how to solve their specific problem. How-To guides, videos and webinars are great for buyers in the consideration stage.

Solutions Keywords:

• Appliance
• Choose
• Device
• Provider
• Select
• Service
• Software
• Solution
• Supplier
• Tool

Stage 3: Decision (Bottom-of-the-funnel)
Buyers are now narrowing down the search on possible vendors and want to know how you compare with the competition – why they should choose your product or service. This is the stage where you should offer a live demo in addition to proven case studies, datasheets and ROI information.

Comparison Keywords:

• Benchmark
• Brand Name
• Compare
• Comparison
• Product
• Pros & Cons
• Review
• Test
• Versus/vs

Each stage of the inbound buyer’s journey requires unique content from website pages, blog articles to content offers and live demonstrations. Your website is your 24/7 salesperson and needs to cater to the buying journey of every persona.