Marketing Strategies: How to Connect With Ever-Changing Consumers

Consumers appear no longer motivated by the messages once used to drive them to buy. Hence, marketers must re-evaluate their strategies to reflect an understanding of the attitudinal changes among their target audiences, notes Vertis, a provider of targeted advertising, media and marketing services, on the release of its most recent Customer Focus/RISC study.

The RISC study is a proprietary annual survey that tracks consumer behavior across industry segments and media including advertising inserts, direct marketing and the Internet. Vertis’ latest study found an increase of 13 percentage points since 2001 in people categorized as “Nostalgics,””Wannabees” and “Party Animals.”

The percentage of the population that falls into one of these three socio-cultural groups has grown to 47 percent in the 2005 survey, notes Jim Litwin, vice president of market insight at Vertis. “The category increases indicate consumers in these groups share feelings of disorientation, inability to cope with disorder and impulsive instincts,” he says. “We hypothesize the change has been partially a result of the 9/11 attacks, and the recent hurricanes will likely continue this trend. As marketers, it will be important to continuously track consumer attitudes and tailor targeted advertising campaigns accordingly.”

Vertis’ Customer Focus/RISC study analyzes the sociodynamic profiles of consumers and characterizes them based on their acceptance or resistance to change, as well as their inclination to be self-focused or community-oriented.

Here’s a description of each of the growing sociodynamic consumer classifications and tips on how to approach each audience with your marketing messages.

Nostalgics are those who seek the basic necessities of life. Driven by safety, security and dependence, they’re the least likely to try or respond to products and messages that are unfamiliar or out of the ordinary. This group is the most frugal of the three and accounts for 20 percent of the U.S. adult population.