Targeting Cancer Patients

Okay, sure – that title is some pretty obvious linkbait. I half-heartedly apologize, but track with me and you’ll see where I’m going with this (it does relate, I promise!).

Every marketing plan has a target audience. (Otherwise, it’s a wish, not a plan.) Ideally, your target audience has a problem that you are able to solve. Most problems are not readily visible, though, so you have to look for symptoms to identify your target audience. Then, once you’ve identified a specific target that has that problem, you hit them with your solution and they buy it.

That’s all stuff that you learned in Marketing 101, though. Would you be shocked to learn that you are violating these principles at your job every day?

Let’s take a look at a quick metaphor.

Say that your target audience is cancer patients (see – I told you it would relate!). The problem is, obviously, that they have cancer. The symptom could be that, since they are most likely going through chemotherapy, they have no hair. So you are able to quickly identify them, and then you present your solution.

But here’s the mistake that we tend to make:

We try to sell them Rogaine, instead of cancer medication. We present an answer to the symptom that we see – lack of hair – rather than the real, underlying problem.

And I guarantee you that someone who is suffering with cancer couldn’t care less about buying Rogaine.

Have you ever made this mistake? Or seen a campaign that makes this mistake? I want to hear your stories!