🧐 Why you should research how solution aware your audience are

One of the most important factors when considering how to market to your audience is determining how solution aware your audience is. This has a huge impact on where you should market and advertise, what messages you should share (how to market), and how much it will cost to acquire customers.

There are generally considered to be 5 stages of awareness:

1. Unaware

   
   

   1. No knowledge of their problem, but likely feels symptoms of the issue

      
      

   2. Example: Sharp pains in their side but they think it is nothing to worry about, or always stressed and unhappy but haven’t yet understood that it is due to lack of time

      
      

2. Problem aware

   
   

   1. Is aware that there is a problem but they are unaware of solutions

      
      

   2. Example: They know that the sharp pains are an issue that requires attention but they aren’t sure what to do about it, or they know their stress is caused by lack of time but they think that is just how work/life is and they have to deal with it

      
      

3. Solution aware

   
   

   1. Understands what the problem is and is looking into potential solutions

      
      

   2. Example: they know they need to go to a hospital so they Google hospitals in their area, or they know they need to regain control of their time so they search ways to improve their processes and/or look for consultants to help

      
      

4. Your Product/Service aware

   
   

   1. They understand the problem and they have now found your solution

      
      

   2. Example: they know they need to go to a hospital and have found your hospital address online, or they know they need to regain control of their time and they have found my services to help them to work less and earn more

      
      

5. Deal aware/Most aware

   
   

   1. They know which solution provider(s) they wish to work with and are now just trying to pick the right offer for them. Overcoming objections.

      
      

   2. Example: They are in your hospital and they are deciding which department to go to or which doctor to see or how to pay, or they are on my website to help them regain control of their time and they are looking for answers to key questions that affect their decision to assess which offer is right for them

      
      

This is sometimes termed the UPSYD model (Unaware, Problem aware, Solution aware, YOUR solution aware, Deal aware). Often used in tandem with AIDA.

I like to add “post aware”, or “advocacy aware” to these awareness stages.

Somebody who is post aware has experienced the benefits of your solution - they have a much deeper understanding of their problem and your solution.

They are much more likely to be buyers of your other solutions as they have experienced how you can help already. They are also likely to recommend your solution, improving the awareness of others.

Generally speaking, you want to operate in a market where your customers are further along in the awareness stages as it is much easier and cheaper to acquire customers (which often leads to higher profit). Your marketing becomes more targeted in later stages. It is very expensive, time consuming, and difficult to ‘educate’ an unaware audience.

Realistically, you will have potential customers at every stage. However, you can choose which stages to target with your marketing. Each has pros and cons.

The earlier you can capture people, the less competition there is (as you can retain them throughout every stage of awareness, they may never become aware of your competitors because you controlled the awareness process).

Usually, it is also cheaper to acquire leads on a per lead basis in the earlier stages - however, that doesn’t mean that it is cheaper to acquire customers. Cost Per Lead is not equal to Customer Acquisition Cost. When you capture leads in the early stages there are more opportunities for them to drop out, to not become your customer.

Example:

1. You pay $1 per lead. Because you capture leads in the early stages of awareness you are responsible for taking them through each stage of the funnel. Your process isn’t optimised, and only 1 in every 100 leads converts into a paying customer. It costs you $100 per customer.

   
   

2. You pay $10 per lead. Because you capture leads at the late stages of awareness, they are almost ready to buy when they reach you. 1 in 8 leads converts into a paying customer. It costs you $80 per customer.

The earlier in the process, the more mass market your message and channel needs to be. For example, using billboards or Facebook ads. Later stages require more targeted marketing, such as Google ads or email marketing.

To use some examples from a recent client - for a solution aware audience you can run ads with great offers and try to stand out so they become aware of your offer. Such as "Moss removal by X company - rated 5 stars by 4739 customers". If your audience is highly solution aware but yet to take action, you can get in front with a BETTER offer to both stand out and convert customers e.g. “moss removal + free window cleaning”.

For earlier problem aware audiences, here you can run ads like “How to save yourself thousands in home repair costs” and make the ad lead to a page that goes into depths around how by preventing moss on the roof can delay an expensive roof replacement by many years.

For an audience not yet aware of problem or solution, you need to educate them on what the problem is. This is the most difficult, both in terms of messaging and in regards to knowing where to advertise. It needs to be generic enough to engage somebody who doesn’t yet care, but specific enough to bring them to your solution.

How solution aware is your audience?

How will you adapt your marketing based on your audiences awareness?

I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-october-18-2023

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