In today’s competitive environment, 99% of businesses are completely optimized to get the 1-2% of customers who are ready to buy RIGHT NOW, while completely ignoring & pushing away the other 98-99% who are just a few touchpoints away from becoming customers. But George Bryant says that you can fix this through what he calls the four paths to the pier or the four paths to the customer journey.
Read on to learn about these four paths to the pier.
Stuck in the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is famous for its mythical stories of ships getting lost. But this phenomenon is the same when customers see a piece of your content, or check you out on social media, but do not take a next step with your brand. Maybe they’re not aware the goal you help accomplish is relevant to them. Or they’re not sure they’re really ready to do the work yet to accomplish this goal. So they leave & continue floating in the “Bermuda Triangle.”
Selected Destination. This path is for people who want to learn more. Maybe the customer has learned about your product from a friend or seen your brand on social media. The potential customer comes to your website, checks your about page or your top blog post, but does not leave their email or use their credit card. This customer is different from the ones stuck in the Bermuda Triangle because, unlike the latter, the customer is aware of your brand and is curious about how it can effectively meet their needs.
Picked a Port. These are people who hit your homepage and learn more about your product. Moreover, they leave their email, making it easy for you to reach out to them, help them accomplish their goals, and establish a relationship that ultimately encourages them to become customers. Customers in this phase are more likely to buy or can easily transition to the fourth path of the pier known as ‘smooth sailing.’
Smooth sailing. The customers in this phase are buyers. These buyers come to your website, check out your product, and buy. According to George, most businesses focus on this phase of the buyer’s journey. Companies focus their time on marketing strategies that only target the buyers. But let’s say, statistically, that 100 people came to your site. The fact is that only 2-3% of those people will buy. As such, your company is losing 97% of the target audience who slip out of the bucket.
According to George, companies need to think about this and figure out how to convert 97% into customers. Business leaders should not give up on the 97% but should realize that their brand is in the mind of this potential customer consciously or subconsciously. Whether it’s on Instagram or through your website, a business has the task of tweaking its content to suit all potential customers in their different buyers’ journey. If it’s Instagram, you can place the “Buy” option on top of your content. But if the customer is not ready to buy, then the same content can have a link to your Facebook community or your best content. Such solutions allow your customers to go through the buyer’s journey or the four phases of the pier.
Businesses should focus on these four intentional journeys in their marketing strategy. By doing so, the business will significantly boost their ROI because they will no longer be ignoring potential customers. Rather, by catering to the 99% in the marketing process, they will be working towards building trust in the customer regardless of where they are in the buyer’s journey.
If you want to go through the exact process George Bryant uses with companies from pre-revenue all the way to $38 billion… to create a compelling brand with unforgettable marketing campaigns… you can sign up for his FREE 7-day Lighthouse Blueprint challenge… where you will:
- Discover the myth that causes over 90% of business to fail (literally, that’s an actual stat!)
- Learn to clearly map out your customer journey so you can turn “viewers” into “loyal customers”
- Understand the 3 elements of a highly successful online business (hint: we’ll teach you how to sell stuff people want!)
