Let’s play with the thought that your company is in the business segment and that you have an over-representation of men in your target group. Your challenge is that your product aims towards both men and women – and therefore you want to find new ways to reach women, let’s say in the age 25-40 years.
Did this description sound familiar? Of course, depending on your company’s prerequisites the criteria in my example above might differ. But if your goal is to reach new target audiences with your communication and marketing activities – you’re definitely not alone. According to HubSpot, this is actually on the top three list of the most coveted goals for companies using influencer marketing. So, if you’re struggling with how to reach and make an impact on women in the age 25-40 years, influencers might be a great opportunity for you!
In this blog post, we’ll go through online behaviours for women 25-40 years, how to reach and make an impact on them as well as how to avoid the most common mistakes.
How to reach an audience that primary acts online
What characterises an audience that spends a lot of time online is primarily their behaviour. They watch YouTube videos to compare durable products such as vacuum cleaners and they plan their next travel destination and activities with insights from Instagram rather than from a travel magazine. This may not come as surprise, though! The time spent on social media has seen a major increase over the last years, and even more as a result of the corona outbreak. A new survey by HubSpot on 46 markets worldwide shows that 97% of digital consumers have used social media in the past month. To reach this digital and ad-weary target audience with traditional media is often difficult – but through influencer marketing, you will have the chance to increase brand awareness; even with a target audience that primarily acts online.
Why you should consider influencer marketing to reach a new target audience
Consumers today are tired of being exposed to marketing that isn’t relevant. Instead, they expect marketing that adds value and that’s relevant for them as an individual – preferably from people they trust. A great example of this is that 84% of millennials (born ~1980’s and 1990’s) say that the chances are high they plan their own vacation based on someone else’s social media posts. Have a look at the influencer posts below – it looks like they’re taken straight from a travel magazine, with the difference that you can follow their journey live and get the person’s recommendations on where to stay, eat, and where to catch the nicest view of the sunset.
No matter what your offer looks like, marketing today is all about being relevant and being able to demonstrate a clear value to the consumer. This is also reinforced in Novus’ survey, which shows that people like to take part in advertising – as long as it contains relevant offers. In other words, it is important to keep an eye on your target group; what is relevant to them, what does their media consumption look like and how can you make your communication blend into their lives in a natural way that is not perceived as disturbing or distracting? To build a loyal customer base, you also need to build strong relationships with your buyers, and this often requires continuity and long-term perspective.
If your brand is established on the market, you’ve probably worked with traditional media channels before, and doubtless invested some money into it. The biggest difference (and benefit) with influencer marketing, compared to TV or other traditional media channels, is that you will be able to be present in the audience daily life on their terms. There can be many reasons behind wanting to communicate with a new target audience; your target audience goes through a shift in their media consumption, they can’t be reached through traditional media channels or you (as in the example above) have an unwanted over-representation of one gender.
So, why is social media and influencer marketing a great channel to reach women then? Studies show that 86% of women turn to social media for purchasing advice and according to Adweek, over half of the women surveyed had made a purchase after they’d seen the product in an influencer post.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platform worldwide and with 35% of users between 25-34 years, this age range also becomes the biggest, with women representing more than half of the people in this category. The combination of influencers and Instagram could therefore be your brand’s next golden ticket in order to reach women!
Avoid the most common mistakes
To succeed with your influencer activation, you need to ensure that the influencers you choose to partner with actually reach your target audience. A common mistake here is to go by instinct and choose profiles that you personally like, or that you notice many people at work are talking about. It is also common to conclude that a profile’s followers always reflect the profile itself, which may not necessarily be the case at all.
For example, suppose your target group is women 25-40 years old in Germany and you aim to reach the travel and shopping category. You may then make a huge mistake if you choose to collaborate with the 30-year-old travel/shopping influencer Alina, only based on your gut feelings, as her follower base could be 70% men (who in worst case may not even be real!) – and thus you’d get completely ineffective results.
To succeed with reaching a new target group it’s crucial to get to know them; Where do they spend time and how do they behave on social media? Talk to (and with!) your audience and make sure your communication blends into their lives in an engaging and relevant way. Don’t forget to keep a close eye on how this behaviour changes over time as new features and trends come along and disappear.
We hope this blog post inspired you and maybe even grew some new ideas about how to adjust and modify your influencer strategy to shine on your new target audience.
Emma is the Head of Operation and Customer Success at Cure Media and she’s passionate about customer satisfaction and creating profitable partnerships. She’s very goal-oriented and she always wants to perform just as well at work as she does at the gym. Fun fact; Emma has a background as a competition dancer that she tries to entertain at the club late Friday night!