Social Marketing

10
The Basics
Thinking Like a Marketer
One way to get a handle on understanding an audience is to break it down into groups. This is
called “segmentation.” The idea of segmentation is to break up the entire audience into smaller
groups with whom you can use the same strategies to reach and persuade them. It also requires
being as specific as possible in describing exactly who you’re reaching, because for each
segment, you might reach members of the audience in a different place, and when you reach
them use a different pitch.
The best way to implement this
principle is to define and promote
a specific, simple action for the
target audience to perform.
If you are having difficulty grasping segmentation,
consider different ads on TV or in magazines.
Commercial ads simply do not attempt
to reach the entire U.S. population. In fact, it is
usually pretty easy to determine who the audience
segment is for a specific ad. Some ads
are directed to men who watch football; others
are directed to women who are at home during the day. They are not only selling different products,
but also using different strategies that match the characteristics of the target audience.
2. Your bottom line: When all is said and done, the audience’s action is what counts.
Unlike classroom teaching or entertainment, all marketers really care about is action. You want
people to perform a behavior – in the CFL case, to buy, install, or recommend efficient lighting.
Although you might want to educate people about the benefits of CFLs, the attributes of your
brand or the dangers of wasting energy, if you do not get them to take action, your program has
failed. It has failed regardless of how much people learned about how great CFLs are, or how
readily they can identify your brand.
The best way to implement this principle is to define and promote a specific, simple action for
the target audience to perform.
And remember: What looks like a simple, straightforward action to us is sometimes more
complex to your audience. The clearer you are about the action or behavior, the more successful
your programs will be. Behavioral scientists can help you to analyze a behavior. While you
may not have those credentials, you can break larger actions into steps in order to understand
where problems may lie in getting people to perform complex behaviors.
3. Make it easy-to-irresistible for your audience to act.
As noted earlier, social marketing includes the concept of exchange - the assumption that
people behave in certain ways in exchange for benefits they hope to receive. People weigh
options and make these behavioral choices within complex environments.
Basically, if people believe that something benefits them, they will take action. If they believe
there are more costs than benefits to taking action, they typically will not do so. What marketers
are looking for is the tipping point – the point where people believe that there are enough
benefits to outweigh the barriers, or that the benefits matter more than the barriers.