Provocateur:

Suddenly we were forced to change how we live.

Thanks to a virus, our daily lives have become something entirely new. All of our roles have changed. We behave in new ways as coworkers, leaders, parents, friends, siblings, shoppers, travelers, teachers. We interact differently with our families, clubs, communities, teams, and circles of friends. This was one of the largest, fastest mass-behavior-changes in history.

But was any of it fun? Did any of it pleasantly surprise us? Are there things we discovered that we want to keep on doing after we beat this virus and move on with our new lives?

According to the Valuegraphics study “Silver Linings Report,” the answer is a resounding yes.

We discovered four enormous segments of the population that are quite happy about certain new behaviors the pandemic forced them to adopt. Think of these groups as four new target audiences. Each target audience is hungry for products and services that can help them with their newfound interests.

Once we found these new target audiences, we isolated their shared values using the Valuegraphics Database. We now know two things:

1. We know there are four new target audiences hungry for relevant products and services.

2. We know exactly what they care about, and how you can captivate them with your offering.

To sell something to these four new target audiences you don’t need to develop an entirely new product or service. You can if you want, but all you really need to do is connect the dots between what you have and what they’re looking for.

Don’t talk to them about what you think is important, talk to them about what they think is important. Here’s how to do it, based on insights from the Silver Linings Report.

Target Audience #1: The Family Focused

Twenty-five percent of the population, or somewhere around 80 million people in the USA, are loving the extra time they’re spending with their family right now. They love it so much that they want to keep it up after the pandemic has ended.

We know a lot about what motivates this group, and how you can attract their attention with something that will make family-time even better. But to keep things simple, just two of the things they care about are Personal Growth and Personal Responsibility. They want to be a better version of themselves tomorrow. And they want to get things done and be accountable for their actions.

So, how can you connect the dots between your product, service, or brand and what The Family Focused are looking for?

Here’s an example: If you’re a grocery delivery service, bundle ingredients for a family meal into a kit and include instructions for various family members to contribute to the preparation. What can the kids do? How about the teens? Mom and Dad? Any elders in the house? Make it easy for the family to prepare the meal together.

Target Audience #2: The Family Talkers

When I saw this target audience appear in the data, it made me laugh. This 21 percent of the population (roughly 69 million people) do not want to spend more time with their family, thank you very much! 

However, they do very much want to continue communicating with their family more often. How can you help this enormous new target audience stay in touch with their family? Can your current products or services help? Do you have an idea for something new that could work?

Two things this group cares about more than anything else are Financial Security and Ambition. Here’s an example of how you might use these two values to make your brand irresistible: Let’s say you’re a bank. You could set up a special kind of bank account…we’ll call it a Family Touchdown Account. Members of a family compete with each other to contribute a monthly amount. Kids can do a bake sale. Adults can forgo a daily Starbucks coffee. Everyone has an achievable goal that they set during a family Zoom call to launch the account.

The Family Touchdown Account can be set up to do anything the family agrees is worthy of a fun family challenge. Maybe you want to send Grandma on the trip of a lifetime? Perhaps you want to raise tuition for your niece? It could be about helping your cousins get through these crazy times more comfortably.

Whatever the goal, activating Ambition and Financial Security for this audience will make them sit up and take note of what you’ve got to say.

Target Audience #3: The Friend Talkers

Eleven percent of the population, which is roughly 36 million people, are not focused on family at all. Instead, they’re enjoying the extra time they spend communicating with friends during the pandemic. And they want this to be a new habit that lasts into the future. Anything that can help them do this will be welcomed into their lives, especially if you point out how your offering will be good for the things they care about most.

Just two of the values they have in common are Health & Well-Being and Trust. Here’s an idea that would put those values to use: Imagine a mobile game platform that a group of friends can subscribe to as a team. Each member of the team sets a personal goal around Health & Well-Being. It might be going for a walk each day. Or it might be not eating a bag of chips on the sofa every night. Everyone sets the goal they want.

The bonds of friendship kick in from there, as the team takes on responsibility for helping each other achieve their goal. The game makes it easy to rely on your friends; to trust them to be there for you when you need them for support.

Team members can send each other reminders, set alarms for each other, and reward each other with points and notifications when goals have been met. They can also ask for help when they feel they need some encouragement to achieve whatever they set out to do. A good game designer would be able to rattle off a list of features to include that would make this game absolutely addictive.

These friends may not be able to hang out in the real world right now, but this game would help them feel like they’re in touch with each other. And because it activates shared values, this target audience would not be able to resist signing up.

Target Audience #4: The Self-Improvers

Nine percent of the population are keen to continue spending more time on personal projects and learning new things. That means there are somewhere around 29 million people across the USA who are waiting to hear how you can help. What’s the fastest way to engage and influence them? By making it crystal clear how your product or service will give them more of what they want.

Two things all members of this target audience want are Creativity and Possessions. How can you help them with a personal project or learning offer, and use those two values like super-powered magnets to draw them to your brand?

There is such an obvious example for this scenario, I’ll be surprised if someone hasn’t started doing this already. And if no one has, someone should jump on this fast. Simply offer a subscription to online courses that teach you how to make things. Boom! Creativity and Possessions in the service of personal projects and learning new things.

What’s the big takeaway?

We live in a post-demographic era. The people in each of these new target audiences are not demographically the same. In each target audience, there are men and women, and rich and poor, and young and old. It doesn’t matter that it’s a big glorious mess of people in each group, because demographics are not useful anymore. Demographics can only tell you what people are, not who they are. To understand who they are (and how to engage and influence them) you must know what they care about; what they value. And values, well, they cut across all demographics. Values don’t discriminate.

About the Author

David Allison is the behavioral science pioneer behind Valuegraphics, a database that makes it possible to identify the shared values of any group of people and unleash enormous passion and power. He shows organizations as wide-ranging as the United Nations to global consumer brands how to harness that energy to captivate attention and influence what people do next. 

David spent 20 years working at a succession of marketing firms and in senior roles with luxury brands until launching his own marketing company. In 2015 he sold his firm and began work on Valuegraphics. His latest book was a best-seller within 24 hours of release, and Inc. magazine named it one of the 10 best leadership books of the year. He speaks internationally and is represented by the Global Speakers Agency.