Brand Review - Target...

What we can learn from a strong customer centric focus.
by David Bookout

Bravo! - Target's new TV ad campaign is VERY FOCUSED ON CONSUMER CONCERNS, while also staying focused on what the company needs to do - sell product. I'm talking about the ads that creatively feature products, such as a camping tent, while positioning them as fun things that might be on one's wish-list, such as a new family room.

I was so impressed that I thought I would highlight what I see as the opportunities such a great example offers small to medium enterprise ( SME ) owners, executives and managers, particularly in these difficult and confusing times.

These four guidelines and concluding suggestion will go along way to provide new opportunities for revenue generation:

1) Stay focused ( clear, concise and to the point ) on what the desired audience cares about.

2) Stay focused on the language ( written + verbal + imagery ) used to communicate your offer.

3) Stay focused on and speak to your desired audience's emotional concerns.

4) Stay focused on a "cost efficient", "effective" way of communicating with your audience. Not everybody needs; from a business offer promotion perspective, or from a desired audience viewing perspective, a TV Ad.

Suggestion - Watch the ad, record it if possible and see what you can design relative to your desired audience and the offer(s) your making, AND where and how your making those offers. Redesign and implement as needed.

Too often our strategic and tactical focus is based purely on what WE want. This rarely works in the free world !

Today, and particularly in these turbulent times, what we want as a provider of goods and services doesn't matter. When times are good ( money is readily available via inexpensive credit ) there are enough people that "want" things that a lack of focus on these four simple rules allows the providers to get by. When times are not so good, as they have been this past year, and particularly these past two months, this isn't the case.

Today people ( consumers & business decision makers ) aren't doing anything with, or purchasing things that don't: (a) Address fundamental needs, (b) Are clearly articulated, and (c) Connect to their emotional vision of the future they want for themselves and their business.

*The Bullseye Design is a trademark of Target Brands, Inc.