When we sell to a specific demographic group, research is vitally important if we are to maximise sales. But are we doing enough to understand our customers?
Market research takes us so far in building up sales projections and strategies. Getting inside the heads of our customers can ensure that we are optimising our marketing messages, talking their language and being aware of what is important to them as a group.
Say, for instance, you are selling goods and services to women of a certain age. It would be a good idea to buy a selection of magazines aimed at that age group to bone up on the issues being highlighted therein. This would provide some reference points with which to engage customers, common ground as a start line for dialogue.
Reading up on your target audience may also be helpful in sparking off ideas. Perhaps for new products or services, or new methods to sell to this particular group? In the final analysis, reading these magazines certainly won’t be a waste of time; you’re guaranteed to learn something new and gain a better insight into how your customer thinks and is likely to respond to your sales efforts.
No matter which group you’re aiming at - particularly if you are a different gender or age - speaking the same language as your audience can do nothing but good. In fact, trawling magazines and web sites aimed at your customers is now more important than it ever has been before.
Today’s younger generation - your existing or potential customers - are being weaned on an instant hit retailing experience on the web. This is a marketplace where you can buy just about everything from a pin to an anchor or a Chieftain tank. And quickly compare prices for the best deal whether it be from France, the USA, the other end of Britain or the local high street.
Not only that, they are consumers who live and breathe the internet, shop, chat and socialise online. In much the same way as a new shorthand language has evolved to pack SMS text messages with as much information as 160 characters will allow, this snippy truncated patois is now de rigueur online too.
Okay, these youngsters may not be an important part of your customer base right now. But they will be soon. And you’d better know what they are on about when they drop you an email.
To get an insight into what is happening with our teenagers, head to sites like bebo.com. This is a networking site where users create mini sites about themselves, their interests and hobbies. Each site is inter-linked to several others via a section for friends. You can then find out who is the mythical friend of a friend and how the circles of people intersect and connect.
But the main focus for this article is the language that’s being used on sites like bebo. It might allegedly be quick to key in, but unless you’re up to speed with teen moby-speak, it all seems a bit impenetrable and cryptic. Try deciphering the following from a typical teen’s site: “lyks/h8z
“? goin out wit ma m8z! in twn wit m8z :P!? i h8 it whn ppl steal ma shoe :@:@:@:@ eh robbie bcasue i wil ave a *****’ b.f. ( bicth fit ) :P ! blive me! um also h8 it whn ppl fink thy r funi whn thy anit funi! nd tech itz a bit of a long stoire bt hey ( mstly tae do wit da techer :@ ) errrrrr! lol! i h8 ppl who fink thy r beta thn every1 eles nd lok dwn thyre nose @ u! itz lyk who do u fink u r! nd whn ppl bicht abt u nd thy dnt even no u its lyk no me b4 u juge me!”
According to the in-house teen, this translates as: “Likes/hates.
“? Going out with my mates! In town with my mates (emoticon – tongue sticking out)!? I hate it when people steal my shoe (emoticon – screams) Eh, Robbie? Because I will have a *****’ b.f. (b**** fight) (emoticon – tongue sticking out)! Believe me! Um, I also hate it when people think they are funny when they ain’t funny! And tech, it’s a bit of a long story, but hey, (mostly to do with the teacher (emoticon – screaming). Errrrrr! (angry) Laugh out loud! I hate people who think they are better than everyone else and look down their nose at you! It’s like, who do you think you are! And when people b**** about you and they don’t even know you, it’s like, know me before you judge me!”
And we wonder why English grammar, spelling and punctuation are going down the plug hole? Maybe it’s not the schools to blame after all? But to paraphrase this teen consumer, we gotta no em, 2 sell 2 em!
L8r, dudes!!
* For the record, the translation involved keying in 701 characters including spaces. The bebo version took 481, 31.4 per cent fewer keystrokes.
