Your target demographic model match customer has a unique “tell” that will help you get in front of them before a buying decision and before your competitors in your local market- would you like to know what it is?
The “Tell”
In the movie Rounders, law-student Mike McDermott played by Matt Damon gives up gambling after losing his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (played by John Malkovich). He learns something important from this exchange that is pivotal to the climax of the film. Despite holding a monster hand, Mike spots Teddy’s “cookie tell” where the character grabs an Oreo from his rack and splits it open while holding it to his ear, and Matt Damon’s character wisely folds his cards.
Anticipating Customer Needs:
Every consumer has a set of characteristics that classify them into specific categories (demographics such as age, gender, race, income, and assets, etc.). Consumers exhibit characteristics of buyer behavior that they may not even be consciously aware of, which can operate as a transparent “tell” for those companies that are paying attention to the data. This can offer valuable indicators on where to find customers and when to spend to communicate with potential buyers. This can help you greatly improve your chances to be in front of the right customer, in the right place, at the right time.
The imprint of big data mining is subtly in our lives everywhere. When someone searches online for a product or service, ads and offers start showing up in that category in front of the potential customer. Search for a vacation spot online for example and deals to Hawaii start popping up. When you ask Alexa or Siri to search for something that reveals your tastes, wants, desires, the algorithms and machine learning identify your patterns and weave their way into anticipating your habits, needs and consumer behavior. Yes, freaky. And potentially useful.
In his book “Big Data Driven Business” the author Russell Glass describes how data mining is being used anywhere from political campaigns to selling diapers. The retailer Target sent ad campaigns to pregnant women, sometimes before their intimate partners or family members even knew of the pregnancy. For example, a famous story Russell cites about this, is from a New York Times article written in Feb 2012. A girl’s father showed up at the retailer complaining about ads being sent to his daughter. He was concerned that the ads were encouraging her to get pregnant and asked for them to stop sending the ads because she was only in high school. The manager of the store promised to investigate the matter. The manager called later to apologize again to the father. The father sheepishly acknowledged that since his visit to the manager to complain, he had learned that his daughter was, in fact, pregnant.
The retailer chain Target was mining and reviewing customer meta data and figured out that a switch from purchasing scented lotion to unscented lotion, combined with buying calcium supplements, indicated that a female customer was most likely pregnant.
The customer side of us may cringe, but the marketer in you may see the very valuable connection… and ask, “how can I figure that out for my industry/market”?
In this article we bring some exciting insights for you on examples of reaching your target audience in a unique way and getting to your model match clients in the ready to buy zone a step ahead of your competitors.
Sixth Sense Solutions connected with Stephen Gregg of Resin Creative a full-service marketing agency, about data-driven marketing strategies in healthcare and other industries.
Why you may Hate the Idea of Direct Mail and How this Approach is Different
Every marketing strategy is a bit unique. It is important to have a specific strategy based on the appropriate data to make sound investments. One area that is standard in some industries but overlooked in others, is integrating direct mail into the mix. Insights from conversations with business owners and managers in the healthcare sector about direct mail, offers a mixed view on making this type of investment.
Stephen: “Direct mail might make you think of the postcards offers or envelopes of discount coupons that you find in your mailbox from time to time. While you might not readily think of direct mail for lead generation in the age of digital marketing, it can be a highly impactful and targeted marketing program, if done correctly. The type of direct mail program we recommend to clients is a part of a larger marketing campaign, and utilizes highly targeted mailing data, multiple touches for the target audience and is a substantial investment for the client. We’ve found that direct mail cuts through the noise in digital marketing.”
Sixth Sense partnered with Resin Creative on a few successful projects with the goal of generating substantial lead generation results. Stephen was able to help Sixth Sense identify customers in a complex industry such as home care where the end consumer was not necessarily the decision maker. and with a select set of parameters that would indicate that the potential customer was not only a match to be able to afford the service and likely to consume the service. This was our version of the “cookie tell” and Stephen and his team helped to crack that code.
Stephen: “It’s more than just creating awareness. We have data that can be honed and focused with precise targeting. In this instance, our approach was specifically to target adult children who were related to seniors that our client wanted as customers. We identified parameters to find model match clients – those who fit the ideal demographic profile for our client and are most likely to consume during a six-to-nine-month window through the duration of our campaign. With the data in-hand, we created audience-specific marketing messages that resonated with the target audience.”
Want to know more about the metrics behind running a data-driven direct mail campaign like this and how it could help your business? Schedule a discovery meeting with Sixth Sense Solutions today. Visit our appointment calendar at https://SixthSenseDiscoveryMeeting.as.me/,
Working with a business consultant is a great is a great way to help improve outcomes and maximize your investment with your healthcare business.
Are you exploring ways to maximize your results? Whether it’s recruitment and retention, sales, customer service, marketing; maximize your return on investment with your home care, hospice, home health or assisted living business.
Call us at 949-241-6690, or you can reach our team via email at info@SixSenseSolutions.com