Understanding Primary and Secondary Targets.

The question of who a Primary or  Secondary target of a market continues to provoke raving debates in conference rooms of many advertising and marketing agencies. The seemingly lack of consensus on target audience categorization usually stalls many meeting, rendering people confrontational in their submissions on the subject. 

Critical as target audience categorization is to effective planning, prioritizing and decision making, not having a clear criteria for the categorization is disheartening and inimical to making resource –effective decisions.

It is in the light of the above observations that I want to lend my intellectual support to the concept of target audience categorization. In doing this, I will draw heavily from the observations I personally made while devising strategies for my   school assignments and project work.

As an intellectual, I am open to criticism as I am not the repository of all knowledge and experiences. I will therefore be appreciative of constructive feedback that will stimulate the debate, intellectually.

Having clearly articulated my intentions for this piece, I think I will at this juncture proceed with my discussion on the subject of who primary target or secondary targets are.

What is the criteria?

 A clearly defined set of criterion is an effective way of averting the debates that usually characterize the audience target categorization. The writer submits that if an Agency can agree on the appropriate yardsticks or parameters for classification, the needless debate on the subject will be reduced to the barest minimum.

While I accept that the appropriateness or otherwise of criteria for this purpose is discretionary, and experiential, I am still inclined to entertain the idea that Agency’s or Marketing Teams should move to  reaching consensus on the appropriate  criteria for the categorization.

CRITERIA :( FACTORS THAT SHOULD INFORM THE CATEGORIZATION)

1.  The Level of  Consumer’s  Dependence on the Brand

The degree to which the brand is relevant or necessary for meeting consumer’s needs is one of the criteria for differentiating between Primary and Secondary Targets. By reference to needs, I allude to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory.

 If one were to depend on a brand in order to fulfill a need then such an individual assumes a primary target status.

Individuals who may not have a direct utility for the brand will invariably become the Secondary target. They are equally key because though they may not be directly be dependent on the brand they are key influencers and are relied upon to give feedback that can either make or break  consumer’s loyalty for a particular brand within a product category.

For instance,  a lady who  relies on a particular brand of foot aware for the purposes of expressing her fashion sense, though a Primary target of any campaign initiated by that brand, the feedback she gets from friends, and other influencing parties(Secondary Targets) becomes reference point for validating her decision to associate with that brand. Where the feedback does not reinforce or validate her decision for choosing such a brand, the possibility of varying her preference for that brand will be high.

This goes to lend credence to the need for both the Primary and Secondary target to be favorably disposed towards your brand. While limited budget will not make it possible for both parties to be prioritized in every campaign, factoring the Secondary target’s communications needs and expectations is key for success.

  

2.Whose attitude, belief and Perception when influenced, can inure beneficially to  our Communication/Marketing objectives:

I am conscious of the difficulty and the impossibility of changing human attitudes, beliefs and perceptions. As Communication Strategist, I don’t believe we have the spiritual capacity to exorcise or deliver people from an attitude which is not favorable to the brand we are promoting. Our weapon is the tool of communication which we can use to shape and influence people’s attitude in a manner that they will make them act without noting a change in their own attitude. This is why I prefer to use ‘Influence and not change.

 Now back to my argument.

Usually, Primary targets are the people whose attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, when shaped or influenced can inure to your Marketing or Communication goals, beneficially. This, however, is not to suggest that paying attention to a secondary target will be counter-productive. Although, influencing the Secondary targets will not be directly beneficial to meeting your marketing goals, cultivating them will be important key as they are key in validating the decisions that the Primary target makes.

3.       3.   WHO A CONSUMER IS AND WHO A CUSTOMER IS

Closely related to the above is the need for the Strategist to strike a balance between who a consumer is and who a customer also is. This is because, sometimes, not all consumers may be customers and not all customers may be consumers. These two are not mutually exclusive though.

A man in our traditional Ghanaian setting will be a consumer of certain brand of Tomato Paste and will not even know what brand it is, talk less of where it was purchased. In this case the Primary target will be the House wife (Feminists like Judy Brady should spare me on this).This is because they make the purchasing decision. In other words they are the customers (Their consumer status is still valid, though.)

While the man may not be a customer the fact that he can influence the purchasing decision through his comments and feedback on food Prepared with that Tomato paste brand makes him an interested party in this adventure.

All things being unequal, if the man expresses some reservations with the way food prepared with that Tomato Past brand tastes, the woman may vary her decision for another brand. Again, where the price proves too injurious to the disposable incomes of the man, he may lobby for a change in that particular brand, if it is expensive (Don’t wink I have seen my father lobby in the Kitchen before).

 In all of these lobbying, the Communication Strategist is minded to take into account these two differing interests, ensuring that each on the party’s stake is fairly and evenly protected. For instance, while the customer must be concerned about the quality or the brand promise, the interest of the customer in this transaction should be how much a particular brand within that product category affect their disposable incomes.

While an emotionally driven strategy may keep the customer loyal to the brand, the consumer who commits financially to the purchasing process need reasons to keep them even if price gnaw at their income.

In the nutshell, I want to believe that this piece has not exhasted all the possible and reasonable criteria that is key in differentiating between Primary and Secondary target. I will therefore count on your feedback to get this conversation going.

Samuel Osarfo Boateng

samuelcreasta@gmail.com

233541842198.

samuelcreasta@gmail.com