Rethink Your Audiences Then Target Messages Precisely to Them
Most marketers have a pretty good idea of who they want to target, and have long focused their efforts on segments that traditionally represented the lion’s share of their business. For the food industry, it’s always been mothers with kids; for travel businesses, empty nesters; for life insurance firms, first-time parents. But now with the world on pause, we’ve been given a chance to take another look - to consider groups who might have not made the cut in the past, but who for the next few weeks or months, with the right messaging, may prove very promising indeed.
Unbeknownst to them, the news media, with their 24/7 coverage of Coronavirus, are helping us uncover some great opportunities. It’s up to us, as ingenious business people, to connect the dots. Say you’re a food marketer. You know half your customers are working at home - mums and dads trapped, ‘round the clock, with bored, hungry kids. You see an opportunity to steal share from your competition, so who do you go after - mums, as usual? Probably not - they’re trying hard to keep order in the midst of chaos, so will be less likely to try new things. Kids themselves? The last thing parents are going to want to hear over and over is the line “Mum, dad, can weee get…” No, the most receptive segment will probably be dads. Yes, dads - in the time of home quarantining, there are reports that men have taken up the slack and are doing much more of the family grocery shopping. Appeal to dad the hero - not only is he going out and braving the virus to put food on the table (and get a few moments of peace and quiet out of the house), but he’s bringing home wonderful, delicious new treats!
Stories about millennials partying on the beach and ignoring the need for social distancing suggest they, and not their parents, may be the first people to travel when things start to normalise. Many will have recovered from mild cases of the virus, and being immune, won’t be afraid to fly. And for those who’ve kept working at good jobs, but were stuck home with no place to spend their money, paying for it won’t be an issue. Savvy travel marketers could market 'Boomer-free' vacations to them in coming-sooner-then-you-think September and October.
Age reversal may work in insurance as well. Marketers in that industry usually write off the over 60 crowd when it comes to life policies, but Coronavirus, which is much more likely to take people over 60 than under, may make this group a more appealing target. As virus-related deaths grow, and people lose friends and relatives, they will become more aware of their own mortality, and may start to think about how well insured they really are. Add in a global recession and tanking 401(k) portfolios, and many will be deferring retirement, and in need of the income protection for survivors that life insurance offers.
The endless coverage of the pandemic isn’t all bad news. With a little creative thinking, there are lots of positive opportunities to be found. We’d love to help you brainstorm - with video services like Zoom and Google Hangouts, we don’t even have to be in the same room. Give the kids some brownies, close the door, and give us a call.
