In Marketing, There’s No “One Size Fits All”

By Valerie Levin, Marketing Manager, Oktopost

Chances are you’ve heard the phrase “Knowledge is power.” But you probably haven’t heard "Knowledge is power, only if man knows what facts not to bother with.” It seems like sociologist Robert Staughton Lynd, who is credited with this quote, may have been a closeted-marketer. Marketing messages are greatly dependent on audience segmentation, and it’s vital to understand exactly what type of information is crucial — and which is irrelevant.

By deliberately creating messages towards specific audiences based on their knowledge of your product, only the most interesting and fundamental information will reach each group.

Segmentation is often discussed in terms of demographics such as age, income, profession, education level, gender, and geography — but less so in the context of awareness or knowledge. Dividing audiences based on the level of information that each one has on your product is crucial. It enables you to understand each segment’s needs, and then generate a diverse range of marketing content based on this assessment to promote the same product.

Marketing is aimed at changing and disrupting certain knowledge held by your audience; in order to fulfil this, you need to first know which category each user belongs to. This will serve to help optimize your content marketing strategy, and allocate your resources effectively.

Based on a recent lecture given by Emma Butin, a Product Master at Inkod-Hypera, dividing your audience into three “knowledge groups” is the best approach to take:

• The Fanatics: People who are aware of your product, and know its unique benefits;
• The Majority: People who are aware of your product, but can’t distinguish its benefits; and
• The Rest: People who are unaware of your product.

Given the clear divisions between the three groups, it goes without saying that pushing the same message towards all of them will not go over well. Any content you produce should be designed with one of these segments in mind, and must first and foremost emphasize the benefits and features that are of top relevance to that group.

The first group includes the type of people who are “obsessed” with your product and are willing to go to the ends of the earth to buy the newest version. These “ambassadors” or “product evangelists” are very familiar with the product lingo and completely versed on all the ins-and-outs. There’s no need to tell them what your product does or how it differs from competitors — they already know everything about it!

Skip the educating and nurturing, and only send them messages pertaining to the launch of new features or functionality. Beyond ensuring that you only share information with them on updates, you should leverage the immense marketing value inherent to these users. Ask them to recommend your product on social networks or review sites, provide data for a case study, or host a client-led webinar.

The next group, more often than not, comprises the majority of your audience. These are people who have heard of your product and know what industry to which it belongs, but are clueless about what distinguishes it from competitors. The messages that reach this group have to be different than those seen by fanatics, and focus on “educating” people about your unique value proposition. This group doesn’t know much about any particular feature; any content detailing product specifications will mean nothing to them.

Marketing messages developed for this group need to be a high-level product discussion, while making people aware of a few distinct capabilities or benefits. To successfully reach this audience, you need a comprehensive understanding of your competitors and what they offer. Equipped with this knowledge, you can then pinpoint your product’s value through various types of content and initiatives such as demos, white papers, social media marketing, blog posts, and case studies.

The most effective way to capture the attention of this segment is to overtly show the value you bring to the table that others don’t. Once you sufficiently educate them, they will eventually develop a strong understanding of why they use your product, and may even shift to the “fanatics” category.

The third group is the least educated; they have zero knowledge of your product. In this scenario, your marketing messages needs to “disrupt” their thinking. The best way to achieve this is to tailor a single marketing message, based on only one unique value proposition.

Creating multiple messages will only serve to confuse this audience, and ultimately defeat your marketing purpose. Examples of disruptive marketing campaigns include viral videos, memorable social media campaigns, or catchy Twitter hashtags.

You only have one marketing budget, so defining goals should be a top priority. In terms of objectives, Butin cites The Fanatics as being most related to sales, The Majority to education and The Rest to awareness.

If you’re aiming for awareness, then chances are you’ll invest in viral initiatives that will drive traffic to your web site. If it’s education, you may allocate increased resources to SEO and digital advertising, and target those who are partially in the know. For the fanatics, it’s all about the sales that are generated.

Each category is aligned with its own objective and measurement, and it would be a mistake to assess marketing campaign strictly based on sales. Marketing works on three different levels, and its performance must be measured in terms of the results associated with each one.

Valerie Levin has years of experience in marketing, public relations and media monitoring. She holds a BA in Communications and Political Science from Tel Aviv University, and an MA in International Relations from Hebrew University. Valerie joined the Oktopost team in late 2013, and is contributing to its marketing activities.