MKT 500 SU Pinkberry Target Customer Discussion

• Watch https://www.linkedin.com/learning/yo-santosa-brand… video from the Learn section this week.
• Determine the target market for Pinkberry using ALL four (4) bases of segmentation to describe the buyer persona.
  • (Note: As you might recall from your Week 1 reading in Chapter 10 of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, a buyer persona is a short biography of a typical customer.)

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a target market can be everyone! One of the best ways to overcome this trap is to think of your target market as an individual rather than a group. Here is a very simple buyer persona exercise that you will find helpful. And this is a great chance to be creative!

• Visualize a specific person that you think is the Pinkberry target customer. In terms of our bases of segmentation, where does this person live? Where else could they live beyond just West Hollywood, CA? Are they in an urban environment, the suburbs, or way out in the country?
• Now describe that person in terms of their demographic characteristics. How old are they? What gender are they? Where are they in their family life cycle? What is their education level? What do they do for a living, etc.?
• Move on to the psychological or psychographic profile of the person you are visualizing. What are their hobbies, lifestyle, values, and attitudes? What do they hold important to them? One of the areas to look at might be the VALS research. This may help you identify more about this specific person from the inside out.
• Finally, with this same person in your head, how can you describe them behaviorally? Do they eat frozen yogurt? Do they eat frozen yogurt from a competitor? Have they never eaten frozen yogurt before?
• Why is it important to understand your buyer’s needs and mindset when developing a marketing strategy?

Once you go through this mental exercise of visualizing your specific customer, it will be easier to use the bases of segmentation to create your buyer persona.

Read and respond to your classmate’s (Lisa) post below: 

Marketers –

The target audience for my hypothetical dog walking business is very specific. Even though it may seem like anyone and everyone who owns a dog could be part of my target audience, that is not true.  Even a dog walker can’t be all things to all people – or dog owners!

Let’s start with the geographic characteristics of my target audience. My audience lives in Tampa FL. Research has shown that this is a dog friendly city which made it an easy choice (McCann, 1). My target audience lives in an active senior community in a close-in suburban area of Tampa.  According to the census, there was almost a 20% increase in the population from 2010 to 2019 (United States Census Bureau, 2).  That may mean more dog friendly households!

In terms of the demographic characteristics of my target audience, my primary consumer will be female between the ages of 65 and 80. She is most likely still living with her husband, but there is a chance she may also be a widow.  She has a college education and has worked in a professional career for most of her life.  My target audience may now be working part time or retired so that she can enjoy her lifestyle.  While she may not have a large income, she does have assets which allow her to live a comfortable lifestyle.

She has raised her family and has grandchildren but considers her dog her child. She lavishes all of her time and attention on her dog. She wants her dog to have the best of everything. This includes time and attention as well as play time and walks. As my target audience is an active adult with many daily activities, she may not have time to spend on her dog as much as she would like.

Looking at the behavioral characteristics of my target audience, she has owned many dogs before and is very familiar with the responsibility of raising a dog. That is why she understands that dogs need playtime and walks, and if she cannot be there, somebody else will need to fill in.

Finally, my target audience has a very strong motivation in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for purchasing my dog walking services. While she has a very strong sense of responsibility for her pet, or her four-legged child as she prefers to think of it, she has a very strong sense of belonging. She has raised her children and values her family. Her dog is simply an extension of her family.  In fact, research shows that 95% of consumers in the U.S. consider pets to be part of the family (Miller, 3).

As you can see, my target audience is particularly unique. Remembering my target audience will help me focus my marketing tactics for the rest of my business.

Dr. Amans

Sources

1. Adam McCann. August -5, -2020. Most Pet-Friendly Cities. https://wallethub.com/edu/most-pet-friendly-cities/5562Links to an external site..
2. United States Census Bureau. October 1, 2021. Quick Facts, Tampa City, Florida. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/tampacityflorida/PST045219Links to an external site..
3. Celia Miller. September 24, 2021. Pet Ownership Statistics. https://spots.com/pet-ownership-statistics/Links to an external site..