Advertising in a foreign country is harder than it looks. Before anything, you must know how to define your target market. Then, you need to survey your target market. By surveying, we mean deep diving into the routine of these people and understanding their way of living, thinking, what they aspire to… Especially gaps in their needs that other brands are not covering.
For example, Brazilian people live a completely different routine from Japanese people. What and how they eat, which time of the day they have a bath, how they interact with family, friends and work, what they think is funny…etcetera.
So, first, always remember the cultural differences when trying to connect with a new audience.
Knowing what your audience loves, needs and desires will give you communication, marketing and creativity insights to connect with them. You will know your real goals and how to accomplish them by making an accurate strategic plan, based on all the data you and your team have collected.
You will also have in mind aspects of your product or service that should be highlighted in a campaign or advertisement – those only your company offers, giving a competitive advantage over other companies in the market. This combo of actions will probably make you sell much more!
As our mother would say to us: you are not everyone else. Neither is your target audience: they are a group of people that needs and desires your product or services. They are exactly what your brand exists for. They are its persona.
So, knowing only geographic and demographic aspects is not enough to conquer these people. Yes, age, gender, location, marital status, children and purchasing power are important information, but there are many more characteristics that define a person, right?
Life values, background, habits, culture, hobbies, beliefs, goals, pets, relationships, work…and so on. Well, to really “meet” your persona, you must ask a lot of questions. For this reason, we have listed some survey questions to find your target market below:
- What are their life values and beliefs? What is important to them besides work, money and routine?
- Does their past really matter to them? Do they value memories? Which ones?
- How do they speak? What are their slangs?
- What do they like to do in their free time, or when they want to relax?
- What is missing in their lives that your brand can supply? And how much are they willing to pay for it?
- Where do they get their information? Internet? Television? Both?
- Which website and channels do they read and watch?
- Do they have pets? How is their relationship with them?
- Which competitors of yours they consume or want to consume?
- Where and how do they buy their products?
- What do they value most in a shopping experience?
When you have all the answers, you will have something like this: Joey is an engineer with a husband, a pooch and a big heart. He wants to open his own company to help build houses for homeless people, but doesn’t know how to start. In his free time, he likes to surf the internet searching for digital marketing and other information to help him with his project.
To survey your target market in the best way possible, it’s important to do qualitative and quantitative research. A study has more credibility when it manages to combine both. But what is the difference between them?
The qualitative research, that usually comes first, focuses on subjective information that cannot be measured. Like “Joey values spending time helping people feel better with their lives. But on Sundays, he would rather stay home with his family and eat a homemade meal”.
On the other hand, quantitative research focuses on quantifying data. For example: “36% of engineers want to open their own business. 5% with social causes” – is just a fake number to help you understand the concept better: qualitative research deep dives into your audience’s life and the other one quantifies the data you have.
To make a well structured and effective survey, you will need to dedicate time, patience to reach and hear people, knowledge to find insights in their quotes, find research platforms, and much more. So we recommend that you hire a company to do all of that for you.
Then, with your persona in mind, your brand will be ready for the next step, which is message development.
