What are the Stages of Awareness & How to Use Them in Content

The 5 Stages of Awareness is a marketing framework coined by Eugene Schwartz in his classic book Breakthrough Advertising. 

In this article, I'll explain how this framework works, why it's a powerful tool for creating a successful marketing strategy, and how to use it to attract and convert new customers with your marketing content.

(By the way, if you're new to marketing, check out my explanation of what marketing is to get a quick grasp of the concept before you dive into this guide!)

What are the Stages of Awareness?

Eugene Schwartz outlined 5 stages that a person goes through on the way to becoming a customer of your business or organization. They are:

1. Unaware - In this stage, the customer doesn't know anything about you and isn't even aware that they have the problem that you solve.
2. Problem Aware - The customer has realized that they have a problem. They may be looking for solutions to solve the problem, but they don't have any solutions yet.
3. Solution Aware - Now the customer has started to find solutions to their problem, but they don't know about your specific solution yet—the one that your business, organization, or offer provides.
4. Product Aware - At this point, the customer knows about your business, product, or offer, but they don't know enough about it to actually make a decision. They are still weighing their options before making a final decision about what to buy to solve their problem (or if they need to buy anything at all).
5. Most Aware - Now the customer has all the information they need to want to buy your product, but they just haven't made the purchase yet.

And to this, I would add one more stage, because it's an important part of the customer journey:

6. Customer - Finally, the person has become your customer! They have insider knowledge and first-hand experience of your product, since they've bought it. But this isn't the end of their journey. Now it's time to help them make the most of your product, buy more from you, and become an evangelist of your brand.

Why Do Stages of Awareness Matter for Your Marketing Strategy?

Why should you care about this framework? 

Because when you break down your customer's journey into these 6 stages, you'll gain clarity on exactly what kind of content and messaging you need to provide your customer at each stage to help them move through the stages more quickly.

If more customers can move through the stages, then mathematically, you will end up with more customers. And that is the point of marketing!

That's why I like to start with the Stages of Awareness when deciding what kind of content to create for a business, whether that's my own or a client's.

So let me guide you through a process that will help you to figure out exactly what kind of content to create at each stage to bring more leads and customers into your business and organization.

How to Use Stages of Awareness to Inform Your Marketing Strategy

Let's break it down step-by-step. You might want to open a new Google Doc or pull out a fresh sheet of paper to start writing out ideas. Create a table or divide the paper into 6 columns, one for each stage. 

• Unaware
• Problem Aware
• Solution Aware
• Product Aware
• Most Aware
• Customer

What is Your Customer Thinking or Feeling at Each Stage?

At the top of the column, write out what you imagine your customer is thinking or feeling at the current stage.

For "Unaware," they're just living their life without a care, and feeling good about things. Maybe "Life is good!" will work for this section. For "Problem Aware" you might write something like, "I'm struggling to ..." or "... is so annoying!" Write out a couple of thoughts and feelings you imagine your customer would feel at each stage.

Here's an example for a raw dog food company (as I've written content for a company in this niche before!).

• Unaware: Life is good! My dog is happy.
• Problem Aware: My dog doesn't seem as healthy as she should.
• Solution Aware: It looks like raw dog food might be a good option, but how do I get that? Do I make it myself?
• Product Aware: So XYZ Dog Food Co. makes raw dog food, but how do they compare to ABC Dog Food Inc.?
• Most Aware: Hm, it seems like XYZ Dog Food might be the best fit...
• Customer: Wow, my dog is loving this!

What Does The Customer Need to Know to Go to The Next Stage?

Next, it's time to figure out exactly what a customer needs to know to move forward through the stages. Here's a basic outline of what you'll need to communicate to the customer so they can move forward. But you'll want to write out some ideas specifically based on your specific industry & niche.

• Unaware: They need to realize that they have a problem!
• Problem Aware: They need to find out how to solve the problem and what ways are available to them.
• Solution Aware: They need to learn what products are out there to solve the problem, and specifically your product.
• Product Aware: They need all the information about your product so they can understand what it includes, why it's better than other options, and more.
• Most Aware: They need to be encouraged to make a purchase now and not later.
• Customer: They need help to make the most of the product and have the best experience so they will become an evangelist who brags about you to everyone.

What Kind of Content Can You Create For Each Stage?

Next, you'll sketch out some rough ideas of content you could create that meets the needs of each stage.

• Unaware: Run ads or share content that piques curiosity and shows your target customer that they actually might have a problem. Things like If you're not getting x leads per day, you're in the bottom 5% of businesses, Top 10 Mistakes Parents Make When __, or 5 Things You Didn't Know About Your ___, etc.
• Problem Aware: Run ads or share content that shows your target customer how to solve their problems. Big or small, any problem your target is facing that could lead them to your product is fair game. Things like How to Improve Your Dog's Health Without Medication, How to Fix a Broken iPhone Screen, or 5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score.
• Solution Aware: Dive deeper into the solutions and ideas your target customer is considering. Since they already know a little bit about your area of expertise, you can share more information to introduce your solution and help them understand why your solution is the best choice. Things like Is Raw Dog Food Safe for Dogs?, 5 Best iPhone Repair Shops in Dallas Texas, or How to Choose a Business Accountant.
• Product Aware: Talk about your product, share all the nitty-gritty details and answer all the questions you anticipate your customer having. Compare your product to other options and show why yours is better for your target customer. Things like 5 Reasons Why Customers Choose XYZ Dog Food, How Much Does a Screen Replacement at iPhones-R-Us Cost?, or Lyft vs Uber: Which is the Best Ride-Sharing Service?
• Most Aware: At this point, you can run ads or share content that nudges your customer to buy. You could share a coupon, let them know about a current sale, or just give them a clear call to action to buy from you, reminding them why it'll benefit them so much.
• Customer: Share more tips and tricks to get the most out of your products or talk about the next steps they can take with your business (like buying more stuff from you). This is also when you need to have good troubleshooting documentation or support information ready if they need help with anything.

At this point, write out some content ideas for each stage.

How Can You Reach People at Each Stage?

Now we'll think about how we can reach potential customers at each stage so we can make sure they'll see our content and start moving toward becoming our customer.

Remember, the more people we can move along through these stages, the more customers we'll be likely to have at the end.

Here's roughly how it works:

• Unaware: These people aren't looking for you, so you'll need to reach them. You can run ads, get featured on the media, or try to go viral and show up in their social media feed.
• Problem Aware: These people are searching for more information about their problem and how to solve it, so you can create SEO content, social media content, or ads for those keywords.
• Solution Aware: These people are researching specific solutions to learn more about them or compare them to each other. You can create SEO content, social media content, or ads for those keywords.
• Product Aware: These people are searching for your product or trying to compare your product and others. You can create SEO content, social media content, or ads for those keywords, including your own branded keywords.
• Most Aware: These people have learned everything about your product already but haven't bought yet for some reason. You can reach them through a channel they've subscribed to already, like email, or through retargeting ads (sending ads to people who've visited your website before).
• Customer: These people are visiting your website, social media page, or support chat and asking questions. Or they're quietly enjoying your product in silence. But in any case, you already have their contact information, which makes it easier to reach them.

How to Start Using the Stages of Awareness Right Away

First, identify what kind of customers you want to attract first. Here's how it breaks down:

• Unaware customers are the hardest to capture because they're not looking for you yet. But if you're trying to break into a new category that hasn't been done before, you'll need to do this so people understand the value you're bringing.
• Problem aware customers can be a great place to start. If a lot of people are searching about the problem you solve, you have a great opportunity to lead them to your product or offering.
• Solution aware customers are also a great place to start, if there are enough people looking for your specific solution. If no one knows about your unique solution yet, and there's nothing else like it, you'll want to start by educating people in the problem stage.
• Product aware customers may not exist if you're not a well-known business. This is generally a small pool of people who are already searching for you by name. If this is a big group, and they often choose your competitors, you can start here to win more business from your competitors.
• Most aware customers have already done all their research about you, so this will be the smallest group of non-customers. I don't recommend starting here, as it will be a very small or non-existent group at the start.
• Customers of course are already buying from you, but if you have a lot of customers but no retention, you may want to start here to maximize your revenue from existing customers. It always costs less to keep a customer than to attract a new one.

So depending on your needs, you will usually start by marketing to problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, or existing customers. Or if you need to create demand for a product that nobody wants yet, you'll need to start with unaware potential customers.

And keep in mind: The closer the stage you pick is to the customer stage, the less time it will take to convert your leads into customers.

Use The Stages of Awareness & Start Welcoming More Leads & Customers

I hope this guide has helped you understand the Stages of Awareness enough so you can start using it in your own business.

Do you have any more questions about this topic? Or would you like to hire us to create a custom marketing strategy for your business? Leave us a message on our Contact page and we'll be happy to help.