Geography as a targeting tool for marketing
With the rise of digital marketing, we often neglect geography as nothing more than a targeting mechanism for ads. In this article, Geography as a targeting tool, I look to address this issue head-on. As the level of Ad specificity has never been greater, we are eroding the value of understanding our target market.
I’m going, beginning with, a hypothetical story. Dale is a 34-year-old insurance broker from Golden B.C., about a 3-hour drive from Calgary, Alberta or a day’s drive outside of Vancouver. Dale has recently gone through a divorce. He is still struggling to get his feet under him, but he’s starting the next chapter of his life. He recently purchased a new place and is looking forward to what the future may hold for the first time in a while.
Due to his divorce, he is in the market for basically everything. He needs to set up his new place; he is considering a home gym and is even looking into a new car.
For many brands (and this is about to sound horrible), Dale is an ideal prospect. There is a concept presented by Tony Robbins called the Pain/Pleasure paradox. Essentially, we are all looking to reduce our pain OR increase our pleasure in life. Although I’m certain psychologists could challenge this generalization, it does hold water — at least from a 50,000-foot view perspective, thus making Dale a lucrative prospect.
He needs to reduce his pain. And pain is general and specific here. He needs a bed; he needs dishes etc. Those are general ‘pains.’ However, the particular pain that Dale is feeling — i.e. his divorce — tosses him into a whole new category of pain reduction. Now, he may purposely go out of his way not to purchase from brands that he and his Ex would buy from. He may strategically select items/brands that would make his Ex upset. Because of this, Dale is primed for a switch, the rare opportunity for a challenger brand to come in and win Dale over.
The same is valid for pleasure. More home gyms are sold based on looking good because you are single than looking good because you are happily married.
All this information is taken into consideration when a modern marketer plans out her advertising campaign.
Lifestage, psychological factors, recent traumatic experiences, an increase or decrease in purchasing habits, likelihood of switching, and new needs/wants are commonly asked questions.
What is rarely considered is asking the question, “What does it mean to be recently divorced in Golden B.C.?
Golden B.C. has a population of approximately 4,000. If you were to look at Golden on a map, you would notice one distinct piece of information — it is a small blimp in Alberta/BC’s vast interior mountain range known as the Rocky Mountains. It takes up a massively small area of just over 11KM. Essentially, if you wanted to run a marathon in Golden, you would need to do just shy of 4 laps of the entire town.
So how is divorce different in Golden than in Metro Vancouver, with a population just shy of 2.6 million and an interconnected area of 2,883 KMs? I’m sure you could guess, but here are a few easy ones:
- The likelihood of everyone in Golden knowing about Dale’s divorce is high.
- The ability to shop at stores that he doesn’t have a connection with is low.
- The opportunity for Dale to run into his Ex-wife is incredibly high.
- The proximity/access points to alternatives for Dale is common, and home delivery won’t always be an option.
With this in mind — how does this change an advertising strategy based solely on this geographical information? Dale no longer seems like an ideal target. If you were a modern marketer, you may look at Dale and think, “ok, does he currently shop with us? No. Ok — this may be a hard one.” Remember, he has a lot going on and lives 262 kilometres west of Calgary and 713 kilometres east of Vancouver. Source: Wikipedia
Your entire approach changes: the language you use, the imagery — your expectations and success KPIs. Even if you do or do not target, Dale comes into question.
Will some brands still target Dale? Of course. Will some brands still use the same language/imagery that they’re using in Vancouver? You bet. And will Dale buy a few of those products? Maybe, if he can get them. But will a lot of money be wasted on incorrectly targeting Dale? Oh yeah.
The next time you use geography as a targeting tool — make sure you’ve done your due diligence and respect that “Dale’s” experience won’t be the same as someone else in another city or town — even if all the other factors would suggest it should.
Thank you for listening to the ThoughtUnpacked podcast. If you have an idea you want to be unpacked — please reach out on Twitter or Instagram. Until next time — stay safe.
