Is Your Marketing Team Sending the Right Message at the Right Time?

In order to market something successfully, you need to understand your audience very well. 

You can understand them better than ever before because there is more access to data - from more platforms and touchpoints. People now expect advertising to add value to their shopping journey instead of disrupting it. 

But in order to deliver moments that meet this high expectation, you need to know more about your audience than just their surface-level information.

Understanding human complexity

People are more than just their demographic or their passions. People have different intricacies that define them at different times.

For example, take a professional athlete. They are in a performance mindset when they are practicing or preparing for a game. But when they go home to relax and watch a movie with their significant other, they are in a different mindset. They are relaxed and not thinking about work. Another example is when they wake up in the morning and cook breakfast for their family. They are in a different mindset than when they were practicing or preparing for a game.

As a marketer, you now have to look beyond the basic information about your audience. Demographics are still important for targeting the right audience, but it's only part of the equation. You also need to think about what your audience is interested in. For example, targeting an athlete with an ad for engagement rings while they're browsing new workout regimens isn't the right way to create an authentic, engaging experience. That athlete is likely to be more receptive to ads promoting sports drinks, workout equipment, or athletic gear instead.

However, if the same ad for engagement rings is shown to the athlete while watching a romantic comedy with their significant other, they are much more likely to be receptive to that very same ad.

It’s all about the context

Even though demographics are not everything, a company should still learn about the type of people they want to attract. Knowing this information is valuable when it is aligned with what a person is experiencing. This makes the ad experience more relevant to the consumer.

People want experiences that feel authentic. To create these kinds of experiences, you need to send messages that are in line with what the person is doing at the moment. Strategies like affiliate marketing let marketers do this by working closely with a range of publishers to promote products and services that are contextually relevant to their content in environments that people proactively seek out and trust.

This way, when that same athlete from earlier goes to their favorite lifestyle publisher for information about nutrition, your ad for vitamins or supplements can appear in an organic and natural way — ultimately making their consumer journey more fulfilling.

Moments are shareable

Different experiences can be shared with other people. For example, when an athlete watches a romantic comedy movie with their significant other, they are sharing that experience. But if the same athlete watched a TV show or movie alone, they might not have the same reaction to an engagement ring advertisement. The person they are sharing the experience with makes the ad more emotional and relevant.

When a marketer is trying to reach a person, they need to think about all the things that can influence that person's mood. If the marketer understands their audience well, they can also reach multiple people at the same time. People are more likely to listen to what a brand has to say if it is presented in the right setting. Marketers need to identify their target audience and understand what would be an appropriate time and place for them to reach out.

If a company takes the time to understand what their consumers want and deliver ads that are relevant to them, both the company and the consumer will benefit. This is done by creating authentic and engaging ad experiences.

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