Once you know your target market’s level of awareness, the next question is: how do you move them up the awareness ladder? What is the scale of your prospect’s shift in thinking?
This question suggests a point I’ve made several times before. Marketing is primarily education! If you are going to move prospects up the awareness ladder, you must offer them information. At early stages, you may explain the problem and its various solutions. At later levels, the focus will be on your own offer.
In general, the lower you are on the awareness ladder, the more work you must do to move people to the next level. So, if people are aware of solutions (level 2) they are more likely to listen to your solution than someone at level 1, who is not actively seeking a solution.
However, higher levels can be more difficult. For example, it may be harder to get to level 3 if a competitor at level 2 dominates the market.
So, let’s look at two costs associated with moving prospects: information and time.
Information Needs
The more explanation you need to offer, the greater the costs of your marketing and you will have more difficulty retaining your prospects’ attention. You will need different amounts of information and different approaches at each level.
It is possible to use one approach throughout. For example, a sales funnel on a website moves prospects from their current level to level 5. You must bring them in at the right level; too low you will lose their attention and too high you will confuse them. Sometimes you can do it on a single page, while some funnels put each level on a different page.
Others find they need something more complex. Here’s an example:
- A workshop open to a range of likely prospects, where you describe the problem and explain common solutions. Perhaps a taster of how you approach solving the problem. (Levels 0-2)
- A brochure (printed or online) that describes your method and provides more information. Includes an invitation to book a 1 to 1. (Levels 2-4)
- A 1 to 1 meeting where you aim to close the deal (levels 4-5)
Altogether, you may have passed on an immense amount of information over these 3 stages. It is likely, if you set something up like this, only a small proportion of your clients will experience all of it. Some will hop on board at higher levels and you need to be aware of when and how that happens.
Time Needs
You can see an elaborate approach, like the one above, is likely to take a lot of time. This is one of the issues coaches have to face. They usually find they must offer an introductory coaching session. Maybe coaches with a good reputation can charge for these sessions but most coaches don’t and can underestimate the amount of time it takes.
People selling products may find they need less 1 to 1 time but may still find moving prospects from levels 3 – 5 takes a big chunk out of their working day.
So, the issue for any business is how to schedule their marketing efforts. A coach might, for example, set aside 1 – 2 days per week for marketing and the rest for coaching. Note this limits your coaching service’s capacity but without marketing, the coach has lots of time when they are not earning!
This brings us back to knowing your target market. If you do, your marketing will be better targeted and you will get more in return for your effort.
How do you manage your marketing time?