Content is the bridge between brands and audiences. It adds value and credibility to a company’s marketing efforts. Yet adapting it to the customer can be tricky. So, it is important to understand the customer buyer’s journey. After all, it’s a way to maximize the potential and effectiveness of your marketing content near the intended audience.
With that in mind, this article explores how you can adapt your content to the different stages in a customer buyer’s journey.
What is the customer buyer’s journey?
A customer buyer’s journey describes a consumer’s path to purchase. It evaluates the motivations and needs that lead to the search for a particular product.
This is a journey comprised of different stages. One that makes it an important consideration for pharma marketers that want to optimize the potential of their content. And how it responds to the pain points found in the market.
Stages in a customer’s buyer’s journey
1 – Awareness stage
This is the stage that motivates the consumer into a search journey. Here we identify the main pain points and/or problems. The consumer moves then from identification into the interest phase where a solution is sought.
2 – Consideration stage
When the customer reaches the consideration stage, he is ready to put in comparison the different solutions. Many will take a look at the ones out there in the market. Search becomes an integral component of the process. Afterward, the consumer is ready and willing to engage with the different brands in the market.
3 – Decision stage
After thorough analysis and consideration, the consumer reaches the decision stage. Perse, is the “moment of truth” that can either culminate in success, a sale, or failure. All in all, it is at this stage that the customer commits to a specific solution (brand). This justifies the reasons for the purchase.
The benefits
The right identification and consideration of the customer’s buyer journey are important to pharma marketing teams. After all, they are now facing the impact of the digital shift. Through it, it is possible to produce content that is relevant to the consumer.
Maximizing, in that way its potential in generating new leads and strengthening your brand’s awareness and positioning near the intended target audience.
It further paves the way for:
- A greater understanding of the market and the existing pain points, as well as gaps in demand and offer;
- Knowledge of the customer base and its needs;
- Acknowledging products that are in greater demand in the market;
- Identifying what the competition is doing and what it has to offer.
Pharma companies will move closer toward a customer-centric approach. It takes both HCP and patients as consumers. Then adapting your content to the different stages in the journey to buy is crucial. We are going to show you some ways in which you can do it.
How to adapt your content to the different stages of the customer buyer’s journey
One thing about digital communication is relevance. One can only maintain it if it understands its audience and what stage in the buyer’s journey it is. Only then, can one further motivate the consumer to travel down the funnel until the sale.
When consumers start their journey, they often seek the Internet as a first resource. Online search engines are the preferred platform to start with. Through keywords, one discovers the topics of their interest.
So, pharma marketers ought to adapt their content strategy. Specifically to the different stages in the customer buyer’s journey. And we’re going to tell you some ways in which you can do it.
Awareness Stage
Pharma marketers should take the audience’s pain points and needs as the guiding compasses to content creation. So, here your approach should be more generalized to industry-focused content and advertising.
Some of the questions you might ask in your brainstorming sessions can be:
- Who is our audience?
- What are the existent gaps in the industry?
- What are the specific needs and how can we meet them?
- What are the topics and information of interest?
After considering the answer to these questions you can move to content creation and the type of channels to pursue. For the awareness stage, you do not want to be either too “sales-y” or bland. The content needs to be informative, to spark interest within the customer.
What type of content hits the spot?
There are, then, different possibilities that pharma marketers can go for. Yet, Blog posts and videos are one great way to adapt your content to the consumer’s stage in the buyer’s journey.
Blog posts, or articles, are easily shaped into informative texts. These explore a myriad of relevant topics in the pharmaceutical industry. To match it with the consumer’s needs, you must think of the questions that it might ask when confronted with its specific problem.
To maximize the effectiveness of your blog posts, you should shape your content within SEO tools. The goal is to make it rank higher on search engines and reaches the right audiences.
As for videos, these are now a trending marketing tool. One that is effective in capturing the attention of consumers, while imprinting in them a positive brand image.
Believed to be used by over 80% of businesses in 2022, videos are a marketing tool always worth considering. Especially in the pharmaceutical industry.
Videos are great at maximizing attention while simplifying complex content, into easy-to-digest information. Hence why it is the perfect consideration for this stage in the buyer’s journey. As the consumer searches for an answer to its questions, you can present it with an animation that demystifies such complex problems into an understandable explanation.
Did you know that 86% of marketers declare video to have helped them generate leads? Try PatientVisual and make sure to awe your audience with bite-sized animated videos!
But remember, consumers at this stage don’t know your brand. Before they commit to you, they have to know who you are and what missions and values you follow. So this must reflect in your blog posts and activity throughout the content displayed on your platforms.
All in all, the awareness stage is all about value-packed content with no sales pressure!
Consideration Stage
The consideration stage is a determining step in a customer’s buyer journey. It is at this point that comparisons between brands start. Then the consumer carries out a thorough analysis. So, this is a unique moment for you to adopt the right content. Especially to stand out from the competition and make your USP (unique selling point) a top-of-the-mind priority.
You have helped consumers identify their problems. Now you ought to provide it with information that shows your product and/ or service as the right solution to follow. But how can you effectively do this?
What to consider regarding the content
Before stepping up to create your content. You must consider:
- Customer reviews on competitor websites;
- SEO-friendly tools when planning to create your content; and
- Regular tracking of the activity on your website.
It is important to take these dynamics onboard. This is to maximize the potential of your content. As well as its effectiveness in promoting your brand and products.
When in the consideration stage, consumers want to know as much as they can about a product. Specifically its features, and contraindications, but mostly efficacy.
It’s important to have access to easy-to-understand information. Especially on topics that can provide the necessary content. Explainer videos are great at doing that.
Why videos are a great option
Explainers are short animated videos that you can include on your digital platforms. They are a way to maximize engagement with your audience. All while potentializing an educational experience. In an explainer you can let in your consumer, be it an HCP or patient, on products:
- Key features and components;
- Efficacy;
- MOA (mechanism of action); and
- Contraindications…
Did you know that 74% of videos created in 2021 were explainers? Now you start integrating it into your strategy too! Try today PubVisual for free.
Another content format that might particularly benefit HCP, further influencing their decision-making, are original research and reports. Pharma companies are home to expertise and valuable data. When capitalized can be useful for marketing strategies.
By developing your original research and sharing reports, you can set your company apart from the competition. All while demarking yourself as an industry leader. Such will be highly valued by the consumer.
Decision Stage
Finally, the ride or die moment. Is your product the chosen one? It is here that you have to give it all in and convert the consumer towards your brand and products.
So, in this final stage, it is important to ensure your content is capable of answering any final questions that your consumers might have. What will do the trick that will lead them into buying your product?
First, you answer the most common questions. By including a FAQs section on your website or other digital platforms, you can erase most doubts. Through these, you can assess most pain points of your product. From purchase conditions to side-effects and consumption rules.
At this stage, it is also beneficial to display product landing pages that are functional. Including reviews and testimonials that can further push the consumer into trusting your brand.
It is important not to forget that your values and voice are important throughout the whole stage. These are what make your brand stand out from the competition. Perse, these are what turns your brand unique. And to Gen Z, this is particularly important. In the US, Gen Zers make up 40% of U.S. consumers.
Furthermore, this generational cohort values third-party opinions. According to ZeroCater, 30% of Gen Z relies on real customer experience to get information on a brand. Therefore, including reviews and testimonials on your digital platforms and website will only benefit your brand and contribute to a greater generation of leads.
To learn more about Gen Z and its role in the pharmaceutical industry, click here.
