Audience Needs & Values
Key numbers (at least for those of us who are numerically inclined) tend to stay in one’s mind. That’s the problem with pseudo-numbers. We may first see them with flashing warning lights (such as “X% at a 95% confidence level”), but the caveats fade and the numbers remain when the numbers are public and it's election season.
Mass marketers embarking on a big campaign start with television and then move on to social media. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are no longer merely afterthoughts, but they are not typically the centerpiece for the effort except for smaller brands targeting younger people. And, while we have a lot of brands that are and always were Internet-focused (Amazon, E-Trade and Facebook itself come to mind), we don’t yet have m-brands, but we will.
One of my recent posts was about the virtues of not targeting because we don’t do it particularly well and actionably enough. I am content with that perspective – for brands that are built and budgeted to sell millions of units each year.
But, what about smaller brands?
You might think that the key to understanding how people feel about their health care would be about outcomes – did the doctor and/or nurse take care of what ailed the patient? However, as a recent HawkPartners’ survey discovered, the lowest ratings of health care providers are on being “genuine” and “concerned.”
Targeting is the key to good marketing. Figuring out who to appeal to is often the critical ingredient to a successful campaign.
The target specification is always there – in media buys, in research specs, in strategic plans. There is always a demographic aspect and often a behavioral one. Sometimes there are attitudes or psychographics. A great deal of thought and research dollars go into these decisions…and yet, how sound is the thought?
Who owns the brand?
I have been looking at this issue from the perspective of the media coverage, which focuses on the marketing and communications aspects in the age of social media. Any consumer can put your brand in the spotlight and often does so in a negative way after a bad experience. The examples are legion – starting with angry cable subscribers and PC buyers.
Reading The Culture Cycle (by James Heskett), an excellent and interesting book, reminded me of the overarching importance of a business’ culture in maintaining success – or not.
This is definitely the year in which introducing ads before the Super Bowl has exploded. Before the advent of social media, the idea was to keep your Super Bowl ad secret and advertisers who simply aired a pre-existing ad were generally panned.
While the focus on the Super Bowl will continue this week, I thought that, as Florida finishes voting, the ever-changing sentiment of voters in this election year offers a really interesting comparison between polling/research and social media monitoring.
The drum beat is starting. As the NFL Playoffs progress, The Super Bowl ad game is really getting into gear.
As social media have grown, marketers have been using that platform to build engagement and to broaden their Super Bowl effort beyond a broadcast ad and attendant PR.