Defining markets and understanding consumers

• A Consumer is a specific group of people that buy a product. To know your consumer there are a lot of different things that have to be thought about. Consumers are constantly changing and evolving with the times as trends, environment and their age changes. There are a few exceptions to this though for example if you illustrate for children's books then your consumer age never really changes. Many things can be done to help you understand the consumer more, for example you could interact with your consumer through the use of social media platforms such as blogs, facebook pages, youtube, instagram and other similar platforms. Another way of collecting your consumers opinions and feedback is through surveys, this is a good way of contacting a lot of people and getting a fast response in a small amount of time.  

'Once the consumer journey is defined, the channel strategy is aligned to each phase of the targeted response path including: payed media, owned media, (properties owned by a brand [e.g. website, facebook page, videos and physical events]), and earned media (volume and sentiment of social media discussions). The owned and earned media channels are mission-critical for non profits as they provide a lower cost option to reach consumers and have them interact with the cause.' [1]

• There are 3 main points that you need to think about and know the answers to in order to understand your consumer. they are: 

1. Who? Who will be buying your products for example, if you create childrens books then your target audience is children but your consumer will be the parents as they are the ones to buy the books. So your product has to appeal to the parents as much as the child. 
2. Why? Why will your consumer be buying your product, for decoration? education? as a gift? This is important to think about because you can taylor the aesthetic and pricing to the purpose of the product
3. When? When will the consumer be buying the product, what will be the peak times that your product will sell, Holidays? birthdays? You need to know this information to know when to bring out new products. 

• As well as these points there are other things to consider for example how do you want your image to come across?, how should you approach your consumer?, is your market captured or not?.
• You have to sell yourself as well as your product because the consumer will feel as if they are buying into a more personal experience with the company. Its all about giving your consumers a good experience when buying from you.  

• A market is where your products fit in within the industry, this is defined by your consumer. Within the market you always have to consider the future of it as your consumer may change throughout the years. Your market is defined by the consumer feedback, if you go onto the market without knowing your consumer then you wont really be aiming your work at anyone in particular causing your product to not sell.  After getting to know your consumer you will know how to define your market to suit them. 

I decided to do some primary research into a company and their consumer and how they go about targeting their consumer. I decided to look into Coca Cola as they are one of the most widely known brands throughout the world. 

• I found straight away that they have a Customer care survey to connect with the consumer and get feedback on their product.
• Their website has a community section allowing consumers to feel as though they are part of a larger community, as if the product is connecting them to people all around the world that share a liking for the same product.  
• Coka cola target a captured market by getting involved with events such as the Olympic games.
• They build relationships with consumers by executing well thought out marketing campaigns, promotions and merchandising.[2]  
• For the last 2 summers in the UK Coca cola have had a huge marketing campaign called 'share a coke' where the companies logo has been replaced with popular names. The company knew that this would result in more sales because they know their consumer well. 

About the 'Share a Coke' campaign- 'The company said there have been more than 125,000 posts about the campaign across all channels from June 2 through July 14 and said 96% of consumer sentiment toward the campaign is either positive or neutral.' [3]

     

[1] Marketing for goods, Markets for Good Selected Readings: Making Sense of Data and Information in the social sector, Published january 2014. 

[2] http://www.coca-colahellenic.com/aboutus/customers, marketing and merchandising  (accessed 08/10/14) 

[3] Tadena.N, The wall street journal online, Coke’s Personalized Marketing Campaign Gains Online Buzz (accessed  08/10/14)