Trash Day

The web is crowded and filled with distractions.  A successful business finds ways to break through the clutter and deliver compelling messages to the people most likely to act upon them.

But how well can you articulate who your target audience is?

The New York Times recently detailed the upside of The Economist, a rare success story in this modern era of downsized magazines.  The standout quote from that article is:

“Whole Foods is actually a psychographic, not a demographic,” said Paul Rossi, The Economist’s managing director and executive vice president for the Americas. “One of the things people say is, ‘You go after an affluent audience.’ But we don’t define our audience by their demographic. We define our audience based on what they think.”

That’s a bold move — and, at least for now, one that’s paying off on The Economist’s bottom line.  But, to do this, a company must understand what its core audience thinks, wants and needs, and be able to deliver those solutions in a manner that resonates.

If you can do that… why stop there?

How Creative Concepts Helps Its Clients Expand Their Core Audience

When a client asks us to help them deliver a message, they often already know what they want to say and to whom they’d like to say it.  What they initially expect us to do is help them find that audience online.  And we do.

But we also help them tailor their original message to the tastes of multiple audiences, each of which combines to form different aspects of their extended customer base.

For example, Ecover is a multinational company that manufactures sustainable cleaning products.  Their obvious core audience is “green” moms in search of healthier alternatives to chemical cleaners.

But the list of customers who are, could, or should be motivated by Ecover’s solutions is much broader, including:

  • Journalists
  • Scientists
  • Teachers
  • Fathers
  • Kids
  • Grandparents
  • Gardeners
  • Cleaning staffs
  • Corporate buyers

… and so on.

Likewise, tea might not seem like an obvious conversational topic for sports fans, traveling salesmen or history buffs, but our work with Bigelow Tea has helped expand brand awareness among these unlikely audiences.

And while Ouidad may be the “Queen of Curl,” the interested audience for her products extends far beyond the walls of her New York City salon.  As we helped Ouidad track inbound web traffic and blog comments, we found passionate customers from around the world — many of whom speak Spanish or Portuguese.  This prompted us to begin translating Ouidad’s content, in order to better serve her growing multilingual audience.

Understanding your core audience is a key to driving your business forward.  But finding different ways to deliver one message to multiple audiences is one way Creative Concepts helps our clients expand beyond their core customers.

Do you know how to reach your extended audience?

To learn more, connect with us on Twitter or Facebook!

Image by calonda on Flickr