How does the Adoption model relate to marketing strategy?

Firstly, the behavioural science and data that supports the adoption model in innovation is certainly not isolated to the acquisition of technology alone.

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Anyone that has used psycho-metrics and behavioural assessments will know that we are intrinsically wired to behave in certain ways. Our personalities and decision making always gravitates to certain characteristics and personality types.

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Some people are more introverted or extroverted, others are risk takers, while some people are more cautious, and some of us are natural innovators? and visionaries, while others are followers or procrastinators and slow to respond.

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So what does this have to do with marketing strategy?

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If you are familiar with the benefits of segmentation, and personalisation in marketing, understanding your ideal client profile and buyer personas, then understanding the psyche behind your target audience can have many benefits and help to drive better decision making and ultimately outcomes within our marketing content and conversations.

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I find that it helps to think about how the value proposition subtly changes for each different persona, in alignment to each stage of the buying cycle.

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Let’s start with visionaries and innovators. These people will take action ahead of the need to do so, if they believe that a product or solution has the potential to work better and place them ahead of the competition. Their decision making risk profile is aligned to high risk - high rewards. As prospects for your business, they don’t necessarily need to be in a buying cycle, because they are always open minded to making strategic improvements and adjustments before they become a necessity. However, you will need to satisfy a specific set of criteria to persuade them to buy from you.

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Selling solutions to this audience requires a considered approach, that advocates the short, medium and longer term value in pivoting to your solution before anyone else does and before they actually need to. They take a great deal of personal satisfaction in being the first to market with anything, and this is key to the marketing strategy that you will need to adopt if you want to win their business. These people were probably among the first people to buy an electric car, even before it was totally practical to do so.

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Let’s jump to the other end of the spectrum and consider the laggards or procrastinators. These people are highly resilient to change, to the point of being stubborn and will often wait until they are in crisis before being forced to do so. They adopt a conscious or subconscious denial of what is actually happening to them and what is going on around them. These prospective customers need much more hand holding through the sales cycles, assurances and are more likely to be driven by cost, even when its blatantly obvious that the change will bring significant commercial improvements in its own right.

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Early adopters are less risk averse, but like to see some evidence of early success. Their innate fear of loss or FOMO drives their behaviours, that are typically more cautious than the more cavalier innovators, but they are not averse to change and will pivot quickly, under the right conditions, if they believe it will give them the strategic edge, even when the evidence is mostly anecdotal and conceptual. They will make buying decisions ahead of the need to do so, if they believe the rewards are achievable and better than the current status quo and that help them get an edge over the competition. Early stage entrepreneurial companies and leaders who are on an aggressive growth journey are typical of this segment.

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Early majority and late majority adopters respond to more tangible evidence and more institutional type research, that validates the change is taking place. There is a lot of evidence to support that the majority of businesses and decision makers in these segments are more responsive when pitched in alignment to other influencing factors, such as poor recent results, contracts coming up for renewal, launch into new markets or products. It’s almost a case of, they know all about it, they know its going to happen, and they need something to push them over the line. If one or more of these additional elements are not in play, then the prospect is unlikely to be in or close to starting the buying cycle and will need educating early on in the awareness phase. Converting these prospects into customers, requires patience and long game to ensure that you are regularly engaging and nurturing that relationship until they do enter the buying cycle.

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Free trials to try buy alongside their current options and strong new customer deals can drive interest and decision making?within this segment, as can a stepped approach, that leads up to full adoption. These strategies can all help reduce the barriers to entry. Their caution tends to be aligned to timing too, especially if their existing services haven’t stopped working.

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Summary

Getting the nuances in your marketing messages, content and offerings right for each segment of business is undoubtedly challenging and when you bring behavioural science into play, it adds another layer to the complexity.

Any experienced marketer will tell you that nuance can be significant when it comes to results, and adapting the content, style and tone of your messages with each of these audiences in mind can be highly effective.

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I hope that you have found this article interesting and I am open to discussing this with anyone that is looking to apply this into the way they execute their lead generation strategy.

Happy to show anyone that is interested how we do it.

Just use my Calendly link below to find a time that suits.

Mark Stephens, Founding Director, BookMyDemos Limited

www.bookmydemos.com

[email protected]

https://calendly.com/mark-bmd

For anyone booking in a 30 minute call with me about BookMyDemos, i'm giving away 1000 FREE client prospect leads, freshly generated from within your ideal client profile, as a thank you.

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About the Author

Mark has been a business owner in the Marketing, HR and Recruitment space for over 25 years, founding five companies and exiting three.

His experience spans across Marketing and Recruitment Agency, developing Recruitment and HR Technology, and as a consultant and advisor to business and senior teams in both early stage technology and service companies.

Areas of expertise are across business technology, Sales Acquisition, Marketing and Lead Generation, growth strategy and scaling at pace, and in maximising company valuations.

Mark is obsessed by behavioural science, and data and research in the pursuit of optimising performance and excellence, at every stage of the buying and hiring cycle, and has worked alongside several universities and academics to uncover powerful insights, industry secrets, and the truth.....