AIDAR: The Foundation Of Good Marketing (Part 1)
By: T.J. Tedesco
For: The Binding Edge
Published: Fall, 1999

There are many reasons why binding, finishing and loose-leaf manufacturing companies need effective marketing programs.  Good marketing converts suspects into prospects, prospects into trial customers and trial customers into loyal customers.  For this desirable conversion cycle to continuously occur, marketing efforts should be well-planned, not knee-jerk reactions to unexpected dips in sales.

Irregular and choppy marketing efforts don’t sustain growth.  In fact, they rarely even pay for themselves.  Think of how purchasing decisions are made.  People don’t invest much time when the product they’re buying has low-consequences-for-failure, such as inexpensive business machines (i.e., adding machines and typewriters).  On the other hand, most people won’t buy products with high-consequences-for-failure without doing a lot of research and comparison. 

Consider the automobile industry.  Let’s say your income, age and gender data puts you squarely in the middle of a typical Saab customer profile, even though you’re a Ford buyer.  Despite the fact that you’ve never considered a Saab before, Saab wants you.  Saab designs their TV commercials and print ads to appeal to you and places them in the media you’re likely to see.  If you need a car, and are willing to buy one, there are two likely outcomes.

Scenario One: Snappy Saab advertisements catch your eye and somewhere deep down, you tuck the information away.  Then, the local Saab dealer offers you a test drive.  Soon, you’re driving a Saab.  Scenario Two: Since Ford knows you’re a loyal customer, they’ve been sending you regular mailings about upcoming oil changes, maintenance programs and new purchase opportunities.  Ford makes it easy for you to buy and before Saab muscles in on your business, you buy a new Ford.

Although intangible products like “postpress services” may seem different than cars, the buying process is very much the same.  In both cases, bad decisions have high-consequences-for-failure.  Consider a customer placing a $2,000 die cutting job.  What’s at stake, $2,000?  Hardly.  This job may be part of a $20,000 printing order for a $200,000 annual customer with $2,000,000 sales potential.  Put yourself in the place of the decision-maker.  Would you risk $2,000,000 of potential business by switching to a new die cutting company just because they send you a few isolated promotions and their price is 10% lower – $200 in this case?  No way!

Assume you’re the die cutter.  You’ve just bought an expensive trade advertisement and the phone doesn’t ring.  You may think, “The heck with marketing.  It doesn’t work in the post press industry.”  The problem isn’t with marketing; it’s with the implementation.  In the post press industry, many companies ignore marketing until they:

• Experience a downturn in either sales or estimate requests

• Make large capital investments

• Increase their workforce

• Lose a customer that represents a large percentage of their business

Ignoring marketing until one of these situations occurs costs you a lot of lost revenue.  Company leaders that respond to business slowdowns by producing poorly thought out brochures, sending out one-time mailings or buying expensive trade ads usually feel good that they “did something,” but rarely do their companies’ sales increase.  It’s less costly and more effective to analyze your position in the marketplace and then choose vehicles appropriate to your needs.

Pitfalls for the part-time marketer are plentiful.  Price discounting is tempting, but usually weakens already weak companies.  Touting expertise may come across as either hollow or bravado.  Humor may backfire.  Publishing incorrect advice undermines credibility.  Landmines aside, planning for marketing success isn’t as daunting as it may seem – as long as marketing programs are planned with the AIDAR buying cycle in mind. 

What is AIDAR?

There is a wide array of marketing vehicles to choose from, but it’s critical to select the right ones to suit your particular set of circumstances.  Make good decisions by knowing where you are on the AIDAR curve and take appropriate actions.  AIDAR is an acronym for the five buying stages: Awareness, Interest, Decision, Action and Reorder. 

Good marketers identify where their products lie on the AIDAR curve and develop strategies pertinent to their particular situation.  Regardless of whether their origin is Madison Avenue or Main Street, successful marketing programs take prospects on a journey from ignorance to purchase, passing through each of the five AIDAR steps.  We’ll examine the first two today.

Awareness

If you don’t inform the marketplace about your mousetrap, you won’t catch any mice.  When companies introduce new services, expand into new geographic territories, change core businesses, or are in the startup phase, marketing efforts should create awareness among as many potential key business influencers as possible.  Logic dictates that people will not buy that which they do not know about, no matter how much they need it.

Appropriate Marketing Vehicles.  Choose marketing vehicles with high rates of exposure and low costs per impression.  Advertising and trade shows are appropriate if your product is at this early stage of the buying cycle.  The term “shotgun” applies here.  Marketers should spray their message as widely as possible, quickly increase their name recognition and lay the groundwork for more targeted efforts down the road. 

Post press Example.  A trade bindery known for bookbinding has just entered the laminating business.  Unless they create awareness in the marketplace, their laminating investment will sit idle.  Placing ads in trade publications is appropriate.  Think of trade ads this way: Ads are for Awareness, not Decision.  (Note: Regular readers of this column know that I usually don’t recommend advertising programs to post press companies.  Too of them waste money creating market awareness that they already have!) 

Interest

Once the marketplace is aware of your product, the next step is to generate interest.  At this stage of the AIDAR curve, buyers are beginning to consider you as a vendor.  They need to be comfortable with your company before going any further.

Appropriate Marketing Vehicles.  Prospects know your company’s name, but little else.  Now, you want them to associate you with knowledge, value and caring.  They should think of you as a winner.  Indicate that you’re a company on the move by sending out press releases.  Network like crazy and become an active member of trade organizations.  Consider writing articles for trade publications and giving talks to your local PIA affiliate or Craftsmen club.  Use a broadcast faxing service. 

Post press Example.  A new index tabbing company is not considered a credible resource to dealers and other resellers yet.  Tab buyers are reluctant to try the new company because they’re comfortable buying elsewhere.  Since the average index tab sale is relatively small, marketing costs should be kept to an absolute minimum.  The focus should be on breaking the current purchasing habits of tab buyers.  This company should consider sending informational faxes to key business influencers on a regular basis.

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Think of the awareness and interest stages as being the one and two hitters in a baseball team’s batting order.  If they’re not effective, they’ll pull down the productivity of the middle of the lineup – where the power is.  In the next issue of The Binding Edge, we’ll focus squarely on the heavy hitting decision, action and reorder portion of the AIDAR buying curve.  If you’re the  “Saab” of your industry, pay attention to decision and action.  If you’re the “Ford,” reorder is everything.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.