Module 2-The Online Ecosystem Final LK

Let’s look at an example.

You are the CEO of a company that has 10 employees. You have just received funding and you are trying to get the word out. You have developed a good accounting software package that has been used successfully in two companies who have had issues with their payroll in the past.

The start of the buyer’s journey will be the top of the funnel. Your buyer is probably having issues with payroll. Think like the buyer, and develop search queries as follows:  What to do when payroll goes wrong?  How can I safely automate my payroll?  Why does payroll take so much time?  How can I link quotes, invoices, and payments successfully?  What payroll system is the easiest to use?

A formal keyword search can help unlock more queries you could consider, but knowing the main items that buyers will look for will be a good start if you think about funnelling buyers down to the products you offer. It may mean creating some blog posts or web pages that can answer some of these queries and other questions. For example, a blog post on What to do when you miss a pay period , is a good start to get a stranger to start looking at your accounting software and perhaps buying it so they don’t miss a pay period again.

Don’t rush the potential buyers to your pricing, but offer some middle of funnel content instead.

The middle of the buyer’s journey or the middle of the funnel

You have the stranger’s attention – this is the hard part. Now you need to get the right information to the right prospects / customers / buyer’s.

You can do this by providing some web pages, blog posts, PDFs, downloads, e-reports, etc – whichever format you think your buyer would prefer that gives away the knowledge they need to understand the solutions that exist.

So let’s say someone lands on your website as they are wanting an accounting payroll system. They have landed on your web page as they want more information about the solutions you can provide for them. You can trade their e-mail address and other information for something ‘free’. This could be a downloadable guide or perhaps some free templates they could use.

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