Who, What, Where, When, Why, Which and How? These are recognizable words that formulate any conceivable question. Each of these words can represent a piece of a larger marketing puzzle. Who should I target with my product? When should I speak to my target? What will I say to them? Reflex Blu asks all the right questions and provides the answers you need to create and implement marketing campaigns that get results.
Systematic results tracking shows that identifying the correct “who” accounts for at least 55% of solving the marketing puzzle. Getting the who correct is the critical first step of a successful initiative.
Who?
Who should you market to? The targets that will bring you the most return of course! Considering that in most cases, less than 22% of your customers will account for over 77% of your profit, it is critical to identify those core customers and capture as much information as possible about the specific traits that point to their profitability. With that intel in your pocket, you are ready to smartly grow your customer relationships through cross-sell efforts and expand your customer base through prospecting. Even though the methodology is straightforward, it takes a seasoned partner to actually apply this in your marketing efforts.
Are you focusing on WHO to target with your marketing?
What?
What products should you offer? People are bombarded with thousands of messages each week. To trigger consumption, you have to zero in and hammer home the right offer to the right person. Linking products and services accurately to satisfy individual demands is made possible by developing a segment-to-product propensity matrix. Put simply: you can use your own data, additional data, research and logic to create a systematic approach that links offers to segments based on what produces the best ROI. As purchasing tendencies change, it is important to continue capturing consumption information to ensure that you are presenting your best offers to the right people.
Are you offering WHAT each of your customer segments needs or desires?
54: The types of tooth paste at my grocery store. Teeth whitening, enamel building, breath freshening, and oh yeah teeth cleaning are all product claims. Packaging ranges from old fashion tubes to bullet like hard plastic cases with pumps and many variations in between. For toothpaste? If you don’t think that product evolution and repositioning is important in America, you might want to rethink. The customization demand of products and services has created an immense amount of products and services to be offered. Building a product propensity matrix allows you to get the right what to the right who.
2: The number of times I eat out each day during the week. I am wondering why no one texts me at 11 and 3:30 as food comes to my mind. If you work for a restaurant chain, let’s talk about how we can do just that together. If you don’t work for a restaurant, then let’s work through the process of identifying buying windows together for your products and services.
When?
When should you market? Understanding past buying trends and building prime marketing windows is a wise thing to do. With customers’ attention spans and consumption windows becoming more reflexive and immediate, it is critical to be the one with a worm on your hook and have it in the water when the fish get hungry. Communicating to your customers when they are actually considering the products and services you provide is one of the most important facets of marketing today. If you think about it, there are hundreds of examples that justify consumption-time-frame marketing. Search engines are training the world to evaluate products during the buying process when traditionally those decisions were made well before.
Do you market WHEN you are ready to or WHEN your customers are considering your products and services?
Where?
Where do people consume? Where do they live? Where do they work? Marketing that caters to geographic consumption trends is becoming more critical as the demand for convenience soars. Store placement, web interfaces and distribution networks are essential ingredients in baking a successful marketing cake. Segmentation systems linked to geographically-populated segments have made this job pretty easy to do once they are understood.
Do you know WHERE your customers live and consume?
88: The percentage of household budgets spent by consumers within a 10 minute drive time of their house, workplace and paths that connect the two. Understanding where people live, work and consume are critical.
1: Some say one is the loneliest number. We say it also signifies the best of breed and a uniqueness. Can you clearly state why customers choose you without repeating some company prepared propaganda?
Why?
Why will people be more attracted to your brand than your competitors? An inside-out audit of your brand and organizational ability to meet your brand promise is rewarding. If done correctly, you will discover and be able to deploy your unique buying proposition (UBP). Your UBP is what makes you special, and discovering your UBP among your most profitable customer segments through data analytics and surveys is money well spent. A well defined, unique buying proposition is the critical foundation to expressing the personality of your organization and is a key ingredient to brand strength.
Do you know WHY your customers choose you?
Which?
Which media channels should you use? On average, it takes three to seven touches through various media channels to move a person from a neutral purchasing mentality to a favorable one. Using multiple channels that cater to specific segments is prudent. We call it synchronized-multi-leveraging. Understanding the dynamics of message consumption by particular segments and linking that back to your communication initiatives is a critical step in the marketing process. As channels multiply, the ability to manage contact effectiveness across media channel touch points is essential. The good news is there are several resources that link your customer database to media consumption tendency intelligence of the American population.
Are you speaking through the channels to WHICH your customers listen?
13: The number of marketing channels that reached into my house in the early 1970’s. To communicate with us you could market to us with in store POS, call our land line, come by our house, or broadcast through 1 of 5 TV channels, 1 of 3 FM stations or choose between 1 of the 2 am stations we received. It blows my mind how much communication has changed when you contrast that with what is going on in 2011. When you throw in all channels within channels and count: blogs, websites, social websites, XM radio, cable, satellite TV and the other traditional routes there are literally tens of thousands of channels. Systematically approaching the use of these channels based on data seems rather wise.
247: The number of commercial messages the average American is exposed to daily according to Consumer Reports. When you get your shot it has to be on point!
How?
How do you speak to your customers and prospects? Is it conversational or a hard sell? How you speak in terms of tone and pace is a huge part of endearing people to your brand. Linking your own data to information like Simmons Life-styler reports can help to develop a rich understanding of consumer preferences by examining their hobbies, interests and convictions. A better understanding of a household’s personality will allow you to know how you should communicate with them.
Does your marketing speak HOW it should?
