We all talk about customer-centricity and a customer-centric content strategy.

But are you as customer-centric as you think you are?

One red flag is how you define your funnel.

Many organizations use a company-centric funnel without realizing how it contradicts their customer-centric aspirations. Recognizing this misalignment is the first step towards genuinely putting the customer at the center of your strategy.

The Company-Centric Funnel: A Misaligned Approach for a Customer-Centric Content Strategy

Awareness: The customer becomes aware of my company or solution.
Consideration: The customer considers our product vs. competitors.
Evaluation: The customer evaluates our product vs. competitors.
Decision: The customer makes a purchase decision.

This is often viewed as a linear process—customers go from one stage to another until they decide and purchase.  A customer-centric content strategy aims to support the reality of what the buyer’s journey really is:  complex and non-linear.

The Buyer-Centric Funnel: A Buyer Enablement Approach to Customer Centricity

The buyer enablement approach, as described in this article by Gartner, Marketing’s Role in Buyer Enablement, emphasizes the importance of guiding customers through critical buying tasks rather than just providing thought leadership content.  Here is how this funnel is defined:

Problem identification: The buyer begins to understand that they have a problem.
Solution exploration: The buyer reviews all potential solutions — including not addressing it — for the problem. This is not that the buyer is determining which vendors — they are defining their strategy to address the problem.
Requirements building: The buyer builds out the requirements for solving the problem, which includes the entire solution, not just a single product or technology.
Supplier selection:  The buyer now breaks down this program into the suppliers needed and potential vendor list and reaches out for the selection process.
Decision validation: This happens throughout the process, as the buying team continuously validates their decisions.
Consensus creation: Since buying teams are large, the buying team continuously determines if the entire team is aligned.

In this buyer-centric funnel, the focus is on helping buyers complete a set of jobs as they navigate the buying process.  This approach aims to support the reality of what the buyer’s journey really is: complex and non-linear.

As I’ve previously discussed in the post “Marketing is Change Management for Our Prospects,” every purchase decision involves a change in our client’s behavior, and failing to understand the larger context makes it harder for them to make decisions effective.  Effective change enablement content serves as a beacon, guiding buying groups through the fog of uncertainty by bringing stakeholders together, driving productive conversations, and supporting decision-making

Bridging the Gap: Multiple Funnels Create Strategic Misalignments

Often, there’s a significant disconnect between different departments regarding supporting buyers throughout their journey. Many companies operate with multiple disconnected funnels—one for marketing, one for the content team, and one for sales.

This disjointed approach often leads to a content strategy heavily skewed towards ‘beginner content,’ failing to support the buyer throughout their purchasing journey. Such an approach undermines a customer-centric content strategy.

This disconnect can also leave sales teams struggling to effectively assist buyers in doing the jobs required to solve their problems.

The result? Inconsistent messaging, potentially inaccurate information, and off-brand content reaching prospects.  To truly implement a customer-centric content strategy, it’s crucial to align all departments and ensure a unified approach. This means creating content that supports the buyer at every stage of their journey, not just at the awareness stage.

Check in for future ways to determine if you are truly customer-centric

More details to come in future blogs! How effectively does your organization’s content development support buyers throughout their complex journey? Are there clear opportunities to bridge the gap between your stated values and their practical execution?