Timing is everything when communicating with your target audience.
There are six phases that your target audience passes through as they become aware of your specific product or service.
This whiteboard illustration of the phases chart explains the process.
They begin unaware that the product or service even exists.
Through exposure they become aware, which is the most basic relationship you’ll have with the consumer.
If your message matches the consumer’s needs, the next step is for your product or service to become relevant to them.
Once they’ve realized the relevance of your product, they may become engaged, which translates to a specific action – retaining your services or purchasing your product.
Based on their experience with you, and reinforced through well-placed and -timed messaging, the consumer may then become a convert.
Then the converted consumer may move to the next stage, which is a loyal advocate. When the time comes that the consumer requires your services or another product again, or when a friend asks for a recommendation, they are more likely to repurchase and/or send their friend to you. One goal at this phase is for them to become vocal advocates on social media, sharing their affinity for your product or service to their followers and moving their followers to the awareness phase on their own.
Ideally, the target audience moves smoothly through the phases, which are based on psychology and common decision-making patterns people follow when deciding whether or not to take action.
Marketers have been taught to “push” marketing toward consumers at each stage of the process. Ideally, the marketing will reach consumers at the moments that most influence their decisions and move them to the next stage. These moments are called “touch points,” but unless consumers are actively looking for a product or service that matches yours, much of the initial exposure is wasted.
By measuring how many audience members move from one phase to the other, and analyzing the percentages against overall marketing goals, you’re able to determine the most effective marketing tools.
Through careful research and analysis, bloomfield knoble helps its clients find the right touch points and the right messages to reach their audience. We’ve helped clients from financial industry giants to premier outdoor sports companies actively move their consumers through the phases of awareness/engagement.
We create campaigns using the best tool to accomplish our clients’ goals. Once we’ve analyzed the data, we determine the means to communicate to the target audience, not the other way around.
The next time you’re considering a strategic marketing campaign, talk to us first. Our penchant for devising strategies and messaging based on data and analytics means that you’re likely to get a higher ROI on your marketing dollar.