prospects who are completely unaware of the problem you solve or the solutions you provide .
Engage : The movement from Make Aware to Engage is often accomplished by providing value to the prospect , usually in the form of entertainment , inspiration , or educational content , before asking her to buy something or commit a significant amount of time . This is known as content marketing , a strategic marketing method focused on creating and distributing valuable , relevant , and consistent material designed to attract , retain , and ultimately drive a customer to a profitable action . Content marketing consists of a broad spectrum of activities and types of content , including blogging , videos , social media updates , images , and more . We cover content marketing in more detail in Chapter 4 .
Subscribe : At this stage , the prospect has given you permission to market to him . At the very least , he has connected with you on social channels ( Facebook , LinkedIn , and others ) or , ideally , has become an email subscriber . The Subscribe state is a critical stage to reach in the relationship because you can now continue the conversation with more content and offers .
Convert : The transformation of a prospect from being merely interested and subscribed to converted is the final stage of an Acquisition campaign . At this point , the prospect has placed trust in your organization by giving you either money or a significant amount of her time . Don ’ t forget that your marketing should be gradual and seamless , particularly online , where you must often build trust with someone you ’ ve never actually met . If this final stage of your Acquisition campaign involves a sale , it shouldn ’ t be a risky ( think expensive or complex ) purchase . The goal here is to simply transform the relationship from prospect to customer .
Note that Acquisition campaigns are not about profit . Although you might be making sales at the Convert stage , the goal of those sales is not return on investment ( ROI ) but on acquiring leads and buyers . This idea can seem counterintuitive , but keep in mind that customer and lead acquisition is different from monetization . These two campaign types have different goals , tactics , and metrics .
Most of the campaigns that you create to acquire new leads and customers can also work to activate leads and buyers who have never purchased from you , or haven ’ t purchased from you in a while . We refer to campaigns like this as Activation campaigns . A healthy business has a large number of recent and , if applicable , frequent buyers . Deploying campaigns to activate dormant subscribers and buyers is a good use of time and effort . We tell you more about the types of offers that can activate these leads and buyers in Chapter 3 .