Analysts are watching closely as companies begin to adapt to changing prospect journeys (or customer journeys) and are keeping close track of the evolution of funnel points within this new paradigm.
Funnel points still improve conversion rates as they always have, but today’s prospects are interacting with the funnel in different ways than they did even ten years ago.
Customers engage in multiple differentiated journeys over their lifetime and companies are coming to understand that they can better drive growth by creating journeys aligned with their customers’ pain points.
Simply put, if you create a road map that takes prospects on a journey from a pain point to an answer to that pain point and then to a product or services that alleviates it, you’ve achieved marketing nirvana.
By strategically optimizing each funnel point and adjusting it to the journey of their ideal prospect, businesses can improve the customer experience, build trust and credibility, address customer pain points directly, and provide personalized solutions that will keep clients coming back.
Pain Points not Touch Points
New interaction channels and picky prospects have changed the game, and today’s customer is looking to be wowed by the journey. This means focusing on their bespoke problems is more important that rigidly adhering to the old roadmap of specific touchpoints we’ve attached ourselves to in the past.
A customer journey that portrays a linear series of interactions, for example, is much more difficult to predict than it was a decade ago. Relying on the perfect alignment of steps is becoming more difficult to corral as prospect focus is being ever more diluted than ever by competing attention-grabbers online.
The old process has been replied upon for years:
- customer sees ad on the side of a bus,
- looks up your company on Google,
- is directed to landing page,
- then provides their email address for white paper access
But what Gene Cornfield from the Harvard Business Review calls the ‘democratization of interaction channels’ — the constant deluge of options for today’s consumer — is rendering that old process obsolete.
In its place, sales efforts need to be directed toward ideal customer profiles.
Enticing prospects needs to be an iterative process that attracts, engages, and converts prospects — not just when they first interact with a product page, but well before that: when they aren’t even aware that a product exists to solve their specific pain point.
The content and marketing experts at Sterling Content have come to realize that identifying and locating ideal customers, offering bespoke solutions, and creating demand is the new reality, and creating reliable ICPs is one of the key first steps to engagement.
An Ideal Customer Profile allows for a feedback loop between sales, marketing, and product teams to ensure alignment and continuous improvement and growth at scale. Even for smaller mid-tier companies, ICP models contribute to consistent, attributable growth. Generating ideal customer profiles and then investing in stellar content creation aimed to answer their queries allows sales teams to find the ideal prospects, land them, and nurture them.
What is an Ideal Customer?
An ideal customer is a person or company that is most likely to benefit from your product or service. This is the person who has a problem that your offering can solve, or the company that is looking to fill a specific need.
As Nate Gilmore tells us in a recent Forbes article, knowing your ideal and non-ideal customers form the yin and yang of effective profile construction. According to Gilmore, “it’s also important to know who your customer is not—your non-ICP. You don’t want to waste time and money on sales and marketing that will reach people who have no interest or need for your product or service.”
By understanding your ideal customer, you can tailor your messaging, sales pitch and overall strategy to meet their unique needs and wants. This is an important step in any sales strategy.
Why is Identifying Your Ideal Customer Important?
- Focused Messaging: When you know who your ideal customer is, you can create messaging that speaks directly to their needs and wants. This will make your sales pitch more effective and increase your chances of making a sale.
- Better Targeting: With a clear understanding of your ideal customer, you can focus your marketing efforts on reaching the people and companies that are most likely to become your customers. This will increase your chances of success and save you time and money by staying focused.
- Increased Productivity: By focusing on your ideal customer, you can streamline your sales process and eliminate unproductive activities. This will make you more efficient and help you close more deals.
- Improved Customer Experience: When you know who your ideal customer is, you can provide them with a more personalized experience. This will increase customer satisfaction and lead to repeat business and positive referrals and reviews for your business.
Like what we’re laying down? Visit the Sterling Content blog every month for more insights into how a curated content campaign can help you grow your business.
