Be Different or be dead

August 19, 2013

Why the best thing marketers can do is study ‘ME’

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Why the best thing marketers can do is study ‘ME’.

When the marketer studies ‘ME’, magic happens.

‘ME’ marketing will destroy traditional marketing; it’s all about the individual not the crowd.

Brilliant marketers get that ‘ME’ segments generate higher returns than market segments produced by traditional marketing.

The four bases of commonly prescribed market segmentation are demographics, psychographics, behavior and location (‘geographics’) and the marketing process is to develop programs targeted at potential customers with similar traits within a particular segment.

Segmentation studies are based on observations of population behavior;  the characteristics of the masses (represented by the ‘average’ person in the population) determine the conclusions of the study.

Why are these four segments used as the prescription for marketing segmentation? Because this type of data on people is readily available to the marketer.

Census data provides demographic and location information, billing and web visitor tracking systems produce product usage information and standard market research studies ask for lifestyle preferences which people are generally ok with providing.

For a marketing program, individuals are ‘mapped’ into each of these segments and are assumed to be like everyone else in their segment in terms of their likelihood to be attracted to a particular marketing program targeted to the segment.

The marketer’s assumption is that each person in the segment ‘looks the same’ in terms of the segmentation variable chosen and because of this similarity will all exhibit the same buying propensity.

Source: Unsplash

I’ve always found this assumption to be a non-starter. Just because I’m a skier does not in any way suggest that other skiers would be interested in buying the same products as I do.
And just because I’m in the boomer demographic with a specific income in no way is a good predictor of what others with similar characteristics will be interested in buying. 

In this approach, an ‘average’ target for a service might be ‘a male boomer with an annual income of between $60 - $100K who lives in Vancouver and who has an annual ski pass at Whistler’.

And the flaw is that there may actually be some people who do have the targets attributes and who would be interested in what is being offered, but there will also be many with these attributes who won’t be interested and who will not be interested in the offer.

Traditional segmentation produces hits and misses and the marketer hopes there are more of the former. But you can’t count on it. 

There are two serious issues with traditional segmentation methodology; its underlying assumptions are flawed.

First, having segmentation variables prescribed with the simplifying assumption that people tend to make purchase decisions on the basis of their demographics and so on, is fallacious; people express their differences with their own buying triggers which can’t be prescribed up front.

And second, assuming that people who exhibit the same segment characteristics will make similar buying decisions is simply not true; there are many sub-clusters within any given segment that have their own buying motivations quite apart from those in the overall segment.

‘ME segmentation’ is different from the commonly-used methodology, and should be adopted by a marketing organization that wants to stand out and perform above their peers.
ME segmentation poses the research question to an individual person not the population.

ME segmentation is strategic

It is considered as a strategic exercise which asks the question “How should the market be segmented to expose as many opportunities as I can?” not how do I assign my customer base into the prescribed segments.

The prescribed segmentation variables such as demographics, location, usage and lifestyle are not automatically used; they are given mild attention only: the focus is on determining the appropriate variable that will unlock the growth key for the organization.

The objective is not to place people in the prescribed segments, but to discover the appropriate segmentation elements that will produce the best sales result.

For example, if a specific web application best appeals to a Gen-Z individual with an IOS device, lives in Tsawwassen BC, is a member of a family of 4, and has a household provider who is female, then this is the appropriate segmentation to use.

Source: Unsplash

It’s focus is on differences

Traditional segmentation seeks to define small numbers of customer groups that share similar characteristics, and these characteristics are broad and general in nature.
People who are over 65 years old who have right-of-centre political beliefs, women who live on the west coast who are pro abortion are examples of the segments that are produced by the traditional approach.

ME segmentation, on the other hand, is a process driven by the intent to find differences in customer clusters in order to expose as many customer clusters as possible.

Opportunities come from the differences between people NOT similarities among them.

And greater the number of segments that are defined, the more intelligence you have on each person in the cluster AND the better the ability to match a product, service or experience to their specific individual need.

It’s end game is on ‘the many’

As stated above, ME segmentation tries to define as many different customer clusters as possible in order to get closer to the individual with the belief that if you have a tight fit with an individual person, you have a better chance of selling them something than if the person’s desires are watered down by a larger group.

The probability of making a sale increases due to the fact that you are better able to match your offering with the more precise needs. wants and desires of the individuals in each cluster.

Person-research will yield many conclusions; one for each person you talk to.

And each conclusion will be valid unlike conclusions from population research which will be valid for some individuals (who just happen to be exactly identical to the population profile) and invalid for others (whose special unique characteristics don’t match the population profile.)

Better to have 100 different conclusions from 100 individual people rather than 1 conclusion based on the “average” person in a population of 100.

It’s never-ending

ME segmentation is a continuous process of going deeper and deeper into a cluster of customers. Obtaining more and more information on the individuals in the cluster.

The marketer needs to keep looking for differences until they are nose-to-nose with an individual because that’s when total understanding of people’s desires is achieved.

If there were one million customers, the result of the ME process would be one million segments of 1.

What are the implications of a million clusters of 1?

▪️you would be different as few undertake the journey;

▪️you would have more rich and deep knowledge on your customers than your competitors have;

▪️your sales potential would increase exponentially;

▪️you would build both share of market and customer share;

▪️customer loyalty would increase because you are better able to match your solutions to their needs and wants;

▪️you would be better able to survive unpredictable ’body blows’ you might suffer in an ever changing world because you are so tight with your customers.

All because you choose to put in place a marketing philosophy to treat segmentation as a continuous strategic learning down to the individual.

Keep segmenting your market until you are nose-to-nose with a person.

Source: Unsplash

The role of the ME marketer

Within the ‘ME’ context of segmenting markets down to ‘the nose’ of an individual and examining their needs and wants rather than treating markets as homogeneous groups, the ME marketer’s role is different than what marketers have done in the past.

The ME marketer:

— Is driven by individual people have to say, not by what is implied by large markets or populations, and puts the individual before the average needs of the crowd;

— Is ok with the possibility of creating a unique marketing plan and product or service solution for an individual;

— Drives IT to ‘mass-personalized’ serving systems capable of uniqueness delivered to thousands of customers;

— Reserves Customer Appreciation Day events for specific customers who have demonstrated their loyalty to the company for many years;

— Looks to the power of new technology to define the needs of individuals and to use the secrets discovered to create personalized solutions and not to flog their current product portfolio;

— Uses every tactic available to build long term relationships with people rather than flog products at them with a focus on making short term sales. They see AI as a way to create new experiences for people and not a productivity tool;

— Is a strong advocate for the customer inside their organization, ‘doing battle’ for them to protect their interests in their own bureaucracy;

— Does whatever it takes to try and eliminate any dumb rules in their organization that infuriate customers and threaten their loyalty.

Mass marketers are the dying breed of the profession, and it starts with the practice of segmentation.

Segmenting down to ‘the nose of a person’ enables a deep understanding of what people want and desire, and exposes opportunities to not only enhance marketing productivity but also to create sustaining long term value for the organization.

ME markets are superior to crowds.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.19.13 at 06:05 am by Roy Osing
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August 5, 2013

One simple reason why an organization can’t be customer focused

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One simple reason why an organization can’t be customer focused.

Can an organization be passionately engaged in serving its customers?

I don’t think so.

Organizations are a collective.

They are pluralistic.

They are an amalgamation of individuals that comprise it.

If the people within the organization don’t have an innate desire to serve another human being, the organization will (despite declaring its aspirations) never be customer focused.

For organizations who truly want to ‘be one’ with their customers, the imperative is to recruit people that “love” people.

Education is ok. But it is table stakes to playing the customer loyalty game

Serving isn’t an intellectual activity. It’s an emotional one.

It’s not based on an algorithm or formula.

It’s based on an attitude and drive to take care of someones’s needs, desires and cravings.

You can’t teach people to do it. You can’t train people to do it.

You have to recruit people who are born with it.

And if you recruit enough people with the serving ethic you can become the customer-centric organization that you aspire to be.

Check out your recruitment program. Look at the questions you ask a prospective employee. Examine the experience they have in serving others; ask for their stories.

Hire for goosebumps.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.5.13 at 06:15 am by Roy Osing
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July 29, 2013

3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster

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3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster.

First what does it mean to be on the brink of disaster?

It’s not an operating margin problem, an inventory turn issue or the need to rationalize your product line.

The end is near when you are no longer relevant to your fans

CEO’s can be good denial artists. They suddenly turn into rationalizing speech makers who explain away the fact that the grim reaper is at their doorway and that they are becoming irrelevant.

Yellow Pages believed they could compete with Google; Blackberry believed they were not in a death spiral yet were never able to respond successfully to Apple and other smart phone suppliers.

Rhetoric rules the airwaves. Intent abounds. Aspirations are plentiful.

But no tangible counter play is offered.

Defensive retreat. Saving face. Appeasing the investment community.

The truth is, leadership does not want to believe they are on a path to irrelevance. That they no longer deliver the value they once did. They want to believe that somehow a miracle will happen and new relevance will be pulled from the hat.

Believing in something is a long way from doing it

Leaders need to recognize when the end is near.

They need to be honest enough to admit that they are going under unless a drastic intervention is done to re-create themselves.

That they need to start a revolution. Cast aside tradition.

It’s not about leveraging current strengths. It’s about building new capabilities that will create new relevance for people.

Create a new game not a new play

3 questions that leaders should ask themselves:

◾️ What would your weirdest fan suggest you do to save your business? Why do all CEO’s believe the big consulting companies know what you should do? They don’t have all the answers.

◾️ What if you went in the opposite direction to your competitors? What would a 180-degree plan look like?

◾️ What desperate things can you do right now? What, you don’t think you are desperate? You’re fooling yourself. Desperate times (like becoming irrelevant) demand desperate measures. And I don’t mean just cost cutting.

Execute 3 desperate acts over the next 24-hours even if you’re not in the middle of a storm.

Urgency is always the right thing to do.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.29.13 at 05:41 am by Roy Osing
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June 29, 2013

Why don’t organizations recruit and honour ‘weird’ people?

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Why don’t organizations recruit and honour ‘weird’ people?

✔️ You’re unreasonable;
✔️ You’re not normal;
✔️ You’re weird;
✔️ You’re crazy;
✔️ You’re off the wall:
✔️ You’re ridiculous;
✔️ You’re unpredictable.

These are common accusations made when someone doesn’t conform to someone else’s expectations:

— When someone stands-out from the commonplace crowd and is noticed;

— When someone makes another person feel uncomfortable;

— When a person casts ‘normal’ aside to be who they are, not what others expect them to be.

Innovation and creativity comes from weirdness. It doesn’t come from being like everyone else

Strong leadership comes from crazy notions of what people value and are prepared to pay for. It does not come from fitting-in and doing what everyone else does.

Great companies have a ‘ridiculous’ DNA structure, always searching for products and services that excite people’s emotions and make them happy.

They aren’t made great by following best of breed.

Traditional HR practices sorely lack the ability to attract weirdness because they don’t look for it.

Look for it.

Declare that it is a strategic imperative for you.

Include it in your statement of values.

“We treasure weirdness and ridiculousness”.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.29.13 at 08:44 am by Roy Osing
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