Understanding the Customer Journey in Marketing: Key Stages & Strategies

 Customer Journey in Marketing

The customer journey describes how people move from not knowing your brand to becoming customers.
A Social Media Ads Manager must understand this journey to create effective ads.

The journey has three stages:

                                                                

1. Awareness Stage (Cold Audience)

Goal: Make people aware that your brand exists.

✔ Who are they?

People who:

• Never heard of your brand
• Don't know your product
• Don’t trust you yet

✔ Best Ad Objectives:

• Brand Awareness
• Reach
• Video Views
• Traffic (to blog/website)

✔ Best Ad Creatives:

• Short videos
• Story/Reel videos
• Infographics
• Brand introduction posts

✔ Example:

A skincare brand runs a video showing:
“Why your skin gets dry in winter.”

➡️ Purpose: Attract attention, not sell immediately.

 

 2. Consideration Stage (Warm Audience)

Goal: Educate people and make them interested.

✔ Who are they?

People who:

• Engaged with your posts
• Follow your page
• Watched your videos
• Visited your website

✔ Best Ad Objectives:

• Engagement
• Traffic
• Lead Generation
• Messages (WhatsApp, Messenger)
• Add to Wishlist / Add to Cart

✔ Best Ad Creatives:

• Testimonial videos
• Product demo videos
• Carousel ads
• Blog/article links
• Discounts or benefits

✔ Example:

A digital marketing course shows:
“Top 5 skills to build a career in social media.”

➡️ Purpose: Build trust, warm them up for purchase.

 

 3. Conversion Stage (Hot Audience)

Goal: Make people take action (buy, sign up, book).

✔ Who are they?

People who:

• Added product to cart
• Visited product page several times
• Subscribed to your list
• Almost ready to buy

✔ Best Ad Objectives:

• Sales (Conversions)
• Lead Conversion
• Purchase
• Add Payment Info

✔ Best Ad Creatives:

• Strong offers (10%, 20% off)
• Limited-time deals
• Customer reviews
• Product comparison ads
• Retargeting ads

✔ Example:

“Get 20% OFF today. Limited Stock.”

➡️ Purpose: Push final action.

 

 Assigning Ad Types for Each Stage

Stage	Audience	Objective	Ad Type
Awareness	Cold	Awareness / Reach / Video Views	Brand videos, Reels, Introduction ads
Consideration	Warm	Traffic / Engagement / Leads	Blog links, testimonial videos, carousel ads
Conversion	Hot	Sales / Purchases	Offer ads, retargeting ads, discount ads

 

Funnel Marketing Basics

A funnel is a step-by-step system that moves people from not knowing your business → buying your product.

✔ Funnel Breakdown:

1. Top of Funnel (TOF) – Awareness
2. Middle of Funnel (MOF) – Consideration
3. Bottom of Funnel (BOF) – Conversion

✔ How Funnels Work:

• TOF brings new people
• MOF educates and builds trust
• BOF pushes for purchase

✔ Simple Funnel Example

TOF (Awareness):

Show a short video ad to 100,000 new people.
↓

MOF (Consideration):

Retarget people who watched 50% of the video.
Send testimonial or demo ads.
↓

BOF (Conversion):

Retarget people who visited product page or added to cart.
Show discount or strong CTA.