Whether it be a product or service, any market can be segmented by five awareness levels.
The legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz lists them as:
- Unaware
- Problem Aware
- Solution Aware
- Product Aware
- Aware
Everything in your funnel – Ads, Landing Pages, Offers should be made with a one awareness level in mind.
If your ad speaks to all awareness levels, it speaks to none.
Market Awareness, Ad Scalability and Purchase Intent
Market Awareness dictates TAM size & Purchase Intent. Lower the awareness, Lower the Purchase intent & Higher the TAM.
To unlock new cold audiences, you should routinely make ads for lower awareness levels.
We’ve found Problem & Solution-Aware audiences hit the sweet spot in creative hit rate & scale.
Unaware is hardest to crack but unlocks voluminous cold audiences.
Contrary to this advice, most brands run Product-Aware and Aware ads like competitor-comparison & discount ads.
This leads to faster ad fatigue (in a week or two) as they exhaust their small TAM soon enough.
Market Awareness Levels
Unaware
Ad Credit: First Day
The customer doesn’t know there’s a problem to solve in the first place. Because of this, traditional direct-response tactics fall flat.
So don’t go for the sale, you only have to interrupt. You sell the idea that this is a problem worth paying attention to.
You do that by surfacing an unspoken “tension” they’ve never named out loud. You make them curious by subverting their expectations of the status quo.
Tell emotionally charged stories that shift the way they see their day-to-day in subtle ways.
Problem Aware
Ad Credit: True Classic
The customer knows something’s off — They just don’t know what. Your job is to name and diagnose the problem more clearly than they can.
They start to believe you may have the answer simply because you know the pain in high resolution. Again, don’t go to the sale right away.
Frame a shared frustration, introduce a new way to solve it, and position yourself as the one who “gets it.”
Solution Aware
Ad Credit: Bastiani Agency (That’s Us)
The customer knows their problem can be solved. They know some “status quo” solutions as well.
Solutions which are good enough but aren’t customised to serve their exact needs – But they don’t know that.
Give them an evaluation lens through which other brands fall short.
Make them question whether the solutions they’ve seen solve their version of the problem. Then you show what a tailored solution really looks like.
Product Aware
Ad Credit: Curology
Here, customers have entered the comparison stage. They know you and your competitors, but don’t know who is better.
This is where your messaging has a chance to shine. Everyone pitches roughly the same benefits & features.
Cut through the noise with a unique mechanism: A reason why your product works differently.
Aware
Ad Credit: Dr. Squatch
Aware stage has customers on the cusp of buying your product, but are waiting to be nudged by a good offer.
You can even include buyers who have forgotten about your brand (common occurrence 3+ months after they buy).
Summary
Most brands fight over only 10% of all the possible buyers – The Product Aware & Aware Audiences.
Real scale lies in ads talking to buyers who haven’t even named the problem yet.
That’s why building demand with lower awareness ads is so critical!