Content Mapping Demystified

Content mapping helps content strategists align the customer’s persona with where the consumer is in the purchasing life cycle.  A persona details the characteristics of the consumer, based on some of the questions below.  How close a client is to making a purchase determines what stage they are in; shown in the Persona/life cycle table. A content strategist can use this information to create content maps for an organization. See the Content Map below.

Personas

The strongest buyer personas are based on user interviews, surveys and market research, which ask some of the following questions:

1. What are the customer’s demographics? 
2. What does a day-in-the-life look like for the consumer? 
3. What is the purchaser's job description? 
4.  How do we solve the buyer's pain/opportunity points? 
5. What are the customer’s core values and goals? 
6. Where does the consumer get information about our products? 
7. What are the most common concerns about our services?

Life cycle stages AIDA+P

• Awareness occurs during the discovery stage and is when the buyer identifies a problem or opportunity  
• Interest also known as the research stage, is when the buyer identifies potential solutions
•  Desire also known as the prospecting stage is when the buyer choose vendor finalists to provide solutions to the problem 
• Action occurs during the opportunity stage, when the customer selects and secures the vendor to provide the solution 
• Post Purchase or the consumer advocate stage occurs when satisfied customers are cultivated

Persona / Life cycle table

Table 1

Content Map

Figure 1