Insight
Why is it so important for brands to understand their target audience?
(Written by: Ms. Liu Kai Ching / Brand Consultant of Process Pro Brand Taiwan)
Branding is a continuous communication process with the market, just like communication between people, you must know who you are talking to, what the other party cares about, and then determine what you want to convey. As Philip Kotler, the father of modern marketing, said in Principles of Marketing, "Effective marketing is about building the right relationship with the right customer.
Why do I need to set a target audience?
Many enterprises will think that everyone can be their customers, in fact, it is not impossible, but the wider the communication target, the relative need to invest more resources, if you do not set a clear customer group, brand communication messages easily become generalized, and more likely to hit the bird with a loose bullet, especially in the era of branding, explosion of information, and diversification of communication channels, the attention span and memory of the consumer is quite limited, how to accurately and effectively convey the value of the brand is very important. It is very important to convey brand value accurately and effectively.
Identify the relevance of the brand to the target audience
Generally speaking, before developing the foundation of brand strategy, we will understand the current situation and environment of the brand through first-hand secondary data collection, one part of which is the target group survey, not only the basic information, but also to understand their needs, and Philip Kotler has also said that "the goal of sales is to satisfy the customer's needs, and the goal of marketing is to find out what he needs". The goal of marketing is to find out what he needs.
For example, if your brand has 10 strengths and customers care about only 3 of them, focusing on communicating the strengths that are valuable to customers will make your brand leave an impression on customers' minds. Therefore, understanding how your target group interacts with your brand and their needs, and finding out the relevance of your brand to them is very crucial to brand building.
And when it comes to market research on target customer segments, two questions we are often asked are as follows:
Question 1: Should we choose "qualitative" or "quantitative" for target group research?
Whether it is quantitative or qualitative research, as long as it is properly utilized, valuable insights can be obtained. The important thing is to decide the research method according to the purpose of the survey, and if time and budget permit, both methods can be used together.
- Qualitative research:
Obtaining information through observation and interaction during the research process is a form of primary data collection, e.g., in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, etc., which are used to understand the causes and processes of events, explore issues, and unearth unknown information, such as image perception of a brand.
- Quantitative research:
Through a certain number of samples, data analysis is conducted to support the original assumptions or to identify trends, to verify the assumptions through objective data, and to understand the events and trends, such as the habitual use of social media platforms.
Taking HODRMEN as an example, in order to develop new customer groups, Pro first explores the preferences and needs of each group through qualitative surveys and empathy maps to form hypotheses, and then further verifies the hypotheses through quantitative online questionnaires, which serves as a reference for the direction of the strategic foundation of the brand re-branding.
Question 2: What if the brand is marketed in multiple international markets? Does it require large-scale market research?
Many international brands are marketed in many countries around the world, facing different markets with different customer segments, living habits and needs. However, with limited resources, how to select and conduct target group surveys for the needs of brand building? Here are a few principles for your reference:
1. Prioritize key markets
With limited resources and the need to consider the long-term development of the brand, it is possible to prioritize markets with a large share of revenue and a focus on future development, as well as the Cash Cows and Stars in the BCG Matrix of the Boston Consulting Group, which serve as market research information for the construction of the brand.
2. Focus on market/client segment commonalities
Under the principle of "globalization of brand and localization of communication", the process of building an international brand focuses on identifying the common needs of different markets, and brand marketing communication can be extended to develop marketing actions that meet local languages and habits according to market needs, so as to establish a close relationship with the market.
Take interinfo as an example, because the brand is going to enter Southeast Asia, in addition to the original Taiwan market, the market research especially focuses on the Southeast Asian region, and then from the results of the survey of each market to find out the common points, as the basis for the development of the brand.
