This is Elias St. Elmo Lewis. Yes, his name is awesome. And no, you’ve never heard of him, but you have heard of his work.
120 years ago, Mr. Lewis (or Elmo, as I hope his friends called him), drew an upside down triangle and began preaching the AIDA model of marketing and sales. AIDA stood for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. This model has consistently evolved over the last century, and undoubtedly found its way, in some variation, into every college marketing textbook.
In recent years, this funnel has more frequently included post-purchase stages, like Evaluation and Loyalty. But regardless of the presence of these words, post-purchase activity always seems like the after-thought.
In other words, “Here’s my widget. My widget is great. Buy my widget. Hooray you bought my widget. Who else can I tell about my widget?”
Where this strategy fails us, is when the value of our brand is relevant. When we operate in an industry where things like trust and favorability matter. In these situations, brand must strive to achieve a position as the Helpful Authority. Let me give you an example.
For many products, like milk, the most commonly asked questions are from consumers who appear to already own the product. And it’s the same across other industries; How do I use this camera? What’s the best case for this phone? What pants go with my new brown shoes?
The answers to all of these questions are available to consumers at all times. The ubiquitous nature of websites means brands don’t need to invest money answering these questions. Consumers can learn about phone cases, cameras, pants, and even milk on various blogs, YouTube videos, or even directly on Google through their Knowledge Graph panels:
Google Knowledge Graph
So if I’m a milk company, I don’t have to answer this question… But should I?
There is unquestionably a value in being helpful to your consumers. There is undoubtedly a value in showcasing that you are the authority on your industry and your products.
When you’re primary point-of-sales looks as generic and commoditized as the milk section of a grocery store, your brand should take every opportunity possible to build a relationship and a favorability with your customers, both past and present.
It is far too easy to understand and answer your customers’ questions to simply ignore the opportunity. It’s said that consumers will never be as honest with anyone in their life as they will be with their Google search bar. So start there. Use tools like Google Trends and Google Ads to start understanding the questions your customers ask and gear your SEM and SEO efforts to position yourself as the constantly present, Helpful Authority. Don’t ignore social media posts to your brand or even YouTube comments on your video. And in these interactions, strive to be knowledgeable. Strive to be assistive. These are not sales opportunities, these are opportunities to establish long term relationships with your customers.
Don’t take these opportunities lightly.