Problem Recognition

This is where the client becomes aware of the need or the desire for the product, often the problem that your product solves rears its head or the potential problem becomes apparent. This can be a self-realisation or a guided one. In a self-realisation the client themselves realise the need for your product, yet you can often guide clients into realising the need by playing their emotions. Here’s an example of some ad copy Go Fish Client Catchers could use to play on the fear of its potential clients:

The world’s a changed place, are you confident you’re getting the most out of you online marketing?

After reading this the client automatically thinks: “Am I? Hmmm... I’m not really sure, I’m certainly not the expert here, maybe I need to look into this further.” In an online campaign you can utilise content network advertising on various sites to generate awareness.

Information Search

So now the client is aware of the need for your product, but they first need to gather some information before they move on. They’re asking questions like “what are the possible solutions to their problem?”, “what does my problem actually entail?”. This step has evolved drastically over the last few years with the ease of accessing information becoming so much easier online. Prospective clients will often end up on information sites such as Wikipedia. “What is Search Engine Optimisation?” “What is Google AdWords?” etc. This can be targeted with good use of social media marketing with blog posts and forum entries. You can often lead people to the information you want them to find. Creating a well respected webpage on the top ten questions to ask your online marketing agent with cleverly crafted questions that play to your company’s strengths is a great tactic.

Evaluation of Alternatives

The client will start piecing together a list of alternatives and generate an idea of what type of criteria they will eventually judge and rank the options, price, efficiency, professionalism, delivery time etc. Once again this step has become a great deal easier for the user as they can view a multitude of options in a matter of minutes. Here both organic and paid search advertising is important as well as a clear, concise website. Give some thought to the selling points of your product here.

Purchase Decision

Once all the options have been weighed up a decision is made as to what exact product they will purchase.

Purchase

This is the point where the product is actually purchased. It is important for the some form of online purchasing to be available otherwise you’ll find you’re losing potential clients to a competitor.

Post-Purchase Evaluation

This is merely the ongoing evaluation of the product and the decision as whether to re-purchase the product again in the future.

Next give some thought to market segmentation.