[TechSparks 2013] Rubia Braun on how to connect with your market

If a room of about 300 grown adults could put their hands up and dance (not paraphrasing here) to the instructions of one woman, you know you’re witnessing something special. Moments before MetroBrava founder, Rubia Braun took center stage at TechSparks Kochi, the audience was attentive, but quiet; immersed, but non-interactive.

But within minutes, the crowd was up on its feet, following Rubia’s every instruction for “brain activation” exercises and gathering changed to what we were more accustomed to in the past editions - interactive and energetic. Rubia spoke about how to connect to your market. More specifically, how to connect to a young market.

“Niche isn’t small. Think targeted.”

“How many of you think that your product addresses a mass market?” asked Rubia, which generated a lot of positive answers. “Does that mean my old aunt in Australia will be interested in the product?” she followed up, only to receive silence.

The point was to bring out the difficulty in addressing a mass market. Rubia said, “Targeting a

mass market is like finding a flea on an elephant's back. It is exceptionally difficult and you don’t even know if it is there in the first place, in which case, you’ve been feeling up an elephant for no reason whatsoever,” she quipped.She then quelled the fear of addressing a niche market. She says, “A lot of people today are scared of being niche. Don’t think niche is small. Think targeted. It’s a lot easier to do because you at least know whom you’re selling to.”

The importance of selling to the millennials

Rubia shared some important numbers about the consumers of the world. “Most businesses here are going to address a young market; the proverbial “generation me.” and here’s why - 30% of all consumers worldwide are millennials.” More relevant to the gathering, she also shared that 58% of all technology consumers are millennials.

With respect to traditional marketing, Rubia shared that it is still the most necessary and effective way of promoting products to the masses. However, advertising to the millennials is tricky. Rubia said, “Millennials don’t like FYI advertisements. Most of them will go past it, be it on TV or web or anywhere else. Unless the advertisement is educative or entertaining, it is not going to catch the attention of the millennials.”

4 essential ways of connecting to your market

According to Rubia, there are 4 main ways of making your product interesting to a young target market -

1) Be different - This is especially relevant in India. Rubia said, “There are so many people who go by the name Raj Kumar, how can I tell one from the other? Products face a similar problem as well. Your product has to do something different from the others competing with you.”

2) Be bold - Millennials don’t like wishy washy thing. Rubia credited this to why the youth don’t vote much in India, “because politicians don’t say the same thing all the time.” A product must have a defined function. It’s like a handshake; a firm one has a better chance of keeping you in the other person’s memory.

3) Be memorable - First impressions always last. So make lasting impression, first. Earlier in the talk, Rubia went around the packed hall asking some unrelated,

sometimes uncomfortable questions. She later shared that, she did so to make a lasting impact to the people whom she met, and said that this needs to be done while marketing your products as well.4) Talk to your market’s human side - The Katrina Kaif Slice ad was taken as a case study - “Now is this ad selling sex or is it selling mangoes? Or is it selling mangoes via sex?” asked Rubia. She then related it to the Maslows hierarchy of needs, stating that startups need to identify where their target market comes from, and make sure your marketing talks to the human needs of that group.

On a concluding note, Rubia said, “Remember that you shouldn’t always see what’s in it for you. If you want your product to be used massively, always see what’s in it for your customers. More often than not, your customers will pay you lots of money for it (at least most of them will do).”

Stay tuned for the video of Rubia’s talk at TechSparks Kochi.