Is this the end for Mass Marketing?
When we’re living in a world full of ads that constantly tell you to buy all kinds of stuff, it’s hard for those products to register in our brain, given we have such a short attention span.
Now, consider a situation where you have zero interest in most of the items being marketed to you. It’s hard not to tune out.
Yet, this is exactly what mass marketing does to consumers. There’s usually a complete mismatch between what you want and what’s being advertised to you. Robert Spellings Jr. couldn’t have said it better when he described mass marketing as a shotgun approach where “you blast out as many marketing messages as possible on every medium available as often as you can afford.”
It’s not sustainable in the long run.
Large Reach With Limited Appeal
Mass marketing may have a large reach, but its appeal is quite limited. It’s from a bygone age that relied on traditional business models that no longer cut it in today’s fast paced consumerist world.
Gone are the days when TV commercials, billboards, and glossy magazines mesmerised audiences and helped businesses nail their sales targets.
Nowadays, unless you’re a giant conglomerate with deep pockets that can saturate the market with ads, mass marketing won’t work for you. It certainly won’t help you build your brand or secure a loyal customer base in the long run.
Unfortunately, many marketers are still trapped in the mass marketing mindset. They only have a vague idea of whom they’re targeting in their advertising. They end up spending a small fortune on their ads and still fail because their message doesn’t appeal to anyone in particular.
Why Is Mass Marketing Fading Into the Sunset?
There are three main reasons:
1) Ad Fatigue
When the same ads circulate in the media over and over again, we become saturated and stop paying attention as a coping mechanism. The likelihood an advertiser’s message will get our attention against a ton of other ads becomes extremely slim – after all, it’s just another ad.
2) Better informed consumers who know what they want
Modern day consumers are savvy and well informed. They don’t want ads just thrown at them, they’re demanding personalised advertising that addresses their unique needs. Consumers are more likely to buy products from companies that offer personalised experiences.
3) The dawn of the internet
Internet marketing, using tools like email and social media, has phenomenally transformed the reach of small businesses. They no longer need to broadcast their message everywhere. Instead, they can target specific audiences with ad campaigns that directly appeal to them.
Plus, using platforms like Meta Ads and Google Ads, you can now segment your audience using demographics, location, or any other criteria to drive your message home.
Targeted Marketing vs. Mass Marketing – What’s the Difference?
Targeted marketing is the antithesis of mass marketing. Rather than appealing to as many people as possible with your ad, you narrow down to your specific audience, create a message that resonates with them, and place it on a platform where they often spend their time.
Mass Marketing is a blanket campaign that doesn’t consider market segment differences and relies on TV, radio, print, and billboards to get the message across.
Targeted Marketing, on the other hand, homes in on the buyer persona with a purpose-built message for that customer segment. Meta Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn, and email marketing have perfected this method.
How to Make an Offer That Hits All the Right Notes
One thing’s for sure, you don’t want to be wasting your time on an audience that will never buy your products. That’s just not smart business. But how do you ensure you’re reaching the people that want to hear from you and are primed to buy your products?
You need to know your market, put together the right message, and use the right channels to reach your audience.
Knowing Your Market
So who is your ideal customer? This is where you need to spend more time, understanding their demographics, finding out what their interests are, and learning about their pain points.
In short, you need to create the right buyer persona.
Once you’ve understood their mindset, you can segment your ideal customers into smaller target groups depending on their needs, likes and dislikes. There are all kinds of tools to help you do this – Google Analytics and Facebook Audience Insights are just two examples.
Last but not least, collect and analyse data about your customers to find out who is actually buying from you and why.
Once you have a good grasp of who your market is, you’ll never waste time and resources again drumming up business to the wrong audience.
Crafting the Right Message – Is Your Message on Point?
Now that you understand your buyer persona better, are you capable of crafting a message they can relate to? Remember, it has to be personalised and relevant in order to resonate with your audience.
Earlier in this article, we mentioned that the modern day consumer wants marketing that appeals to their personal preferences, rather than generic ads thrown in their faces. This can be achieved in these three ways:
1) Speak to your audience in a language they understand.
If you’re selling household products, you don’t want to get too technical to the point your customers tune out. Equally, you don’t want to oversimplify your message when selling technical products to professionals.
2) Appeal to your audience’s emotions.
You need more than just facts and figures to drive your message home. Emotions play a big role when closing a sale. According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, as many as 95% of the decisions on purchasing by consumers are made unconsciously.
A great way to tap into your customers’ emotions is by offering personalised content, sharing stories about your brand’s journey, and having interactive quizzes and polls that make your customers feel connected.
Your branding can also reflect emotions. Your banner, tagline, and overall graphics can help build a strong identity that your audience relates to.
3) Have a rock solid value proposition.
Your value proposition is a summary explanation of why a customer should choose your product or service. Through it, you can show your audience how they stand to benefit from using your products. Will it make their lives easier or help them meet certain objectives? Using client testimonials and case studies can positively influence how your customers perceive your products.
Choosing the Right Advertising Channel
When deciding which advertising medium to choose, it’s critical to know which platform your target audience prefers to use. Your decision will also be informed by the cost of advertising on that platform, and how best to showcase your product – for example, whether through video or text.
Remember, no matter how good your ad is, if it’s posted on the wrong channel it won’t accomplish its mission.
With this in mind, it’s good to understand how to leverage the opportunities that are available on different platforms. For example Facebook and Instagram support different content formats which may appeal to different demographics and market segments. This can impact your ad campaign reach.
To get the best results you need to choose the right media mix; this way you can meet your customers where they are - whether it’s on social media, via email, or on podcasts.
Choosing the right media will also help you get a better return on investment (ROI) from your marketing strategy.
If Mass Marketing Is Dying, Where Do We Go From Here?
Whatever the eventual fate of mass marketing will be, digital marketing promises an exciting future with endless opportunities.
Here are some of the developments you can expect to see in the next decade:
1) AI will be used more and more to power the Marketing World
AI is no longer just a catchword. It’s automating tasks like data analysis, email campaigns and social media marketing. With AI businesses can segment their customers and personalize their marketing efforts to offer better user experience.
2) Hyperlocal marketing
Consumers prefer ad campaigns that are relevant not just to their interests but their location as well, and businesses are taking note. They’re now targeting customers within a very specific geographic location, such as a town or neighborhood. Expect to see more hyper-local marketing in the future as businesses target consumers carrying out “near me” searches on their devices.
3) Niche micro-influencers
Brands no longer turn to celebrity product endorsements. Instead they’re relying on micro-influencers who have a smaller but more engaged audience that trusts their word. Think of a group of cyclists who are connected on social media. They’re more likely to influence what a fellow cyclist buys compared to any endorsement from a macro-influencer.
4) Augmented reality marketing (AR)
AR is a fast growing field that’s enabling businesses to build interactive and immersive experiences that promote brand awareness. For example, using interactive product demonstrations, marketers can help consumers learn more about product features and functionality, leading to more engagement and product sales.
5) Voice Search
Voice search is promising to become the standard way of interacting between humans and digital devices. In future expect more businesses to optimize their websites so that voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri can locate them when making queries on certain products.
