Aiming at the Wrong Target

Too many business owners aim their advertising at a single target.  While that may have been a decent strategy twenty years ago, today, by narrowly aiming at a select group, you may be missing a much larger potential audience.

The goal of advertising should always be one of two things and in most cases both; it should be to increase sales AND build brand awareness. But all too often we get hung up on targeting very specific demographics when creating our media plans.

For example, it might not seem only reasonable for a baby-products retailer to target “women 18-49 with infants”. But according to the market research firm Scarborough, nearly half of those who bought infant clothing, 47%, were from households without children.

When it comes to grocery shopping, whom should you target, men or women?

The assumption is women do most of the grocery shopping.  But do they? The answer is yes… and no! Statista research from 2020 will tell you that the primary shopper in the average household is 65% women and 35% men. However, in households where the grocery shopping duties are shared, men do 59% of the shopping compared to only 41% of the females. Furthermore, 70% of all secondary shopping is done by men. 

Scarborough Research also found that nearly a quarter (23.5%) of all women’s cosmetics and perfumes were bought by men.

In his Twelve Causes of Advertising Failure, Roy Williams wrote. “The importance of qualitative data has been grossly overestimated by many advertisers and media professionals.  In reality, saying the wrong thing has killed far more ad campaigns than reaching the wrong people.  It is amazing how many people become ‘the right people’ when you are saying the right thing.”

Thinking beyond the traditional demographics your competitors are ‘targeting’ with their advertising can help you reach untapped markets to increase your sales.