Audience Driven Through Consumer Modes

An interesting article in the October 29, 2007 issue of Advertising Age is a great example of an audience-driven marketing strategy. Rick Milenthal, CEO of Engauge, lays out the six most relevant “consumer modes.” These are: Entertainment, Information, Discovery, Connecting, Sharing and Expressing.

Milenthal posits that consumers engage with different media with purposes, goals and needs. These can be sorted into consumer modes. Great advertising recognizes these elements and satisfies them.

This is just another way of saying that marketing needs to provide the consumer with the information they are looking for in the way that they are looking for it. Marketing should not take the form of pushing the company line down the throats of consumers. Consumers are savvy and will tune out on those message that are not relevant.

So what mode are your customers in when making purchasing decisions for your product? Are they in the entertainment mode? If so, your advertising needs to be entertaining.

Sounds simple, right?