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Today’s business schools should really spend some time on touch points and personas or the next generation of marketers will overlook a very important component of their marketing strategy. This article is about the importance of the target audience (or persona) and the touch point. It also uncovers some key questions embedded in a touch point location which today’s digital and social marketers need to answer. Here we go.
4 Questions That Need Answers:
- What type of customer are you targeting? (Persona)
This is really marketing 101: If you are attracting customers, then there is naturally a touch point involved. Take a good hard look at your customer persona. Clearly, define each persona that is most important to the company so you can create brand messages and a process that is going to be effective. Example: 50-year-old, white, married female with 2 kids, a homeowner, book reader, Internet savvy, prefer mobile apps and social media, HHI 110k, likes pets, cooking, fashion, home goods, vacation, and travel. That is a very simple persona. Don’t forget to align this persona with your product or service to see how the persona and the business value proposition come together.
- Why are you targeting your persona using a particular touch point?
This may sound weird, but depending on the persona you are targeting may, in fact, alter the touch point and the tactics. Here’s an example. You know your primary persona is a 50-year-old, white, married female with 2 kids, a homeowner, book reader, Internet savvy, prefer mobile apps and social media, HHI 110k, likes pets, cooking, fashion, home goods, vacation, and travel. These are just a few of the descriptors needed to complete a good persona. Let’s think about social media. If you were to choose between Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Snapchat or Instagram, which one would you select? The only way to make a good decision is to know about each of those social channels and the generation types that frequent those channels. In this case, Facebook and Pinterest are probably the best options based on their users and your persona. However, if you are selling a B2B product or service, Linkedin may be your best option.
- Is this the best social media touch point for the customer you are targeting?
Now we know that of the 6 social media channels you selected, three of them are good ones to reach your persona. Now let’s dig a little deeper. Which one is best? In order to figure this out, you will need to define your goals for the social media touch point and how you plan on communicating. For instance, will you need more text or more images to communicate effectively? If you decide that more text is critical because of the complexity of the message you need to get across, then Facebook is definitely better than Pinterest. You will also want to do some research to find out what social channel your persona is most likely to use –You get the idea.
- What made the customer arrive at this point? Where are they going next?
Customers usually don’t haphazardly arrive at a touch point. They are typically prompted or teased to visit a website, social media page, a landing page, forum or blog. Maybe you just want them to read an email and then call a customer service rep or come even visit your store. Whatever your plan is, you must understand how your customer arrived in order to best communicate to them and lead them effectively through the buyer’s journey. So think about the ways in which you are promoting your product. This will help you understand how the customer got to the touch point in the first place. When you do understand how they were touched and where that touch point is leading them, you can then provide a more personalized experience, which will help to make them feel more comfortable with making a buying decision.
What really happens when a marketer has their persona perfectly defined and their touch point strategy pretty well worked out? Well… I would say that your marketing efficiency would be through the roof. Okay, you probably want something more concrete right?
After you’ve done the research on your personas and also figured out where they hang out online and what motivates them to communicate to your business and purchase a product like yours… that’s the secret sauce to increased sales and more marketing qualified leads coming in.
Scott MacFarland is a lifelong marketer with a passion for all forms of marketing… especially digital. With an extensive B2B and B2C background, his perspective is firmly aligned with content marketing strategies that nurture and convert prospective customers into real ones.
YourBrandExposed.com is a digital content marketing and strategy consultancy that works with businesses big and small to solve their most difficult questions surrounding digital content creation, brand and creative development, generating qualified leads, business growth and strategic partnerships. Let us know how we can serve you.
Scott MacFarland – Chief Content Marketer, Digital Strategist
Twitter @scmacfarland
Sources:
https://www.dmn3.com/dmn3-blog/boomers-and-social-media
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-engage-any-demographic-with-a-social-media-campaign
https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-white-disposable-cup-and-smartphone-168425/
Photo Credit: CC0 License – Pexels.com / freestocks.org