As I sit here on a miserable Sunday afternoon preparing two new work proposals I find myself thinking how easy it is to focus on the channel and tactics without understanding the audience first.  

Both projects are consumer campaigns to drive the uptake of new technology. There is a compelling case for both and households have a lot to gain from adopting both technologies.  

On the face of it, a cookie-cutter approach would work well - a few well placed media articles, active engagement of an advisory group and the innovative use of social media. Simply done with good results.

Or not.

That’s the danger with jumping to tactics first, without understanding your audience. The technologies are at the polar extremes of the adoption cycle so have completely different target markets, motivation drivers and success criteria.

So what do I mean by the adoption cycle?

Any product or service goes through the cycle as it matures; all that varies is the speed from launch to obsolesce.  Effective marketing and communications ensures that the right audiences hear the right messages at the right time – otherwise you are reliant on the “shot gun” approach of telling everyone all the time, with the messages becoming so bland that they fail to engage anyone. 

The five stages are: 

•Innovators –a small percentage of consumers who are adopting new products or technology. They can be viewed as enthusiasts and are eager to try new things often for the sake of the newness of the technology itself.  The challenge is often to simply make them aware that there is a solution they (or anyone else) did not yet know existed!  

•Early Adopters – more numerous than Innovators category. They share Innovators’ enthusiasm for new products though they tend to be more practical or pragmatic about their decisions. They will become evangelists for your technology and will be keen to communicate their experiences with the Early Majority (next group) and because of their influence they are important to the future success of the product (i.e., act as opinion leaders).  They are more price sensitive than subsequent categories but do need convincing of the business case.   

•Early Majority – This is the start of the mass market and may be 40% of your total market.  They like new things but tend to wait until they have received positive opinions from others and positive reviews.  This is the key segment if a new product is to be profitable. On the other hand, many new products die quickly because they are not accepted beyond early trials by Innovators and Early Adopters and never reach mass market status. 

•Late Majority – depending on the product, and maybe as large as the Early Majority, this group takes a wait-and-see approach before trying something new. Marketers are likely to see their highest profits once this group starts to purchase. 

•Laggards – This is the last group to adopt something new and, in fact, may only do so if they have no other choice. For many in this category it is often the loss of the service or government regulation that will get them across the line! 

Each of these groups have different information needs, channels and willingness to adopt.  As marketers and communicators, we need to use not only the market research but also our experience to ensure the successful transition through the cycle.

All too often we leap to mass market tactics too early, rather than tailoring our approach for the individual audience.  Discipline is often the only thing that stands between a fantastic campaign and a shot-gun approach that hits everyone but scores no long-term results.