Are You Confusing Your Markets?

George Lois was an advertising genius. His specialty was to create mild shock by placing elements together that are out of place with each other to make a powerfully memorable statement. In most cases the statement was designed to sell products, sometimes ideas.

One classic television ad showed famous sports figures selling a flavored oatmeal by throwing tantrums like little children.

They would cry and scream, “I want my Maypo!”

The primary market for Maypo was children. Using well-known adults who acted like kids was brilliant. Kids loved the commercials and promptly imitated their heroes. And parents bought boat loads of Maypo due to this highly successful campaign.

Combining “wrong” or contrasting elements can be very clever when it’s done purposefully for the goal of creating a specific response. But it can be disastrous if done by accident or ignorance.

Here, we see a news story coupled with a random advertisement that went terribly awry.

econsultancy.com

When writing articles or creating advertising for our intended Target Market or audience, we usually don’t misfire quite so obviously. But when we fail to understand the special needs, sensibilities, and mindset of the people from whom we are attempting to evoke a response, we may not get the response we were expecting.

Understanding Misunderstandings

You can’t please everyone all the time, and you will always miss the boat with many people. That’s unavoidable. Some people will love you! And others may be left cold. That goes with the territory when you are trying to be unique and worthy of attention.

It’s very important then, to understand the people you want as your core constituents, your Target audience. If you are Targeting women, and you use a lot of sexist or “macho” language, you had better adjust your style—or focus on an altogether different market.

Now let’s stop right there. Did you see what I just did? I used the phrase very innocently as I was referring to the Woman’s Market, wanting to connect it with the Esquire magazine cover above. But I used the words, “Targeting Women.” Reading it back, I was shocked! What I was originally trying to say with a positive mindset can actually be interpreted in several ways that are very negative.

George Lois worked hard to come up slogans that had multiple meanings, provoking a “nudge and a wink,” in a positive and clever manner. But if you are not careful you can do the very same thing, but in such way that creates very bad results—you don’t even realize until it’s too late, if at all.

I have a website where a large number of my visitors seem to be using Google Translator to read my posts. Knowing this fact forces me to be very careful with my language to prevent being misunderstood, especially in a way that seems insulting. We have all seen the old joke where someone rehearses a little speech in a foreign language and thinks they are doing an excellent job in front of the important business client. But we, the audience, get to read the sub-titles, where we see the person mangling the language so badly the clients stomp away, highly indignant.

In today’s world wide marketplace, many who read your posts understand English as a second language. Combine that with vast cultural differences and you can easily create the perfect storm for completely missing the Target and hitting a nerve.

To Hit the Target You Must Carefully Aim

You must Define your Target with as much precision as possible. With practice, skill, and focus, hitting the bulls-eye is difficult enough. But if you try shooting an arrow without careful aim you are almost guaranteed to miss completely.

The common and very practical wisdom in Internet Marketing is to avoid having one website about Everything. Rather, divide your differing Main subjects / niches into separate sites and focus each one on its Core Topic. Obviously, your Core Topic includes many related sub-topics which should remain within each Core site.

In the 1990′s the very popular TV sitcom, Seinfeld, was affectionately called, “The Show About Nothing.” It was a seemingly random string of silly, trivial plots that were often hysterically funny. How could a “show about nothing” appeal to so many people? There was a caveat, of course. Seinfeld was very much tied to the youth culture of the times. And there were a great many people who simply didn’t “get it.” Indeed, Jerry Seinfeld himself recently commented that the network executives didn’t get it at all. But they weren’t the Target Market. Seinfeld understood their Market very well, and delivered a bulls-eye week after week.

How did we go from a “website about everything” to a “show about nothing?” Seinfeld didn’t try to be everything to everyone, but Targeted the Young & Hip by being clever and witty in a way that appealed to a very focused segment of the population. The situations the show portrayed were relatively unimportant. They were the everyday scenes of life that many people could relate to, but were packaged & delivered in a way that appealed to a very specific mindset. The show was often completely misunderstood by those who didn’t understand the cultural underpinnings behind the humor.

Doubling Back to Double Meanings

Earlier I referred to the Double Entendre, a device that is intentionally created by using one phrase that can be interpreted several different ways. These can be fun, but are often misconstrued. Some advertising is so “clever” that it breezes right over the heads of pretty much everybody. If you are Targeting a tightly focused demographic, that might be exactly what you want. But if you want a much broader market, then you must have a much broader appeal. Rather than being clever, you must be simple.

The title of this article is, “Are You Confusing Your Markets?”

Here we have several meanings, all of which we have discussed.

1. Are you unintentionally sending a negative, insulting, or confusing Message because you are not ruthlessly careful about how you convey your ideas?
2. Are you yourself confused about the specific needs of your audience, and are Targeting them with the wrong Message or Delivery?
3. Does your Message try to accomplish too many things, and thus you confuse people by your lack of Focus?

Each of these are pitfalls that can avoided with a little care.

1. Research your Market and be sure you understand it. The people, the culture, the needs, and the products.
2. To stand out among the crowd you must be unique. This often entails being knowledgeable, clever, and entertaining. Whenever you introduce something complex or witty, always find a way to say it again within your post in a simpler way. You may consider yourself the new Oscar Wilde, but you could be leaving your readers totally perplexed. You can broaden your appeal by stating your most important points using several different methods.
3. Decide what business you are in. Old maxim here. Every so often in the corporate world, times are good, and companies go crazy buying out many diverse smaller companies. Or they expand into many different markets. When times get tough, they end up selling those companies they never should have bought in the first place. They lost money because they were trying to be in too many businesses, many of which they didn’t really understand. Keep your Focus on your Core Target Market.

I hope this has been helpful and interesting. I’m guessing you have some pretty good stories to tell about getting caught up in Double Meanings Be sure to share your thoughts in the Comment Box below.

Now if you will excuse me, I’ve been at this all morning and into the afternoon, and quite frankly, I need a shave.

Headline Image:

Advertising Legend, George Lois, created a
series of covers for Esquire Magazine.