Well, we’re officially more than two weeks into 2025, how are your marketing plans going? If you are like a lot of us marketers, you’re slowly coming out of the holiday haze and looking at 2025 with fresh eyes, trying to tackle the first quarter’s goals. I ask as you look at 2025, have you taken a step back and thought about whom you’re marketing too? What are your business goals for 2025—new markets, new clients, increase revenue, all the above?
While having these goals is one step in the right direction for your marketing campaigns, I would like to take the time to discuss the importance of your target audience and really knowing who you are marketing too with each of your campaigns. Taking the time to do this now will help avoid costly mistakes and brand damage. Ultimately, setting you up for success in achieving your New Year’s goals!
When working on your campaign, keep in mind whom your target audience goal is—are you looking to expand with your current audience or are you looking to attract a new audience? If you’re looking to break into a new target audience group, you’ll need to think about what motives them. It’s easy to fall back into old patterns and hope what worked for one audience will appeal to another. But as I’ve spoken about previously, each audience segment is motivated by different elements.
Evolving the Message for New Audiences
When attempting to attract a new audience, brands often take bold creative steps. Take for example Jaguar’s recent Copy Nothing campaign. Many have viewed it as a marketing misstep, or along the lines of Budweiser and others. However, I pose this question—was it? Or was Jaguar simply trying to attract a younger, new audience? As a mid-career marketer, I’ve made it a point in my career to understand my client’s intended audience. Some clients are looking to continue growth within their current audience, while others are looking for new revenue streams in other untapped audiences.
Jaguar’s campaign represents an effort to redefine itself as modern and avant-garde, targeting a younger, more artistically inclined demographic. This strategy reflects a growing trend among luxury brands aiming to expand their reach beyond traditional customers.
I’ve written before about the differences between marketing to Millennials and Gen Z. As a marketer in today’s environment, you need to be aware of exactly who you are trying to speak to in order to get your message out and have it resonate.
If you are marketing to Millennials, you want to tell a story. They are the generation that brought us origin stories, they want to learn and know all rather than be spoon fed. Whereas Gen Z are interested in the ‘feeling’ of something. They are not looking for a backstory or information, rather they want something to stand out. This is the generation that is giving us 15 second videos.
As Daniel Priestly pointed out, millennials don’t understand the obsession with vibe-based marketing and Gen Z thinks millennials are dull and conformist. As a marketer, this poses an interesting dynamic in how one approaches marketing. This is why knowing who your targeting is vital!
Tips for Reaching the Right Audience
Whether you’re a luxury brand looking to expand into a younger audience or a service-based provider looking to grow your portfolio, here are a few concepts to keep in mind when setting up your next campaign.
1. Identify Core Values: Whether targeting existing or new demographics, start with what resonates universally—emotions, aspirations, or shared values.
2. Blend the Old with the New: Highlight innovations in a way that complements, rather than overshadows, traditional brand strengths.
3. Test Campaign Relevance: Pre-launch evaluations with both new and loyal audiences help ensure the messaging appeals broadly.
By focusing on audience alignment, brands can adapt successfully to evolving their target audiences. Jaguar’s Copy Nothing campaign may spark debate, but it underscores the importance of knowing who you’re marketing too and what motivates them to buy. Only time will tell how well this campaign worked.
As 2025 unfolds, I challenge you in your marketing endeavors to not fall back on old methods and try to force them on new audiences, rather to do your research and truly understand who you’re targeting. By taking a few moments to do this, you can not only have impactful campaigns which resonate and get spoken about but also have the potential to avoid costly missteps which could result in lost market share and damage to your brand.
If you have questions or would like to discuss more on target marketing, let’s chat.
