Timing is everything. Channel stage mapping helps catch your customer on the right channel at the right stage in their journey.
Once you’ve determined your media channels, map relevant buyer stages and needs to each channel. Map out your typical sales cycle and break it down into distinct buyer stages that fit into the top (TOFU), middle (MOFU), and bottom (BOFU) of the funnel. What channels best align to the pain points and needs of your buyers at each stage? Some channels will be strictly TOFU, MOFU, or BOFU, while others will continue throughout the journey and act as more evergreen tactics.
As we’ve mentioned, LinkedIn is especially valuable for B2B marketers and can be used to target any stage of the funnel. At the top, raise awareness by targeting a list of companies or certain audience attributes. In the middle, retarget your website visitors. At the bottom, use LinkedIn’s Matched Audience function to target visitors that specifically converted on a MOFU offer or visited BOFU website pages like Contact or Pricing. The same principles apply to Facebook advertising.
Some channels are suited for just one stage of the funnel. Display tends to work well for kickstarting a journey and building awareness. Search is more suited to solution discovery, problem research, and branded navigation. For MOFU, you want media that will help you connect with potential customers and help move the buyer to BOFU.
After you map the channels to your buyer journey, start to think about the user experience. How is your target consuming that content and on what device? This can help you assign the right measurement KPIs and create a more effective media mix by allowing channels to do what they naturally do best. This creates a better and more relevant experience for your target audience.
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