Using
Type to Develop and Implement Marketing Strategy
By Janet Penley, MBA
Summary: Based
on 15 years experience in advertising, marketing research, strategy, and
communications, I see ten ways personality type theory can make marketing
strategy development
and implementation work better.
|
Janet Penley, MBA |
Using Type to Develop and Implement Marketing Strategy
Marketing, simply defined, is the identification of people’s
unmet needs and the development of products, services, and communications
that help better meet those needs. Personality type theory and the
MBTI®can be used as a sophisticated marketing tool to target prospects,
research customers, develop and position products, and fine-tune
communications.
Trade articles indicate national advertisers, for example a financial
company offering credit card services and a TV network, and local
CPA and law firms, have applied the MBTI®successfully in developing
marketing strategy.
Based on 15 years experience in advertising, marketing research,
strategy, and communications, I see ten ways personality type theory
can make marketing strategy development and implementation work better:
| 1. |
More in-depth consumer psychographics for defining target
audience. Demographics define a target audience by measures
like, age, income, gender, and geographic region. However,
most of the time demographic descriptions are not enough to
fully understand the consumer. Marketers need to define their
customer psychographically as well. For example: are they conservative,
innovators, active, intellectual, trendy, home-bodies, hard-edged,
aggressive, sympathetic, or nurturing. Marketers use Yankelovich,
VALS, focus groups and personal interviews to better understand
the “person” behind the statistics. Because MBTI
is a good tool for describing personality differences, it can
provide a more in-depth psychographics tool for defining target
audience.
A publisher of a national syndication healthcare newsletter
for women found that their initial contact was generally a
hospital nurse or educator working in a women’s health
center. Type research suggests these are primarily SF and NF
types, perhaps primarily motivated by wanting to help women
by providing information. However, the final decision-maker
for the purchase was typically a ST administrator who was more
interesting in the effect on bottom-line revenue. Understanding
the predominant types of the two target groups, initial contact
and final decision-maker, helped produce an introductory communication
piece that stressed SF/NF helping values and a second stage
piece that contained the facts, concrete results, and effects
on business objectives that would be stronger in persuading
the ST final decision-maker.
|
| 2. |
More refined framework for understanding
the purchase decision. Some major marketers think that a model
for understanding the purchase decision contributes to the
effective design of advertising and promotion. One company
I know charts the purchase decision on a grid where “low
involvement-high involvement” and “thinking-feeling” are
the X and Y axis. Using the MBTI, the grid could be made more
complete by adding the dimensions of “sensing-intuition”, “planned-spontaneous”, “outer
driven-inner driven” when needed.
|
| 3. |
Additional depth and reliability in
small-scale, low-budget qualitative research. As the cost of
large scale market surreys increases, the trend is toward qualitative
research with smaller samples and lower costs: focus groups
and interviews. However, the information gathered in these
ways is considered directional only, subject to variations
and interpretations. If the types of the focus group members
or interviewees were known and controlled to meet particular
client objectives, small-scale qualitative research would yield
more depth and possibly more reliability.
|
| 4. |
Better refinement of a product/service’s
positioning. A large financial company positioned their credit
card as the premier status card by featuring usage by celebrities.
However, this positioning was unsuccessful in reversing the
credit card’s declining sales. Using MBTI®they found
that most current users were STJ’s who believed in hard
work, long days, traditional, old-fashioned values of buying
only what you can afford, and staring out of debt. They liked
having a card that required the credit balance to be paid off
monthly. Current users wee being turned-off by the type of
celebrity being featured. The celebrities seemed to have won
their success by being in the right place at the right time,
not by hard work. Based on the insights gained through MBTI,
the company changed its positioning to the card for people
who earn what they get. They began to feature successful people
who had worked hard to earn their success, but were not necessarily
in the spotlight (Work done by Karen DiNunzio, an OD professional
and Philadelphia APT member.)
|
| 5. |
Additional direction on product/service
development and modification. A soap opera was receiving low
viewer ratings. Research showed that most of this program’s
viewers were NF, people with a rich fantasy life who like to
get involved with other people’s problems. Programmers
were able to improve ratings by adding people situations that
most closely mirror real life. (Work done by Karen DiNunzio,
an OD professional and Philadelphia APT member.)
|
| 6. |
More effective promotional communications,
copy writing and testing. In marketing the Mothers of Many
Styles Seminar, we can measure and analyze what types are attracted
by different promotional presentations. We have found that
even a name change can attract different type users. The seminar
was firs named “The Good Mother” Seminar and it
attracted primarily I—J types, presumably because the
name was heavily value-laden and suggested introspection. When
the name was changed to “Mothers of Many Styles” we
increased our turnout of E—P types. The new name seemed
to suggest variety without judgments. One of our marketing
objectives has been to attract the large groups of SF and ST
types, and we can constantly refine communications and test
their pulling power with these segments.
|
| 7. |
Improved agency-client relationships.
Knowing whether the client prefers INTJ vs. ESTP, for example
can help a consultant present worked more effectively. When
working with an I—J client, I send work in writing ahead
of the presentation and made it explicit when we are considering/brainstorming
and when we are deciding yes or no. The E—P client will
want to talk it through first, and needs a written document
as a follow-up only.
|
| 8. |
More productive brainstorming activities.
Frequently in marketing, a brainstorming session is necessary
to generate new ideas and perspectives. I seem to get the best
results from brainstorming groups (5-12 people) that have the
prime consumer type represented by two people, and 75% N and
25% S, 75% E and 25% I, with a good mix of T,F, J,P. The Ns
are natural brainstormers and are good at blue-sky ideas. But
it is often the Ss who provide the little twist that pays off,
or the cues that send the others in the right direction.
|
| 9. |
Plans with a better fit to the entrepreneur.
The marketing plan for my EXTP entrepreneurial client had 80%
of the budget allocated, structured, and schedule for the next
12 months. However, I left 20% as the “Quick Response
Fund”, money free to respond to unexpected opportunities
as they arose through out the year. With entrepreneurial companies,
often the owner is both the company and the product. It is
best to capitalize on the strengths of their style in the marketing
plan and not try to 100% by the book, a book often written
by ISTJ and INTJ businessmen.
|
| 10. |
Additional perspective on putting together
a good creative team. The demands of each client project dictate
the mix of strengths needed on the team. Using type preferences
as a guide for putting the team together, along with any other
relevant information, can help maximize effectiveness. Knowing
the individual differences on the team can also help them be
better used.
|
However, there are practical and ethical concerns to consider when
using personality type theory and the MBTI®in marketing and advertising.
•
Theory is complicated and takes time to learn for business people in a hurry.
•
MBTI®administration is cumbersome and takes time.
•
Telephone and mail administration are not feasible.
•
Market researchers may regard MBTI®research as loose and fuzzy.
•
Sophistication in psychographics is unnecessary when media selection cannot be
so finely targeted.
•
MBTI®administration could be seen as an extra, unnecessary expense.
•
Did Isabel Myers dedicate her whole life to the MBTI®so we could use it to better
sell cigarettes and floor cleaners?
Janet Penley founder of Mothers
of Many Styles (1998), and co-author of The M.O.M.S. Handbook, has
developed M.O.M.S. from 15 years of research and interviews with
hundreds of mothers. A popular community lecturer, she has given
more than 600 seminars and presentations nationally on parenting
styles and family interactions. Penley, an MBA and mother of two
(a boy, 23 and a girl, 20), can be reached at 847-251-4936, JPMoms@aol.com,
or www.momsconnection.com.
|
