Use Video to Guide the Buyer's Journey of Your Customers

buyer's journey

Why do we insist on creating a video content series rather than just one video? What’s the point of having more than one? It’s for the same reason a politician running for office doesn’t make just one speech and call it quits. Creating one video as the end-all be-all for your company isn’t the best way to make your brand soar. Instead, businesses can take into account consumer behavior and create a video marketing strategy that speaks to each step in the buyer’s journey.

The Importance of Consumer Behavior in Developing a Buyer’s Journey with Video

We all go through a process before buying something to see if it’s worth it. That’s our consumer behavior. On the surface, this may look as simple as doing research and making a decision. But consumer behavior is never quite that simple. A buyer’s journey is actually a series of stages that continues even after the product is purchased.

Anyone who views your product is at one of five stages in this buyer’s journey. These stages are awareness, consideration, purchase, loyalty and advocacy (displayed by the buyer’s journey funnel below). Remembering the stages will help you determine consumer behavior and diversify your content so it engages with new and established customers.

The-Content-Marketing-Sales-Funnel-Customer-Journey

Understanding the Initial 3 Stages of a Buyer’s Journey

  • Awareness. At this stage, you are telling a curious customer what you have to offer and how it can solve his or her need. This is where an “About Us” or other short intro video comes in handy. Tell a story and make it entertaining! We’ll call this customer, “Ben”. The awareness video is like the sign on your shop or the outdoor restaurant menu that gets Ben to walk inside. After he makes that decision, he needs a reason to stick around.
  • Consideration. Now that you’ve got Ben’s attention, it’s time to set yourself apart from your competition. Why should Ben choose yours and not the thousands of other sellers offering him something similar? Because an explainer video convinces him. It’s best to keep this short (1 to 3 minutes), as viewers easily lose interest in longer videos. Keep in mind the most fundamental details or messages you wish to get across. Capture the gist of your business, what makes it different?

Check out this animated explainer video for Mad Fliers App.

  • Purchase. What are customers saying about the product? The testimonial is simply a video version of a positive review. According to a survey by BrightLocal.com, 88% of consumers say they trust customer reviews as much as personal recommendations. Ben now wants to know why your product worked for someone else. Testimonials are effective here because this stage is like consulting a friend to find out if a purchase is worthwhile. It is arguably the most important part of the consumer decision making process.

Only 15 seconds long, this testimonial for Hoverboard is a prime example of a brief and effective testimonial video:

Making the Most of the Last 2 Stages of a Buyer’s Journey

  • Loyalty & Advocacy – I’ve combined these two steps because advocacy normally comes as a result of loyalty. And example would be how Ben, after finding complete satisfaction with your product, decides to write a customer review. He is now recommending you to his friends and to the world. Your video marketing campaign is not over quite yet, however. Here is where tutorial videos (such as this one for Beats by Dre) are especially successful. Happy buyers personally demonstrate how to use a product and why it works. Tutorials can be similar to testimonials, but tend to go more in-depth to convert new buyers. Also important to consider is that buyer journey content is not exclusive to b2c (business-to-consumer) sales. At this stage, b2b (business-to-business) marketing comes in handy, because other businesses may advocate for you, which can help build a network and strengthen your businesses reputation.

Congratulations! You have an understanding of consumer behavior and the stages in a buyer’s journey, you can use these tools to create your own strategy for buyer journey marketing. For help in developing and implementing a plan for your businesses buyer’s journey, go to Valoso.com for resources and professional videographers and video editing services. Further resources to expand your knowledge in this and other areas of video production and marketing include:

Resources:

How to Build an Audience and Drive Sales With Persuasive Video Marketing

How to Start a YouTube Channel for Your Startup

Estimate the Cost of Making A Video, a game to help you estimate video production cost.