Learning more about the audience allows the marketing team to establish the size, makeup, and characteristics of individuals or groups who could become potential customers.
Identifying the consumer insights of potential customers is the underlying goal of all audience research. Marketers attempt to influence each buyer's journey through the purchasing process and as such, they need to understand what those potential customers think and how they behave and live their lives.
In addition to gaining valuable insights on consumers, audience research also allows marketers to identify obstacles that could affect the purchasing process.
Among those obstacles could be competitor interference and the successes or failures of that competitor's marketing plan.
Learning of those successes and failures can allow the marketer to develop appropriate and personalized content more relevant to the target audience as well as to anticipate their future needs.
Audience research, then, is a tool to better understand current and potential customers and to establish the most effective means in which to deliver a digital marketing strategy.
A starting point to all audience research efforts is to establish a buyer persona, which is a description of a company's ideal customer in terms of demographics, motivations and the channels with which a customer access information.
These personas aid the marketer in determining the channels and messages that best will resonate with customers and to efficiently meet established goals.
Three key data types exist and are essential to understanding in order to understand the customer insights gained and to develop an effective marketing strategy: Demographics, Psychographics, and Behavioral.
Demographics
Demographics are the learned facts of an audience including gender, age, profession, marital status, location, education, and more.
While this information isn't personal, it is essential for marketers in the process of learning more about their audiences.
Psychographics
Psychographics are much more detailed and complex such as goals, opinions and beliefs. Understanding this data is helpful in sharing a message that resonates with each individual customer.
In combining demographics and psychographic, the marketer can then reach a particular audience, such as a plumber over the age of 21 who also enjoys football.
Behavioral Data
Behavioral Data is an understanding of how consumers receive a company's marketing strategy and how they utilize that company's products.
Consider Facebook analytics, for instance.
How long do consumers spend on the social media site? What are they clicking? Why are they clicking? What groups do they participate in?
This information helps a marketer to transform the consumer's journey and how to target those consumers.
Behavioral Data includes a consumer's website history, products and content consumed and other habits.
Google Ads use behavioral data.
Think back to the last product you searched for, whether you purchased that product or opted against it. Then, think back to the next few websites you browsed. It's likely you saw advertisements for that product or a similar product.
That's behavioral data in use.
Marketers discover this data through a process called Audience Listening, which is monitoring what people are saying on digital media channels about your brand, your products, competitors.
The main platforms marketers use to conduct this valuable research are:
- Social media
- Marketing research companies
- Survey providers
- Behavior analytics platforms
Most social media tools provide the marketer with valuable analytics to see which posts and tweets and photos resonate with the audience.
Using marketing research companies streamlines the process but this research typically isn't streamlined for a particular company and competitors have that same research readily available to them.
Well-designed surveys can provide a company or marketer with a deeper understanding of data related to their products and services.
Behavioral Analytics Platforms include Google Analytics and other browser platforms that provide similar information regarding a company's digital footprint.
Cultural Research Also Key to Success
While audience research is valuable in creating a buyer persona and targeting the right consumers, cultural research is just as valuable.
Cultural Research requires the investigation of how cultural influences affects individual experiences, social relations and more.
When conducting cultural research, there are five key factors to consider: Geographic Influences, Influential Figures and Movements, Language and Memes, Historic and Curren News, and Rules and Mores.
Geographic Influences
Within every culture exists many subcultures.
Consider the United States. There is a national culture and 50 individual state cultures. Within each state, there are regional cultures.
Soda or pop?
Your preferred word for the Coca-Cola or Pepsi products is determined by your individual culture, whether regional or hyperlocal.
Your preferred word for the Coca-Cola or Pepsi products is determined by your individual culture, whether regional or hyperlocal.
Visitors to New Orleans might be taken aback at the sight of crawfish on their plate but for those in the Southeast, it's a delicious food option.
Understanding these geographic influences aids the marketer in crafting the appropriate message for the target audience.
Influential figures and movements
Influential figures and movements have shaped many cultures.
Today, in the United States, the Black Lives Matter movement has dominated the headlines. Many popular brands shared their support for the #BLM movement while others took a different strategy and were boycotted.
These influential figures could be politicians, community leaders, artists and activists or others whose situations have drawn interest from the community at large. Same with movements. Communities have rallied around movements such as #BLM and #MeToo.
Marketers and companies alike must understand these cultural shifts to avoid offending large segments of the community or to rally around those figures and movements to better position their brand.
Language and Memes
Reaching an audience today often means shaping the content to fit the currently acceptable language and memes.
What once was rad is now lame.
Social media has introduced new terms and means of communication faster than ever and keeping ahead of the linguistic changes is harder than ever, but at the same, it's among one of the most important aspects of a strong marketing campaign.
Leveraging communication means reaching your consumers in a language and style that affects them on a personal level.
Historic and Current News
Marketers must familiarize themselves with historic and current news events to avoid pitfalls when reaching consumers.
Less information exists on newer cultures and smaller groups but it's vital for marketers to determine the cultural norms related to such groups. That's where understanding historic and current news comes into play.
Consider the emergence of non-binary gender identification.
Rather than alienate or offend a segment of its audience, a company should shape its marketing materials to reach all members of that audience. As such, utilizing non-binary gender terms should be standard practice.
Rules and Mores
Each culture has established its own rules and mores, complicating the marketing efforts.
For instance, some religions prohibit eating pork or other meats, thus it wouldn't be wise to target those elements of the culture with inappropriate product advertisements.
Sports fans are among the most loyal consumers, which means you probably don't want to target Cleveland Browns fans with an advertisement for a product promoted by a Pittsburgh Steelers player. That rivalry could prove to be another obstacle for a brand to clear before reaching a broader audience.
It's for this reason car dealerships prefer using a local sports hero to market their brand rather than a more recognizable athlete who may play for a team in another city.
Benefits of Cultural Research
Many benefits exist for marketers who conduct cultural research.
Obviously, understanding each culture and subculture allows a marketer to target his strategy in appropriate and acceptable ways.
It also allows the marketer to export a campaign successfully in other cultures by adjusting the marketing campaign appropriate to each culture or subculture.
Cultural research enables the marketer to adapt the offer to fit into a global context. The research enables the marketer to find that common ground that will resonate with most of the audience while not offending others, which prevents potential misconceptions or other offensive content.
Cultural Research Tools
The tools marketers can use to conduct cultural research include social media conversations, research and dedicated platforms.
Social media conversations include Facebook groups, hashtags, keywords, Twitter communities and social media influencers.
Research includes third-party firms and scholarly studies targeting specific cultures and sub-cultures.
Dedicated platforms such as blogs and forums provide marketers with valuable information.
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