“Who even goes to Maccas?” a colleague asked me last week. The answer is as simple as it is complicated – everyone does.
I don’t mean 65 million Brits; I mean the demographics cover every persona you can think of.
Who goes there on a Monday lunchtime, for example?
The local 20-somethings from the college, five minutes walk away
Workers from the factory across the road
Four suited-and-booted execs, meeting to discuss a new project
A 90-year-old man and his carer, out for a bite to eat
The group of builders working on a nearby site
Three new mums who met at an NCT class, with their babies in tow
A 55-year-old journalist plugging into her laptop and typing up notes
Two estate agents chatting through a recent deal
A teen couple arguing over something insignificant
A starving night shift worker coming in for a much-needed late dinner
Me. You. Us.
Businesses like McDonald’s and JD Wetherspoon – sometimes perceived as ‘cheap’ – need to cover a variety of audiences, but they have got it made.
Yes, the entry-level price points are low. But just ask yourself, when was the last time you went into Wetherspoons or Maccas and spent under a fiver?
You either drag in a group to make multiple purchases, staying for a while, or end up being upsold (those bloody hash browns…).
The beauty of their offer is that it is attractive to different people.
"Our top priority is to understand the audiences [you] want to engage with"
This is something to bear in mind if you have a wide number of potential audience personas.
At CPL, whenever we take on a new project for a client, our top priority is to understand the audiences that client wants to engage with.
We know no-one understands your business or offer better than you. However, working with us to take a fresh look at your key audiences can help identify and clarify who you’re trying to talk to and, therefore, how to communicate effectively with them.
We recommend taking a holistic approach based on evidence from a mix of sources, including – but definitely not limited to – digital analytics, stakeholder interviews, consumer research and social media audits.
Get in touch if you want to chat about a new project – don’t worry, we know some decent pubs if you don’t fancy meeting under the Golden Arches.
This blog originally appeared on CPL's website.