Posts Tagged: Psychographics

Leadership — No Comments
9
Nov 09

7-Eleven Sells Wine?

Why walk into a 7-Eleven:

1) Morning coffee
2) Slurpee for hot days
3) Cheap beer for a party
4) Kitchen basics (bread, milk)
5) Wine for a romantic evening?

The convenience store known for their Slurpee is now going to be selling it’s own wine, Yosemite Road label. Fifteen thousand outlets will be offering the private label, “value” wine at $3.99 a bottle. What sparked this new wine venture? Was it misguided focus groups or a complete misread of the market?

First, look at how wine is purchased. If the wine is intended for a last minute pickup for diner, why not go to the liquor store where there is more of a selection? As there are not often many “beer stores,” picking up a six pack at 7 Eleven seems reasonable. There is a designated place for wine (a liquor store) and a designated place for beer (a convenience or grocery store).

Simply put: wine is not a convenience item. Therefore, for 7 Eleven will have to change the cultural image of wine as a whole in order to be successful. Quite a task for a convenience store, but more luck to them.

Marketing — No Comments
1
Nov 09

Alarm Clock and Understanding Your Audience

For my last birthday, I received an alarm clock with an iPod / iPhone dock so I could listen to music in the apartment (a CD player is as useful as an 8-track at this point). It had several great features including a play list alarm so I could wake up to my favorite song. It was what I wanted and so consequently, I stowed the other alarm.

In the move from Rochester to Philadelphia, I started using the other alarm clock — as the iPod clock was in storage. When I finally unpacked in Philadelphia, I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t want to use the iPod alarm clock. Then I realized the iPod alarm clock didn’t have the interface I needed in an alarm clock.

The old alarm clock had the information I needed. When the alarm was set, I could see the time. Ok, so it’s not 7:00pm. I couldn’t tell when the alarm was set with the iPod alarm clock. Therefore, had I taken a nap the previous day, the alarm clock wouldn’t tell me. There were two symbols (alarm 1, alarm 2) — nothing else.

Nothing is wrong with the iPod alarm clock. It suites the needs of its audience — primarily an mp3 player and an alarm secondly. I was a bad consumer. Really, I wanted an iPod doc, not an alarm clock. Therefore, I could have saved a few pennies and purchased the iPod doc separately.

So why am I blabbering on about my alarm clock? For marketers, though you might have mound of great data on your demo and pyschographics, you can never really know who they are. There are always going to be several customers that will tell you what they want, but in actuality, they have absolutely no idea.

Everyone has an opinion about paper towels, though we never actually think about paper towels until we 1) buy them or 2) they fall apart. Sure, I could tell you I enjoy the soft, quilted kind — that paper towel makes me feel nice inside, right? But really, I’ve never thought about paper towels before, therefore I really don’t have an opinion.

Understand that there are a couple of duds in your data and account for them. Not everyone has an opinion about your product, nor do they invest much emotion in them. I would be a liar if I told you I enjoy one paper towel brand over another. To me, it’s all the same.

Marketing — No Comments
28
Oct 09

Personifying your Audience

Think about some of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Roadrunner, etc. What do they all have in common? The cartoonists personified animals and even inanimate objects (think Spongebob) to make fun characters children grow up with.

All of us have a favorite cartoon character we loved as a kid. We could identify with them. Our parents bought us the stuffed animals, countless plastic toys and video games. We have an emotional connection to these characters.

Marketers can use the same principles that connected us with our favorite cartoons to better understand their target audience. Consider an organic soap company that wanted to target socially conscious Gen Yers. You could personify your demographic and psychographic by calling her Lili. Then you have to do some character-building. You can start macro with, where does she shop? What are her favorite brands? Is she single? And you can even project what she’s going to do: After she graduates, does she want to get married and have children or focus on her career? You can even get granular with it: does she ever wear high heels? Does she want a job wear she can wear jeans?

Think introspectively. As you consider how to define your audience character, what qualities define you? Are you laid back and enjoy wearing flip-flops in the office or are you a traditionalist and wear a suit?

Personifying your audience can help you build an emotional bond that will guide your marketing and branding efforts. Because you stop thinking about your audience as white, female, 17-32 and start having a relationship with them. Just as you know your father doesn’t like sweaters for Christmas, you will learn intuitively what your audiences likes and dislikes.

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