To Connect with Your Customers You Have to Know Them First
Dating someone is very similar to advertising. On a date, you are trying to make a connection with someone and learn the most about him or her so you can put your best foot forward.
Advertising works the same way. Marketers want to learn the most about their audience so they can create appealing advertising pieces. Marketers also need to know the websites their audience visits, how they search or find your product, and what they are saying about your product. To do this, it’s important to know and understand the intimate knowledge of your audience’s demographics and psychographics.
Many tools exist to help you understand your customers. They range from database appends to social monitoring to primary and secondary research. When used, they provide powerful insight into how your customer thinks, feels and acts, which can be translated into actionable marketing executions for your business.
Using GfK MRI data, we have profiled five different digital consumers and provided you with their demographics and behaviors. We hope the insight into these digital consumers will help you connect with your customers more effectively for greater return.
DANIELLE
MOSAIC USA SEGMENT: Dream Weavers
INCOME: $$$$$
LOCATION: Topeka, KS
EDUCATION: College degree
AGE: Middle-aged
FAMILY: Married with school-aged children
JOB: White collar information, finance & education
HOME VALUE/TYPE: Size is twice the national average
HOME LOCATION: New money subdivision
DEMOGRAPHICS
As a Dream Weaver, Danielle is among well-off families living an affluent, suburban version of the American Dream. She is likely to reside in new-money subdivisions, possess high income, hold a college degree and own a large house valued at more than twice the national average. Her household is likely to be a dual- income household that includes school-aged children. This middle- aged couple typically works as white-collar professionals in the information, finance and education industries.
LIFESTYLES
Danielle and her husband are deeply rooted in their suburban community. They are likely to belong to a church, parents/teachers association, art associations and business and country clubs. They rank at the top for donating money to charities. With their family, they lead active athletic lives and enjoy swimming, golfing and fitness walking.
Weekends find them on the hunt for family-friendly activities, such as visiting zoos, museums and bowling alleys. When they go shopping, they look for quality merchandise — no matter the price — at stores like Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale’s. These consumers try to keep up with the latest technological trends. To manage their money, they use a financial planner and invest in a variety of savings vehicles for college and retirement.
MEDIA
Danielle enjoys media that relates to her home and family, tuning in to cable networks like HGTV, the Food Network, and E! Entertainment. She reads a number of upscale shelter magazines, such as Architectural Digest, Traditional Home and Bon Appétit, as well as titles that appeal to her time-pressed, dual-income household, like Real Simple and Working Mother. With her longer- than-average commute, she listens to all news and news talk stations on the radio. Once Danielle sits down in front of a computer, it’s hard to tear her away from surfing the Internet. She is frequently online for email, news, shopping, stock trading and making travel arrangements.
LIKELY TOUCHPOINTS
Look At Me Now: To reach Danielle, communicate the strength and quality of your brand. Relationships and customer service are important to her, and face-to-face contact is a real plus. Promote quality and service aspects and award her with a trial offer to help establish confidence in product/service.
Work Hard, Play Hard: It is also important to highlight if your offer is new or cutting edge. Launch new products and services to catch Danielle’s attention. Reward her as an early adopter for being the first to take advantage, as this will help your communication peak her interest. Showcase cutting edge technology and premium high value offers.
JORGE & ANA
MOSAIC USA SEGMENT: Nuevo Hispanic Families
INCOME: $$
LOCATION: New York
EDUCATION: No college
AGE: Mid 30s
FAMILY: Large family with children of different ages
JOB: Construction laborer/retail clerk
HOME VALUE/TYPE: Low-rise apartment
HOME LOCATION: Working class with clusters of young Hispanic families
DEMOGRAPHICS
Jorge and Ana live among a cluster of young Hispanic family households living in a working-class neighborhood of New York. In their mid- 30s, Jorge and Ana have a large family with children of various ages in a comfortable low-rise apartment. Neither have a college education, but they earn a lower-middle income — Jorge working as a construction laborer, and Ana as a retail clerk. They frequently express the hope that they’ll be trading up soon to better jobs and bigger homes.
LIFESTYLES
With their modest educations and salaries, Jorge and Ana pursue an economical lifestyle. They lack the discretionary income for many leisure activities or vacation travel because they support family members. They’re avid fans of outdoor sports, especially soccer, basketball and baseball. As a family, they are frequent shoppers who like to browse stores patronizing retailers that sell athletic attire, such as Nike, Finish Line and Footlocker. Jorge likes to claim that they can afford to buy designer clothes; Ana chooses to shop at specialty stores where she can converse with knowledgeable clerks. Both want to stand out in a crowd, but will concede they need more money to look the part. They don’t own a car, but utilize public transportation to get around.
MEDIA
What they may lack in money, Jorge and Ana more than make up for in their passion for various media. They watch network and cable television, listen to the radio and read newspapers. Their favorite cable channels feature family-friendly fare: Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. They often tune in to Spanish and Mexican music stations at home, and read several Spanish oriented magazines — Hispanic Magazine, Urban Latino and Latina Style — in addition to several English language titles on fashion and gaming. Their Internet activity is low, which can be linked to a low propensity to own desktop and laptop computers.
LIKELY TOUCHPOINTS
It’s All In the Name: For Ana, the use of celebrity endorsements and testimonials to emphasize image and style is a sure eye-catcher. For Jorge, logos and popular icons get noticed. Discounts and gifts with a logo on them are welcomed by both.
Go with the Flow: To reach this couple, explain how your product or service has already been tried, tested and proven a winner. Low risk and mainstream popularity support the legitimacy and worth of your offer.
CHRISTOPHER
MOSAIC USA SEGMENT: Affluent Urban Professionals
INCOME: $$$$$$
LOCATION: Chicago
EDUCATION: College Degree
AGE: Late 20s
FAMILY: Single
JOB: Executive
HOME VALUE/TYPE: Chic high-rise
HOME LOCATION: Owned apartment that’s twice the national average
DEMOGRAPHICS
The yuppies of the last decade may have grown up, but their lifestyle lives on. Christopher is a wealthy single living in a chic high-rise neighborhood of Chicago, owning an apartment valued at twice the national average. In his late twenties, Christopher holds a college degree and works as an executive. He has yet to settle down and start a family, providing him with plenty of discretionary cash to indulge in a fashionable lifestyle. Christopher has a cultured sensibility and, not owning a car, he relies on taxis and subways to hop from his apartment to work to various entertainment venues.
LIFESTYLES
Christopher enjoys a trendy lifestyle. His activities vary but include tennis, skiing and clubbing with friends. He also likes to attend art gallery and museum openings. He is conscious of appearances and his health, and is a member of a health club to take yoga, jog and lift weights. Since he likes to stand out in a crowd, he shops for clothes and trendy furnishings at stores like Banana Republic, Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel. Christopher is an early adopter of new technology, with the latest laptops, PDAs, MP3 players and digital camcorders. A seasoned traveler, he likes to take cruises and trips to domestic and international destinations.
MEDIA
Christopher is obsessed with staying abreast of the latest developments in popular culture. He watches entertainment news on broadcast TV and catches the late night shows hosted by Leno and Letterman. On cable, he’s a fan of the movies and music programming on A&E, E! Entertainment and Bravo. On the radio, Christopher tunes in to news talk shows and, occasionally, stations that play classical music. He’s not a big print fan and does not read magazines, but he does read the Sunday paper — specifically the TV and entertainment sections. Where Christopher really excels is online, and he turns to the Internet for a variety of services including email, travel, downloading music, watching streaming video and dating sites.
LIKELY TOUCHPOINTS
No Time Like the Present: Make it easy for Christopher to reply; discounts, rebates, coupons and incentives must be immediate. Present him with multiple benefits, including if the opportunity can elevate status or privileges.
Work Hard, Play Hard: If your offer is new or cutting edge, tell Christopher about it; launching new products and services will catch his attention. Reward him as an early adopter for being the first to take advantage, as this will help your communication peak his interest. Showcase cutting edge technology and premium high value offers.
ARCHIE
MOSAIC USA SEGMENT: Steadfast Conservatives
INCOME: $$$
LOCATION: Sarasota, Florida
EDUCATION: High School
AGE: Late 60s
FAMILY: Empty Nester
JOB: Manufacturing
HOME VALUE/TYPE: Owns home
HOME LOCATION: Midscale urban neighborhood
DEMOGRAPHICS
As a member of a quietly aging cluster, Archie is a married older male living in a midscale urban neighborhood of Florida. Archie is high school-educated and comfortable being part of the middle class. Archie and his wife are empty- nesters. Archie’s seniority gives him benefits in the workplace, allowing him to earn a middle class income at a skilled manufacturing job. His income goes far, allowing him and his wife to own their older homes and multiple cars.
LIFESTYLES
Archie lives up to his old-fashioned reputation. He thinks the stock market is too risky, computers and the Internet too confusing, and takes preventive medicine before any sign of illness. Archie considers aerobic exercise as too strenuous, preferring to spend his leisure time fishing or woodworking. For a social life, Archie and his wife attend activities sponsored by a fraternal order or church group. As consumers, they’re likely to be brand loyal when they shop at favorite stores like J.C. Penney for clothes, Dick’s Sporting Goods for outdoor gear, and Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts for needlecrafts. To further protect their established lifestyles, Archie has a variety of insurance products — covering health, life, car and home — though they are all low-value policies.
MEDIA
Archie is a fan of traditional media, including print, TV and radio. He likes to get his news from a daily paper or the nightly newscasts on network TV. He considers television as a primary source of entertainment in his life; he and his wife watch sitcoms, reality shows, daytime soaps and religious programs. They enjoy reading magazines that appeal to their do-it-yourself sensibilities, including popular titles such as Family Handyman, Better Homes & Gardens and Country Living. Their radio tastes include a mix of big band, classic rock, country and golden oldies.
LIKELY TOUCHPOINTS
Buy American: Archie’s attention is gained when you focus on pride, heritage and stability of your product or services offered. Your reputation and local representation are important and add value to your proposition. American-made products are trusted and well used.
DORIS
MOSAIC USA SEGMENT: America’s Farmlands
INCOME: $
LOCATION: Warren, AR
EDUCATION: High School
AGE: 40s
FAMILY: Married with children of different ages
JOB: Stay-at-home mother
HOME VALUE/TYPE: Older, single-family home
HOME LOCATION: Remote community
DEMOGRAPHICS
In Doris’s remote community in Arkansas, most of her neighbors have high school diplomas and middle-class incomes (as does Doris). Doris lives in an older, single- family home on a large plot of land. The remoteness of where she lives encourages self-reliance, and her family owns multiple vehicles for traversing the unpaved roads. Doris has conservative social and family values and, as with many of the residents in her area, comes from a large family.
LIFESTYLES
Doris’s family enjoys a down-home lifestyle. When her husband isn’t working, he spends his time fishing and hunting, while Doris spends her time cooking, cleaning, sewing and gardening. As a family, Sunday is reserved for going to church and spending time together. Other family activities they enjoy include camping and horseback riding, and they’re more likely to take a domestic trip to a national park than a vacation outside of the U.S. Their rural community means they have few commercial options, and they often must travel more than an hour to go shopping, typically to Walmart or Big Lots. At the local grocer, Doris stocks up on frozen products — pizza, orange juice and TV dinners, which are the things they can’t grow in a garden or raise in a pen.
MEDIA
Doris and her family represent a strong audience for a number of media channels. They’re fans of broadcast news, primetime comedy programs and family cable channels such as Hallmark, TV Land and the Outdoor Channel. Doris reads venerable magazine titles such as Reader’s Digest and Woman’s World, while her husband reads Field & Stream. They like to tune in to country music on the radio. While somewhat geographically isolated, Doris has found community on the Internet and goes online to exchange email and look up weather reports. However, she’s still more comfortable getting her news and information from the daily paper. Reading the Sunday classifieds looking for deals is a weekly ritual.
LIKELY TOUCHPOINTS
On the Road Again: Doris is persuaded when you demonstrate a fair value using a straightforward, logical approach. For her, no frills are necessary and generics and store brands are appreciated. Peer/user comparisons and testimonials persuade her of the benefit.
Penny Saved, Penny Earned: Show Doris the benefit to the family because it is her prime concern and focus. Family and animal friendliness, bonuses and the best price are all more important than brand to Doris and her family. Tell them how you beat the competition.
