It's the first question you ask a new client: "So who are your customers?" Invariably they respond, with wide-eyed surprise that you should need ask, "Why, everybody!"
At this point the job of marketing begins. It's not everybody, of course. It's a small group who are particularly attracted, or have need, for the product - or your competitors'. So you need to get to them first, but who are they?
In fact you do have records of who your customers are. Buried in your files and figures there are names, account addresses, warrantee forms, spending patterns, a wealth of information. Probably it is sitting in your database, unused because right now it does not have any meaning.
Last week, Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine gave the pollster's annual "State of the Nation" review. She proudly displayed their new analysis product called "Helix Personas". This, it turns out, could be the answer to your problem.
The exotic name reveals a new take on psychographic segmentation of the market. In other words, they are taking a deep look into your customer base so you better understand who they are, where they live, and what is important to them.
These days our media are fragmented to a point where nobody can afford to hit at "everybody". If you spread too broadly, you will end up paying for promotional shots that hit targets who aren't interested, and totally miss the targets you need to reach.
The claim of Helix Personas is that it has broken down the market into 56 different segments. So a family from the "Leading Lifestyles" segment lives in its own house in the inner suburbs, is tertiary educated and highly paid. Now they are obviously going to be different from the "Getting By" family, not high earning, children at home, living in the outer suburbs.
Through decades of polls and research, Morgans have a vast store of information from every corner of Australia. In developing this new system they have merged it with the up to date Census data. Then the client's own data is added to the mix.
Out will come the clear knowledge of customers. Who, what, where and why.
Banks are quickly responding to the promised information. They know where their customers are - but which products will they respond to? The "On Their Way" family might want a mortgage loan; the "Bluechips" an investment, the "Family First", insurance.
The idea is to identify these groups in your database for the most effective communication.
Selling cars is expensive. Your advertising has to be closely targeted. You don't send a glossy car brochure to a "Metrotech" who is very technology oriented, but would respond well to a Twitter link to an on-line test-drive simulation.
The supermarket chain will seek out the "Career and Kids", while travel agents will look for the older, affluent "Set For Life" segment. Your approach to a "Rural Traditionalist" would differ from a "Rural Realist".
Each of the 56 "personas" helps clarify a group of your customers and their needs. Now you can produce communication that knows who you are talking to, and what needs to be said to them.
Currently the big corporates are trialing the system, but Morgans are quickly moving to make it available to smaller companies.
