3 things on targeting you need to know to grow market share
3 powerful questions which will help you understand your “WHO” and a case study on the Skincare category
“Who is the target for this product?” is a forever-green marketing question for which every brand manager has to be equipped with a methodology to get a sensible answer. For example, a brand team can not be happy with “Women, 25+, with Mid-High income, using skin care products on a regular basis” for a new anti-ageing product. This broad targeting might work for TV media buying but if you still want insightful brand communication and the choice of relevant conversion touchpoints the above definition is way too generic.
I’m here to share a “three questions” approach to improve the understanding of “Who” to get the understanding of a sensible target audience for the product beyond social demographics.
1) How regularly do consumers use the category product?
Before going to the next question, you de-select light and occasional users
2) Why your target consumers are involved in the category on a regular basis? What is their end goal of product usage?
And after understanding the end goal of usage you will have a better understanding of what they actually expect from a product on skin performance and their emotions towards the category
3) What would be a reason for your consumer to go away from the category?
This one is powerful and if you crack it — you will get at your disposal the trial triggers (functional and emotional) for converting product claims. With these claims, you will be able to differentiate and communicate effectively with each group.
If you have good enough consumer data to answer these questions, then apply it and your targeting will become meaningful and actionable. Another way to quickly straighten your thoughts is just to go to a shop and observe and talk to consumers. It might give you even more insights than a chart with data.
Here is the real case to prove the validity of the approach.
I was a brand manager responsible for the Skin Care category in Russia and had two anti-ageing face creams Olay Total Effects and Olay Regenerist in my portfolio. Both products had anti-ageing formulas and Regenerist was 10–15% more expensive than Total Effects yet both were in the same mastige product league and were standing next to each other on the shelf (“massive prestige” — an apology for beauty marketing jargon). The brand growth strategy I was supposed to execute was to keep delighting Olay Total Effects users and attract new brand users with Regenerist. Yet there was no specific guidance on how exactly to differentiate which women Olay should target for Total Effects and which for Regenerist. In fact, from a socio-demographical standpoint, these women were twins.
I started with data on the skincare category and consumer segmentation looking for the answers to the first two questions. How often do consumers use the products and what is the end goal of usage?
The face cream is the biggest skincare subsegment with 80+% penetration among women from 18–65 yo and basically, there are 3 major usage patterns
a) Issues-based usage when women apply skin cream 1–2 times a week or even less and it’s driven by specific skin issues like skin dryness. Generally, they are not involved in the category and use creams only as non-medical problem solvers. In Russia, this group is about 15% of all women
b) Wellness routine usage/self-pampering routine when women apply a skin cream daily as a part of their wellness routine with overall skin health and appearance-related goals like skin moisturization, brightness or whitening. There is also a self-pampering motive in creams selections and usage. This is the biggest consumer group accounting for 50–60% of all women
c) Purposeful Intensive usage when women most likely apply several kinds of skin care products several times a day. For these women skincare, routine is the race to reach desired beauty standard and they are especially keen on the prevention of ageing sings and skin imperfections correction. In Russia, there is a sizable of “forever young” seekers constituting about 30%
So, in my analysis, I ended up with two business-relevant user groups: “looking and feeling good” seekers and “I want to look young forever” fighters. The key difference between them was the end goal of regular use of skin care products. Women from the first group wanted to look good and thus were open to investing in quality solutions yet they were not trying to change themselves but keep in good condition what they got (and thus the signs of ageing for them were not the end of the world but rather a natural consequence of living life). On the other hand, the other group were keen to improve what they have, and they were not accepting ageing.
So, the first two questions were answered but I still needed a clue to understanding what would be the effective way to define who is who (given social demographic spread were alike).
I was a resourceful brand manager and once excel tables stopped giving me new insights, I went to a shop to observe and learn about my consumers. I cheated a bit and primarily talked not to shoppers but with the people who were the most reliable source of information about my targets — in-store consultants. These ladies daily were making out their minds about what version of Olay creams to offer to the customers and this is how I find the answer to the third question — What would be a reason for a consumer to go away from the category?
The magic question suggested by the smart in-store consultant Anastasia was “Would you ever consider plastic surgery to look younger?”.
This was the defining enquiry to understand who belongs to which groups. If a woman would say “NO” — she was the “looking and feeling good seeker” and naturally was offered Total Effects which would address her needs taking care of skin glow and texture without overpromising on anti-ageing signs removal.
While if a woman would say “Yes or maybe ” — she was in the “Forever young fighter group” then the recommendation for the Regenerist would come into the game with a pitch for the formula which helps to ease the ageing signs. Although the fighter might still proceed with more drastic measures in the future the Regenerist was there to support her in the battle for prolonged youth.
Note on the methodology when we talk about the third question “what would make a consumer go away from the category” don’t take it too directly. In the case of “Youth fighters” will not stop using creams after the surgery. However, the end goal of usage would change from “signs elimination” to “results preserving”.
The Olay creams duel targeting were puzzled out. Based on cosmetic surgery insight new Regenerist campaign was developed and the Total Effects narrative continued to be focused on healthy skin celebration. Both products had positive traction with their targets and overall Olay market share grew.
Hope the suggested approach would help you in your marketing endeavours. Data analysis, consumer insights immersion and your dedication to getting tangible answers are the way to build business and brands.
July 2022, Singapore
