This document discusses customer journeys and marketing strategies. It begins by outlining the AIDA model of awareness, interest, desire, and action. It then provides details on creating awareness, interest, and desire in customers. Retaining customers is also discussed. The rest of the document discusses marketing statistics showing customers' extensive research journeys, the Buyology theory about unconscious consumer behavior, and examples of Apple's customer engagement strategies.

1. 1
TOPIC 2
UNDERSTANDING THE
CUSTOMER JOURNEY

2. • AIDA formula & Retaining customers
• AKA Customer journey
• Marketing statistics
• Buyology Theory
2

3. AIDA
Source from
E. ST. ELMO LEWIS (1898)
AWARENESS INTEREST DESIRE ACTION
• Ad’s / Paid Search
• Articles (PR)
• Press Release (PR)
• Webinar
• Guest Podcast
• Guest Blogging
• Guest Hangouts
• Business Groups
• Facebook Groups
• Social Media
• Quora
• Website Content
• Info Graphics
• Blog
• Vlog / Video
• Newsletters
• Facebook Groups
• Social Media
• Searching Reviews
• Free Mini Course (E-
Learning)
• Free Ebook
• Free Trial
• Free version of a
program with
limited features
• Sign up to
newsletter
• Special Offers
• Limited Edition
• Case Studies
• Testimonials (written
& video)
• Data Infographics
• Data Reports
COGNITIVE STAGE AFFECTIVE STAGE BEHAVIOR STAGE
3

4. Source:
Corporate Financial Institute
(2019)
AWARENESS
Often, the attention (awareness) part is overlooked by many marketers.
It is assumed that the product or service already got the attention of
the consumers – which may or may not be the case. In any event, don’t
just assume that everyone is already aware of your product. One of the
best approaches to attracting consumer attention is what’s called
“creative disruption” – breaking existing patterns of behaviour through
a highly creative message. This can be done in several ways:
• Placing advertisements in unexpected situations or locations. This is
often referred to as guerrilla marketing.
• Creating shock in advertisements through provocative imagery.
• An intensely targeted message. This is also referred to as
personalisation.
Essentially, the goal is to make consumers aware that a product or
service exists.
4

5. Source:
Corporate Financial Institute
(2019)
Creating interest is generally the hardest part. For example, if the
product or service is not inherently interesting, this can be very difficult
to achieve.
Make sure that advertising information is broken up and easy to read,
with interesting subheadings and illustrations. Focus on what is most
relevant for your target market in relation to your product or service,
and on conveying only the most important message you want to
communicate to consumers.
A good example of this is Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” ad campaign
that focused on the fact that Wendy’s hamburgers contained more beef
than their competitors’ hamburgers.
Many often will evaluate straight after having an interest, and
comparing against your competitors offers.
INTEREST
5

6. Source:
Corporate Financial Institute
(2019)
The second and third steps of the AIDA model go together. As you are
hopefully building interest in a product or service, it is important that
you help customers realise why they “need’ this product or service.
Think about how the content in infomercials is presented – they aim to
provide interesting information on the product, along with benefits of
buying it – benefits that ideally make consumers want the product
more and more. Infomercials do this extremely well by showing the
product being used in several creative situations.
Convey to the audience the value of the product or service, and why
they need it in their life.
DESIRE
6

7. Source:
Corporate Financial Institute
(2019)
The last step of the AIDA model is getting your consumer to initiate
action. Moving from the Desire stage into Action is usually determined
by how immediate they need that product or service. The
advertisement should end with a call to action – a statement that is
designed to get an immediate response from the consumer. For
example, Netflix uses persuasive text to convince the consumer to try
their free trial. Netflix communicates how convenient their product is
and highlights its value, then urges consumers to sign up for a free trial.
Good advertising should elicit a sense of urgency that motivates
consumers to take action RIGHT NOW. One commonly used method
for achieving this goal is making limited time offers (such as free
shipping or available at this price for 24hrs).
ACTION
7

8. Source:
Corporate Financial Institute
(2019)
Many criticise the AIDA model for being too simple. While that is true
to some extent, studies shows that the human brain does not favour
complexity and prefers simplicity. While you could add in many other
elements to the model, the core fundamentals work extremely well and
many ways of advertising follow this.
Retaining customers is often high on the list for many businesses and
this can be a fundamental competent to that model. You would use
the same techniques, only missing the initial stage (cognitive). It could
be an email you send out that specifically targets current customers,
rewarding them to a healthy discount if they re-purchase or extending
their membership. It could be providing them with an exclusive Ebook
or beta testing of new products. You want them to feel valued.
RETAINING
RETAINING CUSTOMERS
8

9. 9
Develop an
offer what the
customer will
find is real
value.
Be consistent
in your
marketing
Drive home the
quality of your
service / product,
compared to that of
your competitors.
Customers buy
from you if you
are solving
their problems
and satisfying
their need.
The product or
service must be
relevant to the
person receiving
the communication.
Know when to
stop: keep your
marketing
message to the
point.
You don’t have
to be unique to
be successful.
Say what’s good
about your service /
product and do a
clear, honest,
informative job of
saying it.
Keep With
Trends
Don’t promote something that
nobody now needs just
because it was popular once,
Archive or remove it. Keep it
fresh and try to keep up with
the trends, not behind.
Research
Review the marketing
communications of influencers
and other brands have with
their customers. Clone all the
best parts to use in your own
marketing strategy.
Think
Apple

10. How you engage and
types of marketing used.
ENGAGEMENT /
AWARENESS
PRE-PURCHASE
Their experience (i..e how
easy it is to make that
purchase) will determine if
they make a purchase or
not.
FIRST
ENCOUNTER
PURCHASE
POST-
PURCHASE
POST-
PURCHASE
Providing offers,
upgrades, new deals and
new products at a
discount can make
customers feel valued.
LOYALTY
They will research your
business / product to
check for validation
(reviews) if you have the
expertise (blog etc)
CONSIDERATIO
N
PRE-PURCHASE
The type of after sales
support you offer can
enhance positive word of
mouth and tempt more
purchases.
CUSTOMER
SUPPORT
A pleasant experience and
the feeling of having a
great deal will enhance
the likelihood of viral
marketing.
ADVOCACY
NEW-
CUSTOMER
AKA CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Organic
Search
Word of
Mouth
Social
Ad’s
Direct
Email
Flyer,
Poster
Search
Ad’s
Blog, Vlog,
Info
graphic
Media
Interview
Podcast,
N’letter
Reviews
Well laid
out
Website
Ease of
booking
Ease of
purchase
Social
media
App
Help
desk
Help
guides
FAQ
Email
Upgrade
New
product
Offers
Behind
scenes
Discount
next buy
New deal
Approval
Share
online
Review
Like your
posts
Engage
friends
Purchase
again
10
6
stages
4
Phases
Special
Offers

11. A buyer completes 70-90% of his
or her journey prior to engaging
with a vendor - a person or
company offering something for
sale (Forrester).
A consumer engages with an
average of 11.4 pieces of content
before making a purchase
(Forrester).
Consumers were five times more
dependent on content in 2014
than they were in 2009 (Nielsen).
70-90% of
research prior
11.4 pieces of content
prior
More dependent on
content today
According to an article by Forbes in 2014…
FACT #1
MARKETING STATISTICS
2009
Vs
2014
11
Customers need to know
about something before
they can buy it. 5*
One reason products and
ideas become popular is
that they are just plain
Social influence and
word of mouth are vital
for sales. People love to

12. 12
BUYOLOGY
Say Vs Act
What people say they do
and what they actually do
are different. These are
two different tools,
therefore data is key to
understanding the best
way to advertise. Use
data to determin your
marketing strategy.
Brain Overload
Our brains are constantly busy collecting and filtering information.
Some bits of information will make it into long-term storage – in
other words, memory – but most will become extraneous clutter,
dispensed into obvlion. The process is unconscious and instaneous.
Therefore, creating memorable branding is key to your success –
stand out from the crowd!
Brain Filtering
The filtering system in our brais has grown thick and self-protective.
We’re less and less able to recall what we saw on TV just this
morning, forget about of couple of nights ago. Therefore, re-
marketing and regular advertising is vital to capturing sales.
Neuromarketing
Neuromarketing is a
simple instrument used to
help us decode what we
as consumers are already
thinking about when we’re
confronted with a product
or brand. For further
reading, check out the
eBook The Ad Hacks
Formula, and online topics
about Neuromarketing.
Quality, price and
advertising contribute to
sales.

13. 13
BUYOLOGY
Mind Acting
Everything we observe or
read about someone else
ding, we do as well – in
our minds. This concept
of imitation is a huge
factor in why we buy the
things we do.
MAKE IT CLEAR
In order for product placement in our brains to work, the product has
to make sense within its narrative. For example, the picture must
relate to the narrative text and hook line, just like any advertising
during a TV program must have some relation to the program. They
should marry up and make complete sense as to why the person is
seeing what they are seing and it relates to their viewing platform.
Humans Imitate
Mirror neurons are partly responsible for why we often unwittingly
imitate other people’s behaviour. When other people whisper, we
tend to lower our own voices. When hundreds of people are giving
‘likes’ on a Facebook Post others are more likely to be persuaded to
imitate this. Therefore, the other part can be persuasion.
Mirror
Neurons
Mirror neurons become
activated not only when
we’re observing other
people’s behaviour, they
even fire when we’re
reading about someone
performing it. Therefore,
narrative story telling can
be powerful if done in the
right way, or testimonials
demonstrating success:
your mind visualizes.

14. 14
BUYOLOGY
Ritual Buying
Buying a product is more
often a ritualised behaviour
than a conscious decision.
Humans are creatures of
habbit and will often go
with what they most feel
comfortable with and know.
Branding Habbits
Brand obsession has a lot in common with rituals and superstitious
behaviour – both involve habitual, repeated actions that have little or no
logical basis, and both stem from the need for a sense of control ad
familularity. Ritual and superstition can exert a potent influence on how
and what we buy.
Shortcuts
We rely on almost instant shortcuts that our brains have created to
help us make buying decisions When we make decisions about
what to buy, our brain summons and scans incredible amounts of
memories, facts, and emotions and squeezes them into a rapid
respons in a couple of seconds, and that dictates what you just put
inside your shopping cart.
The Effects of
Dopamine
When we first decide to
buy something, the brain
cells release dopamine –
the burste of a good
felling.

15. 15
BUYOLOGY
Humour
Some advertisers create
somatic markers in
comsumers minds using
humour. Think about ways
in how you include
laughter and smiles in your
ads. Look at example to
get ideas and clone.
Brand Matching
Where brand advertising matches up poorly with visual and smell
representation there’s activation in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, a
region of the brain connected to aversion and repulsion, which is why
subjects in an experiment responded unfavorably to poor combinations.
Use Smell
Smell is not used enough
in mail and flyer
advertising, therefore
consider using aromas
and flavours attached to
flyers that match your
brand. This of course is
not for every business.
Visual Vs Smell Vs Sound - Combos
Researchers found that visual saturation on its own did not result in
higher sales. Sound and smell was found to be more promanant during
experiemnts. However, when individuals smelled perfume and had sight
of the product their seduction levels were much stronger. Combination of
thsse factors proved to be more effective. When we see and smell
something we like various regions of our brain lights up in concert. When
sounds and images were presented together they were perceived more
favourably than on their own. This means the best things come in pairs.

16. 16
BUSINESS DECISIONS
Marketing and business philiosphy should be full customer-focused. The customer is at the core, and all decisions
should be taken with the customer firmly in mind.
How will this proposed change impact on our customers?
Will they welcome it or regard it as a negative move?
Any changes implemented should enhance the customer’s experience.
Marketing is a philosophy of business that places the
customer at the centre of the universe.