K – bit of a tongue-twister of a title. But it's pretty darned important, so here's what it means…

Basically at any given point in time your potential clients have a certain amount of awareness of your products and services and what they do.

Initially, they may not even be aware of the problem that your product or service addresses. Before Sony created the Walkman how many of us were aware we needed a portable music player?

At some point in time, they get aware of the problem, but don't know about any solutions. Then they become aware that solutions exist, but don't know the specifics of different products.

Then as the market matures, people become aware of specific products and the differences between them.

Why is this important?

Because you need to market to potential clients by talking about things they care about.

Trying to sell someone on the benefits of coaching vs training to address leadership issues is pretty pointless if they don't realise they have any leadership problems at all.

Conversely, if an HR director has hired dozens of coaches before for her organisation she doesn't need to hear the talk about what a coach is and why coaching works.

You need to match the messages in your marketing to the level of awareness of your potential clients. Both in general, and then tailored to the specific people you're talking to.

If they're not aware they have any problems you can help with, talk to them about their business in general and ask questions that allow them to discover the issues.

If they know they have problems, begin your sales letter, web page or introduction talking about those problems and then lead on to how you help with them.

If they're already experienced buyers of your type of service, focus on what differentiates you from your competitors and how that will deliver them the most benefit.

Talking the basics to an experienced buyer can feel condescending, or they can assume you just deal with “beginners”. Talking about the subtle differences when someone doesn't even know what the real issue is or how it could be solved just confuses them.

So it's a vital step in preparing any marketing to focus on the people you most want to reach and to think through what their current understanding, awareness and beliefs about their problems and your services are. It'll help you get the right message for them.

For more details on “Prospect Awareness” you can watch this short video I did recently which lays out the model in a bit more details:

Prospect Awareness Model >>

But most importantly, set a little time aside whenever you're about to communicate with potential clients to think about what their level of Prospect Awareness is. It'll pay dividends, I promise.