How to choose what content to write (a framework)

(This originally appeared in my newsletter. Sign up now to get content like this, for free, every two weeks.)

One of the most common things I write about is the concept of a "stage of awareness."

I write about this all the time because marketing to people in the wrong stage of awareness is the most common mistake I see. It's also one of the easiest mistakes to solve!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's define what we're talking about.

Stages of awareness

This is just a way to describe your audience in relation to how much they know about your product. It goes from least-aware to most-aware:

1. Not aware of the problem you solve

2. Aware of the problem you solve, but not your product category

3. Aware of your product category, not aware of your specific product

4. Aware of your product, not aware of its value

5. Ready to buy your product

That's nice, but who cares?

The big problem with this is that it's interesting but not that practical. It's all well and good to categorise your audience, but what are you actually meant to do with this information?

To try and answer this question, I've put together a more practical framework about how to communicate with people in each of these stages.

It works like this:

1. Inspire people who are not aware of the problem you solve

2. Educate people who are not aware of your product category

3. Inform people who are not aware of your specific product

4. Persuade people who are not aware of the value of your product

5. Sell to people who are ready to buy your product

I'll work through these one at a time.

Inspire people who are not aware of the problem you solve

This is for the least aware. People who aren't really even thinking about the problem that you solve, much less considering your product as a solution to that problem.

Any content about the value of your specific product is going to fall on deaf ears. Rather, content at this stage needs to tap into some deeper value that your product solves.

Here's one of my favourite examples:

This is an ad for piano playing lessons from forever ago - 1927. As you can see, the headline doesn't say a thing about piano playing lessons. That's because it's targeted at people who aren't even problem aware. It's not selling them lessons; it's selling them the feeling of wowing a party full of skeptical people with your skills.

(Here's a good writeup of the process behind this ad).

Writing for people at this stage of awareness is hard. I'm not actually that great at it. But if you can nail it, there's a ton of upside, as tap into a huge pool of potential customers that wasn't previously thinking about your product.

Educate people who are not aware of your product category

If someone is aware of the problem, but not aware of solutions, then useful, educational content about how your product category can solve that problem is the ticket.

That second bit of the sentence is the key bit. People in this stage of awareness aren't thinking about your solution, or indeed any solution. Rather, they just know they have a problem. zzwq

If you start trying to sell to them, you're not going to get very far - they're nowhere near ready to make a buying decision, so you're wasting your time (and probably annoying them).

A good example of someone who is doing this well is a fella named Chris Walker, who posts videos most days on Linkedin. He runs a demand generation agency for enterprise B2B SaaS companies, but rather than post about his results, client success stories and so forth, he posts his general (very strong) views on marketing. Things like:

• Why you should ungate your content

• The missing piece in b2b advertising

• Growing faster by narrowing your target market

All of these things are useful if you're a B2B SaaS CMO with a big revenue target to hit. It uses knowledge of the problem these people have to educate more about what his product category (demand generation firms) does.

Inform people who are not aware of your specific product

This is for people who are aware of your category, but not aware of your specific product.

People in this stage of awareness are going to be hungrier for detail about what you do, and for whom, than people in earlier stages of awareness. They not only know about the problem you solve, they also feel the pain from it intensely enough to have educate themselves about your product category.

It's often a good idea to target your website's home page at these people. If someone has made their way to your website, they almost certainly know about your category, and feel the pain of the problem you solve. So the best thing you can do for these people is to be very clear about what you do, who you do it for and why they work with you.

(I outlined this approach to websites in both written and video form in a newsletter a few weeks ago).

Persuade people who are not aware of the value of your product

Now it's time to start selling. These people have been to your website. They've decided on your product category as a solution to their problem. Now they're comparing you against competitors and alternatives.

This is where one of my favourite forms of content really comes into its own - case studies! A good case study for someone at this stage of awareness can be exactly what you need to get them over the line.

This stage is also where things like your website's feature page, competitor comparison pages and sales collateral are all going to add a lot of value.

At this point, it's all about the detail, and really making a case for why your product is superior to your competitors.

Sell to people who are ready to buy your product

People at this heightened stage of awareness know they want to work with you - they just need an offer to do so.

For people at this stage, it's all about getting that final hurdle information in front of them as fast as humanly possible.

Does your pricing page make sense? If you do quotes and proposals, do you do them in a timely fashion? Is there a place on your website that spells out exactly which features you have? These are the details people need at this final stage in their buying process - so give it to them!

You can see a really good example of this by reading my newsletter from late last year, where a tool hire company started targeting me with Facebook ads about other, related tools I could hire from them in the week or so after I hired a wood chipper from them. T

hey knew that I was likely to need one of these tools, and I was already a customer, so all I needed was a pathway to rent one.

That's it for now

Phew. Long newsletter.

But this is really important, because one of the most common mistakes I see is businesses sending content designed for one stage of awareness, to people at another stage of awareness.

For example, sending a bunch of "50% off for your first three months" offers to a bunch of who are barely in the "educate" phase is not going to get you far. The new customers you do get will probably churn.

And the converse is just as true - when people are in a late stage, you're only going to irritate them by sending them nice educational material. At this stage, they're trying to make a buying decision. Help them do so!

So remember this framework next time you're writing. Think about your audience's stage of awareness, then ask yourself whether you're inspiring, educating, informing, persuading or selling. Make sure your content lines up, and you'll get solid results.

Try it out and let me know how you go.

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