CREATE A MAGNETIC PSYCHOGRAPHIC TO BUILD A TRIBE OF BRAND-LOYAL CUSTOMERS

We’re all familiar with the phrase “s/he has a magnetic personality.” In fact, we, or some people we know, possess such a winning personality. A magnetic personality attracts other people. Like a magnet, it pulls them into that special person’s orbit. Others want to, enjoy, and identify with being in the realm of someone with a magnetic personality. It bestows status to be associated with such a person.

Creating and establishing a magnetic psychographic label and profile for your target customer will pull many people—regardless of whether they are consumers, healthcare practitioners, voters, etc., into your brand’s orbit. It can enable you to create a franchise built on loyal customers who not only believe what you believe but for whom your brand establishes, reflects, and burnishes their identity— their higher self.

Some years ago, when Lipitor’s growth acceleration rate was propelling it to the number one statin in the world, we identified their target’s psychographic profile as “goal-oriented healthcare practitioners.” We identified them as not merely being content with lowering their patients’ cholesterol but achieving healthy levels. Now, if one were to ask an MD whether s/he was “goal-oriented” when it came to getting patients’ cholesterol to healthy levels, the answer would likely be a resounding “Yes!” 

Working with a European client on a pharmaceutical product that helps reduce skeletal-related events (SREs)in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis, I helped them create a magnetic psychographic consistent with their product’s performance. Psychographic research shared the same psychographic segments that persist in virtually all healthcare categories. These segments are the familiar “evidence-based,” “science/data-driven,” “traditionalists,” et al. I don’t need to go into them all as you’re already familiar with them if you’re involved in healthcare marketing. However, none of them linked HCP practices and attitudes with product or brand performance. In this case, HCPs were not treating their osteoporotic patients until they suffered an SRE. 

I asked the client team if they considered HCPs who treated these patients before an SRE to be “difference makers.” The answer was, “Yes!” Yet this segment was not identified in the psychographic research! What response would you expect to receive if you asked those HCPs who treat osteoporosis if they were “difference makers” when it came to treating women’s health to be? Of course, the answer will be “Yes!” even if they are currently not treating the condition until the patient suffers an SRE. The client’s brand enables HCPs to be difference makers in helping patients avoid an SRE.

Indeed, a body of HCPs who are “goal-oriented” or “difference makers” already exists in the marketplace. They will identify with each of the aforementioned psychographic labels. These customers represent your low hanging fruit. They will take to your brand early in its lifecycle. However, the beauty of creating a “magnetic psychographic” and catering to it is that it will pull many more customers into the brand’s orbit to build their personal and professional identities.

Now, if one were to think this applies only to healthcare marketing given my examples, one would be wrong. “Choosey moms choose Jiff,” and have been for years because they want their children to have the best. MasterCard caters to “credit card pragmatists,” who value experiences over materialism. We all identify with those things that give us an identity that is consistent with our aspirations for status and recognition. Perhaps, it is why sports fans can be so rabid about their home team. It’s more than enjoying the wins; it’s relishing in being branded a “winner.”

Brand your target customers with a magnetic psychographic and watch it grow to build a tribe of brand-loyal customers.