What is awareness?
There are all sorts of sales funnels, in which a bunch of prospects enter at the top of a wide funnel and a smaller number of customers exit via a narrow outlet at the bottom. (There are also upside-down “funnels,” but I won’t discuss them here.)
There are umpteen different definitions of the sales funnel, but I tend to gravitate toward the “awareness – consideration – conversion” three-step funnel because it’s the easiest to describe and understand. Two discussions of this three-step sales funnel are provided by Venn Marketing and Walker Sands (the latter of whom throws in things that happen AFTER the purchase, engagement and advocacy).
Both sources define awareness as the first step in the funnel, and its purpose is to (drumroll) simply make prospects, um, aware that you and your product/service exist. As Venn Marketing puts it:
(C)ustomers can’t buy from you if they don’t know you exist.
From Venn Marketing, “Awareness, Consideration, Conversion: A 4 Minute Intro To Marketing 101.” (Link)
Once customers are aware of your existence, selected customers will move down the funnel to consideration and hopefully to conversion.
Additional information on awareness
Here is a sampling of what John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket has written on the topic of awareness.
(4/6/2024) 21st/20th Century Lead Gathering
A client is attending an in-person event and asked for advice on how to collect prospect leads at the event. (For awareness.)
Since I practice a mix of old school and new-school technologies, I’m suggesting the following…
More at https://bredemarket.com/2024/04/06/21st-20th-century-lead-gathering/
(1/2/2024) (Pizza Stories) The Worst Time to READ a Pizza Post on Social Media
In addition to saying WHEN to post, the gurus also provide authoritative (and often contradictory) advice about WHAT to post.
For example, some gurus assert that you MUST prioritize bottom of funnel (conversion) content over top of funnel (awareness) content because it’s most important to get people to buy.
Ophir Tal disagrees, and has evidence to support his position….
Ophir Tal self-identifies as a “LinkedIn Ghostwriter & Personal brand Builder for CEOs & Founders”…and part of the way he builds personal brands is via awareness. Here’s where Tal made this assertion about the importance of awareness.
(10/8/2023) Your Prospects Don’t Care About Your Technology
Adopt a customer focus and talk about things that your prospects care about, such as how your product will solve their problems.
- Do your customers struggle for visibility, or awareness? Will your technology help their visibility?
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/10/08/your-prospects-dont-care-about-your-technology/
(9/11/2023) The Secret to Beating Half of All Fortune 500 Marketers and Growing Your Business
Blogging is an ideal way to promote awareness of your firm and its offerings. From the same infographic:
- 77% of internet users read blogs.
- Internet users in the US spend 3x more time on blogs than they do on email.
- Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their websites.
- 70% of consumers learn about a company through articles rather than ads.
- The average company that blogs generates 55% more website visitors.
(7/24/2023) Awareness Calls to Action
While perhaps it’s valid to say that the Candy Street Market blog post didn’t need a CTA (although some would dispute that), I myself have written other “awareness” blog posts and content that DID need a CTA.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/07/24/awareness-calls-to-action/
(7/12/2023) We Don’t Need Customer Focus Because Our Product Is So Great
In the past, I’ve stated that the best way to attract awareness (and eventually revenue) is to focus on customers and their needs.
But what if I’m wrong? (I’ve been wrong before.)
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/07/12/we-dont-need-customer-focus-because-our-product-is-so-great/
(4/15/2023) Six Benefits for Inland Empire Businesses from Case Studies
Traditional sales funnels start with awareness, since people won’t buy a product or service unless they’ve actually heard of it.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2023/04/15/six-benefits-for-inland-empire-businesses-from-case-studies/
(12/4/2022) Does Every Blog Post Need a Call to Action?
This post simply talked about a new candy store in Ontario, California, but never talked about Bredemarket’s content creation or proposal writing services.
So why did I write a post that doesn’t directly lead to business?
For the awareness.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2022/12/04/does-every-blog-post-need-a-call-to-action/
(6/20/2022) On gating casetimonials
If the prospect is in an early awareness-building stage, they might not be willing to surrender their spammable email to just anyone. If the prospect is further along, they may want to provide that email to a few top-of-the-line companies to whom they’re willing to talk.
More at https://bredemarket.com/2022/06/20/on-gating-casetimonials/
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