Trying to create prospects may be one of the most difficult and expensive components of marketing. Trying to find the path of people that want our service/product (since everything is a service, I will only use service from now on) is not the easiest chore in the world. If we know all the Dentists, Plumbers, Developers or Farmers in the world need our service that is one thing. But they still need to want our service and have a sense of urgency that will encourage them to engage with us. This will be only a certain portion of them, and that portion are the people we want to market towards.
This trigger is seldom something we have any control in determining when it happens. Think of the trigger the event or situation that is driving the needed change or sense of urgency. What is the action that is out of our immediate control or influence? Insurance policies are great examples. What would cause someone to buy one flood insurance for example before a flood? Would it be a nearby catastrophe? Or, someone they know that just experienced a lost? Triggers can also be found because of new competition, different attitudes, approaching events, and of course, some potential or recent disaster. What also need to remember is that there must be a clear relationship between this trigger and the ability of our service to alleviate or benefit the prospect from this trigger.
From a marketing standpoint, we most often spend our resources (time, money, skill) that will show prospects how they will benefit from the use of our service. We do this by explaining the features of our service and assigning a cost to demonstrate real value. The problem is that we communicate this message to some demographic or psychographic segment that has not been just part of a “triggered event.”
I would challenge you in your marketing, to arrange your perceived outcomes. The change or maybe better put the future you would like to see as a result of your change. List your inputs or your existing marketing that connect and facilitate helping a prospect realize and make a decision towards achieving that outcome. Or, even list all your marketing collateral and connect them on how they progress a prospect into becoming a customer. Of course, you can use lines and post-it-notes or an influence diagram to achieve this.
The next step is to now visualize the triggers that cause a future “prospect” to determine that your service is needed. Take all of your marketing collateral and connect to this trigger? Now, drop anything that doesn’t have a connection to the trigger. You may even go a step further and drop connections that do not have multiple paths or is so strong and clear that you would not question whether the content is relevant.
If you are looking to build awareness, if you are exploring new territories, you may want to consider marketing towards triggers versus markets. This is easier said than done. You find it from digging deeper and having more meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. I have yet been able to purchase a “Trigger” list.
As John Kotter said, “At the very beginning of an effort to make changes of any magnitude, if the sense of urgency is not high enough and complacency is not low enough, everything else becomes so much more difficult.”