Information Consumption Preferences--Another Marketing Segment?

I think we can agree, marketing used to be a whole lot easier. We have all heard the story. There used to be three television networks, a few local radio stations and newspapers, and a handful of national magazines. From a marketing and media standpoint, the landscape was pretty simple—a marketer could reach 90% of America with media placements within a few media vehicles. Now, there are hundreds of cable television stations, thousands of magazines, satellite radio, millions of web sites….

There are strong parallels within the B2B marketing and media landscape.

Thousands of B2B industry publications, thousands more websites, new conferences popping up, webinars, podcasts…. B2B information sources are segmented very narrowly by industry, industry segment, job function and other classifications.

Crossties, a bi-monthly publication of The Railway Tie Association, is a quality publication I am sure. However, this is a great example of how specific the B2B world has become. An entire magazine, website and association dedicated to the needs of producers and users of rail ties. Wow! I am not criticizing at all, I am sure that the rail tie industry has very specific issues and concerns, as does specific areas and functions within the pharmaceutical industry. But, I think you get the point.

Our customers are difficult enough to reach because they are consuming information from sources very specific to their needs and preferences. I hope to avoid tomatoes being thrown at me, but I have challenging news. In addition to the fact that our customers have broken themselves into narrow interest and job function classifications, I believe there is a fairly new segmentation we need to consider as marketers—information consumption preferences.

What I mean is that I am seeing the pharmaceutical industry segment themselves further by the manner in which they prefer to receive and consume information—print, digital, audio, video, in-person and so forth. Many industry professionals strongly prefer information in print, many rely heavily on digital information sources, many are heavy users of podcasts and other audio pieces, yet others love to receive insights and information in a video format. In short, our customers want information that is not only targeted to their needs, but is provided in their preferred information format. What they want and how they want it.

How do we reach our target audience effectively when our customers and prospects have segmented themselves into fairly narrow functional classifications and now information consumption classifications? Very thoughtfully is my short answer.

My next several posts will focus on integrated media ideas, research on the topic and other thoughts to consider. My purpose is not to make our jobs even more challenging (so, please, no tomato throwing), rather to continue to explore the rapidly changing world of sales and marketing.