Buying cycle. Companies often have a deliberative process for buying with known intentions to buy within a certain number of months. Buyer role. Advertising often targets specific people within an organization (e.g., those who influence, specify, and make buying decisions). Dig Deeper Encryption-product maker GlobalCerts targets companies that have one hundred to one thousand employees. When GlobalCerts began its direct mail campaign, it collected information on its key prospects, including their needs, buying cycle, and decision makers’ contact information. Knowing the buying cycle of an organization is important because decision makers need different kinds of information, depending on where they are in the buying cycle. Early on, decision makers are looking for more general information about solutions that meet their business needs. In later stages, they want very performance information. Having a salesperson call a potential customer too early in the buying cycle will likely annoy the customer—they’re not ready to buy—and waste the time of the salesperson. [17] SS+K Spotlight Defining the audience is a job for both the left brain and the right brain. We use this expression because in general the left side of our brains is more rational and fact-oriented while the right side is more emotional and artistic. Some people tend to be more logical when they approach problems while others are more creative and emotional. For fans of the original Star Trek TV series, just think of Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy and you’ll get the difference immediately. So, SS+K needs to combine both rational and emotional factors when they think about their target market. Even the most comprehensive demographic profile seldom communicates a sufficiently nuanced understanding of any group of consumers. At SS+K, the account planners and researchers that make up the AIU are charged with acquiring information beyond current user demographics that will allow the account, media, and creative team to visualize and understand the consumer. An insightful and comprehensive target profile should enable the writers and art directors to imagine the target consumer so well, in fact, that the creatives can develop an empathic understanding of that consumer’s relevant needs and wants. The more complete the creatives’ understanding of the audience, the more likely the team will be able to craft a message that speaks in an authentic, compelling voice to the target consumer.
Buying cycle. Companies often have a deliberative process for buying with known intentions to buy within a certain number of months. Buyer role. Advertising often targets specific people within an organization (e.g., those who influence, specify, and make buying decisions). Dig Deeper Encryption-product maker GlobalCerts targets companies that have one hundred to one thousand employees. When GlobalCerts began its direct mail campaign, it collected information on its key prospects, including their needs, buying cycle, and decision makers’ contact information. Knowing the buying cycle of an organization is important because decision makers need different kinds of information, depending on where they are in the buying cycle. Early on, decision makers are looking for more general information about solutions that meet their business needs. In later stages, they want very performance information. Having a salesperson call a potential customer too early in the buying cycle will likely annoy the customer—they’re not ready to buy—and waste the time of the salesperson. [17] SS+K Spotlight Defining the audience is a job for both the left brain and the right brain. We use this expression because in general the left side of our brains is more rational and fact-oriented while the right side is more emotional and artistic. Some people tend to be more logical when they approach problems while others are more creative and emotional. For fans of the original Star Trek TV series, just think of Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy and you’ll get the difference immediately. So, SS+K needs to combine both rational and emotional factors when they think about their target market. Even the most comprehensive demographic profile seldom communicates a sufficiently nuanced understanding of any group of consumers. At SS+K, the account planners and researchers that make up the AIU are charged with acquiring information beyond current user demographics that will allow the account, media, and creative team to visualize and understand the consumer. An insightful and comprehensive target profile should enable the writers and art directors to imagine the target consumer so well, in fact, that the creatives can develop an empathic understanding of that consumer’s relevant needs and wants. The more complete the creatives’ understanding of the audience, the more likely the team will be able to craft a message that speaks in an authentic, compelling voice to the target consumer.