5 Stages Of Awareness: How To Align Your Copywriting
The one thing you need to know when marketing or selling anything online is the 5 stages of awareness: unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, and most aware. It’s one of the first things you learn in any marketing degree program, what every copywriter had tacked up on their wall at some point, and the thing that’ll make or break your leads and conversions.
In short: saying the right thing to people in different stages of awareness will increase your chances of keeping them around longer and making the sale.
For example, talking about the benefits of your product to a person who doesn’t even know they have a problem isn’t going to help you sell.
Just like educating someone about the problem they have when they’ve been weighing different products for a while is a waste of time. They already know all this, and you could be telling them how great your offer is instead.
So, let’s get into the 5 stages of awareness ⬇️
1. Unaware Stage
People in this stage don’t know they even have a problem that needs to be solved. They may just think this is something they have to put up with, or something everyone has to deal with.
For example, a lot of Black and Brown working women are paid predominantly less than their white male counterparts, and experience microagressions in the workplace. Something they think they have to deal with to climb the corporate ladder.
If you want to sell something to people in this stage, you’d have to educate them about the fact that the problem they’re going to isn’t normal, and that they shouldn’t have to deal with it. Like “5 Reasons Your Pay Check Barely Pays For Your Protective Hairstyle” or “Cringing in Corporate? You Shouldn’t Have To”
Once they learn that, they’ll move on to the next stage ⬇️
2. Problem-Aware Stage
In the problem-aware stage, people clue in to the fact that something is wrong, and it needs to be fixed. Like when news outlets started highlighting the wage gap disparity for Black & brown women professionals, and the discriminatory experiences they face in the corporate world.
But in the early days of the press getting “woke”, there still weren’t any proposed solutions. And like any person in this stage, they won’t know what the solutions to their problem are. But not for much longer!
3. Solution-Aware Stage
So they know the problem, and now they’re starting to learn about the solution! But they obviously won’t just consider one, they’ll research several options to solve their problem. If we go back to the Black & Brown working woman example, they might:
- bring the problem to upper management to try and change corporate culture for the better
- look for another job at a company that pays them their worth and promotes a welcoming & inclusive work culture
- go to the government to enact legislature that legalizes equal wage for all professionals in the same role, regardless of gender or race
- go back to school to get a better, higher-paying job
Most platforms will show targeted ads based on their searches, and they’ll see different products or services that answer their questions. So you’d have to use messaging that positions your product or service as the ideal choice compared to competitors.
Whether that’s by showing a lot of positive testimonials from customers, or unbiased praise of your product or service.
Once your customer has researched a few options, they transition to the next stage ⬇️
4. Product-Aware Stage
There are countless products (and services) out there vying for our attention, and once we’ve done plenty of research on the best ones that’ll solve our problem, we’ll probably have shortlisted the few that are the best options for us.
For example, the Black or Brown working woman dealing with lower wages and discriminatory work experiences because of race and gender may have come across a diverse team of career strategists bridging the gap and helping people just like them secure a better, higher-paying career that values them — like 6 Figure Chick Consulting (a former client of mine).
There are, of course, plenty of free courses to help you improve your resume, and countless YouTube videos about networking. But this company transcends those things to deliver truly valuable support and expertise that —yup, you guessed it—solves that problem.
5. Most-Aware Stage
Okay, this is the last stage in the consumer awareness cycle, when they’re ready to make a decision and spend their hard-earned money on the product or service that’ll solve their problem.
All they need is a final nudge to get over the finish line — whether that’s with testimonials, success stories, or a free trial to get an idea of how valuable it is. Like this ⬇️
This stage can last a while because maybe they’re not ready to make the investment yet, or they’re very methodical and still weighing their options.
Which is where the concept of “retargeting” comes in — marketing that aims to recoup potential sales from people that have seen or heard about what you’re selling already.
No more educating them about their problem, or introducing the product or service. It’ll be more explicit about the big benefit they can get, and give them a clear call to action to make the investment.
In closing…
The 5 stages of awareness are a fixture of the advertising industry, and is one of the fundamental things you need to know if you ever want to attract, retain, and sell to people. Not consumers. PEOPLE.
So if you’re not seeing the results you want from your marketing or advertising, check to see if you’re saying the right thing to people in the consumer stage they’re in.
