Do you ever assume that your customers are just like you? They have your same values? Appreciate your same priorities? Stand by your same positions on all matters local or global? Well, that’d be a silly thing to think considering that, if you’re like most, sometimes even people in your own family aren’t just like you.
A diverse marketplace has a mix of temperaments, attitudes, even values, and these response modes affect how individuals react to your content. Data analysis conducted by Zenzi, a values-based marketing agency, showed that website visitors can be classified by what they “seek.” Generally, that breaks down like so:
- Tradition seekers – family oriented, older, politically conservative, brand loyal, influenced by advertising and prefer direct mail.
- Purpose seekers – compassionate, cooperative, eco-conscious, researches purchases, likes to buy local.
- Achievement seekers – tech savvy, brand conscious, active on social media, driven by success.
- Pleasure seekers – values fun and excitement, aren’t price shoppers, don’t care about brand loyalty or safety, are socially active.
Tradition seekers like stories with moral messages; pleasure seekers not so much. Pleasure seekers prefer “escape” stories from everyday life; purpose seekers don’t like conflict. Given these differences, can you see how your IAQ article might be of interest to purpose seekers, but not so much to pleasure seekers? Or how the latest technological upgrades would appeal to achievement seekers, but not so much to tradition seekers?
Unless you’re a non-profit charity or a political candidate, you don’t have the luxury of focusing on one set of values for content. One size does not fit all. So create content with broad purpose in mind. You can also learn more about your customer base through market research that involves location of home, asking them to complete surveys and studying analytics of their digital footprints. And here’s an idea: get to know your customers through personal interaction.