Direct mail marketing or email marketing. Which should i be choosing for my business?
December 6, 2021If your marketing isn’t working it’s probably something to do with your ‘buyer personas’…
Ever wondered why your marketing isn’t working? There could be a multitude of reasons, but in today’s blog I wanted to bring your attention to the subject of your target customer(s). Often adverts fail when they don’t address the needs of their target market and /or don’t carry a relatable message.
This being said we don’t really call them ‘target customers’ anymore. The modern term is ‘buyer personas’.
When you’re planning your next flyer, poster, advertorial or brochure, don’t just put together something at random that incorporates your logo or brand identity.
Whilst it’s always essential to have both of these, they shouldn’t be the cornerstone of your message. And if your message is all about how great you are and not about addressing your buyer persona’s needs then it is likely to miss the mark.
Identifying your buyer persona(s)
First question to ask is : how many buyer personas am I trying to target?
Do I have one ideal customer or more than one? Make a list
To understand that buyer persona better, now place yourself in their shoes. If you have past customers, this process is easier. Otherwise try to make assumptions based on what you think your ideal customer is. Here’s some guiding questions:
- Am I male or female?
Traditionally there are distinct gender colours : pink for females and blue for males.
But studies of people of all ages over the years (which go back to as early as the 1800s) point to different conclusions. Some say that there’s no difference between the sexes when it comes to colour favoritism.
However there are plenty of studies that do point towards colour biases.
It has been found that females prefer warm colours, whereas men prefer cooler hues. A study by Burkitt et al in 2003 of 330 UK school children demonstrated a clear preference of girls for the colours pink, purple and red.
2. What is my cultural background?
The tone of voice you use and even the colour palette should be taken into consideration when looking at the buyer persona’s cultural identity. Green and gold are good luck colours for Australians, whereas the Chinese consider red to be lucky. When it comes to tone of voice, some cultures are more individualistic so would respond better to language in the first person ‘I’. Other cultures foster a sense of community and therefore would prefer a ‘we’ approach.
3. How old am I?
Millenials are incredibly ‘media savvy’ and don’t like being sold to. They respond well to informative content, or something that entertains them!
Don’t assume that the only way to reach millennials is through digital marketing either. They are growing increasingly self-aware of the negative impacts of social media on their mental health.
Something like a brochure or postcard is ‘non-intrusive’; they can look at it once and come back to it whenever they feel like it. It’s not constantly in their instagram feed or following them around the internet. A recent study showed that between 82 and 92% of young adults and teenagers were influenced by something they saw in print. Most of them will then go and look online, so it’s important that your marketing has a follow through in a digital format. Make it clever, funny or a conversations starter and this really big buying group will take a photo of your print advert and start sharing it on their socials.
Marketing to the 50+ age group does require some unique criteria. Make it reader friendly (fonts that aren’t illegible and don’t get lost in the background colour), include FAQS if possible and be sensitive around the subject of their age. Focus on value for money and quality rather than discounting. They do have the greatest wealth of all the age groups and are also perhaps the most discerning with their purchases.
4. What are my pain points? (Back to my opening point…)
Nowadays advertising across the age groups must respond to the needs of the buyer persona. What are their needs or pain points? How does your product solve their issues?
If you have past customers, conduct a survey to find out more about what they want/desire. Look at what your competitors are doing right. How can you incorporate this into your marketing without blatantly copying it?
If you found this information useful, but are too time poor to do it yourself or if you’re new to marketing and feel overwhelmed, then get in contact with us. We are here to help you from conceptualization to design, print and mailout of your marketing materials.
Sources:
*1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4311615/
*3 https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-to-millennials
*4 https://www.instantprint.co.uk/printspiration/be-inspired/marketing-with-print-to-millennials
