Turning strangers into buying customers … … the marketing strategy context
Turning strangers into buying customers …
… the
marketing strategy context
Many businesses focus a lot of their time, energy and
budget on marketing activities that raise awareness. But it’s not enough to think that if you just
make people aware of what you do, they will somehow magically end up buying
from you.
- When planning your marketing process or a
marketing campaign, you need to write down exactly how you will move
people from
Having no idea that you even exist
to
Being aware of you and what you do
to
Being interested in what you have to offer and telling you so
to
Actually experiencing a little bit of what you have to offer
to
Parting with their hard earned cash for what you have to offer.
And then buying from you again,
and telling all their friends how fantastic you are
- Then, and
only then, write down what marketing activities you will use at each stage
in order to move people through this process.
- What do your prospects need to know, feel and
experience in order to take the next step?
- How will you communicate this to them?
The AIDCA
model is used to remind us that we all move through different stages when
making a buying decision. It is a framework to explain how persuasive
communication works.
Awareness
Interest
Desire
Conviction
Action
So, when we are in the process of buying something, we
first become aware of it, then we develop an interest in it, then we get a
desire for it.
It is likely that we are moving away from the purely
logical to the more emotional – from the head to the heart. Then sometimes reality kicks back in at the
“conviction” stage. Conviction triggers
our intention and converts it into action – i.e. we buy.
If we accept that our customers or clients will be
experiencing this sequence when making up their minds about buying from us,
there are 2 key factors at work that will influence their behaviour at each
stage. I call these the 2 Cs – comfort and confidence.
As a general rule of thumb, you need to be giving your
prospect the comfort and confidence they need at each stage in order for them
to take the next step.
The more expensive the purchase, the greater the risk
or sensitivity, the more complex the proposition, the longer this will take.
We can use AIDCA as a framework in our marketing
process to remind us that we need to work on more than just “awareness”. “Action” means buying, repeat buying, and
then going on to refer us. But between
“awareness” and “action” there is a lot of work to be done.
Many people make the mistake of throwing all their
efforts at raising awareness of their product or service and then hoping that,
if they’ve done enough, some of those exposed to their initial message will end
up buying. Some will, but this “front
end” approach is unlikely to be sustainable or to provide a regular,
predictable stream of customers.
A more robust approach is to acknowledge that
prospects need to progress through several more stages before they are ready
and willing to buy from you.
Understanding your target market’s buying motivations is key to working
out what these stages are and what comfort and confidence factors you need to
supply at each stage.
Here is a summary of the basic process framework.
|
|
Total
stranger |
Give
them
Make
it really easy for them to take the next step |
|
Awareness |
Aware of you
and what you do |
|
|
Interest |
Interested
in you and what you do and are telling you so |
|
|
Desire |
||
|
Conviction |
Experienced
you for free (or low investment) |
|
|
Action |
Paid for
your product or service |
|
|
Repeat
customer |
||
|
Evangelist –
your unpaid sales force |
© 2012