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Blog post 1 – Problem Aware

The first stage in the customer journey is ‘Problem Aware’. This is when someone knows that they have a problem, but they do not yet know what solutions are available to them. Their current goal is to understand their problem better and to discover what solutions exist.

The best word to capture this stage of the funnel is ‘looking’. Someone in the problem aware stage is looking for answers to their problem.

BLOG ARTICLE 1: “Problem Aware”

Your first blog article targets people who are not yet aware of your product or service. Frankly, they don’t care. Yet. They are too tangled up in their own concerns.

But there is one thing that they do know: their problem.

For the surfer, their problem is that they are struggling to cut through big, rough waves. For the comedian, they are terrified of their jokes bombing during their first stand up comedy gig. For the furniture enthusiast, they want interesting furniture in their home and aren’t satisfied with the options on the market.

What is the initial problem that your product, service or website is solving?

The more you can understand the problem, the better your marketing. Great copywriting centers on the customer. You want to understand their problem better than they do so that customers will fist-pump the air and say “Yes, that’s exactly the problem I have!”

START WITH SEO:

Now for these visitors who are problem aware, how do they describe that problem? What search terms would they punch into google?

Your first blog post needs to address that exact problem, and expand upon it. Bonus points for using the keywords they’ll be whacking into Google (read our latest post on Keyword Research to get some great ideas).

For our examples, perhaps these are some search terms we might find from our keyword research:

1. “How to stay on surfboard in rough waves”
2. “Stand up comedy tips”
3. “Unique furniture designs”

The goal of this first blog article is simply to attract readers with that one specific concern and provide the value they are seeking. That’s all!

With Thrive Themes, we call this “going deep rather than wide”. You don’t need to go and sell your entire business to them, you just need to provide extraordinary value centered on that one problem they are preoccupied with.

Remember, at this point the customer is not searching for the solution in Google, because they do not yet know that solutions exist. The Stand-Up Comedian is only trying to get tips to improve their jokes. They aren’t looking for classes or coaching yet, since they aren’t aware it’s even an option yet.

All they know is their problem. So this blog article needs to meet them where their mind is at.