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Business Rule #33:
Know Your Market
October 7, 2005
by Caroline Pfouts
“Who’s your audience?” “Who’s going to buy this?’ Whether you’re producing a new hip-hop CD or writing an in-house memo, identifying your target market is crucial to success.
Many older people feel alienated by computers and other new technology. They have lived well and happily without computers and often don’t see the need for them. Yet seniors could benefit from using some of these devices. This week’s challenge, to introduce residents in a retirement home to consumer electronics, could have a great upside for older users as well as big-box retailers of electronics, like the sponsor of this Technology Expo, Best Buy.
Part of the task was getting older people to relate personally to these products. Getting this, the Excel team handed remotes to people in their audience and let them dial things in for themselves. Unfortunately, Capital Edge had so many technical difficulties, they weren’t in a position to hand off the controls.
Once you’ve identified your target market, the next question is “What does this audience need and want?” Seniors often suffer from visual impairment. Cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration are all age-related conditions. So making images BIG is particularly important for a senior audience. Excel understood that it’s impossible to admire a website, enjoy Tivo, or appreciate the beauty of digital photos if you can’t see them. The big screens the men supplied were a must for this older crowd.
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When I published, “Care for the Caretaker: How Jim Backus’s Wife Did It, An Upbeat Guide for Those Who Care for Others,” by Henny Backus, we conducted focus groups. Although this book was the story of Mrs. Backus’s experience helping her actor husband through his battle with Parkinson’s disease, we wanted to market to anyone caring for a patient with a serious or degenerative disease. The one comment we heard from nearly every person over fifty who picked up the book was a delighted, “Such big type. I can read it without my glasses!” Knowing that our audience would primarily be elderly folks, we were careful to design “Care for the Caretaker” so it would be easy to read. We catered to our audience’s needs, and the book has done very well.
Capital Edge suffered not just from small screens and lack of technical expertise, but from a general lack of sophistication in event planning. Poor Jennifer Wallen may be a professional event planner, but what kind of events? Surely not splashy, well-decorated affairs. Caterers understand how to make the food look delicious as well as actually taste good. It’s all in the presentation. I suspect the Excel team made one phone to have attractive trays of fresh fruit and other treats delivered. Sadly the women didn’t know when to outsource. Just because you can do a job yourself, doesn’t mean you should. The ladies would have done much better if they had delegated the catering to a good deli.
Both project managers this week were leading in less than ideal circumstances. Randal Pinkett was still in mourning, having just returned from his grandmother’s funeral, while Rebecca Jarvis was on crutches with a broken ankle. There are times when you can’t avoid playing injured, such as when a deadline needs to be met and the task really can’t be handed off to another player. At the beginning of this challenge, however, both Randall and Rebecca had the choice of allowing someone else to lead the team. Is it wise to risk the success of the team to prove that you’re still in the game? It depends.
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Once you’ve identified your target market, the next question is 'What does this audience need and want?'
