Marketing to introverts: Your ignoring 25% of your target audience

Through out the commercial world, we are surrounded by marketing that has a strong call for action or requires an immediate response.

Telemarketers

We are cold called by telemarketers, and advertisers.

Hyped up advertisements

All the infomercials on television hype up a product with an extroverted presenter and give discounts for people that hurry and call now

Trends

There is a strong correlation between marketing and being up with the latest trends. Marketing often uses popular celebrities to portray their product as popular

What seems to go unnoticed in the marketing world is that all this hype, trend and celebrity marketing goes unnoticed or even avoided by people with an introverted personality.

An introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. While extroverts love to be the life of the party, introverts tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and engaged in non-social activities.

Statistics indicate that introverts make up 10-30% of the general population but as IQ increases, the proportion of introverts rises dramatically. Since there is a correlation between intelligence and income, you target more introverts as buying power rises. The greater the price of the product or service you are marketing, the greater the chance you are selling to an introvert. It pays to understand your audience.

There are some critical differences in the way introverts initiate consumer dialogue, process information, make decisions and put their decisions into dollars and cents.

Introverts do not care about trends

Just because you have an image of celebrity X using your product means nothing. Introverts are more likely to do things their way rather than fall into peer pressure and trend marketing.

Introverts care more about facts and details

You will get no where with just a big smile and a charismatic personality. To impress an introvert you need to know what you are talking about. Details, quality and facts impress us.

Introverts are highly territorial

Introverts don't like interruptions, uninvited visits or phone calls. Unlike most people who will get annoyed, but still answer the phone, introverts get an unlisted number, a fancy answering machine and they turn the ringer off. Also they have no qualms whatsoever about hanging up on you or closing the door in your face.

Introverts love to read

Unlike extroverts, introverts are more likely to read the small print on the cereal box, read any material on hand, and prefer to read over interacting with other people. Whoever thought about putting advertisements in elevators and inside toilet doors had introverts in mind. Well ... it's better than having to talk to the other people in the elevator.

Introverts prefer fact-sheets

Although introverts may not say much, they still take things in. They do not like talking to you though, and would prefer for you to just give them a fact-sheet instead.

Introverts are not impressed by personality

Having none ourselves, except the one we drag out on State Occasions :-) we do not put any value on yours. Please don't be cute, peppy, positive, enthusiastic or motivating. Instead, be polite, know your stuff, get to the point, leave written material and invite a response at a later date.

Introverts have being rushed

Not only does it not work, it is exhausting to introverts because we give energy while extroverts take energy. As every introvert in the world is only too aware, people who use hype suck more energy that should be legally possible in 52 states.

Introverts hate small talk

If you would like to make an excellent first impression, be polite and come quickly to the point. Above all, don't ask personal questions and by that I mean things you think don't matter such as how many children I have or what work my partner does.

Introverts have phones, especially cell phone

Phones provide an interruption and allow people to start talking to you any time. Small talk is bad.

Introverts say what they mean

No means no

Tags: Extrovert, Introvert, Marketing, Target Audience

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Comments / Replies

• 

  Kyle Thorns Says:
  28 August, 2008 at 1:34 am

  I agree totally with the above mentioned introverted ideals, its only a pity that the world revovles around the extroverts in the population. I am an introvert and although to my dissmay, no-one thinks of that, i must do this at family functions and must wear that, and so one. i will defintly get more people to read your site. thanks for a great site info.

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  Peter C Says:
  7 March, 2009 at 7:47 pm

  Your definition & examples of what "personality" constitutes are very strange.
  
  Besides the "not impressed by personality" part, I agree with the rest of it.
  
  Perhaps it's a different word you're trying to express.

• 

  Sean Says:
  12 July, 2010 at 9:12 am

  Interesting. I know this is an older post, I still think you should go back and change the 'haves' to 'hates'. It threw me reading 'Introverts have phoens'. I am an introvert and I agree with 99.9% of what is written here. Regarding the element about personality, I'm assuming it was meant in a joking way which is why you mentioned the 'State Occasion'. I know when I am going to a company function or a party with people I barely know, I plaster a fake smile on my face and memorize questions like "What do you do for a living?" and "That is a nice jacket, where did you get it?"

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