The Moment of Receptivity

In class on Thursday, we discussed the Moment of Receptivity. This relates to the idea that your marketing strategy is no longer about how many people you reach- it's about reaching the right people at the right time. How do brands narrow in on what that right "time" is?

I think that finding that perfect "time" where your target consumers are most receptive is essential. But is it possible to find it out? I think that all consumers have very different shopping habits- and they also have different ways of processing information presented to them. Even though consumers might all be within one target cohort, they may be extremely different. For instance, I could be part of the target market for Victoria's Secret PINK. Their brand targets women from ages 16-25 (ish) who like comfortable and stylish apparel. To successfully reach me, Pink needs to fully understand what moment I will be receptive to their message. I'm susceptible to advertisements if they are not thrown at me. I prefer subtle, non-invasive/pushy ads that spark my interest. I am receptive to peripheral cues such as music and celebrity endorsers as well. In terms of the advertising medium, I think my receptivity depends on the situation I'm in. If I'm impatient waiting for a YouTube video to load, the last thing I want to look at is an ad for something. I am not receptive to it at that time. But, if I'm browsing the web and notice an ad of a celebrity wearing a cute shirt on the side of my screen, I'm receptive to it and drawn to it.

But- what about the other consumers in the target market? What about people who like to be advertised in a different way? I'm receptive to music- but what if someone in the target market hates the music I like? I feel like this whole concept is tough for brands to grasp. How do you figure out the perfect moment of receptivity for your target market if all of the people within it aren't really the same?

I think the difficulty of this also depends on what your brand is and what kind of product you're trying to market. Is it high involvement, low involvement, expensive, hedonic, etc? That will determine what kind of message you have to send out, as well as what your target market is. If your target market is broad- especially those that reach out to a large age group, it's going to be a lot harder. Specialized products being marketed to smaller groups of people may be easier, because there won't be as much diversity within the group.

This reminds me of many of the other concepts we've talked about, because they seem to be too generalized. Marketing has so many exceptions. It seems like people could find exceptions for every theory out there. The idea that you need to create your message in a way that it will reach the right people at  the right time makes perfect sense, but how realistic is it?