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5 Ways to Determine Whether Your Targeting Strategy Needs A Refresh

Jamie Myers, Radius Insights, Radius Global Market Research 2021/10/jamie-myers-bio.jpg

by Jamie Myers

Executive Director

Who is important to your brand? Who do you sell to? Who are your most important brand champions? Who are the key influencers? 

If you’re not sure how to answer these questions, it’s time to refresh your targeting strategy. Even if you’ve implemented a new strategy within the past several years, competitive and other disruptive changes in the marketplace may mean you’re not reaching the right audience anymore.

It may be time to take a critical look at how to bring more precision to your target audience, why you matter to them, what issues they are looking to solve, and how you can create messaging that speaks to their needs and desires.

Here are five indicators that your targeting strategy needs a refresh:

1. It’s been more than 5 years since you’ve done a segmentation study.

For most categories, the targets that come out of a segmentation study are relevant for about that length of time. After that, you’re likely in need of a reassessment, as your audience, the market, your competition, and the digital channels and media customers are consuming have likely all evolved. It’s time to figure out who your new champions are.

2. Your conversion rate has been dropping or has stagnated over the past few quarters.

You’ve been investing in ads both online and through traditional methods, but something’s not working. The sales aren’t coming in, and you wonder what to do. A reassessment of how to position yourself in the minds of your customers can help you get a better direction on how to appeal to your specific niche.

3. Your business has expanded its offerings or product lines, but you’re still targeting one group.

A targeting strategy that tries to reach everybody is reaching nobody. You need to identify the specific targets that are now most relevant to your entire brand offering.

Competitive and other disruptive changes in the marketplace may mean you’re not reaching the right audience anymore.”

4. You’re entering a new market, and the profile of consumers is very different from your current targets.

Your strategy, whenever possible, should be adjusted to fit a new market.

5. Your social media activity is low.

If your activity on social media is lackluster, likely the right audience is not connected to you. If your customers aren’t embracing your brand and mentioning it naturally on social media, that’s a red flag that your brand is lacking relevance with your audience.

What should a brand refresh look like? It includes redoing your segmentation, making sure to include updated brands and category dynamics. Be sure to include a competitive assessment to understand the consumer’s view of the landscape. A simpler approach, if you just need clarity on the target audience for a particular product, is to do a concept test and profile accepters vs. rejecters. No matter what the approach, make sure you are building marketing and communication strategies against the right target audience.

Want to learn more about refreshing your targeting strategy?

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