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Basics of Marketing - Kotler Philip

Identifying the target audience

The communicator of the sphere of marketing should start working, having an absolutely clear idea of ​​its target audience. It can be made by potential buyers of the goods of the firm, current users of its goods, persons making decisions or influencing their acceptance. The audience can consist of individuals, groups of individuals, specific contact groups or the general public. The target audience will have a decisive influence on the decisions about what to say, how to say, when to say, where to say and on whose behalf to say.

Determination of the desired response

Having identified the target audience, the communicator of the marketing sphere should determine which response he wants to receive. The most favorable reaction is, of course, expressed in the purchase. However, buying is the result of a long process of making decisions about it. Communicators of the marketing sector need to know the status of its target audience at the moment and to what state it needs to be translated.

The target audience can be in any of six states of purchasing readiness: awareness, knowledge, favor, preference, conviction, purchase. Below is a description of these states.

AWARENESS . First of all, it is necessary to establish the level of awareness of the target audience about the product or organization. The audience may be completely ignorant, know one name or know something other than the title. If most of the target audience is ignorant, the task of the communicator is to create the necessary awareness, at least the recognition of the name. This can be achieved with simple appeals, in which this name is constantly repeated. But even in this case, the formation of awareness takes time.

Suppose there is a small college in Iowa called Pottsville that wants to attract applicants from Nebraska, where its name is unknown. Suppose also that in Nebraska, 30,000 people study in graduate classes, which may be potentially interested in Pottsville College. The college can set itself the goal of achieving within a year, so that 70% of these potential students become familiar with the name "Pottsville".

KNOWLEDGE . The target audience may be aware of the firm or its product, but do not have any other knowledge. Pottsville may want its target audience to know that this college is a private institution with a four-year term of study that it is located in the eastern part of Iowa and that courses for ornithology and thanatology are well placed there. The college needs to know which part of the audience has insignificant, some or fairly complete knowledge about Pottsville. As a primary goal in the field of communication, the college can decide on the formation of knowledge.

REPRESENTATION . If the target audience knows the product, what feelings does it have for him? You can make an evaluation scale with the following grades: a very negative attitude, a rather negative attitude, an indifferent attitude, a rather positive attitude, a very positive attitude. If the audience refers to the Pottsville college is unfriendly, the communicator will have to find out why this is happening, and then develop a communication campaign to form a benevolent attitude. If the underlying disadvantages of college lie at the heart of unfavorable ideas, the conceived campaign will not cope with its task. It will be necessary to first eliminate the shortcomings and only then talk about the merits of the college. Skilful activity in organizing public opinion requires that "good words follow good deeds".

PREFERENCE . The target audience may feel favor with the product, but not give it preference over others. In this case, the communicator will try to form a consumer preference. He will praise the quality of the product, its value, performance and other properties. The communicator can judge the success of his campaign after its end by the results of a second measurement of consumer preferences.

CONVICTION . The target audience may have a preference for a particular product, but do not have the conviction that it is necessary to purchase it. So, some graduate students may prefer Pottsville, but do not have the confidence to go to college at all. The communicator's task is to create the conviction that admission to college is the most correct course of action.

PURCHASE OPERATION . Some members of the target audience may have the necessary conviction, but never get ready to make a purchase. Perhaps they are waiting for more information, plan to make a purchase later, etc. The communicator should bring these consumers to the completion of the final step required of them. Among the techniques that push for a purchase, the offer of a product at a low price, the offer of a reward for a purchase (premium), an offer to try the product for a limited period of time, or a hint that the goods will soon become unavailable.

The six states listed above usually reduce to three stages: cognition (awareness, knowledge), emotions (favor, preference, conviction) and behavioral manifestations (making a purchase). Buyers, as a rule, go through all these three stages. The communicator's task is to reveal at what stage the majority of consumers are located and develop a communication campaign that will push them to the next.