13 years ago, I wrote a post called ‘Awareness – the most pointless metric ever?’.

At the time, I was more focused on marketing, rather than holistic communications (which is where I’ve evolved into). However, the basis of the argument remains the same.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a number of research reports and invitations-to-tender which position raising awareness as a core component of the work.

However, as I argue below, it’s the wrong metric to look at.

For 13 years I’ve been banging this drum. And the fact that it still needs banging really gets my goat.

But I’ll continue to bang it because I genuinely believe that, to achieve something meaningful, awareness is not what we need to aim for. We need to aim for action.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the little time capsule below. If you’re wrestling with the awareness/action continuum, let’s talk. I’d love to hear about your challenges and where, maybe, we could work together to overcome them.

Here’s the post I wrote, back in 2012. You can see the original here through my old WordPress blog. However, this website is prettier.

If your campaign raises awareness, you’ve failed.

Sorry, but it’s true.

There’s only one thing that matters in marketing – and that’s action.

Awareness is a pointless metric when all’s said and done.

I’m aware of the Ford brand (but I sure as hell won’t be buying one).  I’m aware of the Apple brand (but I love my Android). You get the picture.

Some people love it.

After all, it’s easily measurable.

“Have you heard of Brand X – Yes/No?

Yes.”

Whoop whoop job done, now go crack a beer on the patio.

And it’s easily achieved – if you want the people of your city to be aware of something, cover the sidewalks with cleverly thought out advertising, buy every billboard going and sponsor all of the radio or TV shows available so that only the dead can avoid your messaging.

Sorted.

But it’s not enough.

Better than awareness is consideration.

“Are you aware of the product?”

Yes/No.

“Would you consider buying the product?”

Yes/No/Maybe.

At least this buys you another question in the event of a No or a Maybe:

“Why not?” (Or – “What could we do to really excite you about the product?“)

If you can get someone to consider you, that’s half a job done.

But this still isn’t enough.

Consideration puts you in league with the rest of the market.

You’re in competition in a shared space.

You have the chance of winning.  Equally, you have the chance of losing.  Consumers are like that, fickle, able to make up their own minds against a set of criteria which are uniquely personal to them.

Gunning for consideration is a start, but it’s not really compelling.

What you need to be aiming for is action.

Marketing, being the discipline that it is, is all about action and behaviour.  Don’t just think PSAs and do-good comms.  If you want someone to buy your product, you’ve got to influence their behaviour and their actions.

Purchases are actions.  Advocacy is an action.  And so on.

You need to make it clear, compelling and (preferably) a cinch to do.

But you must aim for action.  Get the consumer to do what you want – because they want to do it – and you’ll step right over the ‘awareness’ and ‘consideration’ long-burn phases and get right to the heart of the matter.

So next time your CEO tells you to “raise awareness of the brand”, stop them dead in their tracks, fix them with your best steely glare and ask them this:

“But what do you want the consumer to actually DO?”

Only by answering this question will you know what’s needed, what will make a difference and how you can start to design your strategy around the actual outcome required…

Image by Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️ from Pixabay