The relationship between awareness and sales

A recent study by the Barna Group found that most Christian leaders are virtually unknown to most Americans.

A new TBG survey regarding celebrity awareness and likeability released today discovered that Billy Graham and Pat Robertson are the only religious figures that were known to at least half of the population.

“The biggest story among the other nine religious figures tested is that so few people knew who they are,” said The Barna Group, noting that authors Charles Colson (unknown to 85%), Rick Warren (unknown to 83%), Bill Hybels (unknown to 96%) and Andy Stanley (unknown to 95%) were relatively obscure.

Born-again adults had slightly greater awareness of the 11 religious leaders examined than did non-Christians (63% unaware compared to 73% unaware).

“The most startling of those outcomes is the fact that an average of two out of three born-again adults is not familiar with the religious leaders tested,” TBG observed.

For years marketers assumed they must use advertising to build awareness of their product first.  Then, once a large segment of the population knew about their stuff, they could repeat their advertising to create a brand preference.  Finally a tiny subset of that group will decide to buy. 

Under that scenario awareness should grow at a much faster rate than sales, but that isn't what we see with Rick Warren.  Only 17% of the population (about 51 million people) is even aware of Rick Warren, despite the fact he authored The Purpose Driven Life (PDL), the bestselling hardcover book in American history.  PDL has sold more than 28 million copies since October 2002.  Instead, we see record-setting sales accompanied by limited awareness.  This suggests several things to me.  I need to think about this more, but here is a short list to get the discussion started:

1. Word-of-Mouth is not indiscriminate: When people buy a product they love they don't recommend it to everyone they know.  Instead they tell only those people they believe are most likely to buy and benefit from it. To the extent they judge their friends correctly, sales and awareness would grow at almost the same rate as each person who became aware would also purchase. This also means that word-of-mouth does not create broad awareness.  Rather, it creates awareness among very specific affiliation/social networks.  These groups are not intentionally secretive, but that is the effect.  Because they only share information with those who share their interest, awareness tends not to spread beyond that group.
2. Some customers are more valuable than others: Don't assume a 1:1 ratio between prospects and purchases.  Only 51 million Americans are even aware of Rick Warren yet PDL has sold 28 million copies.  This suggests people are buying more than one copy.  In fact, when Zondervan surveyed people who had read PDL they found that 46.5% bought additional copies to give away.  Certain customer evangelists will provide a disproportionate quantity of sales.  You can enhance their impact by focusing a disproportionate amount of your advertising on this group.
3. Awareness does not necessarily lead to sales: Some of the bestselling Christian books at the moment were written by people that didn't even make the list of leaders whose awareness Barna chose to measure. 

What is the connection between awareness and sales?  Share your ideas in the comments section. Spread the fire. GS

Comments

[Craig Schwartz]

Remember the VP Marketing at Chrysler? No, but you do remember Lee Iacocca. Same here. Hybels, Warren, etc. are just the promoters. Jesus Christ is the key person, and Christians do know who He is.

[Jerry]

I think its true - I only eangelize certain things to certain people.

Doesnt matter what it is. Food, computer or book.

I evangelize each thing I find important to the niche I feel will be receptive to it.

[Susan Bertalotto]

I agree that word-of-mouth is discriminate, but think of it this way. Being a latte drinker, if I found a great coffee shop that sells superb-tasting decaf lattes at a reasonable price (along with caffeinated ones), I wouldn't only tell people who drink coffee or coffee drinks. I would also tell people who perhaps would buy a latte or capucchino b/c of the low caffeine content and/or the superior taste. Using the PDL book as an example, those who have read it would perhaps be more apt to tell people who "aren't into that Jesus stuff" b/c PDL is Christianity-lite. If you water down the theology, it's easier for a larger number of people to believe there is substance and truth in the material.

Craig,
If Jesus Christ is "the key person", you wouldn't know it by the PDL book. The focus is not on Christ but on feeling better about yourself - how to live a better life.

[Rachel Hauck]

Is there a disconnect between awareness and action? Like, what woman doesn't know about breast cancer, yet commercials and b. cancer awareness campaigns and commercial flood the market like we've never heard of it before.

Truth is, a lot of women choose not to be aware.

So, when it comes to books, how many hear about a great book, but refuse to act. Or worse, check it out of the library. I've heard that - can't wait to read your book. I've got it on reserve at the library. ;)

Awareness dosn't mean sales because people don't choose to act. So the question is how can we motivate them to act, ie., buy. :)

Rachel

[Greg Stielstra]

Rachel,

I heard a presentation from a corporate psychologist the other day (think I'll blog this on the main page too). He said, "You can't motivate your employees. You can only use their existing motivations to get what you want. Then he gave this example.

Say you want to teach your dog to sit and you begin the instruction. You stand in front of your dog and say, "sit." The dog stairs. You repeat the word again and again. If the dog makes the slightest move in the right direction, then you give it a treat. If the dog sits (perhaps he's just tired) you give him another treat. Eventually, responding to the treats, the dog begins to sit on command.

Who was motivated to sit?

The truth is, the owner, not the dog was motivated for the dog to sit. The dog was always, only motivated by food. But the owner used the dogs existing motivation (food) to encourage the desired behavior (sitting).

I think people act when the action we propose through marketing leads to rewards they wanted in the first place. When awareness fails to motivate action its a sign we haven't aligned our request with the consumer's existing motivations. GS

[Rachel Hauck]

Greg,

Good post about the motivation and action. I can remember my employers in the copr software world motivating us to "sit" but not giving us our "food" to do it.

So, for an author, the food for the reader must be a good, satisfying read. We have to give them that in our marketing so they are motivated to buy.

Am I understanding this yet?

Rachel :)

[Vinay Koshy]

I would add the following:

1. Better the Individual Experience, better the chance of WOM: WOM is generally instigated by a very favourable or highly favourable experience on the part of the consumer. With PDL for example - I know of people talking about aspects of the book which helped with their own lives as well as in the lives of the church. WOM has thus been generated based on experiences.

2. Focus on the experience: While the book PDL was very good - life changing experiences were created in smaller groups through the release of dvd’s and study guides. These experiences enabled conversations to be created which in turn results in WOM, which resulted in more people being drawn to experience it or to create their own experiences.

3. Tangibles + Crowd Attraction leads to more sales: With the growth in popularity fo PDL and its impact - figures of church’s being involved, testimonies of peoples lives being changed, the introduction of seminars and worshops and study guides have I believe contributed to a greater impact where in those outside of the core groups as mentioned in the article by Greg are drawn in to have a look and experience for themselves. Thus leading to a bigger impact and more WOM in new social networks - eventually leading to more sales.

[Vinay Koshy]

I would add the folloiwng:

1. Better the Individual Experience, better the chance of WOM: WOM is generally instigated by a very favourable or highly favourable experience on the part of the consumer. With PDL for example - I know of people talking about aspects of the book which helped with their own lives as well as in the lives of the church. WOM has thus been generated based on experiences.

2. Focus on the experience: While the book PDL was very good - life changing experiences were created in smaller groups through the release of dvd’s and study guides. These experiences enabled conversations to be created which in turn results in WOM, which resulted in more people being drawn to experience it or to create their own experiences.

3. Tangibles + Crowd Attraction leads to more sales: With the growth in popularity fo PDL and its impact - figures of church’s being involved, testimonies of peoples lives being changed, the introduction of seminars and worshops and study guides have I believe contributed to a greater impact where in those outside of the core groups as mentioned in the article by Greg are drawn in to have a look and experience for themselves. Thus leading to a bigger impact and more WOM in new social networks - eventually leading to more sales.

[manjusha thomas]

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