Meeting with a potential new customer a few weeks back I came across a very interesting insight. The customer’s business is centred around a well-known challenger brand, with a defined positioning toward a younger segment.

As I went through my usual questioning process to understand who they were looking to reach and which demographic segments presented the most potential, my client told me: “in truth, where we see the most growth is in 40+ mums and dads”. 

Having turned 40-something that week, it was a surprise to learn that I was in fact his perfect prospect! Admittedly I felt younger for the discussion, but it really got me thinking – how effective is the common targeting process when we look at the ‘perception of a brand’ against ‘the real market opportunity’. The marketing we were discussing used images of fresh faced male and females squarely in their 20s. It had contemporary design elements and a slightly irreverent tone, yet there was significant appeal toward a very different audience.

Not long after, I met with a start up IT business – again one with a skew towards a younger, urban market. Yet again, during my discovery process it became apparent that they had a major secondary target group of more mature users.

Much has been said about the growing base of older Australians, and the significant opportunity for marketers to capitalise on the generational shift (especially when you overlay the ‘50 is the new 40’ market trend). There is also of course the attraction of the increased purchasing power aligned to older age groups. What’s even more interesting though is seeing the take up from the over 40 consumers with disrupter brands like Airbnb and Uber. Perhaps we need to cast another lens on our targeting?

Sure, you cannot beat qualitative data on audience segments matched with channel performance but my question to marketers is: Is it a sensible proposition to drive business value from the 2nd and 3rd tier segments? Would it make better business sense to diversify your target market strategy to include groups you may not immediately pick as your best buyers? Are you limiting your prospects by aiming for the cool crowd? After all, Australia is not blessed with the population base of the major world economies so perhaps we should be working our bases harder. 

Recently I was targeted by Depend incontinence products on my personal email account. They must know I’m a good prospect!? This is not what I mean by working our bases harder (my Depend years are far from now… I hope!).

Let’s get cluey with our expanded reach. Just like my client above – don’t just go for ‘cool’, go for the untapped segments who really want to hear from you. It will pay off and you may just find that the ‘uncool’ market is very cool indeed… for your sales team at least! 

By: David Bruce, Business Development Director, ContactAbility

ContactAbility specialises in customer acquisition and can reach more than 12 million prospects. To find out how we can help you reach new segments, why not drop me line at david.bruce@contactability.com.au today.