The key to the awareness phase in industrial marketing is getting on the prospects’ radar screen. Another way to think of it is as the Attraction Phase. You want the prospect to be attracted to your brand and how you will meet their needs. For both the prospect and the marketer, that means the awareness phase messaging should be about solving problems, getting answers and meeting needs. Listen to this episode of the Industrial Marketer Podcast to learn more.
The key to the awareness phase in industrial marketing is getting on the prospects’ radar screen. Another way to think of it is as the Attraction Phase. You want the prospect to be attracted to your brand and how you will meet their needs. For both the prospect and the marketer, that means the awareness phase messaging should be about solving problems, getting answers and meeting needs. Listen to this episode of the Industrial Marketer Podcast to learn more.
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the industrial Marketer Podcast your place for the tips, tech trends and tactics for industrials who care about driving leads to their businesses and living in the world of digital and industrial marketing. AI as always, at one of your hosts, digital marketers awareness broker, Joey, and, you know, as always, it's the first day of fall into everything Nels, Nels, Nells, there is a season Nels Nels Nels. Nels Jensen, how are you my man?
Nels Jensen:Great and glad to be here as the awareness author.
Joey Strawn:I like it. So we've got the awareness broker, the awareness author, and we are about to dive in because you know what? Something you know, what else? Something I was made aware of recently.
Nels Jensen:What's that Joey?
Joey Strawn:That was those Well played, it was like a natural conversation that we had. One thing I was made aware of recently is that our previous episode, the 10, things to consider during the consideration phase is like a fan favorite. People love that episode, it's been listened to a bunch. And honestly, we need to do part two of that of that series. And so here we are today on our mystical journey into the customer journey. So in the last episode, we talked all about the consideration phase and 10 things people need to consider when they're diving into creating content and inbound marketing for that, for that consideration face. But today, we are all focused at the top of that funnel. Now today is tofu supreme, vegetarians are going to love this episode, because we are talking top of funnel, we are talking driving awareness and what all that means. But we are gonna get to five pieces of content that you need for actually just five pieces of general awareness marketing that you need to have in market when you're diving into your awareness phase. So it's gonna be exciting now so I'm gonna I'm looking Yeah,
Nels Jensen:I'm gonna gonna change my title to awareness advocate. So what's wrong?
Joey Strawn:I like that because of the awareness alliteration involved. Now, we should just dive right in. So when we talked about this, you know, one of the things we talked about specifically with the consideration phase is kind of defining it. And honestly, I would love to start there. Again, before we get into kind of the top five marketing materials near the end of this episode, let's just set the stage for what we're talking about when we talk about awareness. Because I mean, I read this interesting thing. The other day is like HubSpot says that only about 19% of buyers actually want to connect with the salesperson during the awareness stage of the buying process. Does that sound accurate? Or do you think that's too high, too low?
Nels Jensen:I think that may even be a little high. I think most people want to learn, and are going to take multiple steps to learn and you don't want to get you know, every white paper you download, or every gated piece that you look at, you don't want to immediately be contacted by a salesperson. So I my instinct says maybe that that number may even be lower. But you know, there are people who are, you know, they're all about getting things done quickly. And so they want to get right to the point. But yeah, awareness is it's a little bit of a fuzzy picture. How do you how do you define it? I mean, to me, it's really, it's really about, you know, offering insights, education, expertise, it's basically, you know, I think of it as a chance to really educate, I guess, is the best summary.
Joey Strawn:I think, you know, we're gonna hit on that theme a lot today analysis, because education, I think, is the key parameter that has to be involved in the awareness stage. Because, you know, when we talk about the awareness stage, everybody's heard of it. It's like, well, everyone's aware of us, or everyone in our industry is aware of us. And so I want to go a little bit deeper of like, what that actually means, like, you know, aware of us, you know, that could mean so many different things to so many different people is like, well, do they know your brand name and kind of what colors you are? Or do they know, do they think of you when they have a need for something that they could solve? Like, those are two very different levels of awareness. And they all fit into this sort of matrix that we're going to be talking about today. I mean, one of the things that we've said to clients here and there is like, you know, awareness is sort of like the attraction phase as well. You know, it's like, well, yes, you know, everyone's aware of all the noise that's in the market, but you need to attract people into your universes into your realms and into your tofu content. Yeah, top of funnel content.
Nels Jensen:Well, I think, you know, awareness. You know, it's yes, buyers are wanting to learn. They're not specifically wanting to necessarily learn about your product. They want to learn how can they solve their problems? How can they get answers? How can their needs get met? And there is an intersection of those two universes, right? What am I trying to solve? What does your solution do? Right? So, you know, the faster that you can establish that intersection, you know, the quicker you'll get that prospect into the buying journey?
Joey Strawn:Well, I want to circle back to that education thing for a second, because again, what I don't want us to do is we always have the habit, especially in b2b marketing. And if you're a b2b marketer, or industrial marketer, you know, this, it's the idea that the marketing journey is really, really truncated. And that sales is really is what's going to drive the drive the bus, if you will. But what we're learning more and more is, I mean, now this is a stat that we've thrown out from 100 Different sources on 100 different episodes, but it's you know, sometimes people are, like, 80% of the way through the buying process before even talking to a human being. So these stat these statistics of, well, when should a salesman get involved? It's not really up to us anymore. So what we need to be cognizant of as marketers, as tellers of those industrial stories, is, what questions are we answering for people who may not need us right now. So, you know, the one of the things I think of, and this is a b2b b2c example, but it's kind of like that thirst, you know, if you're not thirsty, at the moment, you have no need for a Coke, you're not deciding between like a coke or a water or, you know, Capri Sun or whatever it may be. But if you're thirsty, then you need something at that moment. And then the different brands, you know, make a whole lot more appeal and a whole lot more sense to you. But if you're just aware that you know, Will, Coke is a major player, and this is a major player, and this is a major player, then when you're thirsty, those are the ones that are come that are going to come to the surface, the quickest. And those are the ones that people are going to jump to, without having to do all of the awareness research. I mean, if someone is needing, jumping back into the b2b world, if someone is needing machine maintenance, and like when they need it now, they should not be just discovering that you may possibly do machine maintenance, they should already know that and you should be a choice of selection. But all that has to happen before that need is even there. You have to be setting that playing field way, way earlier for them. And that's where the awareness field of play comes in.
Nels Jensen:Yeah, exactly. So the the, your top of funnel analogy is an excellent one, because there are different benefits of awareness, marketing, right? Your attraction phase is a subset of that. And that's actually a really good phrase, but it's, it's also the are you on the radar screen? Do I know about you? Yes, I understand that your you know, colors are, you know, green and, and yellow, right,
Joey Strawn:If I could vaguely describe your logo, and I am you know, okay, going to drop millions of dollars on one of your pressing machines are not the same.
Nels Jensen:So here's a quick little tangent, saw TV advertisement, the last couple of nights for John Deere, for their construction, earthmoving industrial huge, huge piece of their business. And their colors are yellow and black for that they've actually branded you know, that heavy industry yellow, just like caterpillar. But yeah, it's it's green means agriculture and, you know, smaller entities, if you will. But anyway, so they're trying to get on the radar screen for earthmoving and heavy industrial things. And, and so that's anyway, that's like I said, that's a tangent. But yes, am I all of a sudden more attracted to John Deere, if I'm looking for Earthmovers because of that? Maybe so but that's, that's an awareness thing. It's in their case, it's it's, it's, maybe maybe it's a nuance, maybe it's not, but awareness serves multiple functions. Yeah. And I think that's, you know, that's kind of a master of the obvious statement here. When you're at the top of the funnel, you, you are not being as precise in the journey as you are later. But yes, that's what makes awareness so fascinating, right?
Joey Strawn:You bring up a good point, though, that I actually I may get you on another tangent. And that's kind of my hope is, you know, a lot of times people equate the awareness stage with just thought leadership. It's like, oh, we should just sound smart. and have our CEO out there doing thought leadership stuff, aka our awareness funnel is covered. I'm gonna put you on the spot mouse, is that the correct mindset?
Nels Jensen:I think it is. But where I get hung up is the I'm so literal, you know, this is how you define thought leadership because we come from a world where 10 years ago, it was like, okay, thought leadership, we're gonna write a blog post about the importance of smart motor controls, and we are not going to reference our brand name or our product names. And at the very end, we're gonna say, hey, check out our company, because we offer the latest in these technologies. And the thought leadership was all about the importance of being able to communicate with your loads, and be able to adjust the torques and just the speeds. And all of those things that make smart motor controls, so important. And that's a little bit outdated of a, you know, idea, to me, at least, because I think there's so much content out there. And major brands have figured this out. And, you know, most industrial major brands now have blogs, they have libraries of content and resources. And so to me, I equate thought leadership more with this sort of academic overview stuff that's above the sales and marketing. And I think that's, I just has, the longer I'm doing this, the more I'm convinced that No, there's nothing wrong with working in your brand and your products at the appropriate time and place. And you do not need to be above the fray. When you're educating and in the awareness phase.
Joey Strawn:I love it. I you know, it's funny, I'm going to put this out there who knows, I may get backlash for this. But I the way that we as an industry the way as we as marketers and the digital natives, if you will, that we talk about it. We just equate thought leadership with the awareness phase. At this point, I think like thought leadership is just another word for good content marketing. Because thought leadership, the way that people talk about it now is that we want to present ourselves as a smart leader in industry x, right? And that's really, my inbound marketing is. So yeah, it's almost that much action between how someone called a white what a white paper was 30 years ago, and what people say a white paper is now you know,
Nels Jensen:Yeah, well, we've we've learned that a white paper is a fairly meaningless term, b2b marketing anymore. But the idea to me, I think it's that yes, thought leadership is good content. And good content can include references to your brands and your products, as long as you're doing it in a way that makes the most sense for the customer.
Joey Strawn:Yeah, I agree. So we've tasted, you know, we're gonna get into these top five marketing materials that people need for their awareness stage. But I want to get into the nuance a little bit more, because we've talked to you know, awareness, or people being aware of your brand. We're talking b2b marketing, and more specifically, the people who listen to this are industrial. So they're long buying cycles, we're talking huge, either industrial equipment purchases, or industrial services, purchases, contracts, and vendors, some even working through distribution models. So it's not as cut and dry, as you know, well, when you're thirsty, you raise your hand and you buy a thing, because there may you may have long standing partnerships and agreements, etc. And we understand that. So what we're talking about in the nuanced version of awareness is, are they aware that you can provide the solution that they need, because one thing that we do find, I mean, unless we've built content calendars around these, or even inbound plans around these is that we work with a company and they're like, great, we are known as great, whatever, you know, duct builders are, we're great at, you know, fluid maintenance, whatever it may be, it's like, but we also, like all of none of our customers know that 50% of our business, we are also experts in these other things. And just connecting those dots and making sure that your clientele are aware that you can provide services in different areas. That's all part of the awareness phase too. So be thinking about how you can communicate what you think everyone should be aware of about you already. They may not be if you're not constantly and consistently communicating it.
Nels Jensen:Yeah, and there are plenty of avenues to do that. In the traditional inbound area, you know, it's directing people to other content on your website, whether it's the you know, news, the newsletter, you know, approach as well with multiple topics. It's, and there's other opportunities. Yeah, for the awareness phase, as well.
Joey Strawn:And don't even forget, and this one specifically, you know, putting some money where your mouth is, this is a great opportunity, especially at the awareness phase to say, man, we have this category of E commerce that we just do really, really well at And we really need to get the message out. But we can't compete with Amazon and Granger and all these mega stores that show up on the first page of Google. That's a great opportunity to start building some ad campaigns, build landing pages, build content that is specifically designed about those categories in the GEOS that you guys sell in. And then use those as lead magnets, because you can pay to get to the top of Google for, you know, very specific and very targeted things. And if that's a strategy that you want to employ during the awareness phase, very much it should be considered because a lot of money and a lot of media is focused on making sure that people are aware of each other. But not enough of that media is focused on answering the question of, well, what's the benefit of this awareness? Like, I'm aware of you doing what, you know, like nails? How often do we get asked like, well, let's make people aware of us? Well, the next question is, like, aware of, of what, uh, what about you? Should they be aware of right now? Like, what are we would those benefits talk about those things that we have to talk about?
Nels Jensen:My favorite is that, you know, our primary audience is aware of us. Yeah, well, and how often do we actually find out that? Yeah, there's a segment that is aware of you, but it's not your target. It's not your target audience, right. And I think that just speaks to that just speaks to the brand awareness, right out of sight, out of mind. And, you know, there are ways to make sure that you stay on the radar screen, or you get on the radar screen, that can be, you know, some of it is going to be sort of earned and organic, and some of its going to be paid. And it could be writing for trade publications, you know, having your experts, you know, show off their knowledge and educate that readership of a trade publication, you might need to pay for sponsored content, you might be able to, you know, find a way to get some earned coverage in there as well. But, and, and I think trade shows right there. You know, a trade show is not just about converting people already in the buying cycle, it's about putting you on somebody's radar screen for their next purchase, for when they are thirsty.
Joey Strawn:Yeah. And I mean, and a lot of people, you know, who are listening to this may have just gotten back from IMTS, you know, the benefit of walking the floor and seeing the equipment, seeing the machinery, seeing the software in use and doing what it's meant to do. I mean, we saw a lot of things. I mean, that's both good and bad. Were were pointing to us like, oh, wow, they're really drawing in with their messaging. And it's like, oh, I have no idea what this company does. And you know, just by those first impressions, we know how, how noisy it can be and getting people to your booth, getting people aware of your brand. And your solutions can be, you know, a very, very key factor in going to and succeeding at trade shows. I mean, to your point, are you on their radar, it's so neat. When I hear people say, Oh, it's like, well, all of our customers know about us, it's like, well, great, well, when they have a solution, and they have a problem do they call you? It's like, well, no, it's like, well, why aren't you on their radar? Then like when it matters? Like, what is it about their awareness of you that doesn't breach that next level? And so let's think about awareness. And those factors, you know, like nails, we're about to step in here to our top five materials. But you know, what, what else should we be thinking of before we dive into the tactics around this awareness?
Nels Jensen:Yeah, so I mean, the, you know, if you and IMTS, to me, the biggest takeaway was how hard it is to stand out in that crowded environment, right? So, yes, if you if you want to be on somebody's radar screen, you know, you do need there's a lot of inbound tactics we're about to talk about, too. But yes, there is definitely a mindful strategy to it's not really creating demand, but you're offering up, you know, education and information on topics that people will be looking for that will be in demand at some juncture.
Joey Strawn:That's right. You want to be able to answer questions, and have people be aware of your skills during the awareness stage and what you have to offer. So when those problems arise, you know, to use the marketing terminology and they have to consider a solution. You're one of the selections that they can dive deeper in. And we've talked about what pieces you need to have for the consideration phase, but this is the awareness phase. And here we go now as we're diving in to the thing that people are listening to this episode for the five types of awareness, marketing materials, that all industrials need to think about. If you really want to cover the playing field when it comes to making sure that people are aware of you and your solutions. All right, so diving in, we're gonna start with an easy one. Now, we're working our way in the easy one of blog posts and articles. That's it, you got to have blog posts and articles, talking about the solutions and the problems and the questions and the things that you do for your audience. You got to
Nels Jensen:Right it's it's obviously it's good discovery, you know, the, you know, making sure this is really cannot be under overstated. What's the right term overstated? Aligning your keyword, your SEO strategy, you know, with the, with the right way that your main headline, you know, your first sentence, your first subhead, you know, there's it's essential that your SEO strategy aligns with your content production, if you will. But yes, so blogs and articles, the the always on marketing on your site, the always available content that you can link to from newsletters and from social, just that strong foundation of content that talks about what problems you're solving and what what what are the needs that you're meeting? And what are the solutions actually doing? It's not just that, hey, we have this new, you know, XYZ thing. It's like, okay, this allows you to combine these two operations in one process.
Joey Strawn:Well, and on a technical side, this is just the one we start with, because it's the lowest stakes. It's the lowest hanging fruit, Google as an engine, all search engines, Google, Bing, Yahoo, all of them included, love a website that is constantly being updated, it feels fresh, it feels new, it feels like things are happening, and that they will give their users good experience.
Nels Jensen:They reward the reward asides that? Yes.
Joey Strawn:And so that's just a technical necessity. But on the other end of the spectrum, is how beneficial and how valuable is it? If so one of your clients is searching the best ways to deburr a recently manufactured part. And you're the first three articles because you have three different ways of looking at the deburring process and how your software and or technology and or robot does that. So the fact that you could get people when they're looking at how a process is done when they're trying to learn about how to do their jobs better. That's a key element of the awareness phase. And a blog is one of the quickest and easiest ways to do it. It's a place to drop consistent content on a site Nels, to your point, look at the questions people are searching for, and then just write posts about that. It's a very easy entry mechanism.
Nels Jensen:Yes, and maybe you've got a blog post from two years ago, that still is, you know, right on target. And it's like, oh, I don't really want to write another one, whatever, you know, refresh that, change it around a little bit, update it, you get credit for that. Google rewards you for updating and freshening content,
Joey Strawn:And believe it or not guys, people have the same questions year after year after year, and may ask them again. So keep that those answers those good answers updated. And so taking a step further, so digging into a little bit more effort required. The number two type of awareness marketing material that every company should have, somewhere is a video, you should be using video in some form, or fashion. In this day and age, you know, between all of the mechanisms that we have how people engage with content, on their phones, or on their mobile devices, even on their desktops is a lot of it is video based, closed caption video, short form video, tic toc or stitched video, there's a lot that's going on in the world of video. So a good brand video about your company or your solutions or your benefits. Even some more of like manufactured like how to videos that could be perfectly cheaply. But video is something that as a as a content mechanism. And as a marketing material, it's just becoming more and more important as the years go on.
Nels Jensen:And we've done other episodes on this and so we don't need to go into great detail but this morning I was on a client call where one of the experts asked Okay, so we're talking about like how to select a you know, what's the right selection process for nozzle and tip for your spray gun applications? And he said Well, shouldn't we just do a two minute video that just shows this and so yes, the answer is both post about it and you and you want a video too. And the videos also like I said we've we've gone into great detail On this elsewhere, but yeah, it could be just a CAD drawing that that 3d CAD drawing that rotates around while you describe the the, you know, parts involved in this or the part itself or, you know it, it's it's just active motion. We're visual learners. The videos are great awareness content.
Joey Strawn:And video again is searched very well, if you want more technical, nerdy reasons to do it, is people click on them. And so Google and other search engines seem to prioritize video, if you don't believe me, go to Google type in a how to and then fill in the blank, whatever it is, and see if some videos aren't the top things that pop up. So the fact that you can answer those questions and get to the top of the searches quickly. And then people are more apt to click on video walkthroughs. It's just a lot of good reasons to have that type of awareness content out there. And those marketing materials handy when people want and are just searching for them without even knowing who you are yet. Let them find your solutions before they find your brand name. All right, we're diving into the third one. Now, the third one's kind of a catch all, don't get Don't get mad at us guys, because there's a lot of different ways to think of this third one. And essentially what we've called it is vegetarians delight, tofu downloads, this is what we're talking about when we're talking about something that's a little bit bigger than a blog post, but not an in depth industry study, it's something that would need an email address, or you know, some sort of hand raise and form submission to prepare and be delivered to. So the, you know, we're talking about checklists, or E guides, or you know, a quick infographic or a kit, or a tool, you know, that somebody can use or put in their email really quick to unlock those types of tofu top of funnel, download assets, high value assets, some people may call them.
Nels Jensen:Yeah, and again, these are based on the questions that people are asking, in fact, one popular list in this genre, if you will, is just sort of questions you should be asking before you invest in, fill in the blank extra water. Exactly. Yeah. And, and there's, there's certainly, arguments to be made, you know, that we can get into the gated not gated aspect of it, just because somebody gives you an email doesn't mean you should hound them right away, maybe that just goes into your lead scoring and vaults them up for the next conversation or you can do something more passive in terms of, you know, they're at the awareness phase here, don't hammer them just because they downloaded, you know, a, how is it that this is compliant? White Paper, you know, right, you're educating people on compliance. You're educating people on capabilities. It's a nice merger of that intersection I was talking about at the beginning. But yeah, but Right, just because it's a download, please, folks, you know, use use your, your, your download, leads carefully.
Joey Strawn:Well, and here's an here's what I'm gonna say for the awareness stage. And I know people won't listen, but it's okay, I'm going to tell you to do this anyway. So I can say I told you so later. But tofu downloads for the awareness stage, need to be more than anything else helpful. That should be really a great breakdown of your products, they should not be overly salesy. It should be something that you as an individual, would yourself, save on your desktop and reference again. So something that they would want to use or share. I mean, personally, there's a handful that we have, like I, every year, I would download an infographic of like the best days to send emails based on statistics from the previous 10 years or, you know, we'll have industry shutdown calendars that will pull up and see what periods of the year are down for different industries or different areas. And so those types of things are really, really important for what I do and for what we do as inbound marketers, but think of those types of things that would be valuable for your customers, could there be a one sheet or thing that they would save on their desktop and open and look at every single week, and then see your brand name at the bottom? And then oh, they have a problem they need to solve? You know what, I use XYZ Corp for this other thing and they do this, like we should look into them. That those are the types of downloads that we're really thinking of is if it's not helpful, and if it feels like something that salesy probably shouldn't be in the awareness phase. Correct. All right. Moving on, number four, number four is going to be a little tip. Some people are going to cringe, they hear it. But number four is super social media. Don't like to say it because we as industrials and b2b marketers. We're like a social media. Come on, everyone's gonna buy a $10 million stamping press from Facebook. But awareness is a different ballgame. We're trying to make people aware of what we do, and that we have solutions. Yeah, honestly I'm just gonna, it's ubiquitous at this point with our lives, were on it, everyone's on it.
Nels Jensen:I'm just gonna offer my now overused, you know, out of sight out of mind, you know, it's this, remembering that, you know, oh, seeing, seeing the occasional social message about Mountain Dew reminds me that when I'm thirsty, I could go get a Mountain Dew, you know, because, you know, it's just a way to keep the brand on the radar screen. And I'm, I'm I shouldn't minimize and say it, it's just a way, social is an avenue to keep the brand alive for your prospects and undecideds.
Joey Strawn:Well, and this is another area we mentioned it earlier is social media, there are a handful of ways to approach it when you're thinking about the awareness phase is obviously you want some you know, any blog posts that you're writing or any content that you're creating, you want to be able to share that through your channels, but also, you know, Forbes articles you're reading or things that are industry relevant and industry specific, and just putting them out there for anyone who may be following you. It's not trying to generate business, it's not trying to, you know, make sure that your CEO can get on, you know, the news, it's just about making sure that there are things there that anyone in your orbit could benefit from. And then there's also the layer of paid. We mentioned this earlier, but social media and especially on the awareness side of things, social media can be a valuable tool, if you put 1000 or $2,000 a month, just aside to growing your, your audiences over a couple of months, you're going to have a pretty good sized audience, that then the content that you naturally share into it can become more circulated, but can become more shared. So there is value in growing the eyeballs. And media can be a third party way to do that it can be a bolt on and an additional cost that for the time being, we're going to roll out this awareness campaign and really get it people into our orbit, and then the content that we share, can, you know cycle through faster. So you know, when we say social media as an awareness device, we're really talking about it at that top layer of content.
Nels Jensen:Yeah, and then again, master the obvious statement here and not to sound too lecturing, whatever. But please be sure to use the platforms appropriately, right? Instagram, unless Instagram and LinkedIn should not have the same format of post, or even necessarily the same content approach. So I, you know, I understand that, oh, I can use some tools to like, post all of this at once. And it's like, yes, but, you know, social, if anything has taught us to be authentic with your audience. And the audience's are slightly different on the different platforms. So please use your social wisely.
Joey Strawn:And if social, something that like you're like, well, we just don't have the bandwidth to do that there are partners out there that will help agencies can help be good partners. And that too, they usually have teams of people who have the tools and expertise already at play. So you know, look into getting a partner to kind of grease those wheels, and really understand what that rhythm is, and then take it over internally. Okay, the last one, this is the one that would probably is probably going to include the largest amount of effort, but it is just a great awareness vehicle. And it's something that within a marketing mix needs to be included somewhere is webinars. If you are a leader, and if you have people that can speak about your expertise and your leadership, then get those people out there. Now notice, we're not being specific, or at least I'm not here with, you know whether or not it's hosting one yourself or getting to be a guest on a pre established one. I say there's value in either or, obviously, the level of effort is different. And from an awareness standpoint, it may be it may be very valuable to find a show that caters to your very niche audience with a host that they trust. And if you can get on that show, then immediately the believability of what you're saying goes up as well as there's a pre established audience baked in so there are benefits to going either way.
Nels Jensen:Yes, and if you do invest in hosting your own or, you know, creating one with a trade publication partner, for instance, to don't overlook the possibility of using that as an asset over and over again or even really if you have access to the recording to be able to chop it up and create subsections and pieces, smaller pieces atomizing the content if you will, that as you You mentioned earlier higher degree of difficulty higher degree of resource allocation. But a webinar can be a giant asset that creates many, many smaller assets.
Joey Strawn:Well, and that's a good point is that because there is a higher level of effort at the beginning, it is an asset that should be planned to used being used on a future and ongoing scale. So if you're gonna put the time in to build the webinar content to build the deck that goes along with it, and have it recorded either via somebody else or your own methods, then you should definitely plan to have that if it's evergreen content on your site for future download that people could listen to the pre recorded one or included in emails that go out to your newsletter subscribers, and so really think about ways to make that investment worth that over time. That's a great point. Now, it's because you don't want to just be a one and done thing, unless it's supposed to be a one and done thing. It's about like, a regulation is gonna pass next week, and this webinar won't be relevant in a month. That's a different situation.
Nels Jensen:Yeah. And as you as you point out, it is a little bit more work, or a lot more work depending upon. But again, you know, awareness is a long term play, it's not it as short term play. And videos often do cost more to produce than a blog post, but they have shelf life, they have long tail that awareness is a is a long game. In many, many cases, and so treat your investments accordingly. Because it's, you know, two years later, people are still reading your most popular blog posts, right? Well, and you can't look at it as a transactional investment.
Joey Strawn:And we see that time and time again, is the you know, the content that gets invested over the content that hits continues to hit over and over and over again, and becomes consistent consistently driver. You know, one of the things that you mentioned, and I don't want people to not hear this, so please, please, here this is, this isn't ever, always on effort. Awareness is something that should never stop working for, for your customers, for your clients and for your universe, because, and I forget the exact number, but it's something like eight to 16% of your, your, of your buying universe is in the market at any one time. So at any one time, you just pick a day of the year, there is only a small percentage of people that you even could sell to, at that time, they just don't need it, they're closed, it's a shut down, their budget isn't unlocked. So it's a very small number. But what is always happening is people are always doing their jobs. And so if you can slowly eke your way up in their minds for when that eight to 16% happens, and they need a solution, that you're one of the four names that they think of because then it's a 25% chance that they'll pick you as opposed to 1,000,000,001% chance they may accidentally stumble on your ad on Facebook at the right time. And that's what the awareness stage is building. It really is just setting all of those landmines out into the field so that people say I need this and boom, you're there. I need this, boom, you're there. How do I do this, boom, you're there. And you want to you want to be covering that landscape with your awareness so that people find your content and that people in that you're the one answering their questions, before they even know what your name is, you should be able to answer their questions.
Nels Jensen:So you've talked about we have talked about five types of awareness marketing materials,
Joey Strawn:You want to and I want to read us down the list now.
Nels Jensen:Yeah, so we're at number one, number one, blog posts and articles. Right? Foundational number two video video of all times, right, number three, we're calling them tofu downloads, top of funnel downloads, how basically helpful helpful, right, arming people with helpful information, number four, social media, the ongoing interactions with your with your daily audience, and whatever that mix looks like for you. It's good and different, right? Number five would be webinar, you know, basically, a really good opportunity to leverage networks and audiences,
Joey Strawn:Teach some people something and then keep it for later. Now, so this has been great. We we have now done two of these stages. So we have the consideration journey, we have the awareness stage covered. We're going to be knocking out a couple more as we go through. I can't wait to get to the decision phase episode, but I think this has been really, really helpful and I hope that people were paying attention, taking notes and jotting it down but if anybody has any ideas or things that they want us to talk about that we didn't in this episode, always please feel free to reach out To us, we love to hang out and talk with industrial marketers. And you can email us directly at podcast at industrial marketer.com. Speaking of industrial marketer.com, if you haven't subscribed to that website, go over there. Subscribe to the newsletters get notified whenever a new blog is updated. Nelson's right in edit, we got guest posters right now, there's all sorts of good educational content on there. And of course, you know, subscribe to our show. Have other people listened to our show. This is the community for industrial marketers that we are building, we are talking and we are learning and trudging through this world together. So we want to do it together with you. Subscribe to the show, subscribe to us on Facebook and Instagram and all those good social places that we talked about. But now any parting words for our faithful listeners before we wrap up our awareness episode?
Nels Jensen:We are Awareness Advocates, for sure.
Joey Strawn:And we want you to be Awareness Advocates for your brands.
Nels Jensen:That's right. And again, this is yes, this is long term investments that pay off in the long term. So don't overlook it. You know, it's, it's a worthy endeavor.
Joey Strawn:I agree. All right now, let's go raise some awareness. I'm on it. Let's do it.