As a marketer, if your product is the obvious solution to an obvious problem, your job is relatively straightforward. You simply need to show the customer why your product is the best one out there. Often the easiest way to do this is by demonstrating your USP; sometimes you can also compete on price. Either way, if your customer is already looking for the product or service you offer, and not attached to any particular brand, all you have to do is convince them that your brand does it best.
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This is where the old saying comes from: "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door."
But the reality is, a lot of us don't sell products that fill an obvious need. Even if your product or service does fill a genuine need or solve a real problem… do people actually realise that they have that problem? And do they know that a solution exists?
The three stages of consumer awareness
A lot of marketers today are facing this conundrum: "How do I sell the benefits of my brand over those of my competitors when my customer doesn't even know they need my product?" There's no point shouting about how you are the best at 'whatever-it-is' if people don't know they need it. The harsh truth is: no one cares.
How do we make them care?
This is where it gets a bit tricky. The immediate response you are likely to get when you ask this question is a fun one: "we need to increase brand awareness!!" After all, marketing blogs are full of posts about how digital marketing is all about brand loyalty, warm fuzzy feelings towards brands, brands as people, and so on. But for this type of situation, brand awareness actually isn't the right answer.
When people don't know they need something, you don't need increased brand awareness... you need increased need/want awareness, followed by solution/product awareness, and only then should you be looking to raise brand awareness.
This leads to a 3-stage customer journey:
- Creating awareness of the need/problem. At this stage the customer is both product and brand agnostic; they don't realise they have a problem or need which requires a solution. Your job at this stage is to show them that they have a problem or need. They may not be aware that this is a problem at all; or they may perceive it as an annoyance but not a problem they care enough about fixing. Raising awareness of this need or problem can be done through either an emotive or a logical message but either way the focus should be on the customer, not on you.
- Demonstrating the basic solution to that need/problem. At this stage the customer is still brand agnostic; they are now aware of the problem but not yet sure what the solution is. Your job at this stage is to present your solution as the best way to solve their problem or meet their need. However, the first step is simply to show them that this type of product or service is a good solution to their problem or need. Again, at this stage, you are focusing on the customer and his or her need. Don't try to sell them on "you" just yet.
- Selling your solution and your brand as the best version. At this stage, the customer knows they have a problem, and they know their preferred approach to solving the problem is through using the product or service that you provide. Your job now is to show that they should choose to buy that solution from you, and to link that solution with your brand in the customer's mind. This is the point at which talking about yourself is allowed. :)
Take one step at a time
The temptation which a lot of brands face is to try and create brand messaging and content which can do all three of these things at once. This can be due to a fear of inadvertently promoting their competitors, or sometimes a directive from above which dictates that we 'push the brand' regardless of the stage of the customer journey you are currently targeting, or any number of other reasons. Sometimes it happens because the marketers themselves are keen brand advocates and love talking about how great the brand is and what they do. But this is a mistake.
Don't try to make your brand messaging do all the things all the time. You will not succeed, and you will simply end up diluting the message and failing to speak to anyone's needs. Instead, focus on one stage of the customer journey only for each piece of content or marketing activity that you do.
But wait. Am I saying we should avoid branded content in the first two stages of this customer journey?
NO.
Please don't think that shifting the focus away from heavy brand messaging, or focusing on a different type of awareness, means that you have to avoid all branding completely! Of course any advertising, social, and website content which you produce should always incorporate your brand guidelines and include logos, straplines, etc. (as appropriate).
What I'm talking about here is simply the focus of the messaging.
How does this work in practice?
Let's take an example, Dyson vacuum cleaners, and look at how their product messaging fits into this 3 stage framework:
Dyson has a starting point - people do know they need vacuum cleaners. But Dyson still needs to identify a problem that they solve that the other vacuum cleaner brands don't. In this case, their vacuum cleaners have a USP of extra strong suction that doesn't clog - but the average consumer may not realise that this is a feature that they should care about.
Stage 1: Creating awareness of the need/problem
At this stage the potential customer is happy with their current situation.
With the Dyson example: if the messaging is simply 'buy Dyson', that's not enough to convert Hoover or Oreck customers. Once you've chosen a brand for appliance purchases, the easiest thing when you need a new one is to replace the old one with a new version of the same thing. So the average person is happy just going back and buying another Hoover or Oreck.
Instead of shouting about the Dyson brand, your job at this stage is to show them that they have a problem or need which isn't currently being met. In this example, a problem which a lot of people have is that their vacuum cleaner gets clogged easily and loses suction over time. So our messaging for people at this stage focuses on that problem and how our product is differentiated: "others clog; ours don't".
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(Note that this ad is still branded but the focus is on the potential customers' problem.)
Stage 2: Demonstrating the basic solution to that need/problem
At this stage the customer is still brand agnostic; they are now aware of the problem (clogged vacuum cleaner --> "I wish I had a vacuum cleaner that didn't get clogged all the time") but not yet sure what the solution is.
Your job at this stage is to present your solution ("our vacuum cleaner doesn't clog because our cleaner has special patented technology which keeps it unclogged and maintain suction over time") as the best way to solve their problem or meet their need. The messaging in this ad focuses on the technology as a solution to a problem: If you want a vacuum that doesn't clog or lose suction, you need a vacuum with no bags and this special 'Cyclone' technology.
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Again, at this stage, you are focusing on the customer and his or her need and why your solution is best.
Stage 3: Selling your brand as the best version
In the third stage, the customer knows they have a problem, and they know their preferred approach to solving the problem is through using the product or service that you provide. In the Dyson example, they know that they want a vacuum cleaner with this special technology that keeps it unclogged and maintains suction over time.
Your job now is to show that your brand is synonymous with that solution. For Dyson, this is the type of messaging that ties the brand explicitly to the 'solution':
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Conclusion
When people don't already know they need your product, you can't just sell them on your brand right away, because your brand is meaningless to them. You create meaning and an emotional feeling about your brand by guiding people through these three stages of awareness: need/want awareness, solution/product awareness, and finally brand awareness.
Each of these stages requires a distinct message for a different audience of people, so you can't try to make your messaging one size fits all. Instead, tailor the messaging on different sections of your website, your social media and other digital content, and your advertising campaigns to speak to one group of people at a time. It may feel very counter-intuitive to sell your audience on why they need X product rather than why they need to buy from Y company. But you need to allow them to experience the need before selling your brand, they will care about the answer to that need.
And never try to do all the things at once.
...Unless you sell the best mousetraps ever, in which case I guess you can sit back and relax while the world comes to you.
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I think more of these 'philosophical' posts are needed. We get a lot of 'nuts and bolts' here, but not too much of this. That said, I'm still often left with a quandary: should I highlight the problem the customer feels, or the solution? Do I want to emphasize the pain and hassle they have now, or the easy days and drinks under the sun they'll have when I'm done? Negative vs. positive...it might depend on that day's headlines.
I don't think you can emphasize the positive without first bringing up the negative. That's one of the main points of this post--letting customers know they have a problem that they previously were unaware of. Once you've created awareness of that problem by emphasizing negatives or pain points, you can trot out your positive solution. Now, the degree to which you wish to emphasize the negative vs. positive is going to change for any given situation. For example, a product that already addresses a well-known problem can probably focus more on the positives of their particular brand and why they are the best choice. But a product that addresses a problem that people don't really know that they have will need to focus more on awareness of that problem.
That's one of the main points of this post--letting customers know they have a problem that they previously were unaware of.
If you think about this in a slightly different way... it can also be "letting customers know they have an opportunity that they previously were unaware of."
In the 1940's De Beers created an enormous demand for natural diamonds with effective advertising that didn't mention their brand name and did not show their diamonds in jewelry. (De Beers always gets the credit for this accomplishment but two women provided all of the creative genius.) This is one of the ultimate stories of building consumer awareness about a product that people were not familiar with and for which men spent a few month's salary to buy.
Today a new effort is beginning to market lab-created diamonds as a technology product that offers many advantages but which has experienced prejudice and negative marketing in the past.
I'd agree with Adam: without first completely understanding the problem (and why that problem even needs to be solved) your product/service isn't relevant. Only when the client understands how crucial it is things get fixed or "optimized" does your SEO service (or whatever it is) become something the client wants to hear more about and (potentially) invest in.
Geez... a marketing post with a cat picture?? This is bound to go viral. ;)
Great reminder on how to approach brand messaging!
This is a really important conundrum, but was the best example to illustrate the point really a vacuum cleaner? I think most people have heard of a vacuum cleaner, then then look on the website of an online store and see Hoovers, Dysons and everything else. It really doesn't illustrate the point at all. I think there's a well documented example in Dropbox, where people kind of knew they had a problem, but they didn't know there was a fix, in essence people couldn't search for a fix to this problem and their adwords campaigns performed miserably. Our service is similar in that we allow people to prepare their Will online; people kind of know they need to write a Will, but don't know the implications of not doing it, and don't know that there is a solution like ours available. They will unlikely search for an "online Will service" because they don't know that one exists. Our situation and dropbox is a much better illustration of the issue than Dyson vacuum cleaners who really only have to deal with the third stage of consumer awareness.
This is an exceptional breakdown of how to go about informing the consumer of your product/service. One aspect of the process that strengthens Step 3 (and makes it worth the wait) is the fact that brand loyalty - or at least the beginning of it - is formed through the educational process you or your brand provides.
I've found that providing the general information, problems, and solutions around a situation in a way that's beneficial to the consumer in and of itself is highly likely to open the door for a business transaction. When you've invested in the general public, your "sell" in Step 3 becomes easier because some level of trust has already been formed.
"You took the time to care about my issue, now explain to me how exactly your product/service works in my situation."
That's a pretty easy sell. Also, I want to buy a Dyson vacuum now. :-D
Brady,
I completely agree with your point. I think this can be applied directly to SEO's as it relates to personal consultations. We have used an informational approach in our consultations with overwhelming success just by teaching the potential client more about what their issues are. Giving them deeper knowledge and a few quick recommendations really helps to build their trust in your brand or company. This makes the "sell" aspect almost non-existent. It is more of a "which package would you like to start with and when" conversation once the trust has been earned.
Joseph, glad to hear that's worked well for you. I've taken a similar approach when approaching a client in a consulting relationship. Or if I'm just doing a one-time audit, a follow-up meeting further describing the information provided has sometimes led to an ongoing monthly campaign.
I think this is something that is hugely overlooked in every aspect of marketing online.
I like the Dyson example, but in a way it's pretty hard to see the difference between the first and third executions. It's a good example of showing a customer a problem they didn't know they had in the context of a mature marketplace. If you want to sell a new type of vacuum cleaner, you'd better find a new type of problem, or else you're going to be selling a commodity. Let's face it, we weren't all walking around on dirty floors before it came along - what sort of real problem has it solved?
We should all apply this to client work and to our own efforts.
How many clients out there aren't aware that they need good quality content to rank better for search terms, get more traffic and sell more stuff? Some of them know what they think SEO is and some of them really know exactly what they need and how it works.
One piece of content - be it advertisement or otherwise - isn't going to be suitable to convince them all to use your service.
I think you hit on something that I see more and more of each week, Craig, and that's employers not knowing exactly what they want or need. Oftentimes, you have to do the sell or hard sell on them before you even get to the content!
For instance, let's say you've got someone set on 500 word keyword-stuffed, er...rich, articles that focus on some niche. They know that's what they need because they Googled SEO and some 2013 article came up telling them that.
Now, before you even get to the content, you have to do the positive/negative run-around with the employer, in effect telling them what they need.
It's a huge pain, and I wish we could have standardized wall charts drawn up for every office :)
Great article! I think that a lot of companies forget that a sales funnel is funnel shaped for a reason. You're going to lose some people at most steps of the process, and content marketing isn't any different. When you're trying to reach a broad audience to begin with, you're not going to be able to funnel all of them to the next step in the process. You can, however, work to funnel those who are ready to continue their journey.
By the way, I love the line regarding the early stages of the content process "the focus should be on the customer, not on you."
It all comes to unique selling proposition, what makes you different than others.
Great information on how marketing should be done with content. There is nothing without awareness.
I believe the three stages of the customer journey. However, I think q'elles are not in the right order. I would choose rather to the second to third place and vice versa.
Post interesting. I support the views of Adam. It is necessary that the client understands the usefulness of the product. The relevance of a product is crucial. This ensures your success in a sense.
I have seen different posts on this topic but none so complete and so well explained, thank you very much
Just stumbled on this article and it's a really good one.
One way IMO for the audience we have here are think in terms of keywords that fit into each part of the customer journey for our clients.
Great stuff.
Interesting read.What are your thoughts about location and building consumer awareness? Specifically, what do you think about the use of interconnected technologies to spread awareness? For example, Google is planning to offer free Wi-Fi in New York City in old telephone booths. These booths will also serve as "information centers." Now, I have no idea if advertisements will be featured in these booths, but I imagine that they will given Google's history and that they will become much sought after advertising real estate.Do you think that in today's world it is critical to have that type of exposure to build consumer awareness or do you think that businesses can do just as well with traditional and online targeted ads? Lastly, what role do you predict new technologies will play in building consumer awareness?
Great post. I liked the section “Stage 1: Creating awareness of the need/problem” much!
Brand awareness only play when a customer or visitor decided that they will obviously buy the product.
In 3 stages customer journey if you have done the 1st stage successfully the rest 2 have a huge probability of being success. Because “a well began is half done”. If you can win or convinced the customer in 1st stage he will entertain you to demonstrate the solution to that need or problem. Successful completion of second step will lead to a Sale.
Thank you for your guidance. I am wishing you a merry Christmas and happy New Year.
Sometimes we have to understand the consumers aspect and his knowledge on the issue and then we can initiate a process to make him better understand the scenario about our product and its benefits. This article gave me good insights from the consumers point of view and how to target them keeping their views in mind.
Buen post .... ayudará a muchas empresas. Cuesta conseguir clientes potenciales y muchas veces nos engañamos.
Great post! I think many businesses take it for granted that their potential customers are aware of the problem that their product solves and are consequently missing an important step on the customer journey and conversion funnel.
Pain points! If you can find pain in a customers life you can sell your solution.
Thanks ! Bridget Randolph for Nice Blog, Solution/product awareness, brand awareness, need/want awareness all sound are good but consumer awareness must be uniform, and transparent in terms of prices, quality of goods, and stocks. Consumers must have the tools to combat malpractices and protect their rights. According every country is have own Consumers law and Act. Such as Rights and Duties of Consumers, Consumer protection Measure, Public Distribution System, Standardization of Products, assure the quality of products
It's not easy to find needy people for you product, all depends on the way of your presentation.
Great post, it was a big help.
i agree with you and this is help full for us