In our Executive Mentoring programs we study the
demographics of your target markets so that we are able to quantify and
understand the objective, and characteristics that are important to you. But capturing that information is only half
of the equation.
After we have looked at the statistical data, we turn our
attention to subjective data:
psychographics. We investigate people's mental characteristics;
specifically their perceptions, expectations, and conscious and unconscious
decision making.
Psychographics are the mental characteristics that typify
the people in markets and market segments; specifically, their
self-perceptions, their drives, their perceptions and expectations of the world
around them, and their emotional associations.
The good news is that uncovering this information is
fascinating, and you will enjoy the discoveries and insights you develop about
your customers and yourself. The bad news is that many business owners are
resistant to doing this kind of critical research, and they can potentially
miss out on the powerful insights into the human natures of their target
markets that the psychographic data will give them.
I had a client, a veterinarian who also owned a
small vet supply distributorship. He knew the demographics of his most typical
customer, and that part of it was a breeze for him. But when we got to the
psychographics, his initial response was: "Why is this important? I am not
a psychiatrist, and I really have no interest in getting inside their
heads."
I explained that many large companies spend thousands of
dollars to develop marketing strategies like the one he was building himself
and that a large part of a corporate budget went towards market research.
Psychographics information is a major piece and missing part of that puzzle. I
asked him if any of his suppliers (major feed and drug companies) ever
contacted him over the years with questionnaires or surveys to respond to. He
said, yes, but he never responded. He always thought they were a waste of time.
We continued with the marketing processes, but he made it
clear that he was not interested in doing the psychographic research. He did
not see the value. I knew it was important, but he did not see that yet. So, I
asked him instead to simply trust his intuition and give it a try. He had been
in business for 20 years; he knew his customers pretty well and he could make
some educated decisions about them. I suggested that he just fill out the
worksheets based on what he felt he knew about these people.
And that’s just what he did. He started to work out the
psychographics of his customers. As he worked through it, he began to change
his mind about the value of it. In fact, he became intrigued and started to
think outside the box. So he decided to write one of his vet product suppliers,
all the letter said was, “I would like to know if you have a ‘Psychographics
Model’ for dairy farms with 100 cows or more. Thank you for your help.”
He came to our next meeting with a response from the
manufacturer. In their cover letter to him, they apologized that their
Psychographic Model was based on farms of 500 cows or more, but they hoped it
helped. It was followed by three pages of information they compiled on the
needs of his most typical clients- their self-perceptions, beliefs, needs,
fears, and wants. He was stunned!
The most dramatic impact was that the model he had created,
based on his own experience in the beginning, was in complete alignment with
the descriptions he got back from the manufacturer, who had spent thousands of
dollars in their research.
From that point on, not only did he have renewed faith in
the power of market research, but he believed in himself. He truly saw the
power he had locked away, and his ability to develop a great marketing strategy
for his clients, based on what he “did not know he knew”. He put some new
systems into place to start intentionally capturing psychographic and
demographic data. He has since been able to even better align his marketing
strategy using this solid information and insight.
The Power in
Understanding
There is a logic to successful marketing. It begins with
demographic information about your markets and your customers. But information
is not enough. What you are really after is understanding and insight –
understanding about the way your customers and prospective customers think,
act, and make decisions, as well as insight into what really motivates them and
how best to communicate with them.
Do not overlook the importance of psychographic research. As
my veterinary client realized, there is great power in understanding what makes
your clients “tick” and it is there for you to discover.
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