To understand how scaling works you will need to understand one fundamental building block of marketing. 

DO NOT SKIP THIS!!! 

I know you want to get to the good stuff, but... 

Don’t make the same mistake I did. 

For years I struggled with the 5 stages of awareness. 

Dismissing them as something irrelevant. “Just let me run my awesome creative maaaannn…” 

Well, I was an idiot. (But you don’t have to be). 

Only when I finally understood this concept - I was able to become a truly good (self-proclaimed) marketer (and scale brands and live the high life, but that’s for another time).

When you’re assembling your new creative, ask yourself: 

• How can I make it more appealing to a broader number of people? 

• How can I frame my existing message so more people will want to buy? 

• How scalable is this creative really? 

• Is it appealing to the largest number of people possible? 

These questions may seem counter-intuitive. 

I mean, all the gurus say “focus on a niche problem in a niche market”. 

Well, they are right to some degree.

Because when you want to get a foothold in your market, segmenting (or niching) down is good practice. 

But we’re not talking about a foothold here… 

We’re talking about mass consumption of the best kind (the kind that puts money in your pocket). 

And in order to achieve mass market appeal, you will need to go broad.  

In other words, if you want to scale, you need an “eco-system” where that scale can take place. 

So if your creative is targeting a very specific person with a very specific problem you will probably convert, but you won't have the audience base to scale. 

Now let’s see how the Stages of Awareness help us broaden that audience. 

You’ve most likely seen this before (and like me may have dismissed it). 

The 5 Stages of Awareness: 

Some creative formats in this table will inherently be more appealing to a larger number of people. 

Can you guess which stage will be top of that list? 

If you guessed “Unaware” you’d be right! 

These are people who are unaware of the problem you solve, or your brand.

Creative content like “How to” videos and big influencers (think celebrity level) have the most potential to draw in this audience and give them a push (in the right direction) into your funnel.

The next stage will be “Problem Aware”. These are people who have been exposed to the problem and now itch to find out more about it.  

This is where UGC videos do a great job in expressing that problem and introducing a solution. 

Once your customer becomes “Solution Aware” it is now time to make them understand why YOUR solution is better than the rest. The “Us vs Them” ad does a great job of explaining that. 

This brings us to the last two levels “Product Aware” and “Most Aware”... 

Generally speaking, I like to bundle these 2 groups into 1 because you never know exactly how burning it is for these people to act. For some, viewing another testimonial ad will do the trick, others will need a sale or a good offer to pass the final hurdle and become a customer. 

These are the 5 stages, simple right? 

Think of the stages of awareness as one big funnel, taking prospects down the rabbit hole of your brand. 

Does every customer HAVE to go through all the stages? 

No. Some customers will convert at every level. 

But we’re professional marketers here and we’re not letting a single customer drop go to waste. 

I hope this makes sense for you. 

If it doesn’t, read this section again, it will be the single most important thing you will learn this year (promise)! 

How do the 5 Stages of Awareness relate to scalability?

The easiest thing to remember is that the higher you go on the table, the easier it is to scale something, while the lower you go, the easier it becomes to convert. 

The problem is, most brands skip the "unaware" audience altogether.

Which is a mistake!

As mentioned before, to scale you need a big enough audience.

And most audiences are unaware of you and what you have to offer.

Running a broad ad will get them to notice you, convert some people on the spot, and get a ton more people engaged with your brand so you can retarget and sell to them later down the line.

So what's the best way to get tnoticed?

Hint…

Assuming you don’t have the budget to get Oprah on camera (if you do, give me a call I’d love to meet her)... 

Your best shot at this is with the “How-to” tutorial ad. 

Need some examples?

Here are a few good ones…

Watch full ad + video

Watch full ad + video

Watch full ad + video

These ads target a broad audience and do an amazing job grabbing attention.

They act as a "fishing net", helping people get into your funnel and scaling your brand.

Use them as inspiration next time you're thinking up new creatives for scale.

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P.S. Need more inspiration for creating (and scaling) better performing ads? Book a creative review and get at least 3 tips you can use immediately to boost your ad performance.