Reaching your people through CEPs

There are lots of ways to reach your customer base and segmentation is one of the most popular. But there is another way to find your people that is under-utilised and not talked about nearly enough - Category Entry Points (CEPs).

First, it is worth it to clarify what segmentation is. Here the business is identifying a customer based based on qualities like demographics or lifestyle. For example, you run a gym in Wellington so you will target Wellingtonians, between the ages of 30-45, health conscious, protein obsessed. That is certainly one way to thinking about your audience and how you will communicate to them. To be clear, this isn’t without merit - but it’s not the only way to connect to your audience.

And here is the kicker - you may find the motivations, the media they consume, the places they shop may not actually be all that different from people you have no intention of targeting. So then you are are sending messages to everyone which makes it really hard for your message about how you can help solve someones problem cut through the noise.

So let’s add another tool to your marketing tool kit - CEPs.  

CEPs are really about meeting needs and needs tend to be universal. As business owners we can creatively position your product or service to fit those needs. We want to tap into the mental availability of our customers - so when they need a new pair of earrings they think of your business before another. What I really like about CEPs is its six Ws and an H framework that will give you so much to work with to create some well positioned content. Basically, the Ws and the H give you lots of options to position your product or service to relate to a consumers state of mind or lifestyle.

Let’s get into it:

Why? What is the motivation for your customer to purchase your product? Fighting with the spouse? -> Seek out communication workshops

When? When are customers buying this product? Christmas is coming and you’d love to get ahead in your shopping -> Seek out local makers for ethical gift giving options

Where?  Where are your customers buying the product? Let your customers know where and how they can purchase from you! If you are at a market or being featured in a store - let your people know

With whom/what? Who is with your customer when they buy the product? Going to your bosses house for dinner -> Pick up the nice wine/ kombucha/ chocolates

While? What is your customer doing while purchasing the product? Building out your business strategy for the year? -> Proactively seek out support for your marketing

How? How is your customer feeling? Overwhelmed with the thought of catering for a weekend retreat with allll the dietary preferences? -> seek out a wholistic caterer

You can see how asking yourself these questions can create so many opportunities to position you business in the customers mind as the one that will resolve their problems. As the business owner you’ll need to consider the relevant triggers for your audience and prioritise high frequency CEPs. This means, thinking about the highest usage of your product and focusing on that event. For a jewellery maker - this might be gift giving.

De Beers is famous for the slogan “Diamonds are Forever”, from 1947 campaign that effectively positioned diamond rings as THE ring to propose marriage. This was not the case before the campaign but De Beers was able to successful position diamond rings and engagement rings and the rest is history. They could have easily asked the question “with whom” and “while” and created a whole campaign for their diamond rings that had been declining in sales.

This doesn’t exclude other usage opportunities that can certainly be part of your messaging but offering alternative usage occasions cuts through the clutter and lets your customers know what you are all about.

There is also the opportunity to test - measure your campaigns and posts to see what is landing well. Experiment with different CEPs (and keep some in the tool kit for holidays or other landmark occasions). Please do keep in mind that even a great campaign on social media won’t always land simply because of how the algorithm works or other clutter happening around the same time or because, well, people are distracted. Subsequent newsletter will be covering diversification of marketing techniques beyond social media and how to measure success without getting to stressed out!