This document provides an overview of key concepts for content marketing, including buyer personas, the buyer's journey, and the marketing sales funnel. It explains that buyer personas represent your ideal customers based on real data about their demographics, goals, and interests. The buyer's journey maps the process prospects go through to a buying decision from awareness to consideration to decision. It is important for content marketing to match content to the appropriate stage in a buyer's persona's journey. Finally, the marketing sales funnel illustrates how prospects move from awareness to purchase as they move down the funnel from top to bottom. The purpose of content is to move prospects along the buyer's journey and down the sales funnel closer to becoming customers.

1. 3rd in Our 3-Part Series
Content
Marketing 103

2. This guide will cover:
• Buyer Personas
• Buyer’s Journey
• The sales funnel
• Putting it all together

3. They are who you are creating your content
These are your
your
Buyer Personas:
for
Prospects
Audience

4. What are they?
A semi-fictional representation of your
ideal customer based on real data:
• Their demographics?
• Motivations and goals?
• What’s important to them?
Buyer Personas:

5. Buyer Personas:
Why important?
• Because you want to be talking to the right prospects
• You want your content to match their interests
• And you want to know how and where to reach them;
which media, websites, associations & forums
they participate in.

6. Buyer Journey:
What is it?
The Buyer’s journey is
a representationof
the process a prospect
goes through on their way
to a buying action
“
”

7. Buyer Journey:
What is it?
Why it’s important to
Content Marketing?
Because matching the right content
to the buyer persona
(See slide page 5)
And their stage in the buyer’s
journey is what makes
for effective
content

8. Buyer’s Journey:
Main Stages
Awareness
Stage
Decision
Stage
Delibera(on
Stage
Consideration /
Research Stage

9. Buyer’s Journey:
Main Stages
Prospect has realized
symptoms of a potential
problem or opportunity.
Experiencing some kind of
disruption or pain.
A W A R E N E S S S T A G E

10. Buyer’s Journey:
Main Stages
Have clearly defined and
given a name to their problem
or opportunity. Start to
research solutions.
C O N S I D E R A T I O N /
R E S E A R C H S T A G E

11. Buyer’s Journey:
Main Stages
Weighing pros and cons of
different solutions, products,
services, vendors.
D E L I B E R A T I O N S T A G E

12. Buyer’s Journey:
Main Stages
Have defined their solution
strategy, method, or
approach; ready to make final
decision on solution and
provider.
D E C I S I O N S T A G E

13. The Marketing & Sales Funnel
Another representation of
how prospects move
closer to purchase -
the ‘funnel’ metaphor
Being WIDEat
the top and NARROW
at the bottom
Some prospects
move to the
next stage.
Some leave.
ATTRACT VISITORS
CONVERT LEADS
CLOSE
CUSTOMERS
DELIGHT
PROMOTERS

14. Strangers
Visitors
Leads
Customers
Promoters
Attract
Convert
Close
Delight
Purpose of
Content is to:
Buyer Stage: Awareness
Decision
Consideration
Customer
Putting it together:
The purpose of content, is to move the
prospect closer along the buyer’s
journey –and down the sales funnel.

15. Your tone
might
differ
slightly
for each
persona

16. And there you have it!
Read more about content marketing on our website:
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