How your target audience goes from unengaged to loyal consumer
There’s so much to consider when finding your target audience. In fact, there are too many choices. The good thing is with technology there are a ton of marketing tools and methods you can take to reach your customers or audience. But with so many choices, you can also find yourself lost in a sea of content where you don’t reach who you need to.
Why a Journey Map helps.
A Customer Journey Map helps you understand how someone who knows nothing about your brand or business, discovers them, then engages with you either through a purchase, filling out a form, or engaging your services, whatever your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) may be. This important tool works for any type or size of organization whether for-profit or non-profit. The goal is to go from initial outreach to a fully loyal consumer who advocates for you and your brand.
Why is it a useful tool?
We often focus on obtaining a new relationship, but we don’t always think from the perspective of the ones we are trying to reach across the entire spectrum of their interaction with our brand. This means we can miss opportunities for sales and engagement, or worse, lose a relationship entirely. And, with all the changes we have endured over the last several months, the method of communication and ways that you connect with those that need you should be considered to meet them where they are today. What worked in the past likely will not work in the future. A Journey Map can help you plan out opportunities and ensure that you are staying relevant and top of mind.
Download and share our sample Journey Map.
(PDF)
Step 1
Find out who you are trying to reach
Are they the head of a family? Is your organization focused on B2B so you have to reach small business owners? Does your service cater to medical professionals in need of something you offer?
No matter who you are trying to reach, knowing who they are and more importantly what they are looking for from you will help build the best journey map possible.
Step 2
Understand the journey
Understand the journey that a person takes during the whole time they interact with your brand. You want to make sure you are connecting with them at every stage; not just until the point of making the sale. Â Â
- Awareness:Â all the ways a prospect can hear about you or become aware of your brand (e.g. sees or hears an ad)
- Interest/evaluation:Â a prospect knows about you and wants to learn more (e.g. browses reviews)
- Adoption:Â prospect becomes a customer (e.g. works though your client onboarding process)
- Engagement:Â customer begins interacting with your brand and remains engaged and connected (e.g. reads your blog posts)
- Loyalty:Â customer shows interest and support of your marketing and outreach efforts (e.g. engages positively on social media)
- Advocacy:Â client shares your brand story with others and becomes a champion for you (e.g. leaves a positive Google review)
Step 3
Understand the goal
Understand the ultimate goal of this journey. If you are a new business, or introducing a new product, you need people to become aware of what you provide.
If you are well established, but have a new service to provide, you may know who your audience is, and need to convert already established customers. In that case, the journey has already gone through some initial steps, so you have to focus on what the new journey looks like with your audience.
No matter where you are, this is a great exercise to do with a group and will help you see the journey or your audiences from their perspective. We recommend working through this as a team brainstorm by having each person in your group identify what they feel are the right touchpoints in each stage of the journey.
Step 4
Find out who you are trying to reach
For each stage of the journey, work with your team to build the right stages and remove the tactics that don’t fit your company. Â
- Put tactics that your team doesn’t want or feels no longer provides a strong ROI into one area
- Determine if these tactics need a refresh or new approach, or if they are better left alone.
- Determine your priorities and which tactics you prefer.
- Organize them from most important to lowest priority.
- Ask yourself, what will give you the most reach and opportunity for success?
- What is likely to give you the best return in investment?
- What can your organization reasonably handle?
- What platforms or technologies are your target audiences using the most?Â
Once you have a better understanding of your customer’s journey, you will be better equipped to stay ahead of your strategies and opportunities.
Download and share our sample Journey Map.
(PDF)
