One of our key objectives in marketing analytics is to show the campaign reach. "Reach" can be defined by how often the target consumer is reached at experiential events. This metric helps ensure the field team is interacting with the right customer. A good example of this is if your brand is geared for millennial males, you want to make sure you’re not activating at events that attract older women.
Know who to reach: your target consumer.
Recently, we reported on a brand in the spirits industry that was facing a challenge with whom they were reaching. The brand’s target consumer is a male between the ages of 25-34 years. However, our analysis showed the field team was engaging with female consumers more frequently than they were reaching the target consumer. On the one hand, this wasn’t a complete disaster; these female consumers reported high rates of purchase intent at or above that of the target consumer. However, the primary objective of this program was to increase reach among the target consumer and the program was falling short in that regard.
Target the right consumer at the right type of event.
When we dug deeper, it came to light that the nature of the events was in large part responsible for the disparity in consumer reach. In order to highlight a charitable component their brand teams were activating at cause marketing events. These events have been shown to attract women more frequently than men. Our report to the brand team helped them understand the impact of the event type they were activating at. This also gave them the opportunity to make the adjustments they needed to reach the target consumer more often.
Beyond a broad demographic profile (age and gender), we often work with a more detailed consumer profile. In many cases, this is something the end client has worked to put together through a large-scale segmentation survey. In general, our exit surveys are designed to be concise and as unobtrusive as possible. This being said, we have on several occasions included a question or two from the brand’s segmentation work. This information will build upon the consumer profile we compile through our research.
Refine the consumer segment with our help.
In one case, we included two questions from a customer segmentation survey for a program involving pet food. This allowed us to categorize respondents to our exit survey by pet owner type. We were, therefore, able to analyze the data in a way that was meaningful to the end client. The report was able to show how each pet owner segment responded to the events. We could also show what impact that had on their purchase intent and brand advocacy. In turn, this helped inform their marketing communication strategy for two of their biggest customer segments.
In conclusion
Whether it is our standard four-question exit survey or one that includes the brand’s customer segmentation, we are able to coordinate rates of consumer reach and segmentation. In turn, the field staff can adjust their approach to events and even help the brand team fine tune their marketing approach.