Value Targeting – Our New Normal (or it should be)

About ten years ago, while reviewing a media plan specific to a LatinX audience, I asked the media team, “do you think that Spanish-speaking people only watch Univision?”

Pause and respond, “Well, we know that people that watch Univision speak Spanish, so it’s fine.”

Is it fine?

Or take these more recent statements made during marketing kick-off calls or strategy sessions I’ve recently attended:

“It’s the year of mobile and the ONLY screen that gets us in front of young consumers.”

“Older people don’t understand technology.”

“Urban geos – we need to add more hip hop to our messaging.”

Cue the eye roll.

Demographic targeting has always existed in modern marketing in one shape or another, and mostly we’ve become numb to it. Most media kits speak about “our audience” and categorize people in general ways based on broad-stroke estimates. Media proposals often include such broad and inspiring statements as:

We have the golden demo of 25-34, dual-income, no kids!

or

Our audience tends to be more mature but with heavy disposable income.

It’s traditionally been a one-way street – the media and brands pushing ads onto eyeballs based on generalizations tied to age, gender, ethnicity, family status, income, etc. That makes sense, right?

I’m here to say: not anymore.

We’ve all changed

Our lives have evolved over the past decade alongside the ubiquity of the internet – especially how and why we consume content. Today, as individuals living digital lives, and as the volume of content grows by terabytes every day, we increasingly have the opportunity to seek out, engage with and share that which we care about - and filter out the rest.

Pair that with the growth of social media, where individuals within any group are empowered to provide their unique perspectives and values and - horrors - talk back! The two-way street has been paved.

Today, people will tell you what they care about while finding their communities: other people that care about the same things. The best part is, it doesn’t matter where they live, how old they are, what pronoun they identify with or how much money they earn. Everyone in the community values the same things, whatever that may be.

This power to filter and find and gather with like-minded people is critical for brands to consider when thinking about putting content and messaging in front of humans. Yet, demographics still reign supreme in modern marketing conversations.

Listen to people

Imagine using the following data to craft a marketing campaign: Female, 34-45, one child, >$40,000 p/yr, NY Metropolitan resident, Spanish speaker.

Now consider using this instead: Single urban mom making efforts to make ends meet in an inflationary economy, cares about her daughter’s health and education and wants her to be proud of her Puerto Rican roots. Perpetually time-starved, she believes in fairness, living wages and equality for all marginalized groups.

Which approach provides more ability to craft messaging that breaks through the clutter and does not get filtered out by this person?

Rather than focusing on traditional demographic target criteria, which are increasingly meaningless, listen to what people are willing to share about what they value. Better yet, create a community and learn from it. Then, once you know more, leverage those values to decide how to best connect through compelling values-aligned visuals and messaging. Align your brand values with your target consumer. Forget about using just demographic information. It doesn’t matter anymore.

Crafting your approach based on values is where future success lies.

Written by Lou Bridda, is CEO, ofButterly

Lou Bridda: Lou is CEO, ofButterly, the community-building software that powers websites connecting brands with Canadians interested in trying and reviewing products. Butterly also powers ChickAdvisor, Canada’s first and most trusted ratings and reviews platform for women, XYStuff.com (for men) and FamilyRated.com (for families).