Mad 4 Blog

Big Brother isn’t just watching you. He’s also trying to sell you something.

A 2009 survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley found that two-thirds of participants opposed the idea of targeted ads. And it’s no longer about you falling into a general category and being sent ads that are geared toward your group. Today, it’s about advertising that’s specifically chosen just for you — well, at least the portrait of you that your collective data and user patterns online indicate.

An article posted last week in the New York Times showed that people’s attitudes toward personalized ads don’t come from the ad content itself. It’s not the fact that people are seeing more that intelligently caters to their interests. The problem is how it makes them feel about the companies behind those ads — the ones that would spend thousands of dollars buying personal information about an audience in order to cater marketing to them. They don’t want to click on ads for or otherwise support companies who would stoop to that level in order to contact them and presume their interest. People largely oppose the idea of having their information used to define and target them — regardless if it makes their online experience more targeted to their interests.

The article focused on the fact that a whopping 86% of respondents in a study at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania oppose political messages coming to them based on such factors as their voter registration, party affiliation, location and everyday interests. In an election year, campaigns are more than ever relying on “microtargeting” to show ads for or against candidates are based on who these marketers think you’ll elect. And that’s entirely derived from your demographics and the data you input over time on the Web. But 64% of those surveyed said they would directly rebel against any candidate who stumped their votes by buying prepackaged information about them.

Some Internet privacy watchdog groups are clamoring for more visible opt-out clauses and greater regulations regarding how websites collect and share data. On the other hand, some people interviewed said that they didn’t mind the hyper-personalized ads, as long as the means of gathering and storing data was transparent and ethical.

So what do you think? Are we entering an era of tailoring our advertising too much?

Baby Boomers make up a significant portion of the American population – and they represent an important, niche demographic for marketers. Comprised of about 76 million individuals born after World War II and before 1964, these individuals collectively represent more than half of the nation’s consumer spending.

Granted, that’s a wide margin of ages. The key points are that 30% of Americans are older than 50 and that this segment of the population began retiring as early as 2007. By and large, they have access to significant disposable resources.

What’s also important to note is the fact that Baby Boomers are expected to be the first recent generation to enjoy an extended lifespan, as compared to their predecessors. This means that there are entire additional years of a potential relationship between you and your consumer. It also means that these clients will have an impact on the economy for a long time yet to come, and their choices will leave a mark on future generations of business as well. Middle age and even retirement may be just the beginning of a new chapter, bringing new needs and priorities to the foreground for a vast population.

Some industries may be especially in tune with the needs of an elderly generation or offer products that have a longer-term appeal. In this case, understanding what Baby Boomers want and what they respond to is especially vital. But really, there’s cause for every company to look at how its products or services can benefit this vast audience.

Here are a few tactics for advertising to Baby Boomers:

1. Discuss health benefits. Baby Boomers are very concerned with their ongoing health. This means making plans now as a preemptive measure as well as securing plans and strategies for the future.

2. Emphasize family values. Family is another strong value for this demographic. Many Baby Boomers have many siblings and went on to have large families as well. You can construct emotion-based messages that explain how your business can promote familial closeness or make someone’s home life better. Explaining benefits for kids, grandkids and future generations can be useful.

3. Share a positive message. Baby Boomers are known for having a positive outlook toward the future. So despite any current climates, such as the present economy, marketing an investment toward a more positive future will resonate with this audience.

4. Make it worth sharing. Don’t discount these middle-aged adults in terms of social networking. True, they might be slightly less inclined to make your message go viral online once they’ve used your brand. But Baby Boomers are very likely to recommend trusted companies to their friends and families.

Last week, we discussed Personalization within the framework of your business. Today, we’re identifying ways to personalize your services for customers/clients. This means treating those you’re contacting as if they’re your only audience (not one of a large group) while showing them that you appreciate their business – even if they haven’t elected to use you yet. Top ways to build a relationship in this respect are learning all about the person you’re addressing and then utilizing personal info (names, preferences) to tailor your advertising to them. And then, once they choose to use you, you can also tailor their experience to fulfill their expectations as well.

1. Create personality templates. From the beginning, you don’t necessarily know enough about a person’s preferences to specifically aim your marketing tactics toward him or her. But you can begin by looking at an overview of demographics from previous sales and beginning to come up with profiles about the kind of people who are using your business. You can break this info down into core categories and then target your marketing toward them. For example, Customer A is a Caucasian unmarried male aged 18-35; Customer B is a middle-aged woman with children or grandchildren who she often considers when buying products or services. You can start multiple campaigns that speak to these people as specifically as possible, which is a way of personalizing your marketing without yet having individual information.
2. Learn all about your audience. The next thing you want to do is gather as much information as possible from the people who are most likely to use your products or services. You should always have a newsletter/mailing list form on your website so that those who are interested can pass you their data. You can hold a sweepstakes that asks candidates to fill out info about themselves, conduct anonymous polling or solicit voluntary info at point of sale. Ask Mad 4 Marketing about other techniques to gather information and apply it toward your advertising efforts.
3. Personalize all forms of contact. Once you have a person’s specific information – based not only on info they’ve provided about themselves but also analytics of their interactions with your brand – you should begin directing your marketing to them specifically. E-mails should incorporate their names. Flyers and mailers should reflect their previous interactions with you and direct them to similar items they might like or need. Be sure to remind them of what they liked in the past about your company. And continuously ask for feedback to learn more about what you can do to improve their experience with your company.

Next week our three-part series concludes with some tips about Transparency.

Last week, we introduced the concept of emerging adulthood as defined and extrapolated upon in a New York Times article by Robin Marantz Henig. The term was created by psychology professor Jeffrey Jensen Arnett to describe the extended growing-up process that’s undergone by today’s youth between late teen years until about age 30.

This week we ask: How does all of this relate to marketing?

Well, of course marketers are always keen to target their most responsive audiences. By defining and addressing key demographics, communication can be established and long-term relationships can begin to develop. By being among the first to acknowledge and identify this life stage, marketers can smartly adapt campaigns to speak directly to emerging adults, rather than lump them into an adulthood group with those over 18 and younger than 45.

Originally surmised by psychologist Kenneth Kensington in the 1960s, and confirmed today by Arnett’s findings, characteristics of the late teens to late twenties age group include: “pervasive ambivalence toward self and society,” “the feeling of absolute freedom, of living in a world of pure possibilities” and “enormous value placed upon change, transformation and movement.” Taking into consideration the unique traits, behaviors and needs that define this niche group, marketers can best speak to emerging adults on their own terms.

And it isn’t like scientists discovered an over-the-hill life stage for those aged 45-55. This new class of individuals is just out of high school or college, and marketers who get a grasp on emerging adulthood have the chance to severely impact overall success in terms of brand relationships. Because generations are also now living longer than ever before, securing a bond with customers and clients while they’re in their youth means potential connections for at least another half-century–if not more.

This is especially underscored by the fact that emerging adulthood is being significantly defined by the 20-somethings perspective on their life’s direction, ambitions and their own personal future–and by reaching them in this forming, malleable state, it gives marketers a lot more room and flexibility to begin conversations than with another age group–which, when younger, may change several times before picking one path…or may, when older, be fixed on one path or idea and refuse to budge at all.

Of course, it needs to be said that “emerging adult” has not yet entered the psychological or sociological vernacular; in fact, several scientists contest that it can’t be considered a valid life stage until it’s ubiquitous, a necessary status that all persons must pass through to become adults–regardless of background, economy, generation and other variables. But for the smart marketer, keeping an eye on such trends that are, well, emerging, is just one way to keep understanding and serving your audience—while getting an edge on the competition. And while we’re talking about staying ahead of the curve, may we at Mad 4 Marketing be the first to progressively suggest the nickname “e-dult”?

So, we’ve already discussed a few reasons and ways to monitor audience responsiveness. But once you’ve got yourself set up in that regard, there’s a more advanced step that you should implement. And that’s creating a customer profile (or set of profiles) by which to base your next campaign strategies. This is just one way to analyze and then apply the information that you’re collecting in an organized and practical way.

This step comes into play once enough data is collected to start drawing parallels and noticing trend-based patterns (perhaps six months to one year after you start). What you’ll want to do is come up with one baseline model–or preferably, a few model types–based on how customers/clients/audiences are buying and using your products or services. Depending on your business and how divisions fall among those who interact with it, you can create very generic models–such as female/male–or create entire baseline characters, such as the buyer who is under 30 years of age but married with a household income of more than $100,000. Or individuals who shop before 5pm. Or some other kind of category that is unique to your business and exhibited in repeat behaviors.

This will also depend on what kind of information you can derive from the types of marketing you’re monitoring and analyzing. Using as many stats and demographics as you have access to can lead to more tedious but more beneficial profiling overall. Tracking should also take into account the beginning, middle and late stages of each model type’s interaction with your brand. You definitely want to acknowledge ways that behaviors change with time and figure out why. Then you can incorporate how you’d like to ideally see relationships develop–based on realistic, data-backed prospects.

Many businesses dread the idea of marketing their wares through sales prospecting, such as cold calls and blind mailings. And they should, because the first mistake is thinking of sales prospecting as its own solution, rather than a strategy which paves the way for future marketing endeavors. Sales prospecting is not a way to tell someone for the first time about your company with the hopes of completing an instantaneous transaction. It’s a way to introduce yourself and your brand so that a potential relationship can be built. But more importantly, it’s a way to weed out interested parties from those who are never going to become customers, so that you don’t waste marketing efforts on them in the future. This can help you further tailor your next efforts and potentially cut costs by only marketing to those who will likely convert to sales.

1)    Start with demographics. When you begin calling or mailing individuals to whom you’d like to make sales, you’re usually working from a contact information list. You can choose your contacts based on general demographics such as region, income, age, marital status, etc. When choosing these factors, you’ll want to be sure to cover not only those characteristics which match your current audience, but also those who you’d like to reach out to with later marketing endeavors. A marketing team who will manage your materials and your campaign once you pass the preliminary sales prospecting point can help you determine which audiences will be most responsive to your efforts.

2)    Sort out the best candidates. Sales prospecting will help you go through your list of contacts and narrow them down to those most likely to build a relationship with your business or make purchases. When you think about sales prospecting as a means to whittle down your wide ocean of prospects to a smaller pond, you can change your entire outlook on the process. While it can be frustrating to consistently receive rejections and not make any sales after hours on the phone, when you adjust your mentality so that you’re simply targeting those who are interested for later marketing, sales prospecting will go a lot more smoothly.

3)    Give them all of the information they need. Once you’ve determined that someone may be interested in what you’re offering, the next step is still not to harass them about sales. Rather than completing a transaction, make it your goal to obtain further information from each person, and then reciprocate by providing them with even more information about your company through the mail, e-mail or even your website. Once you’ve broached a relationship with a prospective client, you’ll want to let them familiarize even more with your brand so that they become comfortable with the idea of using you in the future. You’ll also want to target future marketing to this individual to gradually coax them into sales. Individuals will appreciate the fact that you aren’t badgering them into an agreement right away, but rather allowing them to learn more and make a choice on their own.

4)    Follow-up. It may be tricky just to sit on your hands while an interested party makes up their mind about your business. But just because you’re not jumping at them with sales and deals doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to prompt them. In fact, you definitely should not lapse in keeping contact with anyone who’s expressed interest in your products or services. Follow-up is a key component of sales prospecting. After sending out some materials about your business, you’ll want to reach out again to be sure they’ve received those materials and find out what they think. At this point, your agenda is to perpetuate a dialogue and make sure that your prospect has everything they need to make a decision. This is why it’s a great idea to encourage individuals to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your company’s blog. It’s one way to naturally integrate ongoing communications without putting your candidate on speed-dial.

5)    Use marketing to supplement your efforts. After you’ve completed all of the previous steps, you should be working with a tidy list of individuals with proven, expressed interest in your business. The next step is to market to those individuals as part of an effort to build brand awareness and invite them to complete conversions through your company. This is the time to offer unique creative to keep them enthused about using your business in particular, as compared to your competitors. You may also want to now supply sale rates and special offers to further prompt your target into action. Because they’re already been in touch with a representative from your company and have already become familiar with how your business works and what you can offer, closing the deal is that much easier. Plus, after all of your hard work you don’t have to waste more expensive marketing tactics on the original broad list of candidates. You’re now saving money by marketing to those who are most likely to become long-term customers. Best of all, because you bided your time and let them make the choice to use you on their own—so they’ll even think it was all their idea!