Tailor your marketing to the "Stages of Market Sophistication"

HEY GO-GETTERS! MIKE FROM FULL CIRCLE AGENCY BRINGS YOUR WEEKLY MARKETING BOOST! 🚀

Exciting news! We've turbocharged our Full Circle Agency Newsletter. On a state-of-the-art platform, expect bigger, bolder innovations and some exclusive referral perks. Massive thanks to our ever-growing community—you rock!

BIG MOVES AHEAD!

Hold onto your hats, folks! We’ve given The Marketer’s Playbook a sizzling upgrade, now on a zippy new platform. What's in store? More innovation, brilliant referral goodies, and a whole lot of fun.

Got a Minute for Some Wisdom?

Let's co-create the best reading experience EVER. Dive into our subscriber survey—it's our secret sauce to delivering the content you crave. Get started here!

1. Tailor your marketing to the "Stages of Market Sophistication"

Insight from Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene M. Schwartz.

You may know the Ladder of Product Awareness, where you tailor the message to where the person is at in the buying journey based on whether they:

Experience the problem

Want to solve the problem

Are you aware that solutions exist (products)

Know which solution is best

The Stages of Market Sophistication are instead based on the maturity of the market that your product exists in, which is a factor of:

Awareness of your product/category—is it a fork or a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle?

Number of existing competitors.

Sophistication of existing competitors.

Here are the 5 stages:

In summary:

"The Only:" Explain what you are and why that's good.

"The Better:" Amplify the benefits stated in stage

"How It Works:" Focus on HOW your product achieves the benefits.

"The Even Better:" Amplify the benefits stated in stage

"Who It's For:" Focus on how the product aligns with their identity and lifestyle.

2. Create a real strategy, not just a list of goals & tactics

Insight from Mark Pollard.

Most company's "strategies" are either purely:

Goals:

Become relevant with Gen Z

Increase sales by 30%

Tactics:

Post on LinkedIn 5 times per week

Create lead magnets

Mark (aka Strategy Friend) defines a strategy as "an informed opinion about how to win."

Your strategy is supposed to tell you exactly what your team needs to do in grow. Yet, according to Mark, most strategies look like this:

They're missing the key insight to the real cause of the problem and a strategy to help solve the problem. Instead, they just jump straight into tactics with no clear vision.

"Tactics are simply the activities that make a strategy happen."

Here are two examples of what a good strategy looks like:

3. Hook 'em or lose 'em

Insight by me, Neal O'Grady 🍉.

"This reminds me of that time I was in a witch’s coven in France."

7 years ago in Thailand, I learned the power of a strong hook from a quirky German man.

He had spent the past year backpacking around Asia when I met him. His most profound skill was finding the perfect one-liner to hook you into one of his travel stories.

One that makes you immediately stop and say: “Wait, what? Go on...”

His line about a French witch’s coven is a perfect example. The actual story is just of him and 3 ladies at a music festival in France deciding to call their group a “witch’s coven.”

There are infinite ways he could have introduced the story where I'd halfheartedly listen to another story about partying. But this opener got me extremely invested in the story.

A hook is the opening to anything you want people to pay attention to

Whether it’s a:

Ad

Social post

YouTube video

Cold email/DM

Fundraising pitch

Newsletter tactic 😜

Or even a quirky travel story including French witches.

People are gone if you don’t intrigue them immediately.

THIS WEEK'S MARKETING BLAZERS :

Global Elections and Marketing Strategies: With more than 60 countries conducting elections in 2024, marketers are anticipating a deluge of political content across social channels, news outlets, and other media. This landscape presents a unique challenge for brands to position their messages in a way that resonates with consumers who are simultaneously eager for news and looking for distractions from global events.

Sports and Marketing: Major sporting events like the Paris Olympics and the UEFA Euro football championship are creating exciting opportunities for brands. These events not only attract diverse audiences but also allow brands to engage through ambassadors, influencers, and fan-focused content. Importantly, these platforms enable brands to align with values of diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Advancements in Technology: The expected launch of the next-generation Amazon Alexa marks a significant step forward in AI-driven experiences. This development promises more intuitive and intelligent interactions, reshaping e-commerce, search, and browsing experiences. The growing integration of virtual AI assistants in various aspects of daily life, from clothing to contact lenses, indicates a future rich with marketing opportunities in consumer tech.

The Impact of Cookie Deprecation: Google’s decision to phase out third-party cookies is set to revolutionize the advertising landscape. This change will limit personalized ads and push marketers to rely more on first-party data, underscoring the importance of strategies like email marketing and insights from social media platforms like Meta and TikTok.

Legal Challenges in AI: As AI continues to grow, legal compliance issues, especially concerning data privacy and biometric data, are expected to become more prominent. Brands will need to establish clear guidelines and compliance measures to avoid legal pitfalls.

The Growth of Social Media Advertising: A staggering $930 billion has been spent on social media advertising since 2017, with annual spending quadrupling in six years. This surge is largely attributed to the influence of social media on the purchasing decisions of Gen Zers and Millennials. In 2023 alone, social media ad spending reached $207.1 billion, with expectations for continued growth in the coming years.

Future Outlook: As we

move through 2024, marketing is expected to become more exciting and creative. The trend is towards captivating storytelling, visually stunning campaigns, and immersive experiences. This shift marks a departure from the cautious, generic campaigning of recent years, signaling a more dynamic and engaging era for marketing.

In summary, the marketing landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by technological advancements, significant global events, and changing consumer behaviors. Brands are poised to navigate this dynamic environment with innovative strategies, leveraging new technologies and data insights to connect with their audiences in meaningful ways.

Cheers to soaring marketing heights! 🚀🚀

Keep crushing it,

Mike

Sources :

• The Drum: Marketing moments to watch in 2024

• Marketing Tech News: Brands spent $930bn on social media advertising since 2017