Most strategists, even people who are not marketing experts, are very familiar with the marketing funnel. Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action is typically one of the key frameworks of Marketing 101. And it is still being closely followed today. The 2002 book Building the Brand-Driven Business by Scott Davis, Michael Dunn and David Aaker offers an alternative construct – the brand touchpoint wheel. Davis, Dunn and Aaker are all three partners in the strategic branding and marketing consulting firm Prophet, so they know what they are talking about.
The brand touchpoint wheel distinguishes three phases in the marketing, purchasing and customer relationship process: pre-purchase (awareness, interest, consideration), purchase (trial, purchase, repeat), and post-purchase (loyalty, advocacy). The picture above shows a number of tools and tactics that can be used in each of the three phases. But the interesting aspect of this framework is that it is not only useful for tactical consideration. It informs strategy as well as tactics and campaigns, it works for B2C and B2B situations, and it’s applicable to both products and services.