Keep The Focus On The Business’ Consumer
Re purposed from Brittany Ainslie, Consumer Behavior Analyst at Center For Sales Strategy.
Do you know who your target customer is? Or how about your “heavy users”? Not just their age & income, but lifestyles of what they like and don’t like.
Many advertisers are stuck in a mentality of simply reaching an antiquated demo; like Adults 25-54, Men 18-34, etc. Unfortunately, reaching a basic demographic does not always yield results.
This is where market research comes in to play. If your company subscribes to some type of qualitative or market research data, you’re in a good position to combat this mindset and get your results which equals increased sales. The key is not just having research but also knowing how to use it!
An example is – let’s say you’re a Chiropractor or an ad agency working with one. You may find yourself resorting to a basic ratings ranker to see how a select media audience ranks within the general age target demo. Maybe you take it a step further and also rank the audience according to the qualifier of “used a chiropractor in the past year”. Use such as this is common. However, there is a more effective way to use research.
Instead, identify who the chiropractor’s consumer is by going beyond a basic demo to look at things such as: household characteristics, entertainment preferences, activities, presence of insurance, digital habits, and whatever else might seem relevant to a chiropractor.
Then take the research a step further and look for similarities among chiropractic consumers and the audience of the media being considered to match up to the most appropriate audience. For example a chiropractor might want to know:
- Are they busy, employed and likely to have insurance?
- Active and therefore likely to get injured?
- Do they have children in the home? Are they married?
- Do they like attending professional sporting events?
- Are they tech-savvy and always on their smartphone or tablets?
All are examples of characteristics that will help paint a truer picture of this consumer… and show how you might reach them.
Harnessing research tools not only give a business a truer picture about their target consumer, it in understanding who the heavy user is in your market.
If you don’t have research resources, ask a vendor. Suppliers and manufacturers often have reports on their specific industry. And John Griffin of Radio-Indiana.com has access to various research information services and can customize findings for you.