Marketing is so much more than a shoutout about your best sales. It takes strategy and research to develop an effective marketing plan with the most effective advertising but, one of the most important aspects is understanding your audience. Understanding your audience and growing with them. It’s about connecting with people. The inability to grow with consumers can be just as detrimental as pausing marketing efforts all together. It’s important to adjust strategies to appeal to all potential consumers and not get stuck in a rut of sticking to traditional strategies or ideals of who your customers are or used to be. A key factor in knowing how to connect with consumers is to take their family dynamics and lifestyle into account. We have to adapt strategies to how people are living their daily lives if we want a spot in their purchase decisions.
Family Dynamics. It’s important to keep in mind different family dynamics to not miss out on a marketing opportunity. What does this mean? The two parents, 2.5 kids family is of course still present and thriving but it’s not the only model out there. Many millennials are choosing not to have children but that doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy purchasing items that have traditionally been marketing to families. With no kids, they have even more extra cash to decorate their space how they want and are more than willing to drop a dime to make their pets comfortable. Furniture and home décor is not a boring adult purchase but a way for consumers to express themselves.
On the other hand, you may have parents whose children are grown and out of the house. These consumers don’t have to worry about spill proof kid proof furniture any longer and have a chance to curate their home with nice “dream pieces” they’ve never been able to practically have before. Just the opposite, some adult children are moving back home and may want to redo their childhood bedroom. No matter where someone’s living space is, they want it to feel like home and we want to show how that can be a reality in marketing imagery and messaging.
Lifestyle: Homeownership is out of reach for more people now than it ever has been, but renters still want a nice home. Small spaces aren’t necessarily a negative, in fact many choose to downsize and live smaller. Some even downgrading to tiny homes or vans so they can travel with their home. These people want multifunctional pieces that fit with their space and will get it from those that can show their products will work for them. Minimalism doesn’t necessarily mean less buying but making more meaningful purchase for a certain lifestyle.
We don’t want to forget about homeowners who are excited to make their home their own. We do want to keep in mind that there may not be as many new homeowners in today’s market and adjust how we market to include renters and travelers who still want nice, curated spaces. In fact, many renters will still invest in high quality products with the intention of bringing them to a forever home someday.
How do we adjust our marketing strategies to reach the best audiences we can? Keep the way different people live in mind when creating strategies. Obviously, every campaign won’t appeal to everyone but sometimes tweaking imagery or language just a bit won’t affect the message but will make a much larger audience pay attention. Spill proof/stain resistant fabrics aren’t just for children. They’re also for pets and grandchildren or that friend from college that can’t be trusted. Interior Design advice isn’t just for homeowners, anyone with a place to live (renting, owning, or otherwise) will want to make it a home, even if it is just short term. Yards aren’t just for swing sets but a comfy place for dogs and pets to lounge. Move-in specials and promotions may not just apply to homeowners but renters and travelers as well. When strategizing, sometimes we just need to look at things from a different angle to bring a whole new group of consumers to our door.
Age may not necessarily be an indicator of what group someone belongs to and your target audience may include a combination of these groups of different families. Knowing who your audience is can help your business provide the best services, products and marketing strategies to your audience. If you need help narrowing down your target audience, Banner can help with a free consultation report.
Bottom line is marketing is about people and we can’t have the best marketing and advertising strategies without considering the way people live. Specifically, the people we want to sell to. Adjusting mindsets to consider the changes in our consumers lifestyles and not assume things are how they always been is a small change that can make a big impact on business.
