From Persona and Journey to Strategy
As we discussed during the last two chapters, the goals, needs, motivations, and challenges of consumers provide the raw material from which to create content for each persona. Journeys tell you what your content should be about (problem, solutions, and your product), and how it addresses different stages of the journey. See Figure 4.5 for a brief recap of Chapter 3.
Figure 4.5 Journey and Searches
Let’s take the example of making content and associated search ads, i.e., creating a blog post and then deciding to advertise this blog post on Google SERPs. As we discussed in previous chapters, your goal when optimizing your webpages is to identify keywords consumers will use to perform searches online. The idea behind making search ads is similar. We covered a few ways to help do so, including
- considering who they are/what they need (persona),
- how they go about solving their needs (journey), and
- what they search in order to do so (journey, ZMOT, types), as well as
- benchmarking against competition.
Once you’ve identified keywords that your consumers are using throughout their journey, you can start creating content or ads based on these keywords so that you show up on a search engine when a consumer does this search.
The concept of a persona helps identify general keywords based on customers’ needs, motivations, challenges. Considering their journey helps identify specific keywords based on how users go about answering needs, motivations, and challenges throughout that journey. Here are two examples:
- If a consumer has pain in their lower back, they might perform a Google search to find out how to address this pain. This presents an opportunity to create awareness around a back pain–related product you are selling (e.g., a pair of sneakers).
- If a consumer wants to compare sneakers to understand which pair offers the best support to address back pain, this provides you with an opportunity to compare your product to those of your competitors.
| Stage of Journey | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Active Evaluation | Purchase | Post-Purchase | |
| Concrete actions | Action: Goes to Google to search for general information about their problem
Search (informational): “How to reduce back pain” |
Action: Goes to Google to compare alternatives
Search (informational): “shoes vs. posture vs. exercise back pain” |
Action: Goes to Google and types the name of the brand and product they want to buy
Search (transactional): “Brand XYZ best price sale” |
Action: Writes product review on retailer’s website |
| Opportunity | Create content to inform and educate consumers about back pain | Create content to inform and educate consumers about back pain solutions | Position your product as the best option for back pain | Leverage engaged consumers to create reviews |
| Tactic | Create a blog post with the keywords “how to,” “reduce,” and “back pain”
Create PPC campaign on associated keywords |
Create several blog posts that compare your product vs. competitors; include relevant keywords (e.g., “best shoes,” “posture,” “back pain”)
Create PPC campaign on associated keywords |
Search ad campaign on keywords (“Brand XYZ shoes,” “best price”) and place an ad to offer a 10% rebate for first-time clients on your website | Give a rebate for a future purchase when writing a review |