The ABC of marketing

We were at a meeting yesterday and the clients started squabbling amongst themselves about the target demographic of their customers.

This is a good old fashioned tenet of marketing. Know your customer and they will come. But all of a sudden this seems, well, terribly old fashioned. With the vast proliferation of communication channels, categorising people as ‘silver surfers’, ‘yummy mummies’ or whatever the latest buzz phrase is, seems vastly over-simplistic. And anyway, why would a brand want to pigeonhole itself in such a way when there’s no need?

An effective brand strategy is not necessarily about knowing who your customers are any more, it’s about knowing what the brand is. Create a brand which has clear values and a clear proposition and the customers will know who you are and what you stand for. Make yourselves easy to find and your customers will find you.

The strength of your brand proposition should be enough to carry you across multiple demographics; people will find companies who match their individual interests without the need to create a brand which risks becoming schizophrenic in its desire to appeal to different groups.