Pick up any Sales Techniques or Sales Training guide written in the 50′s, 60′s or now, and the traditional mindset of Sales Negotiation still rings true. The direct communication between the buyer and seller represented by a sexy instantly memorable acronym jotted down on a post-it note by the side of your telephone.
When 'Post-It Note culture' is taken a little too far…
Take AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire & Action) the mantra of many a pioneering sales trainer or psychologist in the mid-20th Century. Do these age-old theories stand the test of time and apply to modern day, research rich, inbound sales opportunities of the 21st century?
How can the AIDA approach apply to your current Paid Search (PPC) Strategy whether you’re an online retailer or a B2B service business?
Let’s look at each of the 4 steps in isolation;
1.) Awareness
Google search, as we know, is the foundation of online research and buying habits in the modern era. You can’t dictate the search habits of your potential prospect, but you can certainly anticipate their search term methodologies.
So, Awareness, how can you and your business produce a Paid Search Adwords Campaign which appeals to the searcher who is low down the sales process? … and in particular, is this necessarily the prospect you wish to be appealing to?
Google recently provided us with very useful information which formed evidence for a lot of SEO practitioners. They split a large database of search information into 4 categories;
- Brand search
- Solution search
- Comparison search
- Issue search
Lets take the example of a struggling golfer… every time he heads down his local driving range the palm of his hand is red raw after 20 unsuccessful swings. Rather than ask at his local golf shop, he heads home and runs a Google search for “right hand pain playing golf”. At this stage he has now solutions to compare, no products to find reviews of and certainly no idea of the brand names or products which will assist his golf playing.
This individual is at the ‘Issue Search‘ stage of the buying process. He knows what the problem is, he’s just unsure of the solution… in old school terminology, his ‘Awareness’ is evoked. Now.. as the proprietor of an online golf shop, how do you match this individuals search to your own business? Do you run Paid Search Ads with the headline “Titlelist Gloves – £9.99″? The man in our example hasn’t as yet determined the need for a pair of gloves, let alone, the awareness of the brand.
Take this example and see how it aligns with your own business’ keyword and advertising strategy. Are you targeting those searchers that are presently simply seeking information? Whilst they are only at the early stages of the buying strategy, do you rule them out as a potential customer? Think about how your site content is structured to build your own authority within the early stages of the buying process. Would it be suitable to build the equivalent content for your industry with a blog catering for similar sales prospects? Capturing the prospects client at an early stage not only provides you with the opportunity to develop a relationship with the potential customer, it also suits the exact needs of that user during their early stage research.
2.) Interest
Okay, our golfer is now aware of the fact he probably needs to invest in a pair of gloves which will hopefully cure his golfing ailments.
At this stage I must apologise to any Google users who accidentally found this page within their search hoping I was to provide them with a solution to their golf playing issues!! Please visit one of my clients Glenmuir where I’m sure you can buy a great pair of golf gloves!
At this stage of the sales process, the individual is no longer concerned with the ‘Issue’ at hand (no pun intended). They are actively seeking the solution. Fortunately, they found a great blog site written by a golf trainer who acknowledged the need for a good pair of fitted gloves. Now, a few brands were mentioned, but our user is now heading back to Google to search for “recommended golf gloves”. They now now the solution they seek… and they are now at the ‘Interest’ stage of the Sales Cycle.
Similarly to the ‘Awareness’ stage of the cycle, take a look at your website and your Adwords campaign and ask yourself whether any of your Ads or site content are focused on this particular stage of the buying process? The prospect wants to find out advice – he has no clue how much he needs to pay, he just wants to know what a specialist Golf website would advise he buys.
The Google research shows that 35% of search criteria at this stage in the process focused upon ‘solution’ based search terms. Again, does your site cater for those that are actively seeking recommendation, do your product reviews compare your complete range identifying the strengths of a £100 widget compared with a £10 widget? These are people seeking information… they’re on the lookout for the brands you recommend within your content. To hit this target market at this particular stage of the buying cycle, do you have the necessary content on your site? Secondly, do you Ad Campaigns reflect simply Brand Names and Prices?
3.) Desire
SEO Pun #24 : The Casual Approach to Developing a Links Strategy
Great news, our golfer found a fantastic web based magazine which recommended the Golf Magic brand of gloves. Now our golfer is on the hunt for a pair of Golf Magics… so, back to Google “Golf Magic golf gloves for beginners” an up pop another range of Adwords catering to the golfer. This time the Ads include the brand name “Golf Magic”. At this stage the golfer is no longer interested in finding other solutions, he knows the issue… he just wants to find a reputable online golf shop that offers the “Golf Magic” range. He’s now entering the decision making process… but, he’s still relatively unaware of the money he needs to spend in order to solve his issue.
At this stage is it best to run an Ad offering the “Golf Magic 5 Star leather bound gloves for £25.00″ or “Golf Magic Gloves perfect for the beginner” ? The research hasn’t as yet isolated the budget he needs to set aside – he simply knows what has been recommended and wishes to find a shop selling the perfect set of gloves for his need. Can he decipher the difference between the £5 2 Star Gloves and the £25 5 Star gloves? No.
So, at this stage he clicks the most suitable link offering a wide range of Golf Magic beginners gloves and takes a look at the descriptions of 3 different pairs. “Eureka!” The 4-Star range are “perfect for the beginner suffering from painful palms” [ please note my knowledge is rather lacking in the golf glove market so apologies for my bland descriptions!!!]. Right … lets recap, he isolated the solution, found a recommendation, and now he’s found the product he’s looking for!
Again, I ask the question, are your product description compelling enough to entice purchase? Are they focused more on the features of a product than the benefits? All along this buying process, if you’d have instigated the relationship at the very outset of the buyer’s quest for a solution to his golf problems, you could have ticked the box for each aspect of the process.
4.) Action
Okay, here we go, after numerous searchers, our golfer now knows exactly what he’s looking for… the Golf Magic 4-Star Golf Gloves… The shop that introduced him to these particular gloves looked great but indicated they had no stock… so off back to Google and searching for “Buy Golf Magic 4-Star Golf Gloves UK”.
Right, here’s the opportunity for the savvy Adwords marketer to hit the golfer with his most relevant ad – displaying the price and the fact the product is in stock and dispatching to the UK. Job Done! No more searching, these are the guys that can deliver, and it looks like a great price too compared with the other advertisers who were pushing the “5 Star” range at £25.00….
Final question, these are the web buyers we all dream of – a nice selective long tail search detailing the product they’re looking for and all the necessarily “buying signals” are there for you to see…. having an exact term keyword purchase for “buy golf magic 4-star gloves uk” sat in a nice focused Ad Group will seal the deal! Plus! Even better news, the buying signals are strong therefore if your site offering is quality and trustworthy then the deal is yours along with a nice conversion rate and an even greater ROI!
In summary, to run a truly effective HIGH RETURN Google Adwords Campaign set your ads to target each aspect of the buying cycle. Don’t make unnecessary assumptions that the buyer has the same knowledge as you. Hooking the buyer in at the earliest stage of the buying process will not only win their business, it will win their trust for future purchasing.
Great article once again.
Far too many companies don't consider the main reason for having a website/seo/ppc work done – increase in sales leads!
And of course how they handle them (once gained) to give themselves the best chance of converting the leads into Sales!