DMN3 Blog

Affinity marketing is one way to reach a target market. In fact it just might be the most effective way…

Marketing professionals understand the need to segment potential customers in order to better target them with relevant marketing and advertising messages. You can segment markets by any number of demographic or psychographic criteria. Affinity is one way that is often used.

The marketing and advertising industry created a taxonomy to classify affinity groups. The classes are not mutually exclusive and affinity groups can fall under multiple classifications. The classifications include:

1. Professionally-based: Group affiliation is the basis of the affinity
2. Socially-based: Common interests, leisure activities, etc as the basis of the affinity
3. Value-centered: Share a common cause, ideology or value system as the basis of the affinity
4. Demographic-based: groups based around education, age, location, school, etc as the basis for the affinity
5. Marketing-generated: Affinity is conceived by the marketing organization

All of these classes, except the last can be the subject of either “affinity niche marketing” or “affinity marketing.” The marketing-generated class would only be used for niche affinity marketing.

So what’s the difference between “Niche Marketing“ for a particular affinity and “Affinity Marketing?” The answer is a lot.

Niche Marketing is concentrating marketing efforts on a specific and well defined segment of the population. The niche represents a subset of the market, i.e., segment, on which marketing and advertising efforts are focused. It assumes that the products or services are geared to that market subset or niche. By focusing on a particular segment, you can make your marketing efforts more relevant to that niche than if you market the same way to all segments of your target market.

Affinity Marketing is piggybacking on an existing relationship to reach an affinity segment. In essence, you partner with another party who has credibility with the members of that affinity niche to market to them.

Take the following examples:

Niche marketing by affinity: Let’s suppose that one of your target market niches is recent home buyers. In a niche marketing approach you would acquire the consumer information you need (either purchase or acquire public records) to market to this consumer segment. Then you would use both online and offline advertising and marketing efforts to reach that market.

Affinity marketing: If you elect affinity marketing, you would use a third party with a perceived existing credibility or positive relationship to reach this market segment. This third party provides both access and credibility. In this instance, you could partner with their mortgage provider, title company, home owners’ association, etc. to reach this targeted market segment.

You could also use the third party’s existing communication channels (mailings, website, email, etc) and include your offering as part of this existing communication. You could also develop new marketing channels to exploit this “partnership” to reach that affinity group. To succeed, the relationship must be mutually beneficial.

Another affinity marketing strategy is through “sponsorship.” You could sponsor events by a credible organization for members of the targeted niche. The sponsorship provides access and standing with that niche segment through your association with the third party holding the event. In the above example, you could sponsor consumer seminars for topics associated with the purchase of a home by non-profits, government agencies, etc.

Sponsorship spending on sports, causes, festivals, the arts, entertainment tours, associations, etc is expected to rise 5.8 percent to $18.2 billion in North America in 2011. See the sponsorship figures here.

As you can see from the example, affinity marketing goes much further than niche marketing to an affinity group. According to marketing researchers, affinity marketing is distinguished by three main features:

1. Third Party Endorsement: Whether actual or implied, this component adds a large measure of credibility to your marketing message and capitalizes on the existing relationship of consumers with the endorsing party.
2. Shared Usage Incentive: Both parties benefit from the Affinity relationship both by motivating consumers to participate and the endorsing third party receiving material benefit.
3. Enhancement Package: The offer provides a tailored set of inducements relating to the needs of the affinity group members.

One important affinity marketing approach is “Cause Marketing.” With cause marketing, the third party is a non-profit. There are many examples of charities teaming up with for-profit enterprises in a mutually beneficial arrangement. In my next post I will have a lot more to say about Affinity Cause Marketing.

Affinity marketing has to be a win/win relationship for all involved:

For the company providing the product or service: Affinity should provide access to a niche market. It should also help build increased awareness and a more in-depth consumer relationship. A successful affinity marketing relationship should result in more sales and more profit to it.

For the third party endorser with the existing relationship: These organizations can benefit from increased awareness, more frequent customer communications and increased good will and customer perceptions for bringing more quality products to members of the affinity group. It also should translate into a better bottom line for the third party endorser as well.

For the members of the affinity class: In the end, it still depends on the quality of the product or services offered as a result of the relationship. Consumers benefit from having products more geared to their interests and needs. In the case of cause-related affinity marketing, consumers also benefit from the satisfaction of having funds donated to a cause in which they believe.

In my next post, I will tackle the specific topic of the “Cause Marketing” subclass of Affinity Marketing.