Just Like Aquaman

Indentify your Audience, Identify your Message.

October 1, 2010

By Daryl R. Dirham, Project Leader and Copywriter
Grabowski & Co.

In business, particularly small business, there’s a tendency to take an “if you build it, they will come” approach to marketing, as if simply hanging out your shingle ensures that throngs of customers will come rolling in. Marketing takes the opposite approach, seeking to drive customers to a business. It always begins with helping businesses identify who their customers are, what messages to tell them, how to get the messages to them, and how to measure their effectiveness.

I’d like to focus on the first two: identifying the audience and indentifying the key messages. To demonstrate how it works, let’s use a beloved figure from popular culture who could use a little help ... Aquaman.

I select him because he has a serious image problem, gets no respect, expends too much energy on unprofitable pursuits, and is widely thought of as a weird dork who spends too much time in the water talking to dolphins. If marketing can help him, surely it can help anyone.

In first reviewing his current audience, we discover that rescuing random members of the public is simply too unfocused and not helping Aquaman’s bottom line. He desperately needs to focus his energy on reaching potential customers who will be willing to pay for his services.

After researching the market, we come up with the following audiences and messages:

Audience: Beachfront resort towns along the U.S. coastline.
Message: Aquaman can guarantee your tourists won’t be attacked by sharks.

The rationale here is quite simple. The economies of beachfront tourist towns hinge on vacationers having a fun, peaceful, shark-free week at the beach. And local governments will be willing to sign lucrative municipal contracts to ensure this positive outcome. Plus, for an added fee, Aquaman can arrange daily dolphin shows and special appearances by majestic, spouting whales. It’s sure to be a spectacle that will create lasting memories for beachgoers.

Audience: Commercial tuna fishing.
Message: Aquaman lowers your fishing costs, thereby increasing your profit margins.

Do you know what drives up the cost of tuna? All the regulations imposed on fishermen so they don’t accidentally kill dolphins, who apparently love to be wherever tuna are swimming. Through simple underwater telepathy, Aquaman can instruct the dolphins to stay clear of the fishing boats. Problem solved.

Audience: Offshore oil riggers.
Message: Aquaman makes offshore drilling safer and more reliable.

First, Aquaman can round up a band of his oceanic pals to make it easier to find drill sites. This keeps costs down by eliminating the need for so many so-called “dry drills,” which yield no oil. Second, since protecting the masses has been Aquaman’s purported purpose (porpoise?) for years, he can dispatch schools of underwater creatures to patrol active drilling sites, looking for early signs of trouble.

In addition to these suggestions, we’d also talk to him about various licensing deals (Jet Ski®s, kiddie pools, fish tanks, snorkels, etc.) and endorsement opportunities (Long John Silver’s™, pool filters, bottled water) to open up new revenue streams.

Streams. Get it?

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ABOUT THE YP EXPERT
Daryl R. Dirham is a project leader and copywriter for Grabowski & Co., a marketing communications firm in Uniontown that celebrates its 14th year in 2011. Daryl considers Aquaman the patron superhero of marketing, because Aquaman needs it desperately yet refuses to act. E-mail him at ddirham@grabowskiandco.com.

INFORMATION FROM OUR PARTNER
We offer the freshest marketing communications strategies in the industry. From strategic planning to design, copywriting to event planning, our smooth, robust services are custom-blended to the personal taste of each client. For more information, please visit us at www.grabowskiandco.com.

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