“Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30!” Thankfully Some Things Change…. mainly because I’m over 30 now 😉
The age factor within a target demo is becoming increasingly gray. Customer culture when selling online isn’t tied as much to age or income as it is how one chooses to interact and where they do it. to phrase it more accurately, “Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t do what I do.” (or) “Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t show they understand me by doing things how I do them.” (Yeah, I know, that’s not a very catchy way to say it, but nevertheless…)
In this new and whacky world of “social networks” where friends are many, and relationships don’t extend much further than recognizing their avatar on a scribbled comment… it’s pretty much like high school now: you have to be part of the group before you can hitch a ride.
You need to be a PART of the culture and use that to then market TO the group.
Impersonation is flattery… so go on and flatter the people you want as customers. The process of impersonating will also teach you a heck of a lot about the people you’re targeting customers. This isn’t a new concept by any means, but it continues to amaze me how something so simple can either not be part of a strategy or done so poorly that there’s a greater chance of getting a negative buzz rather than an active search.
There are two aspects: marketing TO the culture, and actually being a PART of the culture.
Both need to work together in order to gain respect in the group. Always work on being part of it first – that will get you some new customers by itself, but will help you understand how to marketing TO them on a broader scale without looking as your you’re out of place in their neighborhood.
We’ve already looked at the importance of “The How” when it comes to approaching prospective customers online; that you can find with research, surfing and surveying your happy customers. Once you get the online vernacular and method down, then quite simply, you need to become part of the in crowd – and you can’t fake it. Few of us can afford to get quickly embedded in culture by having an icon endorse the product or company, doing so by infiltrating and creating evangelists takes a lot longer, but can get you great results by being patient and earning their trust.
You need to do what they do, be where they are, like what they like, and do things that demonstrate you think they are special… to get credibility within their culture you have to participate in it… be part of their social niche. If you do it well, then your marketing target ultimately ends up manifesting into the most effective part of your marketing campaign. In some ways you can approach it like going undercover, but without any negative connotations. Moreover, the more you participate the more you will learn about your customers, which improves your communication with them as well as the information necessary to improve your product and develop new ones. They’ll tell you everything you need to know IF they trust who you are.
Once you are part of a culture, then marketing to them becomes less of an intrusion on their daily routine; you are, in essence, a word of mouth referral for your own product.
If you don’t embed yourself as part of their culture, then your company is just like any other company, offering any other product, that is just trying to sell them something they don’t care about.
