Do you have accurate and timely consumer data? That’s great. If you’re using data only to inform decisions on how and where to reach your prospects, you are making a costly mistake.
In marketing today, we often find ourselves the beneficiaries of an embarrassment of riches when it comes to consumer data. We know how and when to reach individual consumers, at different junctures in their purchasing journey, with a precision not even dreamed of a generation ago. With all the technology, analysis, and investment put into acquiring this cornucopia of data are we using it to its full advantage? If it’s not guiding us to craft strong messages appropriate to each medium, then the answer is no.
Data can inform targeted messages by identifying your ideal consumer
Good marketing does little more than put the right message in front of the right audience at the right time. Many marketers do a great job accomplishing the second and third items on that list but don’t spend the appropriate time and effort on the first. They have to analyze the data at hand to make some determinations about their customer that informs the pitch.
- Get to know the potential buyers.
- How do they want to feel?
- What are they looking for?
- What are they expecting from the product or service?
- What do they care about the most?
Know the customer? Now find the insight
The idea of an insight sounds complicated, but it is usually a simple thing. It’s just a correlation between the product and the things the customer cares about or is motivated by. Every great advertising campaign is based on an insight into how consumers relate to a product or service.
In 1993 the California Milk Processor Board approached ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, looking for a campaign that would increase sales. Agency researcher Jon Steel asked a focus group not to drink milk for one week, hoping to gain insight into milk-drinking habits. The following transpired.
One man relayed his experience of coming downstairs to the kitchen in the morning before work, pouring out his cereal, slicing bananas on top of it, and then remembering his promise of abstinence. An ethical dilemma arose, the man later admitted to Steel. Would he use milk and simply lie to the rest of the focus group? Or would he throw out the cereal? Worse yet, would he eat the cereal without milk?
That insight, that people think most about milk when they run out of it, inspired the Got Milk? campaign that became advertising legend, entered the pop culture, and sold a lot of liquid bovine secretion.
In retrospect, the idea sounds obvious. Then again, no one had ever sold milk this way before.
In the 1980s, Michelin was looking to grow sales of its line of premium tires. The research identified a demographic group inclined to spend top dollar on products: parents, especially new parents. What better way to justify a purchase of Michelin tires than the welfare of their children? That insight became the tagline, Because so much is riding on your tires. The line and the Michelin baby positioned them as the premier tire brand for people who want the best for their kids. It made Michelin the No. 1 premium tire brand in the United States for over 10 years.
A simple idea can empower your marketing campaign
These are two splendid examples of market-changing consumer insights. Every product or service has something that makes it relevant and meaningful to your target consumer. Find that nugget of truth, and you can make the most of every data point you collect and supercharge your marketing efforts.
BDEX endows your marketing with the power and depth of human connectivity. Call 917-410-6616 or contact us to learn how marketing solutions from BDEX can help you reach your ideal consumer with a message that will resonate and move them.
