Step back to widen profiles

Your future audience rarely hides in yesterday’s results.

In my experience, organisations often believe they understand their audience because of occasional profiling analysis. They can see who opens emails, attends events, buys products or donates most often.

But this mainly describes the people who already engage. My perhaps controversial view is that much of this becomes a little self-defining. Targeting “lookalike” profiles assumes that current audiences dictate future ones. When written like this, it sounds quite obvious. Yet it is a common trap that prevents audiences from widening or evolving.

Against this backdrop, many clients have asked how they can reach new profiles, more diverse audiences and younger age groups. Just to make it more complex, “warm” communications often amplify the problem.

Death by RFV

Most organisations I’ve worked with prioritise targeting using recency, frequency and value models (RFV) to maximise short-term returns. People who engaged most recently, most often or at the highest value receive the most attention, or in many cases almost all of it.

It may be a logical approach for managing response and short-term income, but strategically it can become self-reinforcing. The same audiences are prioritised again and again, while others are contacted less frequently or not at all. Over time the profile tightens further.

Take a step back

Yet most organisations I’ve worked with in recent years say they want the opposite. They want to reach wider audiences, with greater diversity, and engage more effectively with younger groups.

Making this happen rarely comes from repeating the same approach year after year. It comes from understanding the people who may be interested in the future, and building propositions that speak to them, in ways they recognise and within social contexts that feel relevant to their lives.

The only way to achieve this is often to take off the corporate hat, apply some common sense and rethink how you talk about your organisation alongside the people you want to engage next.

Some call it co-creation. Perhaps it is better known as humility.