What's Your Customer's DNA?

This may seem rudimentary, but too often marketers look at demographic targets without looking at the big picture. Along with this narrow focus comes an ask: Buy something from us, sign up, take action, do something - and this is done without an exchange value.

In today's economic climate, consumers are ever more fickle as to where they spend their hard-earned dollars. On top of this, they're bombarded with a flurry of marketing messages across the spectrum - in myriad ways across multiple daily experiences.

So, how do marketers break through the clutter? How do they grab that fleeting attention of an over-saturated media world that's evermore competitive with every passing hour?

It starts with knowing the customer's DNA. Going beyond demographics, psychographics, and even values and lifestyles, it's finding out both the pain points and sweet spots that brings your product or service into relevancy.

Connecting with audiences and customers is BEING one...it's an empathetic approach to knowing the very fabric of what makes the target tick and how your offer fits into their lives and makes it both relevant and utterly irresistible.

This messaging can't happen in a media vacuum either. It needs to transcend any one medium and be consistent throughout the customer experience and the world they live in. The media mix is a misnomer really - media shouldn't be mixed but carefully constructed, with common 'ingredients' and both an ask and a value proposition that is part of the very DNA of the customer you're trying to reach. A good example of a common error in the often misunderstood world of Facebook is the ever-present ask to LIKE us on Facebook. Rarely do I ever see a reason 'why'. What's in it for me? And how does this click fit with my life and the world I experience?

It's time for marketers to think beyond sales goals and market share. We need to dig deep about how our brand can become part of the consumer's DNA and concurrently devise a strategy to stay relevant, irresistible and valuable over time, across all consumer touch points and experiences.