12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Targeted Segment:

I chose to interview some more coworkers. They all have families and live in the area which means that attending a hike wouldn’t mean a long drive for them. Dan, Brandon and Eric were who I ended up interviewing for this assignment. 

Interviews:

The first two of the interviewees mentioned that the need awareness piece comes to mind when they’re wanting to take the family out but don’t want to drive far (to a state park, for example) and want to keep things on the cheap. Brandon said that learning in a group is something that he’d like so that it would be a shared experience with his kids and others with the same interests. Eric mentioned that they have lots of trees and, therefore, birds on his property and would love to learn about their names and life cycles. He said the need for the education piece comes when he’s watching a bird that he doesn’t know what it is.

All three said that during an information search usually the first step is Google. This is useful for simple identification from the “30,000 foot view”. Outside of Eric who does 4H with his family, none had considered taking nature education courses as an activity. 

Conclusions:

People of many backgrounds enjoy the nature right here at home. When they find gaps in their knowledge, most seem to rely on a few google or facebook group searches for their answer. It doesn’t seem like people instinctively search for a nature class led by experts as their solution. What this tells me, with regard to need awareness and information search, is that marketing what Grant County Nature Center offers would be important. If people don’t know that they have an outlet for continual education on natural history, they’re not at all likely to connect with GCNC. As Cab Calloway says in The Blues Brothers, gotta “put the word on the street.”

Those interviewed for this assignment could fall into my target segment. There are no other outlets that offer educational hikes here so I don’t have issues with potential customers comparing my service to that of others. Once a customer sees the need and is aware of the solution, they are likely to spend time and money on a class.