You may already be familiar with the customer buying process – the steps your customers take on the way to purchasing your product or service. At each stage, marketers are looking to ease potential customers towards the ideal outcome – a checkout. However, doing so can be easier said than done, and can pose a challenge for your communications. Let’s dig into the first stage of the customer buying process and take a look at how you can do it right.
This is the first in a series of blogs that will explore the right types of content for each step, to help you lead an interested individual down the path to becoming a brand champion.
What is customer problem recognition?
Problem recognition is the point at which a potential customer realises they need or want a product or service. It’s the first step in the buying process and one of the most important. If your customer doesn’t need or want a product or service, you’ll have a hard time making a sale.
Problem recognition is also often out of the control of marketers, as it could be generated by something as automatic as thirst making an individual need a bottle of water. And with the digital landscape of 2025 more flooded with marketing content than before, it can feel like an uphill task to try and generate problem recognition. However, that doesn’t mean marketers are completely powerless either. Let’s take a look at two ways marketers can stoke problem recognition.
How-to and explainer videos
Your customers might already have a need – they just may not have realised it yet. So, by showing your product or service in the context of their life, you can help them realise what you offer and how it can help.
One way of doing this is a how-to or explainer video that acts as a demo to your product or show off your expertise. By clearly showing how to overcome the same problem customers are facing, you can show how your product solves it. If it relates to them, they’ll likely be interested in the solution which involves taking the next step – information search. Take a look at how this video from Dropbox effectively signposts visitors towards its YouTube channel, using a simple, real-world case study.
Testimonials
Testimonials may be effective at convincing a customer to choose your product or service over a rival’s, but they’re also good for helping them recognise a problem they have. Just like a how to or explainer video, testimonials put a product or service in the context of a real-world situation, which your customers can relate to. They will recognise that they face the same problem as the buyer, and with your help, they can overcome it.
Importantly, the opinion of a genuine buyer is a lot more convincing than most sales messaging. By publishing testimonials that demonstrate how what you are selling solved a problem, you have a very powerful tool that can both create need and promote the brand.
A testimonial received from RBB Economics after we’d delivered a messaging workshop and copywriting support shows this clearly. It’s not only flattering, but explains how we focused their thoughts on where the company was going and how they wanted to be perceived. This simple message can be all that is needed to make similar firms sit up and take notice of their own written communications requirements:
“Stratton Craig really helped us to focus our thoughts on where we’re going and how we want to be perceived. They led us through a really engaging and valuable self-assessment process, and then converted this experience into some really excellent key messaging and value propositions. The brochure and web content they crafted was spot-on and expertly captured who we are and what we do. A great service all round.”
These are just two types of content that can help prompt your audience to recognise and understand their needs, which is the first step on the way to making a purchase. After identifying a problem, the next task is to search for information on how it can be solved – and you can find more information about that here.
Want to find out more about how we can help your copy land with your customers? Get in touch today.
