If you want to successfully offer a service or product, you need to know your target group. In addition to creating customer personas, market research and playful methods to define the target group, the design thinking approach is also very effective. This allows you to sharpen your focus through the process and find the ideal customers.
What exactly is design thinking?
In Design Thinking every process is examined for three factors before it is initiated. We look at the technology for creating a product and its feasibility, the economy of production and the attractiveness for the customer. All three factors help to determine whether a product is considered an innovation or whether there is little demand for it on the market.
You naturally want to maximize the appeal of your own products. That's why marketing professionals first put together a team of their own experts who come from all disciplines. You can also keep the option open to bring in external specialists.
A typical design thinking team to find out target groups can consist of marketing and sales experts, sociologists, market researchers, computer scientists, designers and many other experts. We are looking for impulses for the design and manufacture of the product and its image. The aim is to arouse the customer's interest. The interdisciplinary collaboration ensures that diverse opinions are heard and incorporated into the development process.
What does Design Thinking mean for your marketing?
In order to find target groups for your products and your company, marketing experts usually create so-called personas. These are exemplary profiles of customers for whom the product is aimed. It is not initially a question of whether these people have a need for the product. Because this need will emerge and intensify afterwards.
A customer persona is relatively easy to create in brainstorming, because basically only one archetype should be created. An example would be a 40-year-old woman, mother of two, single parent, who runs the household on a medium income. typical interests and needs are defined for her. For example, she likes products that last a long time, are intelligently designed and fit in with her ecological lifestyle.
You can use the profiles to determine whether the customer persona is interested in your product or whether your company needs to adapt components of the product and sales to make it attractive. So if you urgently want to sell your product to this one persona, you can adapt the marketing to them. In turn, you can of course also identify a persona that shows interest without making any changes to the product.
In Design Thinking both approaches are possible. The free exchange between experts allows your designers to think "outside the box" and develop various virtual or physical prototypes that adapt the desired product to the users. This also allows you to develop an initial roadmap for marketing. You determine whether you can reach your persona via Facebook, Twitter, but also on the way to work, in print advertising, via radio, TV or giveaways.
The idea generation process
Companies often plan several weeks to carry out a design thinking process, which can revolve around the product or marketing. Different models lead to different solutions.
The six-step analysis of the situation is particularly popular.
Step 1: Understanding
Problems are revealed, for example the question of why a product has so far addressed the wrong target group and has therefore not sold. Mindmaps are used to identify the first terms that can be linked to this. The marketing team brings in experts and creates a shared workspace, usually digitally.
Step 2: Observe
The everyday life of your target groups differs from a theoretical model. If you want to advertise regionally, for example, you should know the region. Where will your advertising be placed, where can people buy your product here and who spends time in this area? How are products presented and what is really needed? For step two research the experts on site and online.
Step 3: Compare (point of view)
All members of the team have gathered experience and observed possible personas. By comparing and visualizing the impressions, an overall picture can be captured. Questions, dialog and the clarification of contradictions later help to address possible hurdles for customers in storytelling.
Step 4: Ideas
First ideas are collected and listed according to the three factors economy, people and implementation. As many ideas as possible in mind maps, brainstorming and lists form options that flow into the final implementation. The experts notice at this point if they have left out important topics during the observation. Problems in implementation also come into focus.
Step 5: Prototype
Whether product or campaign, it is now time for the team to address feasibility and focus on the goal. Because it takes time to create or adapt a product. It also takes time to find and define the target group. The prototype of a concise advertising campaign can, for example, consist of quickly created motifs, a marketing mix or virtual models for the presentation. In this step, the target groups are also created using personas and the campaign is tested on them, but without involving customers yet.
Step 6: Tests
Does the customer understand the product Can they use it? Do they find it attractive? The effect can be observed in dialog with the target group, through online surveys, product tests, market research or test ads. If your target group is interested in the product, the design thinking process is complete and the advertising can go live.
Thorit: Your marketing experts with a focus on people
At Thorit, we specialize in ideas and solutions that are ideally received by your target groups and thus increase sales. Get in touch and find out how you can optimize your marketing and win new customers.
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