Look inside the mind of your buyer along her journey to buying your product. The most basic form of Content Marketing is answering every question your prospect has from the moment she becomes aware of a need until she is a happy customer and advocate for your brand. This SlideShare will get you thinking about the questions you need to answer.

1. 52 Questions
Your Customers Ask
Before Buying
Aligning your Life Science
Marketing Content with the
Buyer’s Journey

2. Let’s keep it simple
Content marketing can be thought of as the process of answering
every question your prospect might have from the moment he or
she recognizes a problem or opportunity all the way through to the
sale and even post sale.

3. Rather than starting with the final deliverables we want to make for
our campaign, we’re going to start with the questions prospects ask.
We’ll put every one of them into a list, roughly in the order they
might come up in the buying cycle.
Then we’ll divide them into stages of the buyer’s journey:
Awareness, Consideration, Evaluation, and Delight.

4. Your customers don’t think of these all at once and make a list. But
if they did, it might be similar to what you’ll see here.
Is this list is comprehensive? No. It’s just a good starting point for
planning the content you’ll need to move prospects to happy
customers.

5. Some of the questions will be the same regardless of your product
and some won't apply. You'll need to do some brainstorming to
create the perfect list for your situation.
Considering the questions (and the buyer’s journey) in this way will
be valuable when you are thinking about exactly what content you
need to create and how to easily repurpose it.

6. Some questions are explicit. “Will it work for my application?” is an
example.
Others aren’t asked explicitly but the prospect wants to know even
if it is never spoken aloud.
“What does it (your product) look like?” might not be heard very
often, but you can be sure many customers care.

7. Awareness

8. Consider the questions that we ask ourselves unconsciously on a
daily basis. Who isn’t looking to make their job easier or solve a
nagging problem?
What types of questions would draw people to your high‐level
content such as a white paper or blog?
Take a look at these suggestions and then add your own.

9. Awareness
1. What are the trends in my industry?
2. Are there new regulations I need to know about?
3. What are my options for solving X?
4. Is there a better way to….?
5. Who are the vendors that might help me solve this problem?

10. Consideration

11. Once prospects become aware of a need, they will ask the same set
of questions with respect to more than one vendor’s solution.
The answers to many of these questions can be combined in a single
piece of content. Think beyond a brochure. Don’t forget about
blogs, SlideShares, videos and interviews.

12. Consideration
6. What is your company’s solution to this problem?
7. How is your solution different from…?
8. What does the workflow look like?
9. How was this developed?
10. What is new about this?
11. Who else uses it?

13. Consideration
12. How can it improve my productivity?
13. How can it improve my data quality?
14. How can it help make better decisions?
15. How robust is it?
16. What is the benefit of (feature)?
17. What are the trade‐offs for (feature)?

14. Consideration
18. What does it look like?
19. How big is it?
20. Is it difficult to use?
21. What skill level is required to use it?
22. What do others use this for?
23. What do others like about it?

15. Evaluation

16. Congratulations. At this stage the prospect has narrowed the
choices and you are in the running. These questions define the
content necessary in your sales tools.

17. Evaluation
24. Will it work for my application?
25. Can you show me data?
26. What software is required?
27. What other software is available?
28. Are there accessories?
29. How do accessories expand/enhance performance?
30. How are samples prepared?
31. How is data captured?

18. Evaluation
32. Can I transfer my existing methods?
33. Will it integrate with 3rd party products?
34. Is it compliant with relevant regulations?
35. How much maintenance is needed?
36. How often is maintenance needed?
37. Is this the right model for me?
38. Can I get a demonstration?
39. What do I need for a demonstration?

19. Evaluation
40. How much does it cost?
41. Can I lease it?
42. What is required to install it?
43. What kind of warranty is available?
44. Are parts readily available?
45. How soon can I get it?
46. Can I purchase online?

20. Delight

21. Delight
Who isn’t nervous when they have made a large purchase? Don’t
miss the opportunity to make your customer feel great about the
decision to buy your product.

22. Create a Welcome Kit that answers the questions they will have as
soon as they take delivery.
If problems pop up (as they sometimes do), having done this will
smooth the path to resolution. Your customer won’t be worried
about having made the wrong choice. You will have a partner in
addressing the problem rather than an opponent.

23. Delight
47. How do I get started quickly?
48. How do I do routine maintenance?
49. Can I get phone support?
50. Who will service my account?
51. How do I reach customer service?
52. What other support resources are available?
(Forums, User Groups etc.)

24. Developing your content marketing plan will not only save you a lot
of time and effort now. It will save you even more time in the
future. Your list of questions will change slowly over time, if at all.

25. Launching a new product in the same line next year? You’ve got a
good start in front of you already.
Some of the answers will be new or refreshed. You might choose to
create some content in different formats, but the basic questions
you need to answer are all right here.

26. If you want more help, email me and tell me what you’d like to
accomplish with content marketing.

27. If you found this information helpful, please share it.

28. Create a manageable content marketing
plan to get more leads with less effort

29. About Words 2 Wow
Life Science Marketing LLC
Words 2 Wow helps scientific companies build manageable content
marketing strategies to generate and close more qualified leads.
Before founding Words 2 Wow, Chris Conner led global marketing
communications programs for Varian, Inc., Agilent Technologies and
Thermo Fisher Scientific.