Years ago, my triathlon coach, Alan—a seasoned athlete and accomplished Air Force pilot–gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. He said, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Don’t be paralyzed by indecision and inaction.” Granted, it was in the context of packing multiple workouts a week into a pre-millennium career in digital marketing, but still. That encouragement to keep moving and stay flexible has continued to serve me in all aspects of life.
At Tangible, we see our clients—whether they are energetic startups or seasoned enterprise companies—facing daunting challenges with far greater impact than a few places in a finishing order or a few seconds off the clock for a personal record. Particularly when it comes to thinking about audience marketing, it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed and go broad with marketing plans that either cast too wide of a net, or worse, become so dismayed by the challenge that little happens at all. Time and time again, we work with clients who have received marketing plans that are chockablock full of great ideas but don’t reflect an actionable plan that aligns with their priority audiences to drive measurable results. This is when Coach Alan’s advice comes into play in our work.
You’ve heard us talk about how we “get real to get it right,” and this is the perfect application of that thinking. Not only is our team not afraid to get in the weeds of our clients’ audiences—we also kinda like it. Here are some of the ways in which we’ve helped clients get unstuck when it comes to critical thinking to meet the needs of a vast audience set.
- We bring audience segments to life. Most clients come to us having documented “any and all” of their audiences, with perhaps some modicum of thinking around who each audience segment “is”—key demographics, maybe even a little psychographics. That’s all well and good, but more often than not, the work remains to be done around really understanding what about the solution will resonate with each key segment—and why it beats the competition.
- We map it out. A common missing piece is a true understanding of what journey each audience is on that would move them to need—or benefit from—a product or service. Understanding where they are in the flow of either their business from a B2B lens or as a consumer is paramount to meeting them where they are to solve a problem. More often than not, we have to make things messy before we can make them beautiful.
- We identify pains and gains. Once we follow the above steps, it’s then relatively easy to identify what problems or pains a client is having in their journey and for what a solution can solve. And therein lies the superpower. Now, our clients can consider not just generic selling points, but also why each audience should care. They also learn when to reach audiences on their journeys. That’s the unlock to ensuring a marketing strategy will have the right footing on the right channels at the right time.
- We ask the hard questions. This could well be the topic of an entirely different piece. As you shape these audience distinctions and journeys, don’t overlook the most authoritative source for any audience. That’s right—the folks themselves. We’re big fans of lean—but very focused and organized—processes to get qualitative data to shape our approach.
- We simplify. When clients see the landscape of possibility across their vast audiences, we don’t let them get overwhelmed to the point of inaction. We like to apply a critical lens and help look for commonalities among the myriad audiences for economies of scale. By clustering audiences, we’re able to see what messages, altitude of information, and timing make the most sense to have the greatest impact for every motion made. So while the broader expansion is a critical step, oftentimes, this clustering can be what unsticks a seemingly immoveable strategy.
- We prioritize. Now it’s time to conjure our inner Coach Alan. We consider resources (people, budget for external support, budget for production and out of pocket expenses, etc.) and key timelines and get scrappy. This is where Tangible really pushes our clients to ensure they are getting the most out of every dollar by evaluating key opportunities through the lens of what will have the greatest impact for the most reasonable investment over key periods. And believe me when I tell you no matter the size of the marketing budget, this kind of tough love exercise is always key to developing an actionable plan.
- We learn all the time. Our game plan is not a “set it and forget it” play. We don’t want to see our clients deploy a marketing strategy and <crossing fingers> hope it works, only to review the data later and either be delighted or dismayed. We like to deploy smaller motions incrementally, and test, fail, succeed, learn, refine, repeat.
Still feeling overwhelmed? Here’s the good news: you’re not alone in trying to reach a diverse set of audiences—no matter the size of your business. So, take a deep breath, do the work—and reach out if we can help coach you along the way. I’m always here and ready to talk: [email protected].
