Formula salad

There are so many marketing and sales formulas, and I personally find them super helpful. But on their own, they can be a bit abstract.

Often when I buy something that fits the description of a productised service, I try to plot where I am on an imaginary chart where some of these formulas intersect.

It’s messy, but it helps me understand which formulas make sense to me, which ones are easy to follow and implement, and how to apply them to my own products.

The 3 formulas I touch on here are the 5 Stages of Awareness, the Know, Like & Trust concept, and the Jobs to be Done theory – quick intros to each:

5 Stages of Awareness

• Unaware: I don’t realise I have a problem that needs solving (or won’t admit it).
• Problem Aware: I feel a pain and am aware I have some kind of problem to solve.
• Solution Aware: I’m aware there are solutions available to solve this problem.
• Product Aware: I’m aware that THIS product is one of the available solutions.
• Most Aware: I believe this product is the right solution for me.

Know, Like & Trust
Is the process by which a person – in this case, someone who might buy something from you – comes to know about you, grows to like you through various interactions and exposure to your content/process/way of thinking, then builds enough trust to make a leap to exchanging money for something you sell.

Jobs to be Done
A framework that aims to understand the real problem someone’s trying to solve, instead of just focusing on the product they’re buying, so you can offer a solid solution.

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Roughly how I do it is after I’ve bought something, I retrace where I was at each of the “5 Stages of Awareness” chart, and whether I was truly at the end when I decided to buy, then pull in the other two formulas wherever they seem to fit.

Example:

I recently did a health challenge with a coach from my gym (separate to the gym membership).

• I had a specific health challenge, but definitely ignored the problem for a long time and didn’t really want to admit I needed to do something about it (Unaware)
• Eventually I decided to try and tackle it. I remembered this coach had previously mentioned a few general tips around my challenge, so knowing she had some knowledge I asked if she could tell me more (I’m just Problem Aware at this point, seeking help)
• She expanded on the tips she’d shared previously, and laid out a number of steps that I’d need to follow to address this problem (this makes me Solution aware which is great, but I don’t exactly know how to tick off the steps she mentioned yet, so I ask what I can do about that)
• She tells me the steps are from a 55-day coaching program she runs, which is available to me and she can start anytime (now I’m Product aware)
• At this point, I go and have a think.

What I’m thinking about is whether the program she mentioned would be a good fit. I consider the time commitment, as well as other factors that I know will be challenging around work and family.

I also think about alternatives – which is straight out of the Jobs to be Done theory.

Alternatives consider everything someone could feasibly do to solve the “Problem” they’re now aware of – not just competitors, but anything they could do as an alternative to this product they now know about.

For my coach, direct competitors might be other gyms or coaches, but alternatives could also be things like fitness apps, books, video courses, my home gym, seeing a physio instead, even taking her program at a later date, or of course the option that is always an option: do nothing.

I decide that I’ll do her challenge, firstly because she answered the questions I had, so my brain doesn’t like the idea of trying to find someone to answer them all over again… plus, she also has the benefit that I already Know, Like and Trust her, so that’s an easy yes for me, and a winning combo for her (finally at this point, I’m Most aware).

This whole break down is ultra rough, but it helps me with 3 things:

1. Understanding just a smidge about how my brain works
2. Understanding what I should be thinking about when I build my own products
3. And what to look out for when the shifty marketers catch my brain in gullible mode

This newsletter is one way I’m working on the Know, Like and Trust piece (testing the “Like” piece by rambling this long!), but I’m always curious about the Jobs to be Done that are out there.

If you have a moment, feel free to reply and share one of the Jobs to be Done on your list for 2025.

…or a story of when a shifty marketer hijacked your brain and made you buy something you didn’t need 🤪