How creators influence every stage of the customer journey
How creators influence every stage of the customer journey
From awareness to advocacy, influencer marketing is no longer just a top-of-funnel play.
We’ve all heard it before: “TikTok made me buy it.”
Maybe it was a viral skincare product, a trending kitchen gadget, or a SaaS demo that somehow landed on your FYP. In seconds, creators can turn casual scrolling into an unplanned purchase. But what’s more powerful than that single transaction is what happens next.
Influencers aren’t just fueling impulse buys, they’re shaping how people discover, evaluate, commit to, and stay loyal to brands, CreatorDB notes. Their influence is emotional, ongoing, and deeply integrated into digital behavior.
This is why building an effective influencer marketing strategy is no longer about one viral moment, it’s about long-term connection across the digital customer journey.
So, how exactly are creators influencing the full customer journey? Let’s take a closer look.
Understanding the Customer Journey
The customer journey is a five-step process that exemplifies how an individual goes from becoming aware of a product or service to becoming a loyal customer. It involves understanding the customer’s needs, preferences, and pain points at each stage to provide a seamless and satisfying experience that fosters loyalty and advocacy.
While the journey varies by industry and persona, most frameworks include five key customer journey stages:
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- Awareness: This is where it all begins. A potential customer becomes aware of a product or service for the first time through ads, search, social media, or word-of-mouth. The goal here is simple: visibility.
- Interest: Once a product is on someone’s radar, interest builds. At this stage, customers are curious. They seek more information, look for reviews, ask questions, and begin forming impressions.
- Decision: With enough information in hand, the customer approaches a decision point. Here, factors like pricing, convenience, trust, and timing influence whether they follow through with a purchase.
- Loyalty: After the purchase, the experience isn’t over. Loyalty is earned through product satisfaction, customer service, and added value. Brands that nurture this phase build retention and repeat usage.
- Advocacy: The final stage is when a customer becomes a promoter. They share their positive experiences, leave reviews, refer others, and organically influence new potential buyers.
For marketers, this model helps identify what content and messaging align with each touchpoint. In today’s landscape, where creators are key distribution channels, understanding this flow is crucial to staying relevant.
But as digital behavior evolves, it’s worth asking: Are customer journeys actually that linear?
The Modern Flow of the Customer Journey
It has long been understood that the customer journey is a useful and simplified representation of the actual customer experience.
This simplification and “flattening” to a straight funnel is necessary due to the extremely high number of possible touchpoints, the back and forth each individual does when going through them, and the impossibility of clearly establishing the impact each one has on each person.
Recently, a team from the Boston Consulting Group has proposed shifting toward an influence visualization approach to better capture the nature of the journey. With their model, each map can better represent the actual journey of each customer and proportionally show the impact each stage has on the customer.
This new conceptualization fits very well with the modern customer, who is used to doing most of his shopping and research online and often never sets foot in a store.
This outlook on customer behaviour is fundamental, especially when shaping a relevant influencer strategy.
Due to the nature of their relationship with their followers, influencers can have a disproportionate impact on their buying choices that is difficult to gauge with the linear view of the customer journey.
Influencer Marketing Strategies for Every Stage of the Customer Journey
1. Awareness
Creators build awareness by naturally placing products into trending conversations. Instead of just mentioning brands, they create content that educates, entertains, and feels relevant to their audience.
How?
- Trend-jacking: Creators jump on viral challenges, memes, or sounds while featuring products in a subtle but memorable way (e.g., using trending TikTok audios while showcasing a product).
- Problem-solution storytelling: They open videos with a relatable pain point and seamlessly introduce the product as the solution.
2. Interest (Consideration)
During the consideration phase, creators shift to building trust. Instead of pushing products, they act as honest advisors, offering real-use insights and side-by-side comparisons.
How?
- Authentic demos: Showing unfiltered product tests, tutorials, or personal routines (e.g., “Day in My Life” videos using the product without over-explaining).
- Comparison reviews: Posting honest “Brand A vs. Brand B” content where your product is positioned favorably but transparently.
A good influencer excels here and not by shouting louder, but by connecting better.
3. Decision (Purchase)
When the audience is close to buying, creators remove hesitation by adding urgency, ease, and emotional validation at the final decision point.
How?
- Limited-time discount codes: Sharing exclusive short-term promo codes tied to their profile creates a fear of missing out.
- One-click shopping links: Including direct checkout links in bios, captions, or TikTok Shops to eliminate friction from interest to purchase.
4. Loyalty (Retention)
Post-purchase, creators play a key role in keeping customers engaged. They reinforce people’s choices and introduce reasons to stay connected with the brand over time.
How?
- Post-purchase “how-to” content: Showing creative ways to keep using the product, unlocking new features, or getting more value from it.
- Creator loyalty series: Multi-post campaigns showing the product’s benefits over time, not just one-time promotions.
5. Advocacy
Creators ignite customer advocacy by mobilizing real users to participate and share experiences, making the brand feel community-driven rather than corporate.
How?
- Challenge campaigns: Launching hashtags or challenges that encourage users to post their own experiences (e.g., “Show how you use [product]” contests).
- Referral shoutouts: Creators rewarding or highlighting fans who refer friends, creating a public incentive to advocate for the brand.
This is where real brand momentum happens, fueled not by polished ads but by authentic communities built through trust and shared experiences.
The Enduring Impact of Creator Partnerships
If there’s one thing the modern customer journey makes clear, it’s this: Brands can no longer rely solely on their voice. In a landscape shaped by rapid discovery and real-time decisions, the most powerful form of influence now comes from creators—people who audiences already trust, follow, and engage with daily.
Creators don’t just amplify brand messages. They make them relatable. They take what a brand wants to communicate and express it in personal and trustworthy ways. Whether sparking curiosity, helping someone decide, or reinforcing loyalty after a purchase, creators show up in the exact moments that matter. And unlike traditional campaigns, their influence isn’t limited to a single ad or post. It’s ongoing, community-driven, and deeply woven into how people engage with brands daily.
For marketers, this shift isn’t just a passing trend. It’s a fundamental change in how people engage with brands. In today’s landscape, creators have become trusted voices at every stage of the customer journey, influencing discovery, decision-making, and long-term loyalty in ways traditional marketing can’t easily replicate.
If your strategy doesn’t account for this shift, now’s the moment to act.
The good news? You don’t have to navigate this alone.
Start by asking: What role could creators play in your customer experience?
This story was produced by CreatorDB and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
