Marketing is used to modify or change a person’s behavior. To get someone to buy a specific product, eat at a particular restaurant, or hire a company to provide a service. It can also be used to influence a person’s thinking. Any number of desired actions/results fall into the cross hairs of what a great marketing campaign is trying to accomplish.
From a marketing standpoint, influencing someone to pick up the phone, call a law firm, and ultimately hire that firm can be complicated. And while some marketers focus only on influencing these actions, they’re missing a significant part of the picture. Many marketers fail to take into consideration the customer journey.
The customer journey, simply put, is the customer’s decision-making process. It’s the sequence of events that occur as the potential customer considers making a purchase. Think of this sequence as the stages a potential client progresses through from the point of realizing a need (e.g., injured and must hire a law firm) to the point of hiring a firm and having a deep-rooted feeling of satisfaction with their decision.
The bulk of this process—and progression—is mental, taking place in the mind of potential clients. They realize a need, do research, set appointments, meet the attorney, hire the attorney, then feel satisfied. Like any mental process, there are highs and lows, frustrations and moments of relief. Those highs and lows correlate to the situation and the complexity of the decision at hand. Ordering a pizza? This should be a very short, low-stress journey. Electing to have major surgery? The journey just became rocky, complex, and stressful.
Marketing impacts individuals in every stage of the customer journey. I say “impact” because as stated above, marketing has the power to influence behavior. It can help usher people from the beginning of the journey through the end, and it does so by using the activators/triggers at each stage.
Let’s use the example of someone injured in an accident. As marketers, we want them to see a message on a nearby billboard that is supportive, demonstrates the law firm’s ability to resolve the complex injury, and shows a successful reputation the firm has in handling such matters. In this example, the billboard is what we call a “touchpoint.” The beauty of touchpoints is they can range from traditional advertising to grass-roots initiatives and even non-traditional/outreach tactics that a law firm can execute internally.
