3 mistakes brands make when targeting their customers

This is why a major decision that brands face in every marketing campaign is focusing on which consumers to target with their limited advertising budgets. After all, targeting determines how the brand will be positioned, what messages will be developed, and on which channels the campaign’s ads will ultimately appear. Indeed, the idea of ​​targeting and segmentation is a staple of intro marketing.

But while the idea of ​​targeting is simple enough, in practice many brands struggle or get it wrong, according to Kevin McTigue and Derek Rucker, both professors in Kellogg’s marketing department. McTigue is a Clinical Associate Professor with extensive experience in brand management and consulting for Fortune 500 companies; Rucker is a full professor whose research has been published in leading marketing and psychology journals.

In a forthcoming book, The master plan of the creative brief, McTigue, and Rucker offer practical advice for companies looking to design better ads. In the book excerpt below, they explain three major mistakes brands make when it comes to landing on the right ad target.

For starters, perhaps the most common mistake we see is the “Everyone targets”. This error takes the form of a mark specifying no target or a target so large and amorphous that it does not help prioritize the message or media dollars. This error usually stems from a lack of knowledge of the basics of segmentation and targeting. For example, this error occurs when companies have not performed a proper segmentation analysis and therefore all targets look the same.

Once, we were talking to a business-to-business brand and asked them who their target was. They replied, “everyone in the industry.” That’s the whole map of potential targets, but it’s not a target! This error also occurs because, although a company has performed a segmentation analysis, they are unwilling or unable to prioritize targets. We worked with a global phone company that, when pressed to narrow its goal of launching a new phone, “nodded” to five distinct and totally distinct groups with very little in common. This is not a big result for the brand or the agency.

Basically, targeting is basically a way to focus resources on the specific group most likely to meet the communication goal to achieve the business goal. The best advertising seems to be made just for you. The more companies describe their target in a broad way, the more the message and the media plan become broad and watered down.

A second targeting error is the “Popular target for children”. After analyzing the segments, companies often find the “best” target versus the largest group using the category or the group most willing to spend in the category.

For example, one of our alumni was leading the marketing efforts of the popular SpotHero parking app, an app that helps consumers find places to park in crowded areas. Looking at potential customers, the student found that occasional recreation parks were the largest segment and had the lowest historical cost per acquisition. At first glance, attacking the obvious target seems reasonable. Why wouldn’t you want to spend for the most important target or the group that spends the most in the category? The problem can be summed up in one word: competition. Usually, the obvious target is also one that is heavily advertised by your competition or is better served by your competition. Indeed, for SpotHero, the market for parking locator apps was crowded with new entrants who all saw the same thing. While they were all competing on the price of this target, our student focused his business on serving the second most attractive and underserved target, the business park. Five years later, they now occupy a leading position in the market.

Does this prior discussion mean that you always have to give up on the popular target? No, if you are the category leader, or the first to acquire a target, you might be the only one with that desired target. Or, if you really have a unique idea about them, you might be able to win them over the competition. However, in many cases pursuing the obvious target overlooks underserved targets where growth could be more easily achieved. For example, the Old Spice brand had tried to target young men who wanted to attract women. The proposition was clear: Old Spice helps you feel attractive to women. Young men who want to be attractive to women are a large target. The problem was that that target and that position belonged to a bigger and more powerful brand, Ax. As such, Old Spice pivoted to target young men who wanted to feel confident. No brand spoke to the group with this need. This pivot in the target’s psychographic urge – to attract women to feel confident – has taken Old Spice from zero growth to triple-digit growth.

Finally, it is crucial to keep the target in mind when evaluating advertising. The third marketing mistake focuses on “Egocentric target”. We use this term to capture the idea that people often think of who will like advertising versus themselves. However, in many cases you are not the target! Indeed, we have had former students who market feminine hygiene products to children or men. You have to ask who the target is, then assess the ad through their eyes. Think about what else she’s looking at. What else competes for his attention? Is your message relevant to her? Will it break the clutter of advertising?

As an illustration, we once were reviewing an ad for a teenage confectionery product. The participants in the room did not understand such young men. Prior to running the ads, the agency released clips of the most popular TV shows, online videos, and other content the target interacted with. It was crucial to help us better evaluate the ad.

In short, choose a target for your communications that is broad enough to achieve your goals, but as tight as possible to bring specificity to your message and your media. Be fair to the right target. Or as British composer Ed Sheeran articulately and wisely notes: “I have found a love … for myself.