One of the biggest problems in marketing to women is overcoming stereotypes. One of the best ways to get past stereotypes is to create personas. Personas let you see how your customers approach the buying process in different ways. Personas let you see into deeper motivations of why people do what they do.
But one of the most powerful insights you can get form personas is what we at Future Now call the Angle of Approach. How does a person first realize they need your product? How do they describe this need/problem/ opportunity? Understanding how they describe their need is absolutely necessary for creating scent. It also helps you understand what kind of keywords they may be typing into search engines and what that keyword intent is. In other words, what kind of information do they want to see when they type in that keyword.
But Angle of Approach also lets you know when that need may be most intense. When you create personas, you get to see the persona's whole life, not just their specific interaction with your product. This complete understanding helps you identify all sorts of opportunities.
Proctor & Gamble took advantage of just such insight with their product Crest Whitening plus Scope Extreme Toothpaste. What was their customer's Angle of Approach? At what point was the need/problem that this toothpaste solved most acute? The answer: Nightclubs.
So P&G designed a mobile campaign to reach customers when their need was most acute. This Advertising Age Article explains more of the strategy:
The campaign will advertise on bar napkins, club bathroom signs and other guerilla-style media to pitch the "Irresistibility IQ." Those who opt to take the quiz text the words "IQ" or "Extreme" to the number 27378, or C-R-E-S-T.
Questions range from what's the last thing you do before hitting the club to is it OK to answer a call on a date.
Irresistibility IQ - brilliant - that's what their audience is thinking when they're out at nightclubs - am I hot tonight? The Irresistibility IQ is wonderful scent - it's playing on what's top of mind for these young club goers. And it taps into their need for immediacy - they simply take the quiz on their cell phones. Plus, P&G gets instant feedback and even more insight about their audience.
I don't know if P&G actually created personas or if they just did a lot of insightful customer research, but by looking at their audience in the larger context of their lives, by understanding a powerful Angle of Approach - the need for fresh breath and white teeth when you're out at a nightclub - they were able to craft a persuasive campaign.
Who are your personas? Are you looking at them in the context of their whole lives? Are you identifying their Angles of Approach and crafting persuasive scenarios that lead them to your product?
Want to learn more about Angles of Approach, how to create personas and crafting persuasive scenarios? Join myself and the incomparable Lisa Davis for our Persuasive Online Copywriting course in New York July 10-11.
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