Before we dive deeper into
life-stage segmentation, here are a few questions for you to ponder:
- · Do you remember the day you graduated? How did you feel right then?
- · How about when you bought your first car? What did you do to celebrate?
- · Now when you moved into that first home of your own, how did that make you feel?
- · The birth of your first child; what emotions did that event unleash?
You get the picture. All
of these events are important milestones in your customer’s lives; just as they
are in yours! Most people go through some or all of these “life-stages” during
their time on this earth and each stage has its own requirements and specific
triggers.
Marketing to your
customers without taking into consideration their current life-stage (and hence
financial requirements) is like trying to sell with a blindfold on. You have no
idea who you are targeting! Most people go through typical life-stages. These
could include:
- · Moving out of home for higher studies; Graduation
- · The first job; probably a move to a different city
- · First vehicle purchase
- · Marriage – the typical ‘settling down’ phase
- · The first home purchase
- · Birth of a child; consequent change in priorities
- · Established families; life goes on
- · Children move away for further education/jobs
- · Second home purchase; wealth creation and consolidation
- · Retirement
- · Death
This is not supposed to be
morbid or to remind you of your mortality! It is just an attempt to show the
stages that most of us go through and the consequent impact it has on our
financial needs. Marketers who are cognizant of these life-stages have the
ability to reach out to audiences with just the right products they need at the
right time when they need them. Those who operate with a one-size-fits-all
approach are more likely to spend more and convert a lot less.
You decide which category you
want to belong to! In another post we will examine just how you can reach out
to and target specific life-stages.
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