MARKETING

LOGAN WEDGWOOD EXPLAINS THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMER BETTER – AND THE OPPORTUNITIES THIS PROVIDES WHEN YOU CONNECT WITH THEM IN AN EVERYDAY CONTEXT.

HAVE YOU ever had a brand or a product you desire to buy jump into your head seemingly out of nowhere?

Well, guess what? You got triggered!

Clever marketers think strategically about common everyday ways to make you think about their product in your everyday context. If you are their target market customer, they have mapped out what you do every day – where you go, how you spend your time and what you are interested in.

When you are going about your daily life, you are being triggered by everyday events that they know you encounter, and their brand or product is being implanted in your head. This way, when you are ready to make a purchase, they are front of mind.

Remember when you last had that same old argument with your partner? You know: “what should we eat for dinner tonight?” Then you debated whether you felt like pizza, sushi or Thai food and struggled to agree?

Now conversely, remember when, last Saturday, you couldn’t stop obsessing about a particular burger joint for the whole afternoon and by the time you started thinking about dinner your mind was already made up?

That latter example is called ‘ triggering’.

Triggering helps you make your mind up through timing and placement.

If you are a business person without marketing education or experience you are unlikely to just suddenly come up with a clever triggering campaign; there is a real science to it and even the best don’t always get it right (otherwise we would all be rich!).

But what I want to highlight here is, once again, the importance of understanding your customer better – and the opportunities this understanding provides when you connect with them.

The magic word here is context.

Think about your target customer. What does their day usually look like? When are they in contact with things, places or activities that align with what you do? If you know your customer well, you may be able to remind them about your product or service when it really matters – and that is at the point that they could make a buying decision.

This is part of why ‘in home’ branding is so powerful and why ‘ tradie’-focused brands have spent so much money on branded chilly bins and beer holders. These brands are able to exist inside their customers’ environment and trigger them to buy when the timing is right. Through powerful association with things like sporting events or time out with their family, they are able to endear their business and products to an avid market by building equity in their customers’ minds over time.

These are an example of why context in your customers’ world is so important. What do they value? What do they connect with emotionally? What is important to them? What do they prioritise? Where do they hang out? At what time of day are they particularly receptive? What visual or audible cues can you give to make them think of you – in the right place at the right time?

This is the power of context. Let your creative brain go a little left-field and see if you can come up with some creative ways to meet your customers where they are.

Do that and you’ll be on your way to building equity that pays off come decision time.

“Let your creative brain go a little leftfield and see if you can come up with some creative ways to meet your customers where they are.”