What Is Content Mapping and How It Related to Customer Journey?

Content Mapping, Mapping Examples, and Content Journey

What is Content Mapping?

The process of developing a content strategy that targets customers at various stages of the customer lifecycle is known as content mapping. Each component of a content map is created to address the demands of the customer at a specific stage of their journey, with the ultimate objective of influencing them to make a purchase. Visit TextMercato and get help with your content mapping journey. 

Some content mapping examples are 

1. A graphical representation of a company’s goals and objectives that shows a relationship between product specifications and features list, or a representation of the relation between sign-ups for trial versions and subscription details.
2. A graphical representation of a company’s decision-making stages in an organisation i.e., Awareness of the facts, Consideration of the risks and at the end, Decision making. 

Why is Content Mapping Important?

The generation of content that supports the customer journey and fosters a more unified, individualised customer experience can be planned with the use of content mapping. They must fulfil several functions since prospects have to change information needs as they move through the buyer's journey. Delivering diversified content that addresses various themes that they are looking for at each stage of the buyer's journey will ensure that your company's content is effective in generating leads. That is what the process of content mapping entails.

But it's not that simple to come up with the actual themes that make for a highly targeted content plan. However, creating a strategy with the audience in mind through content mapping can be helpful.

Process of Creating Content Mapping

The process of building content mapping requires a thorough previous process of information collection and analysis. 

Three stages or phases can be identified while developing a content map are

Define your ideal customer:

Determining the various types of customers, also known as buyer personas, entails not only knowing the consumer himself but also the relationships he forms with our company and its goods or services, their needs and desires, as well as their patterns of behaviour, or, to put it another way, conducting a thorough analysis of their behaviour. The easiest approach to accomplish this is through an exercise in empathy that enables us to put ourselves in the client's shoes and ask us a variety of questions. It's crucial to consider how the buyer feels during each of the three stages that make up the purchase cycle (discovery, research, and decision) because each of these three phases calls for customised content. Keep in mind that there are many different types of ideal clients. It is best to specify two or three distinct ones.

Create the content strategy:

When we have a complete understanding of our target audience, it's time to decide what material to offer. Developing meaningful material for the client and tailoring it to their specific circumstance is crucial to the success of our content strategy, and this is, without a doubt, one of the crucial parts.

Plan:

Last but not least, you need to organise how the complete content strategy will be implemented. This entails using an editorial calendar to schedule events, select communication avenues, and specify the financial parameters of our plan. Keep in mind that the timing and method of communication are just as essential as the material itself.

Creating a Customer Journey Map

The sales and marketing divisions must pay close attention to each stage of the customer journey. When a customer inquires about a product or service, the customer journey starts. They then turn into a prospect. Customers use publicly accessible information about various items in any particular market to compare features, pricing, customer service ratings, and other factors during the comparison stage. When a potential customer makes a purchase, the service department can start the installation step, which is the last stage.

Effective customer journey mapping must meet certain criteria. Consider the viewpoint of the customer. The customer's experience of interactions, not how the business views those interactions, needs to be the main focus of the journey map.

Consider customer segmentation: Consider the reality that various client segments have varying experiences with products, brands, and services.

Study your maps: Develop your maps using technologies like consumer analytics to depict your constituency and their probable behaviour as accurately as possible. Make sure all touchpoints are depicted on the maps. All potential channels for customers to contact businesses, such as email, SMS, websites, social media platforms, etc., must be shown on maps. For these maps, when clients follow distinct courses, maps must also depict diverse sequences.

There is no defined procedure for creating a customer journey map, but there are standards that should be followed, such as that it should be aesthetically pleasing, thorough, and comprehensible. Common customer journey maps include timelines, graphs, and infographics. Customer journey maps should also include multimedia, such as films and storyboards. The data displayed on the map should be customer-facing, statistical, and anecdotal in nature.

Customer Journey Communication channels

Here are a few areas to gauge experience regularly to get you started:

• On-site: Gather client input as soon as they enter the actual sites of businesses. Let's take the scenario where you own a restaurant. At the conclusion of the meal, give customers a brief survey to complete along with their bill.
• Email: One of the simplest ways to obtain client feedback is via email. Configure your sales system to send an email once a customer has completed a transaction.
• Call centre: You can obtain consumer feedback by phone or email after each customer encounter.
• In-App: It's perfect for app developers to collect feedback inside the app. Users can take an in-app survey to continue using the app while still giving you feedback.
• Website: Potential clients look around your site before deciding whether to buy. Visit frequently for assistance and account access once you become a customer. A comprehensive approach to the consumer experience on your website must include feedback gathering. 

Conclusion

The best method to make sure your consumers have access to material that guides them through the full journey is by using content mapping. And while your client journey is probably more complicated than the one in the example above, it can still serve as a starting point for content mapping. It also goes without saying that you must have a thorough understanding of your target audience in order to produce content that actually supports your inbound marketing objectives. One component of the formula for successful inbound marketing is the creation of content that meets the demands of the customer at every point of the customer journey. Check TextMercato to hire experienced writers for all your content mapping needs.