What is a Customer Journey? How to Apply It in Your Content Marketing Strategy

1. What is a Customer Journey?

In marketing, the customer journey is the entire process a person goes through from the moment they first discover a brand until they become a loyal advocate.
Each stage reflects different levels of awareness, emotion, and action toward the brand.

Unlike the traditional sales funnel that focuses only on conversion, the customer journey helps marketers understand more deeply:

• Where customers are on their decision-making path.

• What they need or worry about.

• And what kind of content can help move them one step closer to the brand.

Simply put: if marketing is about telling your brand’s story, then the customer journey is the logical order of its “chapters” — from awareness and consideration to purchase and long-term loyalty.

2. Why Marketers Need to Understand the Customer Journey

Today, customers don’t make decisions in a straight line. They might see your brand on TikTok, search for it on Google, read reviews on Facebook, and finally make a purchase on Shopee.

Without understanding this journey, marketers often create content that’s out of sync — like running a sales ad to people who don’t even know who you are, or writing educational blogs for those already ready to buy.

Mastering the customer journey helps marketers:
✅ Target content accurately — knowing when to tell a story and when to sell.
✅ Allocate budget effectively — avoiding ad spend waste in the wrong stage.
✅ Create a seamless experience across channels (Facebook, website, email, TikTok, etc.).
✅ Increase conversion rates and retain customers longer.

In other words, the customer journey is the foundation of modern content marketing — where every activity revolves around the real needs and emotions of users.

3. The Stages of the Customer Journey

A common customer journey model includes 5 main stages:
Awareness → Consideration → Purchase → Retention → Advocacy

Each stage represents a different mindset and requires a specific content strategy to guide customers closer to a buying decision — and beyond that, to genuine loyalty.

3.1 Stage 1 – Awareness

Goal: Help customers become aware of your brand’s existence.

At this stage, customers don’t have a specific need yet. They’re just exploring or curious about a problem.
Your job as a marketer is to show up at the right time and in the right context, providing valuable information that attracts initial attention.

Best content types:

• Educational blog posts and how-to guides

• Viral short videos or entertaining social media posts

• Ebooks, infographics, PR articles about industry trends

Example:
Someone searching for “how to run TikTok ads effectively” might come across BC Agency’s post “5 Mistakes That Stop Your TikTok Ads from Converting.”
That’s the Awareness stage — when the customer first discovers who BC is and how it can help.

3.2 Stage 2 – Consideration

Goal: Help customers compare, evaluate, and consider their options.

After discovering your brand, customers start researching more deeply:

• Is this product or service really right for me?

• Can I trust this brand?

• How does it compare with others?

Best content types:

• Real case studies

• In-depth analyses, solution videos

• Webinars or detailed how-to ebooks

• Comparison or expert review articles

Example:
BC Agency publishes an article “Regular Ad Accounts vs. Agency Accounts – Which Is Better for Your Business?”
This helps customers in the Consideration stage gather information to make their choice.

3.3 Stage 3 – Purchase

Goal: Encourage customers to take action and make a decision.

At this point, customers are ready to buy — they just need a final push of trust and motivation to click “Order” or “Contact Us.”

Best content types:

• Promotions, discounts, free trials

• Testimonials and real customer reviews

• Product demo or how-to videos

Example:
After reading BC Agency’s expert articles, a customer clicks “Register for a Nolimit Ad Account” — a landing page optimized with testimonials, transparent pricing, and a clear CTA.
→ This is the moment of truth — where content turns into revenue.

3.4 Stage 4 – Retention

Goal: Enhance the experience and encourage repeat business.

Keeping existing customers is far cheaper than finding new ones.
At this stage, content should nurture relationships and make customers feel valued after purchase.

Best content types:

• Regular follow-up or how-to emails

• After-sales support content and loyalty programs

• Blog posts offering added value, tips, and optimization insights

Example:
After a business purchases an agency ad account, BC sends an email with setup and optimization guides, plus a “Checklist to Protect Your Account from Being Disabled.”
→ This both strengthens retention and builds trust.

3.5 Stage 5 – Advocacy

Goal: Turn satisfied customers into brand advocates.

When customers have a great experience, they’ll naturally share and recommend your brand.
This is where community content and real stories shine.

Best content types:

• Referral programs

• Customer success stories

• Testimonial videos or UGC (user-generated content)

• Customer communities or loyalty groups

Example:
BC Agency can feature “Real Customers – Real Results” stories on its website or fanpage. This makes customers feel appreciated while spreading credibility more naturally than any ad.

4. What is a Customer Journey Map?

A Customer Journey Map is a visual tool that helps marketers see all touchpoints between customers and the brand throughout the entire journey.

A complete map typically includes:

• Stage: The journey stage (Awareness → Advocacy)

• Action: What customers do at each stage

• Emotion: Feelings, motivations, or barriers

• Touchpoint: Channels or content customers interact with

• Opportunity: Ways to optimize the experience

Benefits of mapping the journey:

• Helps content, marketing, and sales teams share the same big picture.

• Identifies strengths and weaknesses in the customer experience.

• Optimizes content across stages for smoother progression.

Recommended tools:
👉 Miro, Figma, Lucidchart, or HubSpot Journey Builder.

5. Applying the Customer Journey in Content Marketing

Understanding the customer journey is just the first step — what matters most is knowing how to apply it to your real content strategy.
Here’s how marketers can put it into practice effectively:

5.1 Create Content for Each Stage’s Needs

Each stage of the journey requires its own content type:

💡 Tip: Put yourself in the customer’s shoes: “If I were at this stage, what would I want to know?” — that’s the type of content you should create.

5.2 Identify Key Touchpoints

Customers may interact with your brand through dozens of touchpoints — social media, website, email, TikTok, YouTube, even chatbots.
Marketers should identify which ones have the biggest influence on purchase decisions and focus their content investment there.

Example:

• Awareness: Short TikTok videos with marketing tips.

• Consideration: In-depth blog posts on your website.

• Purchase: Service registration page with testimonials.

• Retention: Educational newsletter emails.

• Advocacy: Private customer community or loyalty group.

5.3 Connect the Customer Journey with SEO and Advertising

A smart content strategy aligns the customer journey with SEO and paid advertising plans.

SEO:
→ In Awareness, focus on problem keywords.
→ In Consideration, optimize for solution keywords.
→ In Purchase, target brand or product-specific keywords.

Advertising:
→ Use remarketing to move users from Consideration → Purchase.
→ Build lookalike audiences from Retention → Advocacy customers.

5.4 Measure and Optimize Continuously

No customer journey is static.
Markets, behavior, and platforms change constantly — so marketers must keep measuring, analyzing, and improving.

Recommended tools:

• Google Analytics 4: Track user behavior by stage.

• Hotjar: Visualize user interaction heatmaps.

• HubSpot CRM: Automate and monitor lead journeys.

Key metrics to track:

• Conversion rate by stage

• Engagement rate for each content type

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

6. Practical Example: Applying the Customer Journey

Example: For a legal import-export service.

• Awareness: Share educational content about lawful import/export, helping readers understand key concepts and risks.

• Consideration: Case study “Company A Reduced Logistics Costs by 30%.”

• Purchase: Optimize the consultation landing page with testimonials, benefits, and clear CTAs.

• Retention: Send email updates about new customs regulations.

• Advocacy: Invite customers to share their experience on social media, building trust organically.

7. Conclusion

In the end, the customer journey is not just a marketing diagram — it’s the story of how brands and customers meet, understand, and grow together.
Understanding this journey helps marketers create content that’s right for the right person, at the right time, and with the right emotion.

Instead of creating content that just “talks about you,” create content that walks with your customers through every step of their decision-making.

At BC Agency, we believe:
“Understanding the customer journey is the key to turning data into strategy, and strategy into real results.”

If you want to build an effective content marketing strategy, start by understanding your brand’s own customer journey. BC Agency is ready to accompany you — from Awareness all the way to Advocacy.

👉 Contact BC Agency today for tailored strategy consulting and seamless execution!
☎️ Hotline/Zalo/Telegram: 083 8586 166